Sshh, Be Quiet
Non-Believers
The next time Lisa opened her eyes, she saw light filtering through the boarded up windows. More than usual filtered in after the small incident during the night where a board fell from the wall. She let out a sigh of relief that another night was over. As she continued to fight her beliefs about the house, she was beginning to be scared of the nights in the place.
An arm was loosely draped over her waist, and she turned gently to see Brian still asleep. Trying not to disturb him, she gently moved his arm and slid out of the bed before grabbing her glasses and putting them on. She couldn't help but smile at how he had calmed her down and helped her sleep through the rest of the night. After using the bathroom, she had gone downstairs to see if anybody else was awake. Matt was the only one, sitting at the table wearing only a pair of jeans.
“Morning,” Matt said, looking up from his bowl of cereal.
“Morning,” Lisa replied, going for the coffee pot.
There was a moment of silence, with the exception of silverware clinking as Lisa stirred a couple spoonfuls of sugar into her coffee. She then turned towards Matt and opened her mouth to talk, but stopped as she saw Matt looking at her.
“What?” she asked.
“Have you noticed anything weird at night?” he asked.
“Why? Have you?”
“Maybe. Just answer me,” he said with a stern tone to his voice.
Lisa cocked an eyebrow at Matt at his sudden attempt to be intimidating and demanding. “Yes, last night, Brian’s computer was getting instant messages. I assumed it was one of you guys because a couple of your song lyrics were quoted. But Brian said that you guys don’t really anonymously send each other messages. Then he noted that there was no internet connection the whole time. It was like something possessed his computer.”
As Lisa spoke, she could notice Matt’s expression change. Changing from disbelief to worry.
“Jimmy said the same thing happened to him the other night.”
Lisa grabbed her coffee and sat at the table next to Matt. She couldn't tell if he was being completely serious, because for all she knew, it could just be the guys playing more pranks. At the mental thought of the word 'prank,' Lisa felt a sudden throb run through her head, remembering when she hit it in the basement. Her hand instinctively went to the spot and she winced when her fingers contacted the sensitive spot.
“Do you really think this place is haunted?” Lisa asked.
“I don’t really believe in that shit, so I’m not the one to talk to about it.”
“Matt, you were there with all of us when that thing happened with the TV. You can’t hack into a TV and make faces appear in the fuzz. If you don’t believe in ghosts, or any of that crap, then how do you explain the TV?” Lisa asked.
Matt gave Lisa a glare with a smirk, trying to be intimidating as if he had the world's greatest explanation. He had nothing to say, and Lisa returned the glare, still waiting for an answer. She wasn't going to let herself be intimidated by this man, no matter how buff he was.
“See? You can’t explain it.”
“Well if you’re scared of ghosts and shit, why did you come here? Or did you just come here because of us?”
Lisa cocked an eyebrow again at Matt. “I’m not talking about that. I never said I was scared of ghosts and shit. Why are you bringing up the reason I’m here? Are you trying to avoid the question I asked about the TV?”
“No. I said I don’t believe in that shit.”
“Then explain the fucking TV, Matt,” Lisa said, glaring at him again.
There was a moment of complete silence, as the two just glared at each other like they were having a staring contest. Inside, Matt was impressed that she was actually standing up to him, but he wasn't going to let her have the pride. Eventually, Matt exhaled sharply.
“Okay, I can’t explain it, but that doesn’t mean I actually believe that it’s haunted.”
“Okay, whatever. I'm talking to a fucking wall,” she grumbled. “You didn’t have to be an asshole about it and try to avoid the question,” Lisa said, standing up and heading out of the kitchen.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, watch who you’re calling an asshole,” Matt said at her back.
Lisa stopped and turned. “You know, you may be an intimidating guy, because you’re all 'oohh look at me, I'm Mr. Body-Builder, I can break someone in half...'” She trailed off, having lowered her voice to mock the man sitting at the table. “Just know this: you don't scare me.” She nearly growled at him before turning and storming out of the kitchen with her coffee.
She headed for the stairs, sipping her coffee along the way. Her and Stephanie crossed paths in the stair-way. “Morning, Steph,” Lisa said.
“Morning,” Stephanie said, sniffing. “Eww, coffee. Yuck.”
Lisa laughed and continued upstairs. “Be careful. Matt’s being quite the asshole this morning. Don't talk to Mr Body-Builder about the scary ghosts. He'll get all butt-hurt.”
“Okay then.”
Lisa walked into her room, and heard the shower water running. She grumbled to herself and walked back out of the room. Voices came from some of the other rooms, but no one opened any doors yet. Lisa sighed and went back to her room, grabbing her book and flopping down onto her bed. A few minutes later, the water shut off, and moments after that, Brian exited the bathroom, dressed from the waist down.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning,” Lisa said, trying not to stare as she went to grab some clean clothes. Damn, dude has no problem being half-naked in front of girls he barely knows, she thought as she closed the bathroom door behind her.
After showering, she dressed, fixed her hair and went back downstairs. Select others were sitting around whereas the rest were either showering or eating breakfast. Light chatter filled the room, and the drone of the TV filled the living room with nobody commenting about how it was working again. Lisa went and sat by Stephanie and Jenna, butting into their conversation, yet watching everyone else.
To her, it seemed as if they’ve all experienced something crazy here, yet don’t want to believe it, or they just don’t want to talk about it. Only two days had gone by, and stuff was already happening. Lisa looked at the others, wondering what they were thinking about the house. As she wondered, she suddenly wanted to go home.
This was a fantastic story! Hope you write more like it!
6/12/20