The Haunting of Sunshine Girl

Chapter 67

So. Sunshine's here with her mother to talk about things. Mostly, filming in this here house.

"So we're gonna film ourselves in the house talking about filming in the house," Kat says slowly, deliberately, staring at Sunshine.

"Mhm. Yes."

"So...doesn't that just sort of negate the entire conversation?"

"Mmm—I'm not sure what negate means," Sunshine says, "but yes."

Kat laughs. "Don't you—" She groans. "Haven't you liked the peace and quiet of having nothing? Like this is just sort of our sanctuary and not filming it here, haven't you liked it?"

Sunshine sighs. "Yes."

Kat looks at the camera. "You can just flip that around, no one really wants to look at me anyway."

"Yes, but," Sunshine turns the camera around, "there's something happening in the house, and whatever is happening—"

"You don't know that!"

Sunshine glares at her mother. "You're gonna doubt me now? After all we've been through? Really?"

"Okay, fine." A pause. "I just..."

"It's gonna happen whether or not we film it!"

"Exactly! So why film it?"

"Why not film it?"

Kat shakes her head. "That makes no sense."

"What you said makes no sense!" Sunshine retorts.

"You're using my argument against me."

She laughs. "You're using my argument against me."

"Why do you think that they even care? Why do you—"

"Because they're invested!" Sunshine says passionately, almost outraged from her mother's suggestion. "And I feel safer when the camera is on."

"That makes no sense."

"Why does that make no sense? Why? You can't even—you can't argue my feelings. That's ridiculous!"

"I think I taught you that."

Sunshine smirks and makes a face. "You did, but, I used it against you. Haha! Anyways, I just...I feel safer when it's on, and it gives me something to do." She sighs. "I don't know."

"Well," Kat says, "you do have over four hundred videos, so it definitely has been something to deal with."

Sunshine gives a thumbs up to the camera.

"What if it's only—are you gonna care if we have ground rules? Like, you can't film outside and all that? Is that—you can't film certain parts of the house? I mean. I kind of like a little bit of privacy, y'know?"

"...Yes?"

They'll come back to this.
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So, Sunshine can't sleep and now she feels like something's gonna happen. She doesn't know what, but there's that clenching in her stomach, warning her that a presence is nearby. Which rarely ends well.

Wonderful.

She picks up her camera and clicks it on, heading out of her room and passing by the bathroom. "Glad Mom said I could film here because something's definitely happening."

Sunshine ambles down the stairs and whirls around the side, gasping when she comes face-to-face with her mother, whose side is illuminated by the nearby lamp. She huffs and draws the camera close to her chest. "What are you doing?" The times she'd found her mother standing around in the dark had never ended well, either.