"Omg you just didn't invite that ass and Kai tonight; this is not a date."

It took us a while to reach home; Mum and Dada forgot to let their only kids know that they'd be coming late from Rueben and Rayleigh's place. More so, they won't even let me meet my own cousins. Just a perfect way to brush your kids under the carpet you bought from the flea market.

Tonight, was the perfect night for what we planned. Andrew was on this side of the city and not busy from his influencer jazz, the sky was cloudless and the moon was a giant Momo plus the crows added to the symphony of gloom we needed for our cinematographically haunted adventure. The veil of stars to trap the cold and unfold the adventure made me feel good.

I hated that it felt good.

Crashing on the sofa in the living room (I shouldn't have really, there was a bottle lying thanks to yours truly's laziness and guess whose spinal cord was rolled down?), I waited for Kassy to wash her face and prep for the night.

We had no way to enter the main entrance late at night, so taking a hemp rope would be prudential. I walked past the narrow hallway, picked up a candy lying on the table and got the hemp rope stuffed under the "secret shelf" of our storeroom; mum thought we'd never find it. I was wrapping the rope around my shoulders to bundle them together when Kassy came out.

Her eyes flickered to the same rhythm of our old bulb of the storeroom, which was once white, now yellow with a layer of dust. I don't know why her eyes went to the bulb (maybe it came in the way of her eyesight) and having the usual habit of brushing the dust off everything, she let us know how long this place has been unused.

"This used to be your old safe place, isn't it?" I swear the dust on her fingers had kissed the bulb for so long it almost glowed in the dark. A strip on the wall was illuminated white, and I didn't want to see the fungal colony that was so close to me I could smell bakery in them.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you know? The boy who lived in the closet?" She stuck the tongue out of her mouth.

Oh god, when will she grow out of these jokes? "Don't show me your yellow tongue, I don't wanna know what you ate."

"Says the nasty person who has half-a-kilo assault charges in his hand."

I looked at the hemp rope, then back at her, wishing this could buy me some time and hopefully a logical explanation.

"This is your idea of the first date?" She asked, "I told you this ain't one."

"Yes, exactly. He got to know about our rendezvous and wanted to crash the place." I gestured to her to get out of the closet and we both headed towards the living room.

"Cut our, it's your idiotic plan which I feel should be a good reason why your voting rights should be revoked."

I tapped on her shoulders to remind her of the keys. She picked them from the key case in the living room and locked the door.

"Yeah, thought so." I agreed as we stood by the front door, "So, you down?"

"Of course, I am."

~~~

If this plan of Kassy made me think why am I related to her, it'll definitely keep that ray of sunshine that Kai is far away from me like a sun.

I understand that unlike me, a lot of people gain happiness from others wellbeing. I also see that he might see me as a friend who could use some help. Really though, if you really want to help me, please stay away. Sometimes, it is not about you cherishing the relationship, it's about me trying to mend my relationship with myself, and I can't do that in your presence; I can't talk to myself.

We walked our way past the Juniors', it was pretty close to his house. The memory roll played inside my head. It felt like as each step I took, the carpet rolled in front of me and the snippets of memories that were rolled up inside it sneak out to actually paint the scene around me; same as the scene of the day when I was-

I hate that Kai made it difficult for me to think about it.

The picture was painted perfectly in front of my eyes, the day was too bright to witness something so dark as what I was going to do. As I tucked the loose strands of hair behind my ear, the picture faded slowly to the cloudless night it actually was and I was standing right in front of the Nazadze residence.

Being the last one in the black, his house seemed relatively easier to climb up to. The late-night and Stony Brook's natural inclination towards filming weird things for YouTube or TikTok helped us get away with this heavy rope and a camera easily.

"You wait here for a second, if I need help, I'll call you." I gestured to Kassy to stay, even though she leaned in to see where I was going when I turned to the backside of the home. She knows she can't argue with me, I won't listen.

As expected, the backside of the house had no back door, typical to Stony Brook's house construction. That made it easier for me to hide from his family and go about what I had to do in silence, or close enough.

There was one thing missing, a ladder. Although I could try climbing up to his room's balcony, it wasn't high enough, but Eli isn't worth the risk and a broken rib cage.

A smile crept up my face as soon as the wind brushed against my skin, the ladder was right next to the makeshift shade; another typical Stony Brook trait. I picked it up, not going to lie, it was damn heavy, the weight of it bulged up in my forearms. A loud sigh turned out to be a dog's whimper as I tried to force my voice by a few notes. Any rustling, screeching or hinge noise freaked me out; the eyes that were on me turned out to be some nocturnal animal which was right in its place. It was me, in the middle of a bustling locality, looking like a shady intruder.

As I placed the ladder right next to the balcony (hoping it was Eli's room (I would be doomed if it wasn't it), each step I took felt like it pulled me three steps down. The beads of sweat right above my lips felt cool, it was hard to say if it was because of the wind or dread; ice and fire both burned and my skin pricked with the sensation. I was scared I would fall down, not because I would miss a step, but because my hands were shaking as if my beating heart was literally in my hand and vibrating. My fogged eyesight really made up for how clear the sky was.

"What the hell are you doing Kal?" This was Eli, I didn't need to look up; my body froze against the cold breeze right there. My stomach twisted like the ropes I left down as if I swallowed them and bruised my lungs, making me breathless.

The rushed footsteps right above me startled me for a second, but I still didn't look up to see who it was. He made himself clear.

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name---"

"Stop this fuckery, Alex!" I forgot I had to speak softly, so I ended up calling his name like choked baby Yoda. It was still dark, the streetlight didn't light their faces, but the mix of surprise and shock was visible from their frozen silhouette.

"Now that you've seen me, help me get up."

Alex was the first one to respond, he asked me to climb a step extra and pushed Eli behind, who still stood like a statue. Alex grabbed my hand and with a heartbeat skipping manoeuvre, I managed to hit on the floor light as a feather.

"What the hell were you planning, popping the wedding vows?" Alex's voice wasn't comedic as it was before, now it made me wonder whether it was worth the risk for these ungrateful idiots.

"What? I told Eli I would crash his place." I straightened my jacket up, but as I was out of breath, I had no trouble locating a bean bag under the dim neon red lighting of his room. I fell on the other side, but Eli reached out right on time.

"This is not how civil humans crash place. You could have used the front door!"

"But your parents are downstairs, and it's almost midnight. Plus, we have to take you guys out of here, that's why it's tricky."

He smiled in the manner when your math teacher smiles when you give the obvious answer and they are pissed at its obviousness, "I know my parents, it wouldn't have mattered, you legit need to ring the bell and smile at my parents."

Just then, the front door opened and who I think is Earlene with Kassy.

She let out an exaggerated sigh when she looked at Alex, who did lit up brighter than the streetlight outside. She rubbed her eyebrows as if to wave off the headache.

"It's literally this easy, Kal," Earlene brought her hand forward to shake with me; I regret giving a weak handshake, "you just need to knock and politely ask to meet my brother."

Kassy didn't waste much time and dropped the equipment she brought, flipping her bag upside down on the bed.

"What are these?" All of us circled around the bed, Eli and Alex on one side and us on the other; Earlene climbed up the bed and refereed?

"Ghost hunting equipment," Kassy replied, matter-of-factly.

Both the cousins looked at each other, blinking as if they took each piece of information blink by blink. Alex was the first one to answer, but his throat crocked, he shook his head as if to get words out of his mouth, "Yes Ed and Lorraine Warren, what is this nonsense?"

Kassy screwed her face," eww, what the hell, we are siblings."

Earlene swayed her hands in some random direction, blinking dreamily, "here goes my first sweet home Alabama ship, hit by a cannon.'

"Did she just make a pun?" Kassy pointed at her and asked me, then smiled at her again, "Oh my goodness, I love her."

Alex hit Earlene, to get her out of her exaggerated act, "aye don't steal my puns you punk."

Earlene replied," Lmao, you need to have something to steal."

"Calm down, Kanye West, we're getting a little too confident in here."

Earlene was still on her knees in the bed, but she looked at Kassy and put her hand on her. I think it startled Kassy, "Kassandra, right? See, this is what happens when my uncle and aunt bought products from Walmart's off the rack knock out sale."

I think dragging other family members down with a joke that's worse than them and have everyone howl louder than the dogs outside.

Kai crossed his hands and pouted, more out of embarrassment I guess, his face was flushed and it gurgled in his heavy breath.

I had to stop them or else only shots of diss would be shot fired, "Are we done pulling legs?"

Alex chipped in a jiffy, "yes, you guys already got bruises pulling me down."

All of us shouted in unison, "Shut up."

I got my cue to continue when the silence thickened," nevermind, so the plan is to hunt ghosts? This is a thermal tracker" I picked up a black box with a million LEDs on it, "spirit box and boo buddy." I showed off another box and a bear whose body was just a case for wires and circuit running like veins inside it. "We also have an app in case the battery dies." At this point, I felt a telemarketing ambassador who sells sauna belts in the middle of the night.

Alex shook his head, frowning with a hard-line above his eyebrows, "why are we hunting ghosts again?"

Kassandra answered, "it's been our plan for summer for a really long time. Before we get busy with summer jobs and admission processes, we wanted to strike some things off his bucket list."

Eli's eyes widened at the last words," this is in your bucket list."

It was as if I felt compelled to take out the crumbled yet folded piece of paper out of my pocket. He couldn't read the contents; it was dark enough.

~~~

Word count: 2168
A/N
Please don't kill me, I am still working on this story.
So, the story may seem to be based on New York, which I know a lot about IDK why. So, yeah, location-wise, I will be a heck load accurate.
Please point out any typos because I can't read.

I am not east coast bish dw😌.
Thank you for still reading this book ilysm ❤