Okay, so.

Here's what's going on.

After yesterday's fun little fiasco, Sunshine decided to return to Georgia's house alone— well, not exactly alone, she's got Tootall here (and she silently hopes he doesn't resent her for Nolan's nickname).

Anyway, someone's clearly here with the burn pile going on and smoke pluming into the air, and there's a car nearby, and all Sunshine wants to do is talk to Georgia without the gang and see if she'll be willing to continue the investigation.

They get out of the car, hot summer air billowing down on the earth, and Sunshine picks her way toward the front door. "Georgia?" she calls hesitantly, hands locked together in front of her. "It's Sunshine."

Gravel crunches under their shoes as they pass a dark green truck. Sunshine looks back at Tootall, clearly uncertain — she doesn't know if anyone's here! Locking her teeth together, Sunshine walks up to the front door, looking at the cherry wood with the numbers '3199' hung over them.

After a moment's hesitation, Sunshine places her fist to the door to knock but— well, it slides open, hinges creaking as it moves inward. Sunshine makes a sort of nervous-fearful face at Tootall. "The door just opened," she whispers, "I don't know what to do! I feel weird, and there's a creepy cat over there meowing—" Tootall pans the camera to a black cat laying underneath the truck, "and it's scaring the heck out of me!"

Sunshine opens the door again and the cat meows loudly.

"Shh!" she says, giggling.

It meows again.

"I'm trespassing!" Sunshine whisper-yells.

The cat leaps from its sun basking and weaves through Sunshine's feet, stopping on a dirty black mat, pale green eyes staring back at the two. Sunshine makes a face and looks around. "Georgia...?" She laughs sheepishly. "I just let your cat in... Um, it's Sunshine." After a moment she turns to Tootall, hand still on the door. "Well don't just stand there!"

He follows as Sunshine shuffles through the back room. She pushes open a door with a glass window and frowns, peering into the kitchen. "Georgia? Is anyone home?" The house is quaint enough, a little dated but it has a nice feeling to it.

Suddenly, the glass door slams behind them and both Sunshine and Tootall jump. When he turns the camera around Sunshine is staring like she's about to be caught doing crack. "Okay," she says quickly, "I don't feel anything at all, not because the door slammed, I just don't feel anything, um, and I'm currently trespassing." She's also currently rambling. "In somebody else's home. That I've never been to. I'm a stranger. This is weird."

She rushes past Tootall and opens the front(?) door, looking around. "Hope that cat's allowed in." Sunshine hops out on to the porch and breathes, attempting to calm her nerves.

Well.

She might as well give the YouTubing people a vote, right?

Thumbs up to call Georgia and beg for her to talk to her and at least be home when Sunshine trespasses?

Or thumbs down, just stop the whole adventure. She doesn't want to, because now she's invested, but hey, it's up to her followers.

She just hopes Lionel can get his co-workers to vote along.
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Well, her loyal viewers came through.

Sunshine is continuing on with the adventure.

So, she called Georgia and practically—hmm, which word does she want to use—begged her to meet with Sunshine, and Georgia said she would and even apologized for hanging up on her and said she overreacted and felt bad. So, yeah.

Time to meet with her.

Sunshine rolls up to the house and shuts the car off, looking through the dust-muddled window toward the house. She sighs and clambers out, closing the door and listening to the gravel crunching beneath her shoes. Keys jangling in her hands, Sunshine walks up to the front door, but stops in her tracks when she sees something glistening against the door knob.

Blood.

Blood, blood, blood— A soft gasp wrenches from her throat as she's thrown into memories surrounding blood, horrible, horrible memories that only run for a split second but seem to last hours. Sunshine sees the box, coated with crimson with pictures at the bottom, she sees Uncle Tommy splutter ectoplasm from his mouth, she sees Victoria gripping her neck as the demon slashes the dagger against her throat, she sees Nolan, coughing blood with rope bound around his arms, and then she sees herself—tied to a chair while the world rages around her, books spinning, Mentor dead—

"Can I help you?" an annoyed voice fumbles through the layer of memories, and suddenly Sunshine is peeled away from her flashback and finds herself back on the porch.

She jumps, startled, and looks toward her left side. The man from the other day is there, staring at her from behind a green trash can, wiping blood from his hands with a white cloth towel. A cap is slung over his head to protect from the dry Oregon heat, and he's wearing the same jean overalls from last time.

Not to mention this guy scares the ever-living shit out of Sunshine.

"U-Uhm—" Sunshine stumbles over her words as the man nears her, "I was just, umm, here to, uh, see, Georgia."

She steps away from the porch and the man faces her closely, gaze sharp and shadowy. He's still cleaning blood from his hands as he nears, and Sunshine can't help but think this guy just butchered the entire family inside and is trying to lure in his next victim. "Yeah?" he says, still nearing her.

"You got a little—" Sunshine points to his crimson-stained hands, "something." Deflect with humor. Amazing, Sunshine.

Surprisingly, the man lets out a mix between a scoff and a laugh. "Yeah. Saw it out here—out in the woods. Just bleedin' it in the garage." He nears closer, if that's even possible, head jerking towards the back of the house. His voice grows low. "Wanna see?"

"Uh, no, I'm—"

The front door opens and Sunshine jerks back, caught off guard. The man turns his chin toward the porch, a smirk on his face.

"Now, leave the girl alone," a woman chastises, short gray hair tucked over her head, golden earrings looped through her ears. She's wearing a colorful shirt and jeans, and shoots a menacing glare towards the man. "Come on, sweetheart, come on in."

Thankful to have been saved, Sunshine hops up on the porch, feeling Creepy Farmer's eyes boring into the back of her head. "Yeah," she breathes, relieved.

When the woman—most likely Georgia—looks down and sees the blood, she scoffs and turns, wiping the blood off with a white napkin. "I swear, one day it's motor oil, one day it's deer's blood."

"You want this?" He dangles the towel, smirking. "I'm done with it."

"No, you go put it where you're supposed to put it," she orders, opening the door and leading Sunshine inside. A smile brightens her features and she waves toward the living room. "Please, honey, come on in."

"Right," Sunshine says, feeling weird and disturbed and awkward. The house looks exactly the same as when she trespassed, so, it seems like she wasn't noticed. That's good.

"Ignore the mess," Georgia says, "I didn't really clean up. Come on in and sit down."

"No, it's—fine," Sunshine smiles. It really isn't messy at all.

"Have a seat."

"Thanks..." Sunshine plops herself down on an intricate gray chair and turns to Georgia, who sits down across from her.

"You know, I um—I'm not really sure if there's really something going on here." The woman nods along to her words. "That's why I was a little hesitant to have you get involved, to have you all come all the way out here, um—" She thinks. "I mean, there have been the occasional slamming doors, or odd noises, or that sort of thing, but my family's had this house for generations, and there haven't been any deaths or mangled bodies—"

Sunshine raises a brow.

"—or, or anything like that, I mean, if there was really a presence here, shouldn't I feel it?" Georgia touches her chest.

"Yeah, you could, I mean—" Sunshine frowns. "It's just, your co-worker, Marcy, she just said that you felt something sometimes...?"

"Well, yeah, I wasn't sure, and maybe it's just an old woman's imagination, so, well." She shrugs. "At any rate, what I thought was that maybe you could come on a day—y'know, a few days from now—and just do some exploring and check it out and see what you can find, and see if there's anything important!"

"Yeah, of course," Sunshine says. At least they'll be able to do something, right?

"You think—you think that'd be alright?"

"Yeah! Would it be okay if I brought the whole gang?"

"Uh..." Georgia looks uncertain. "Sure. I think so, my co-worker's usually really good about these things, I mean, her visions tend to be quite reliable, but—but sometime's she's off a little, y'know? But I get a good energy from you, so I think if you feel you can trust your friends, then I'll trust them by extension."

"Oh, good," she smiles, "thanks."

"Okay?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then. That'd be fabulous." Georgia smiles and stands, as does Sunshine. "Okay." They begin heading toward the front door. "Do you wanna just go back the same way?"

"Yeah, no, that's fine." Hopefully she doesn't have to see the future serial killer. Sunshine walks through the door and walks to her car. Creepy Farmer is nowhere in site.

"Drive carefully, now!" Georgia calls. "We'll see you in a couple days."

"Bye."

"Buh-bye."

Sunshine doesn't even have words for this entire experience.

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The Scooby Gang is driving to the house, and unfortunately Sunshine's camera is in Nolan's hands. He turns toward the back seat, looking at Gary. "Would you like to repeat that, buddy?"

Gary looks slightly taken aback by the camera, but continues nonetheless. "I just wanna say, first of all, that I did totally call shotgun, and this is the last time I'll say it."

Everyone groans.

"Oh my goodness," Sunshine rolls her eyes.

"Gary, who cares?" Lionel complains.

Her drive with the three stooges continues until they thankfully make it to the house. She scans the area for Creepy Farmer, but when he's nowhere in sight, she begins explaining. "Georgia's not here, but I guess her... caretaker...? is here? So, yeah."

"Are we gonna be able to get in?" Gary asks worriedly.

"Yeah," she replies.

"Do we have—" Sunshine looks back, sighing. "Okay. Nevermind. Do they have Doritos?"

Nolan fumbles with the camera, pointing it toward his feet. "How do you turn this thing off?"

Lionel laughs loudly.

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They're now wandering the woods, back in the field leading up toward where they first saw Creepy Farmer.

Nolan is in the lead, sunlight bathing his back as he looks around at the overgrown foliage. "Well," he says, placing his hands on his hips, looking at a tree, "definitely deciduous. Mostly evergreens."

"Shh," Lionel hushes, leaning forward.

"My guess is carniferous—"

Lionel looks at him.

Nolan stares back, raising his brows. "Budding?"

Lionel slaps his hands on Nolan's shoulder, wrinkling his gray plaid shirt. "You're the first to die, then."

Is carniferous even a word?

"This just got serious," she remarks.

Nolan continues pointing out trees as Gary picks out a daisy, smelling it and twirling it in his fingers. Sunshine watches from the rear of the group, and as Nolan and Lionel turn around, Gary lightly licks the flower. Sunshine covers her laugh with a cough.

"Uh, don't—" Nolan squints through the sunshine, shaking his head. "Don't... eat anything."

"Teddy bears and..." Lionel waves toward Gary, smirking.

"This is a classic sign of—" Gary doesn't finish and flicks the daisy from his fingers.

Sunshine giggles under her breath. "I don't know what's going on," she whispers to the camera.

"Costco's gettin' to you, isn't he?" Lionel says.

"He really is."

Nolan continues forward, pointing his hands in front of him. "Come on." As they continue, he walks toward the base of a dark, dirt-soaked hill, staring at a tree trunk and a patch of roots before turning around. "What are we looking for?"

"Anything," Gary says. "Anything that's not trees or tires."

Nolan walls over a clump of moss, leaves crunching beneath his shoes as he nears a discarded backpack.

And then there's a tug. Sunshine frowns, stilling, looking around. "I think I feel something."

Everyone looks at her.

Gary is the first to move. "What?" he says, walking over to her.

"I don't know how to describe it." She frowns. "It's just kind of weird."

Lionel nears. "Where's it comin' from?"

Sunshine makes an appalled face.

Nolan keeps looking at the trees.

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So, they eventually make it to the end of the trail, flanked by a road and a river that stretches past. A blue tractor sits in front of them, the rear of Georgia's house in short distance. There are two garages and a window on top.

"Alright," Nolan says, "who's up for a little light trespassing?"

"Wait, wait." Gary outstretches his hand. "This is exactly the kind of place where something would be happening."

Nolan makes a face. "It's a two-door garage." He starts walking and nearly trips over a stick.

Lionel looks at him.

Nolan turns back. "What?"

Sunshine halts in her tracks and examines the house, frowning. She realizes something. This is the garage Creepy Farmer was talking about!

Gary is first to notice Sunshine's lack of movement. He turns, and eventually Lionel follows. "What's the matter?" he asks.

Nolan seemingly notices the silence and stops, looking back at Sunshine as he stands by the second garage.

"Well—" She sighs and Nolan joins the group. "Okay, so last time, when I was here, the caretaker of the house," she snorts, "kinda came out with... blood, all over his hands."

Gary's eyes widen. "From here?" He points back toward the garage.

Sunshine nods. "Yeah, well I mean, he said he shot a deer—" Lionel nods, "but I don't know if I really believe that."

Nolan looks slightly worried, but masks it with his version of machismo, pointing his fingers at Sunshine. "Okay. I'll take that into advisement."

"It makes sense," Lionel says, throwing out his hands. "The woods, deer."

Nolan nods and Lionel digs into his pocket, throwing a large yellow flashlight to Gary, who subsequently catches it.

"So let's just be prepared for the fact that there might be a dead deer in there," Gary says, clipping the flashlight in his hand, nearing the garage.

"See?" Lionel laughs, referring to Gary catching the flashlight. "Good for somethin', right?!"

"That was... spectacular, man," Nolan says unenthusiastically.

"Yeah, that was... super good," Sunshine says.

Lionel doesn't seem to notice the sarcasm.

"Why do we never use flashlights?" Nolan frowns, looking at Sunshine.

"I like the dark."

Lionel leans down and tries to lift the garage door, but to no avail. Nolan steps forward and steeples his fingers beneath before helping Lionel opening it, like, two feet high.

"Get in here," Lionel says, "go ahead." Gary nods and crawls under into the darkness.

Sunshine raises her brows. "Yeah, lemme just... squat under here, this is really fun." She shimmies beneath it and jumps to her feet, looking around the garage.

"What, is this thing made of iron?" Nolan puffs out.

Apparently.

"I got it, I got it," Nolan says after he shuffles inside, putting both hands beneath the garage door and keeping it slightly lifted.

"Not a word about me, I got it," Lionel says, getting on his hands and knees, "I'll handle this, really."

"No, I got it," Nolan says, turning to the side to allow room for Lionel.

As Lionel comes crawling under, he hits his head on the bottom of the door but continues moving through. They let the door drop and the garage is washed in darkness, only a flicker of outside light illuminating the center.

"Right," Sunshine says, finding it amusing how much all three guys just tried to prove their manliness.

Well, if she can even call Nolan a guy. He's more an adolescent boy.

"Well," Nolan says, "now we're inside the garage."

"Uh," Lionel frowns, walking forward, "I'm not seeing a hanging deer."

"So, now let's look for something else that might've caused that blood," Gary suggests, ambling behind Lionel, Nolan and Sunshine bringing up the rear.

Lionel suddenly darts backward, eyes wide. He shushes the group softly—even though no one is speaking—and pauses. "You guys hear that?" he whispers, long gray-black hair pushing over his sweaty forehead.

Nolan throws his arms up and walks off. "Okay, guys, relax. It's just dark."

Lionel looks at his partner. "You fart, Gary?" he accuses.

"Don't say that on camera," Gary replies.

Nolan halts. "Woah. Guys."

They all move forward and crowd around a flat wooden table. On top is a large, blood-stained blade.

"A machete," Nolan breathes.

"That might draw some blood," Gary says.

Really? Sunshine thinks.

Lionel leans forward and draws the machete from the table, clenching it in his fists, staring at the rusty knife.

"Woah!" Gary jumps, startled.

"Okay, let's not—" Nolan looks at Lionel, then down at the machete, "touch any of these, put it back."

Sunshine nods. "Let's not play with those. Especially you."

Lionel doesn't seem to take offense, placing the blade back down on the wooden table.

Nolan pads next to Sunshine, hands on his hips, glancing down at her. "This is a dead end. We're not gonna find anything in here."

"Well, I don't feel anything," Sunshine half-heartedly agrees, even though she hates Nolan being right.

"Yeah, that's what I mean," he supplies impatiently, "It's just a garage. Why are we here?"

Okay, then.
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They eventually leave the garage and round toward the front door. Nolan jumps on the porch and clangs the brass door knocker against the wood.

"Just open the door," Sunshine sighs.

Nolan looks at her, turning the knob. "But—" He pauses when it opens. "Alright then."

Walking inside, Lionel follows and Sunshine regretfully hands her precious camera to Gary. She wants to do some exploring of her own—get a little elbow-deep in the house's ornaments herself. Plus, maybe she'll feel something without another extra weight in her hand.

As the group moves from the kitchen into the living room, Nolan turns around, slightly worried. "We're sure no one's here, right?"

Sunshine wonders if Tom Waters is the reason he's frowning so deeply.

"Yes," Sunshine says, getting annoyed with his antics despite the empathy she feels for him.

They continue on into the living room, and Nolan walks over to a white door next to a red wall. "That's a door," he says.

Obviously.

Nolan opens the door and peeks inside, but it just seems like a closet, what with the clothes hanging inside. However, Nolan quickly snaps his head to the left and gives a broad smile. "No way." He quirks his brows at the group excitedly. "We have stairs."

"He's excited," Sunshine notes, slightly amused. Only Nolan would be so thrilled over a set of stairs.

Like a child, he begins clambering up the steps, Sunshine following right behind.

The second story of the house opens up into a bedroom, blue and white plates hung around the walls. An archway leads into a study where a lamp is on, illuminating Nolan in a haze of yellow light. To the right is another bedroom, not particularly interesting, white-walled with a few lamps.

"Are you feeling anything?" Nolan asks, turning around.

Sunshine shrugs. "Not really."

"Nothing?" Nolan says, surprised. "Not even a little..." He clicks his tongue against his teeth like he's calling a dog.

Wonderful.

Ignoring him, Sunshine stands in front of the boring white room. She spots an open black urn, then turns her attention toward a door, something dangling from the side. "What's that?"

"A half-lock on a door," Lionel says, fiddling with the lock. "Must be hiding something pretty, uh..." He trails off, letting the implication sink in.

Sunshine rolls her eyes, walking up to the door. "I doubt they're hiding anything."

"It's probably gonna be able to open," Nolan says.

Sunshine turns the knob. The door clicks open with a groan. She raises her brows. "That was easy."

Nolan smirks. "It's a design flaw."

The door leads into an attic with oak wood panels arching an upside-down 'V' shape over the ceiling, a soft filter of white light streaming in from a window on the other end of the old, dusty room.

Lionel turns toward Gary. "You ready for this?"

Gary frowns, following after his friend. "This is where we're gonna find something."

Lionel nods. "Something."

Nolan shushes the group as they clamber down a small set of stairs and looks at Sunshine. "Do you feel anything?"

She shakes her head.

"Still?"

Unfortunately. "It doesn't feel very safe, but..."

The attic isn't too cluttered, but certainly has an array of older belongings that have seemingly been discarded. Lionel strokes his hair while looking in a mirror, and on the other side of the attic, Nolan is inspecting a few tables with ornaments on top.

"Be careful, everybody," Gary says, "don't—" He watches Lionel scrutinize the mirror, shifting closer toward the reflective surface, "it's not—"

"What are you doing?" Sunshine asks.

Lionel looks at her and backs off from the mirror. "Y'know."

"It's a mirror."

Nolan picks up a deer skull with brown antlers protruding from its head, then puts it up to his face, looking around at the group.

Seriously?

Of course Gary laughs.

"That's very nice," Sunshine remarks drily. Nolan smiles brightly. "Glad you're having fun." His smile falls and he sets the off-white skull down.

They pass a few iron headboards, and as they make it toward the end of the attic, Sunshine feels slightly disappointed that she isn't feeling anything. A strike of worry pulses through her chest. What if she can't feel anything because of the exorcism? Didn't Victoria say she wasn't a Luiseach? That she never had been?

What if she's right?

She tries to push the voice in the back of her head away, but it's nearly impossible. Sunshine's happy to be out of their last home, but slightly disappointed because now she can't test her powers with Anna or her father. And while she loves exploring, resorting to testing her remaining abilities in a maybe-not-haunted-house is not Sunshine's idea of comforting.

Maybe they'll find something. Maybe she'll feel something soon. Sunshine can only hope.

"Anything here?" Gary asks, looking at her.

She shrugs. "No."

"They didn't even try slamming a door on us," Nolan says, referring to any ghosts. "I'm disappointed, personally."

Sunshine has to agree.

"Yeah," Gary frowns, "This really was promising."

It sure was.

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Well, looks like they have to give Georgia some bad news. Her house probably isn't haunted.

It's the day after the exploration and Sunshine is sitting down in the living room, Georgia poised across from her. She's wearing a blue blouse and has a smile on her face, and Sunshine hates to disappoint her. Oh well. Not like she can just call ghosts here like Mentor Dude.

"I'm really excited," Georgia smiles, golden looped earrings jingling, "so tell me what happened."

"Okay, so it's sort of a long story," Sunshine explains, then sighs. "Nothing. Nothing happened. At all."

Georgia shakes her head. "Nothing? Really, nothing?"

"I mean— we wandered through the woods, just a little bit, we met your caretaker, um, it felt kinda weird in the woods? But nothing major, and nothing in the house."

"Hmm." Georgia purses her lips. "Well, y'know, if you don't mind, I'd like to be sure. So, I'm gonna be out of town this weekend, so how 'bout if you all just come and then you can stay the night and see— because sometimes things happen at night that I don't hear during the day—"

"Mmhm."

"—so maybe you could stay the night and, and do the things that you do, and see if there's anything exciting that happens then." Georgia flips her hand. "The caretaker won't be here, so you'll be all by yourselves."

"Cool— yeah, no, that would be fantastic." Sunshine nods, eager to spend the night. While she was disappointed yesterday, maybe they'll find something out during the night, just like Georgia said.

"Oh, that's just wonderful," Georgia smiles, "I so appreciate you being so kind."

"No, that's fine," Sunshine smiles politely.

"Excellent." Georgia claps her hands.

Guess the Scooby Gang is gonna stay the night.

i know it's been 4 months please don't kill me. uh. yeah LOL i don't know what else to say except things haven't been great, but with the new meds i'm on i'm starting to feel a lot more motivated so i'm hoping that i come out with some more chapters soon!!!

on another note, i'm writing nolan's sacrifice, which takes place between part 6 and part 7. it's told from nolan's point of view, and gives a 10 chapter insight into how exactly Nolan gets to where he is in part 7—and how exactly he stopped being a groundling. lots of angst and drama and worldbuilding, so go check out the first chapter! more will periodically come out, but i have every chapter planned so get ready! no sunshine in it, though, sorry! just nolan, victoria, and some ocs.

oh also, i haven't been exploring sunshine's ptsd much recently but she def has it lol. i'm gonna expand on those feelings and memories in part 8 when things die down a little, so don't worry! the angst will happen! we still have three and a half more parts left!!!

besides that, i hope you enjoyed the chapter! i'll try to get another one out sooner rather than later. tell me what you thought! is the house haunted? is something more going on here? i'd love to hear what you guys think! have a great day y'all!

my last note: i literally bought the first hosg book just to see what these characters' last name's were. so uh. that's dedication.

they be
-sunshine & kat griffith
-nolan foster
-victoria wilde
hahahahahahahaha ao3 character tags are now complete