Andra's house was only ten minutes from what was the main part of town where she and Cameron had agreed to meet. As she slid into an open parking spot she glanced at the clock and saw that she had arrived with 5 minutes to spare. 

There was no sign of Cameron's Jeep parked anywhere. She toyed with the idea of calling him to see if he was close by but then thought better of it. Instead, she cranked up the Civic's  A/C and leaned back against the headrest. Her fingers drummed against the steering wheel in time with the song that was playing quietly on the stereo. Andra's mind began to drift with the music and her thoughts turned to the night she had seen the house for the first time and the story Cameron had told her.

He had picked her up at seven that night to take her to a bonfire being thrown by a few of his friends from school. She had agonized over what to wear for hours that afternoon, finally settling on a floral off-the-shoulder top and her ripped jeans. She knew that meeting these kids tonight could make starting school in August a little less awkward and she wanted to make a good impression.

Andra had been trying without much success to tame her thick mass of dark red curls when her mother shouted up the stairs that Cameron was waiting. "Coming! " she yelled back as she made one more pass through her hair with the brush before admitting defeat and grabbing her cellphone off the dresser. Slipping it into her back pocket she turned off the light and started down the stairs.

Warm light poured into the foyer from the kitchen and Andra could hear Cameron's voice deep and a little rough. She couldn't make out what he was saying but it was obviously funny because she could hear her mother giggling from just outside the door.

 Stepping into the room she saw them standing across from each other at the island in the center of the kitchen. Cameron was just polishing off one of the chocolate chip cookies her mom had made earlier that afternoon and by the look of satisfaction on her mother's face, she doubted it was his first.

Her mom had been on this whole Martha Stewart homemaker kick for several months now. Andra suspected that she had some guilt over the divorce and this was her way of making up for it but it wasn't helping. The stress of moving away from her friends was already a lot without her mother becoming some kind of Stepford mom to boot.

Watching her standing here now talking to Cameron like this Andra was reminded of just how little they had in common.

Andra was slim like her mother but the resemblance stopped there. Denise Morris was tall and slender with light blonde hair and clear blue eyes that seemed more suited to a Mattel commercial than shopping at the local Piggly Wiggly. She was several inches taller than Andra who had inherited her father's auburn hair and striking green eyes. It was difficult not to feel self-conscious next to her mother. She was more than just pretty she was gorgeous.

Cameron had been leaning completely relaxed against the counter but pulled himself up to his full height as she walked in. He was easily six feet and at just a little over five feet herself, she felt tiny in comparison. His dark hair hung a little long around his ears giving him a boyish look and the mischievous smile that accompanied it didn't do much to change that image.

"Hey," he said, "hope you don't mind but I haven't left many cookies for you."

Andra rolled her eyes in mock frustration. "A real walking human garbage disposal," she said.

He smiled at her and winked. "You look nice," he told her. "Are you ready to go?"

"Thanks. Yep, ready when you are."

Her mom came around the counter and patted Cameron on the back.

"You should come by for dinner one night," she said smiling.

"Oh I will," he told her, and "thanks again for the cookies they were incredible."

Denise was positively beaming. "It was my pleasure," she said turning to Andra. "Be careful tonight, have fun, and don't stay out too late."

Andra didn't have a chance to answer before Cameron jumped in. "Don't worry Ms. Morris I'll take good care of her."

"I'm sure you will" she answered giving her daughter a quick kiss on the cheek as Andra and Cameron started down the drive toward the car.

"Bye. Love you, mom," she said over her shoulder.

Cameron opened the passenger door for her and she slid in. She nervously checked her hair in the side view mirror one last time absently swiping at a few stray curls as Cameron walked around the car. 

Andra felt her stomach give a little backflip as he slid behind the wheel. "I think my mom's in love with you," she told him as he swung the Jeep easily out of the drive of the little brick house where Andra and her mother lived.

He grinned at her and winked his brown eyes sparkling. "Well of course she is. It just goes to show what good taste she has." Andra rolled her eyes at him and laughed. 

They pulled up to the stop sign at the end of the street just as Cameron's phone rang. He grabbed it from the cup holder between the seats and swiped right on the tiny green circle with the phone in the center.

"Hey Drew, man what's up?" She heard someone speaking quickly on the other end of the phone and by the look on Cameron's face, it wasn't good news.

"You've got to be kidding me," Cameron said, "that idiot didn't have a backup plan?"

Another quick response from the other end of the phone and then Cameron let out an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, we were already headed in that direction," Drew said something else and Cameron shook his head. "I don't know about all that. Taylor's a jerk and there's never anything to do at his place."

She heard the voice on the other end of the phone one last time.

"Yeah, we'll see man. Just call me back in a few. Alright, bye." He dropped the phone back into the cupholder and looked over at Andra.

"So we've had a change of plans." He said pulling away from the stop sign.

"Ok," she nodded. "What are we changing them to?"

"I'm not sure just yet." He said "My friend Mark is a complete idiot. They were supposed to be having the bonfire at his uncle's house. He's got a ton of land and Mark told us he would be out of town this week for his anniversary but he got the dates mixed up and they're not leaving until next week."

"So I'm assuming Mark's uncle wouldn't approve of a bunch of teenage kids showing up at his house?" Andra asked.

He gave her a sheepish look. "Well, he's hosted quite a few of these bonfires. He just doesn't know it. We go back into the woods and there's a clearing out at the creek. We always clean up after ourselves and he doesn't go down to that particular piece of land often. It's where we used to play when we were kids so he never used it for farming or anything. The problem is that with him home, traffic on the field road out there would be seriously conspicuous and with no backup plan our Friday night is looking like a bust." he said annoyed. "Drew said that a bunch of people are going to Taylor's house to hang out. It gets kind of boring sometimes but you would get a chance to meet a few people."

"Whatever sounds good to you." She shrugged agreeably. "You're my personal tour guide after all."

He laughed at that running a hand through his wavy brown hair. "Alright then," he said, "we'll just get turned around and head back."

He pulled into an overgrown drive and Andra heard him make a noise under his breath.

"What is it?" She asked concerned noting that some of the color had drained from his lightly tanned skin.

"Nothing." He told her. "I just hadn't realized we had come out this far."

He started to back up as the headlights slid over the big house set back in the trees. She only caught a quick glimpse of it as they were pulling out of the drive but there was suddenly a weird tingly feeling at the back of her neck like someone was watching them from the darkened windows.

"What is that place?" She asked him.

"Well, I guess someone would tell you eventually."

"Tell me what?" She said, genuinely curious.

"Inglewood has its own haunted house." He said dramatically. Andra could see that he was trying to impress her but his reaction to the house and the small tremble in his voice was impossible to miss.

"You're joking right?" She asked him incredulously but she could see that he wasn't. "How have you kept this from me?"

"Easy." He replied, "nobody ever talks about it so it's easy to forget."

"Ok." She said her curiosity getting the better of her. "Tell me. What happened?"

He sat quietly for a moment gathering his thoughts before starting. " I'll tell you the story the same way I heard it. In 1996 a girl named Savannah Miles died in the house you just saw. She was around our age but no one knows how or why it happened. She was popular here in town. Her father was a doctor and her mother worked for a huge drug company. 

Savannah dated a guy named Greg Billings. He was the state track champ and she played on the volleyball team. They still have their picture up in the trophy case at school. They were the couple everyone wanted to be. Her life was perfect. That is until her father passed away."

"Dr. Miles had a massive stroke on the 9th green of the golf course out in Monroe just a town over from here. He was dead before he hit the ground. It came as a real shock to everyone because he had been a real fitness nut. After that Savannah just lost it. She quit seeing her friends and she quit the volleyball team. She even shut her boyfriend out. She went to school and home that was it."

"So one night Greg persuades Savannah to come out with him just to get out for a while and be with everybody. So they go down to the bluffs to party with some friends of theirs. At some point during the night, Savannah has some sort of breakdown and completely freaks out. She and Greg get into this huge argument and she leaves by herself. Everybody swears she was wasted but who knows. Anyway, she leaves and no one sees her for the rest of the weekend."

"Greg tries to get in touch with her just to make sure she got home ok but she doesn't answer. He figures she's just angry or embarrassed so he decides to just leave it until Monday and then they'll straighten it out at school. But Monday morning Savannah's a no show and by Monday afternoon everybody in town is talking. Word is the ambulance and the coroner are down on Pinewood Drive. By Tuesday morning they had made a formal announcement at the school.  Counselors were called in to talk to the kids who were struggling with her death."

"See Savannah's mom had been out of town that weekend. When she got home on Monday afternoon she found Savannah lying dead at the bottom of the stairs in their front hall. The coroner said the injuries she had were consistent with a fall but most likely they didn't kill her right away. The story in town is that she came home drunk Friday night and fell down the stairs. Supposedly she laid there the better part of the weekend before dying sometime Sunday."

Andra stared at him in shock. "You're serious? This actually happened?"

"Yep." He said. "You know how gossip can be though and we're talking about almost 25 years ago in a very small town. It's not out of the realm of possibility that things have been changed or stretched over the years."

Andra nodded in agreement. "What happened after her mom found her?"

"Well the police came out and investigated and there was some talk about there being foul play involved. I think her boyfriend was questioned but no arrests were made and it was just ruled an accidental death. They buried Savannah and that should have been the end of it but it wasn't."

"Savannah's mother moved a few months after. People swore that she was hearing voices and that she was saying that Savannah was still in that house. I heard that she had to be institutionalized."

"Another family moved in for a little bit but they didn't even make it a year. There were claims that their children were being attacked, doors were opening and closing on their own, and they even said the stereo would come on by itself. The house stayed empty after that. The house had gotten a reputation and no one wanted any part of it."

"Kids from town would sneak up there on the weekends just looking for a good ghost story or whatever. I've never been up there myself but I've heard stories about the place. Stuff like lights coming on in a house with no electricity or even people hearing screams from inside the empty house."

Andra sat quietly for a moment thinking before she spoke.

"We have to check it out for ourselves," she told him.

"I was afraid you were going to say that," he said shaking his head " and I can promise you that is not a good idea. No one here likes to talk about that place. They think it's bad luck or something. They are definitely not going to like anyone messing around up there and especially..." he trailed off with a look of embarrassment.

"They wouldn't want an outsider up there that's what you're trying to say right?" She asked him more than a little annoyed.

"Come on An don't get upset. It's just a really close-knit town and they don't like to share their secrets with just anyone. You're still a stranger to people here and I don't think this would go over well."

"Cameron, please. What if there is something or someone up there? Maybe we could do something to help."

He glanced at her skeptically. "Seriously! What do you think we're going to be able to do?"

"We could check it out, go make sure it's not a hoax, maybe even talk to some people around town, and then we can visit the house. If there's anything to this and she's still here then we could try to help her."

"And you wanting to do this has absolutely nothing to do with those ghost videos you post online?"

"Maybe just a little bit" she answered defensively "but that's not the only reason."

"Really?" He said a note of disbelief in his voice.

"I mean it." She answered sincerely. "I think we can help her. Please Cameron" she said pleading with him now. "It's like you said. No one here knows me. I can't do it without you."

"Why do I feel like I'm going to live to regret this?" He said resignation coloring his every word.

She squealed and clapped her hands together and almost caused him to swerve off the road when she threw both arms around his neck.

"Thank you so much! I will owe you for the rest of my life."

He patted her arm already feeling a knot of dread in his stomach.

"Andra dear you have no idea."