Saturday, October 15th, 2016

Sid felt like a little child, the way his parents scowled him and Cory for going to Brook Mansion. His mother was mad, yes. But Sid could tell it was mainly because she was extremely worried about his wellbeing.

His father, however? After the initial shock, and the surprise when he thought they had actually entered the mansion and made it out alive—he clearly knew the rumours too—he was livid.

"How could you be so stupid, Sid? Have you learned nothing from Miller woods? Do you want to die? And Cory? You had to recover for two years! Two! And then you go around and agree that it is a splendid idea to go and visit the next most haunted area in the county? Why? Really, boys, why would you do that? It's one thing to say you two are just some idiot teenaged boys, but this is just beyond reckless! I don't—"

"Harold." Olivia firmly spoke, silencing him at once, "if we want to know why, let's at least give them a chance to answer us."

"With all due respect, but shouldn't I be having this conversation with my father instead? He was fine with me visiting Brook Mansion..." Cory said, still fumbling with the hem of his shirt insecurely.

"As if your father has any idea what dangers lurk around Brook Mansion," Harold angrily replied. "You two, on the other hand, should know better."

"Why?" Sid asked daringly, "Nothing happened in the woods, aside from me tripping and hitting my head—"

"Oh, stop it," his mother cried out, "you were freaked out for days! You refuse to talk about the things that happened."

"What do you think happened?" Sid countered, having a stare off with his father, "it's clear we all know the rumours. But that doesn't mean any of them are true."

"Yeah, there weren't any wolves, and I wasn't hunted down by a serial killer," Cory spoke up, more sure of himself now.

"And neither were we."

"And you never told me not to go to Brook mansion. Yeah, you, and everyone and their mom told us not to go into the woods. We did that, and that was stupid. But aside from a bunch of idiotic rumours, nobody ever forbade us from visiting the mansion. We didn't go inside, because we're no idiots."

"You trespassed, Sid! Again!" Harold called out, "How do you fail to see the issue here?"

"Is that what this is about?" Sid asked in surprise, "did you actually see us trespass? Do you know where we went, which path we walked?"

Olivia opened her mouth, but closed it again, sharing a look with her husband. They knew he was right. But Sid also felt as if that wasn't truly the issue they had with their visit.

"You never gave us a chance to tell you whether or not we actually stepped foot onto the terrain or not," he was pushing his luck, but he felt like they couldn't argue any more about the topic, unless they had an ulterior motive to be angry they were near the mansion.

"Why did you go there, boys?" Harold asked with a sigh, "after everything, we hoped you all would be smart enough to steer clear of those places."

"Haunted places?"

"Yes, Sid!" Olivia cried out, "haunted places. Places where tons of people died and nobody can explain why, or how! Those kinds of places."

"Do you believe in hauntings?" Sid asked curiously.

"It's not about believing them, Sid," Harold spoke hesitantly, as if he was struggling with his words, "it's about not looking for that kind of trouble to find out whether or not it exists. We want you around for longer than this."

"Well..." Sid muttered, disappointed with the knowledge he wouldn't be able to get them to talk more about their thoughts and ideas of the paranormal. If they would blatantly tell him they did believe, of course they did, he would perhaps feel comfortable enough to actually tell them the truth. "I can't promise I won't accidentally die. But I do promise I will not visit Brook Mansion again."

"Or the Miller Woods."

Sid's eyes went wide in sheer horror at the thought of going back in there, "and definitely not there."

"Good. Now, Cory, your father might not know much of these places, but we need you to promise the same thing. As a friend of Sid, we care about you and your wellbeing."

"I promise," Cory nodded, but Sid noticed he was crossing his fingers in the hem of his shirt, causing Angela to laugh, "no more spooky visits."

But they both knew they wouldn't stop their visits, if they were necessary to solve Sid's problem with the dark entity, lurking around, waiting for him to be vulnerable. They needed to do whatever it took to solve it and help Angela.

Even if they had to visit a dozen more haunted mansions to get an answer as to who and what they were dealing with.

And for the rest of the evening, Cory and Sid spent their time playing videogames until Cory's father came to pick him up and Sid was left with two highly alerted parents and an amused Angela, who kept telling him his parents were acting suspicious.

And to maybe lay low, and not speak to her, since they had to have overheard the discord conversation the previous night.

Which was why he decided to go to bed early, so that he could freely talk to her in his dreams, and have her guide him through the woods once more.

She was showing him different locations in the woods that could function as landmarks, might he ever get lost on his own. She showed him the Devlin cabins by the lake, she showed him the shortest way to Lake Ranger Cabin, and she showed him Hunter's lodge—which gave him the creeps just like Brook Mansion had done.

"It's where I was killed, I think," Angie suddenly told him, as he slowly pushed the door open. He stopped dead in his tracks to look at her in shock. "I went in here, and I don't remember much, but it looks and feels familiar."

"Jezus, Angie, we don't have to be here if you don't want to."

"Well, it's really the only place I can show that has anything to do with my death. I was playing hide and seek when someone grabbed me, and I really wouldn't be able to tell you that exact location. I also didn't hang around to find out what he did with my body. Nowadays I wish I would have. Back then I just was too shocked and scared and in pain—"

"it's okay," Sid stopped her rant, trying to place a hand on her arm, "you don't have to justify your actions back then. I wouldn't know what to do either. But if you'd feel more comfortable, I can take a look around by myself?"

"Maybe... later." Angie ominously said, staring at the woods, "I want to show you the tunnel. The way in and out of here."

"The one where Cory entered the woods a while back?"

"Yeah," Angie nodded, gesturing for him to follow. "I want you to know where to enter. In case things go haywire, you have a way out."

"Thanks, for taking my safety into consideration," Sid jokingly said, earning a roll of her eyes and a smile from Angela in return.

"Of course. You weird little being. You are my friend."

"Weird little being?"

"Well, you still are weird. Did you not notice how quickly you went from absolutely shitty at Brook mansion, to absolutely in shock but completely fine a short hike later? Most people don't reenergize during a hike."

"Oh, shus. I just needed to get away from Brook, that's all.

"If you say so," Angie replied with a giggle, dancing through the woods in the direction of Lake Ranger Cabin.

"So, where does this tunnel lead to?" Sid asked, trying to change subjects casually.

"It starts at the Rhodes Mill and it leads into the basement of Lake Ranger Cabin. The entrance to the basement is hidden behind a hatch, though. I'm pretty sure not many people knew it existed. It's like a hidden door."

"And you say they built all that, basements, tunnels and hidden doors, in the seventeenth century?"

"I have no idea when it was built," Angela admitted with a shrug of her shoulder. "I wasn't around in those years, remember?"

"Right, sorry. Sometimes it feels like everything took place in the past couple of weeks, not centuries."

"That's exactly how I feel. Time is a loose concept once it doesn't affect you physically. I appear as a nine-year-old, but I would've been 63 by now. It's just that I've spend most of my years in the woods, so those computer things and phones and whatnot? They're new. They're cool, but new."

Sid chuckled, watching her float around in their next direction. He never considered her to be older than nine, but it did make sense. Even her personality could switch from childish to old-fashioned in a matter of seconds. And Sid knew 100% sure, he would not have been friends with her at either of those ages, yet here they were, friends nonetheless.

And he really did care about her no matter how old she was.

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