I didn't know it was so hard to digest absurdity.

Alex didn't waste his time using his last brain cell, "Bruh, this is a pocket list."

Kassandra shot a glance. I wondered how many times she hates homicide being a crime. I would be in a bad mood too had Alex not grown upon me. She wasn't in the mood to take it in. "One more drop of your stupidity in here and I will sacrifice you to the Mormons."

Of course, it wasn't as if Alex would back off listening to hollow threats. He shook his head furiously, plodding one step back, "No violence on my Christian Minecraft server."

Earlene replied, "aren't we Jew?"

I don't get the point of digressing. Why the hell there is a bucket list and where the hell are we going? I sighed, running my fingers through my hands and then looking up at Kal. "It doesn't matter, the thing is, do you understand that humans at night are scarier than ghosts?"

You know the smirk that you flash you know that someone is going to say a particular thing? It shone on his face in the dark, the golden locks rumpling, "Yes, that's why you guys are here. We need the lucky egg and smiley confidence with you, preferably the gun too."

My mouth shrunk like a deflated balloon, but by the time Kal realised what he did and cover his mouth with his hand, Earlene's voice thundered in my ears.

"WHAT THE HELL, WHERE IS THE GUN-"

"What's wrong with you?" Alex interjected, although words hardly could escape from his dried and tightened throat, "what gun?" He went on and held the petite cousin of his, shoving her mouth with the blanket. She kicked her way out; one missed move and Alex would crumble in pain.

Kassandra scoffed, then glared at Alex, "stop making such a big deal, the toy gun."

I don't know if it was a mainstream or expected response but both Alex and I said in unison," Oh."

Earlene pushed Alex's hands off her mouth and wheezed, "Get your filthy hands off me you abominable-"

The Church clock struck, which was accompanied by a loud thud and Earlene on the floor.

"Ouch," she tried to sit up, rubbing her palms, "It hurts."

Alex jested, "I pity the floor got to kiss your ass."

Earlene was still on the floor and tried to kick him in the shins, but he quickly rolled on the bed.

She shook her head, "Oh my god I am 11, let me be."

Kass countered, "But you look 15, geez you guys are too tall."

"You know what else is tall?" Alex cajoled, narrowing his gaze and smirk at Kassandra. Before she could reply (she was ready to blast him, she was coiled up) Earlene intervened.

"His feet, they're ugly and webbed."

Oh my god, they are going to let the night slip with this to and fro. Earlene is just intruding at this point. "Yes, he is the ugly duckling of the fam, not you, happy? Are you done or shall I get you out?"

Earlene frowned but the sinister smile that she used to bribe Dungaroos out of me was back, "Shall I tell mum and dad?"

Kassandra rolled her eyes, sighing and raising her hands in frustration "What is this family?"

"gaslighting and trauma" Alex replied.

"Don't forget terrible jokes," Earlene added.

Alex agreed, "And accidents like you."

It took me an entire car ride filled with silence and mouldy food scent to think straight. Alex was stinking from his puke, as usual, his motion sickness was feather touch-sensitive. It was never triggered when he practically danced a ritual to summon a demon in Just Dance battle. He prayed to God for Kal not letting Kassandra sit with him, as much as he insisted.

"I don't want to give her a reason to stay away from me."

Pfft. As if she doesn't have a million reasons worth writing a Cambridge essay.

It was intriguing, really, how much Kal was willing to take part in absurdity. He had once caught me playing strip poker at a party; I thought I had been caught by my gardener who wondered how the succulents could die (I would drain all my sapodilla juice in the backyard. I thought it's poison for me and fertilizer for my die-hard succulents but oh boy I was so wrong).

Anyway, the drive-in Long Island to any place, as bustling Rayham Hall can give me fits of fear. Mobbing, kidnapping or ghosts; what shall I be scared of? Long Island has its own Universal Studios for Elm street. Few scary trees with eyes glowing, a cloudy moon and chilly night; the perfect backdrop for my brain to run faster than my heart as if it wants to get out of my skull and bury itself. I couldn't agree less, my fight or flight instincts have exponentially blunted, my brain would feel safer somewhere else than my cranium.

The car in which Kassy and another friend of hers were seated came to a sudden halt, the tyres spitting the dirt everywhere around them. Kal stopped the car as well, and it dawned upon me that I had spent the entire ride without asking him anything. What if he thinks that I am uncomfortable and feels offended? I mean, there is no lie, but what if he'll never reveal his plan---

"Get out of the car losers," Kassy opened the door of our car, "we're going ghost hunting."

She rushed back to her own vehicle and took out the bag resting in the backseat. One by one, she checked each and every equipment, if they were working or not and all that jazz.

"It feels more like a scooby-doo investigation than a Salem Witch hunt." I straightened up my clothes. Tonight was extremely windy and I regretted shampooing my hair.

"Looks like we've got another mystery on our hands." Alex nudged Kassy, who smacked him back.

Kassy pursed her lips back, as if to suppress a sigh but maintained the narrow laser beam glare at him. Before things could get any more awkward, I tried to cut in, "Who's the friend you picked up on the way?"

Kassy rummaged through her bag, then shot a beam of light at us, almost blinding.

Just then, a chubby boy wearing khaki shorts jumped out of the front seat.

"Hello, my lovely angels," I thought he was talking to us but turns out that he was vlogging, "I have missed you so much! This is Andrew as you may or may not know and tonight, have been joined again by the lovely Kassandra." He rushed to get Kassy in the frame, I have never seen her smile like that before.

"Kassy has also brought her brother and a bunch of her friends to explore the haunted and abandoned church! Guys, say Hi!"

He turned around to get us all wave at the camera, and the middle school yearbook memories replayed in my head.

Just then, Kassy started to call someone; it wasn't calling in the middle of an abandoned graveyard where you potentially might be dancing ancient rituals that became TikTok dance that was weird, the phone's lighting just made her scary-looking egg.

"Who you calling in the dead of the night?" Kal enquired. His doubt kicked in faster than the bile after a rotten meal.

"Um, I am calling everyone I love, just so," she started to stutter, flicking her locks back, "what if something happens---"

"This is the last time I am telling you," Kal narrowed his eyes, "you won't die. Oh god, you did this when we flew to Nevada---"

"But what if it met with a plane crash?" she threw her hands higher than her voice, "I didn't want my last words for anyone to be "stinky knucklebacks"."

"But you didn't call me." Alex intervened.

"Is Kass a new phase of yours, Padillah?"

The voice was unfamiliar, so I had this brilliant idea of turning around and squinting my eyes in the dark for a better view. Apparently, that's how science works.

Alex turned around, but his slow-motion dramatic turn was enough to make me realise that something was up and not for good.

"Uh," he hesitated, "Andrew?"

"You know him?" I asked Alex.

Andrew walked up right beside Alex, almost hugging him. "Of course, I know him," he said," Our acquaintance was quite scandalous, to say the least."

"Hold up," Kal's brows creased, tightening the situation unnecessarily, "Kiss me if I am wrong, but tell me Alex is the one who---"

Andrew replied, "How unfortunate I won't get to kiss you."

Alex growled, "That was one time!"

Kassy rolled her eyes. "That's why I don't take you seriously. Next time, you'll call me a phase."

"Um," I cleared my throat, "Can someone tell me what's going on?"

Andrew looked at me like I am some bitch who shouldn't be entitled to her opinion, so I decided to take my hand forward. "I am Elikai, nice to meet you."

"Oh," Andrew hooted, pouting, "You must be Alex's cousin." I nodded in response.

"So, all private school students sound like this?" Andrew looked around at everyone as if waiting for someone to agree, "Do all of you sound Ka-ching?"

"I am sorry," I replied, trying hard not to take any offence on normie stereotypes, "I don't even have something to brag about and sound rich."

Alex interjected, "liar, liar ass on fire, he once owned a mansion and all I did was pee in the public pool."

Andrew scrunched his face in disgust, then blinked selectively, "Gross, thank god you're straight."

"What are you guys talking about?", I asked.

Andrew replied, "Don't you know about Alex's bi-curious phase? Let's just say I helped him figure some things out." He nudged Alex, winking at him.

"That," I answered, after things finally made sense, "You told me it was something I didn't know."

"Duh you didn't", Alex said, "You didn't know Andrew."

It didn't even take a second for the conversation to die and Kassy to pull out her camera and start talking to it like one is filming propaganda.

Kassy narrated, "As you can see guys, this place is really old, like most places on Long Island."

I couldn't hold myself, "Oh my David, will you stop with this bullshit?"

It was the worst way to be the centre of attention, four people staring through you and turning around dramatically.

Alex howled, "Aye, no callin' out my girl," he turned around to flash his teeth to Kassy, "You're doing amazing sweetie!"

Kal tackled Alex, "Aye no callin' out my sister your girl---

"Can we start with the filming?" Andrew smiled sarcastically, raising his eyebrows.

"Why are we filming?", I asked.

Andrew shook his head, rolling his eyes, then forcing his best smile, "Oh honey, you don't understand how important it is to film every single moment, once gone; your chances of becoming internet-famous will never be back." He ended with a pout.

Kassy didn't pay heed to us and had already started to film. "As you can see, we have both my ghost hunting equipment and Andrew's. Today we have Kal and his bunch of friends just in case we get in trouble." She moved her camera to give us the two-second cameo we were dying to get.

"Andrew," She called him and gestured to him to stand beside her, "why don't you come here and tell us about this cemetery and what we're doing?"

Andrew wasted no time and started reciting his scripted speech, "Yo, so a lot of things in Long Island are from the revolutionary war era, and there are some famous people buried in here like the roads have been named after them famous. It is very haunted, lots of activities happen here, so let's just dive right into it." He said in a single breath, Slim Shady who?

Kassy nodded all the time; I believe hardly anything went through her.

I looked at Alex, as Kal was beside me and his hand brushing against me gave me chills I didn't ask for. Alex screwed his face and I instantly knew what he was up to. "I swear don't make an idiotic pun," I warned him.

Kal wheezed beside me, we three followed the YouTubers, "I love how you know your cousin too well but not enough to know Andrew. I heard they did some crazy things together."

"Yes," I looked at Kal, "that's exactly what I don't wanna hear."

Us, the useless tag-along trio walked carefully in the abyss that pulled us. There was a streetlight that flashed the church and the front porch of the cemetery, but it got really dark deeper. I trod carefully, praying I won't step on some grave. The deserted street wasn't helping me with the thick artificial atmosphere of fear.

Then it dawned upon me, "Shouldn't cemeteries be one of the least paranormal hotspots?" I blurted out.

Alex asked, "How do you know?"

"I don't know man," I replied, tucking my hands in my pocket as I kicked the stones away, "General guess. Shouldn't ghosts haunt places which they are attached to? And these places are very detached."

Andrew was apparently eavesdropping, as he slowed down and walked back a little, to reply,

"Good point, Eli boy, I like you, no homo unless you want to, but that's why this is so special. Everything on Long island is so old, it forms attachment one way or the other. I can assure you one thing though, we won't be eaten up or possessed, these are hallowed grounds."

Alex crossed his fingers and whispered, "Cross my heart and hope to die."

In a jiffy, the streetlight changes its colour from white to pale dirt. The change was so sudden that I didn't even realise I had clutched onto Kal's hand; not until I felt his cold hands opening up to my warm and sweaty palms.

"Bro, what the actual hell, what's wrong with the light?" I panicked.

Alex held my other hand, but was putting up a rational persona for someone, "Dude, this place is so old, I can smell Thomas Jefferson losing a bet with George Washington. Of course, the lights would flicker." He said and slowly hid his hands holding mine, I think Kassy saw it, given that he giggled a little.

Kassy reasoned, "But the lights are changing."

Kal held my hand tightly, then looked at me, "It must be photosensitive."

Kassy took out her phone, wiping her sweat with the sleeve of her cardigan, "I don't care, I am calling mom and dada."

"Why?" Kal asked.

"What if this is the last time they are talking to me?"

The twin sighed, turning around in exasperation. He walked up to her and snatched her phone, "Oh my goodness, you did it when we took a flight. Did our plane crash? Did it? Did it?" He was so close to her face I swear he could smell his dinner.

Kassy quivered, "No." The phone slipped in her pocket faster than the light flickering.

Andrew stood in between them, "Enough of the spoilt tea you be spilling. Let us take this light as the sign from our ghosts and fire up the spirit box to enhance the jazz."

The way he maniacally smiled for the camera was more terrifying than the cemetery itself.

I had to ask Alex, who had more experience with him, "He is saying in this manner for the video, right?"

Alex replied, "I have no idea, last time I met him, he said to me I used too much tongue in the most bizarre way possible."

"What was that?"

Alex gulped hard, "Your mouth is made to eat pussy."

Kal shouted, "Keep up with the herd you two!" The Youtubers had gone way too deep and Kal was probably tired of waiting for us. I ran to walk beside him.

Kassy, on the other hand, had a Spirit Box and started talking to it. I thought I was possessed when I used to talk to my action figurines but I am lowkey glad I am raising this cemetery's average IQ.

"Is anyone here, who would like to communicate with us? We are of light and love!" She smiled at the camera, then focussed on the answer from the black device. First, we heard a year worth of static. Then, the static deformed into a voice that'll make my ears bleed.

I swear I heard the box said, "He is here."

Kassy exclaimed, "Oh my god, it said, "he is here." Spirit Box has never picked up a voice like this before..."

Her words blurred right in front of my eyes as a milky white light caught my attention. The light was concentrated, I could feel my retina doing cardio. Then the light elongated, as if it started to grow some limbs. It solidified into a shadow, but so white.

Thank god I could hear Alex whispering to me, "Do you see what I see?" He was quivering.

Both of us looked at each other, frozen than yoghurt.

"On the count of three," I said.

"3."

"2?"

"1."

"Run for your lives, there's a ghost in front of us!"

~~~
Word Count: 2899

A/N

I swear on my future bf, I am 20k deep in this book and I have planned this; I will finish this. I took a break as I felt I didn't like this book; I took other's opinion too much into consideration that I forgot I have 1.3k reads for 12 chaps. Thank you for supporting me. I had written this chapter a long time ago but I took a long time to edit and rewrite. Nonetheless, I am trying hard to come back to writing. After my poems got featured, I got a tad bit of hope that I am not that worthless. It's just hard you know?  I mean, just think, the only way we know that we're is by letting others evaluate it. People say that we shouldn't care about what others say but that's exactly how our SOCIETY HAS BEEN THRIVING. 34 people deciding if 25 years of research is worth a Nobel Prize or not, a teacher deciding whether I'll be board topper or not. Competitions telling me if I am good or not; everything is validation based. Ngl, I feed on validation. So, when I don't get it, I plummet down.

Anywho, I'll try my best to complete this. As an ex-overachieving student, I don't leave my assignments half done.

Also, the upcoming chapters will be super serious and related to a real-life incident that happened today, so stay tuned!

Thank you for sticking with me and this book❤

Dedicated to my love doratheexplorerabc R.I.P.