"Why can't you just be normal, Emelyn?"

She let out a laugh that reverberated in the air of the forest green jeep as she was driven down a potholed festooned road through some winter kissed mountains. Emelyn kept her cell phone to her ear as the driver she hired continued driving, muttering to himself about why he had agreed to do this when his life still had so much left to offer.

"Define 'normal', Minnie," she responded, getting a huff of annoyance out of his mouth. In the background she could hear her other brother laughing.

"You know I don't like that name, Em."

"I get to tease you," she said as she reached up a hand to adjust the heat vent that was blowing directly on her face. It was causing her cheeks to take on a rosy, red tint. Ever since she landed, there seemed to be two extremes to the temperatures she experienced. There was never an in between. "Perks of being a younger sister."

"Sounds like the title of a book, which you should try to write instead of pretending you're some heroine in a book twenty-four seven and run the risk of getting yourself killed!"

Tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear that had fallen out of the ponytail bun on the top of her head, she listened as her other brother chimed in.

"We just love you is all, Em. We don't want anything to happen to you."

"Don't worry, Felix," said Emelyn as she was forced back against the seat as her driver went through a pothole that he hadn't seen coming. "Tell Minho not to worry either. I'll come back in one piece. I promise."

"Please come back alive and in one piece!" she heard Minho shout as her and Felix shared a chuckle.

Emelyn knew that her brothers cared about her more than was probably usual because she was the only female in the household growing up. Her mother had been the unfortunate victim of senseless gun violence when Emelyn was only four, leaving her father to raise her, and her brothers Minho and Felix, alone. Even though she was the middle child, Minho and Felix seemed to take it upon themselves to be her personal guardians. She had a tendency to barrel through life due to her tom boyish nature, making her brothers fear she was always going to end up hurt. They liked to tease her on occasion that it was her spunk and fearlessness that had caused their father's hair to go white so fast. Now that their father was dead, it left just the three of them to stick together which seemed to heighten Minho and Felix's concerns more. They seemed to think she'd be the next one to pass away. Emelyn broke from her thoughts when she heard Felix handing the phone back to Minho.

"Do you hear me? Promise me you will."

"Okay. I promise..."

"Do not call me Minnie or I'll blue skidoo through the phone and smack you."

"...Minho. Gah. Let me finish a sentence big bro."

"You're lucky my love for you outweighs my annoyance, little sis."

Darkness shrouded the inside of the car like a cloak as the jeep she was in wound up lazy spirals into the heart of the mountains, soon slowing down as it approached a long-abandoned cobblestone road. Her attention was diverted out the window where the setting sun that was able to peek through the fog casted long shadows on toppled over statues that lay in the grass. Emelyn tried to imagine how long and treacherous the travel to this castle would have been back in its prime when a jeep was struggling.

"Em? You still there?"

"Yes, Minho, but I have to go soon. I'm almost at my destination."

Whatever response Minho was about to say suddenly turned garbled, the cell phone signal that she had becoming nothing more than static. Hanging up as the static hissed in her ear like a snake, she knew she'd have to text him tomorrow when she got back to her hotel in the village. Tonight, she was spending the night in a castle that the villagers swore was haunted by a ghost and she couldn't wait.

"We have arrived, Miss," said the driver, swiveling in his seat after he had come to a stop. Even in the dying light from outside, Emelyn could see how exhausted the driver looked combined with how fearful he was to be here. "Are you sure about spending the night here? It gets really cold in the mountains at night and the place is haunted..."

"I've got plenty of ways to stay warm and I'm not afraid of ghosts," said Emelyn. "I appreciate your concern though."

Emelyn leaned forward to give him cash for the ride and secure a ride back tomorrow afternoon before getting out to grab her baggage from the back. Since she was only spending the night, she only brought one wheeled bag crammed with everything she would need to stay warm through the night. As she set the bag down, she heard her driver — who had attempted chivalry and had gotten out to try to help her with her bag — let out a high-pitched scream before jumping back into the jeep and slamming the door.

"Are you okay?" asked Emelyn as she rounded the vehicle to look at the pale faced driver.

"Yes. There was just a mouse."

Casting her gaze towards the ground, Emelyn saw a mouse scurry around the front of the jeep. Chuckling, she left her baggage unattended for a moment to go and scoop it up. Seeing her do so practically made the driver faint. Keeping the mouse cupped in her hands, she moved it off to the side of the road to let it free, watching as it disappeared into the overgrown grass.

"You're something else miss," said the driver before turning his jeep around and driving back down the path away from her and the castle.

"I'll choose to take that as a compliment," Emelyn said to herself as she chuckled, walking back over to her baggage to begin wheeling it towards the decript castle that loomed in front of her.

The first thing she had to make her way past was the black iron gates. What had once held what she was sure was intricate, detailed beauty now looked like a macabre Halloween display. Spiders had long since spun their traps between the bars on the gate, shining with dew like fallen stars. As Emelyn worked her way past the gate, she heard a loud caw followed by the flap of several wings as a small flock of birds flew across the sunset painted sky and away from a crumbling tower they had been calling home.

Emelyn tried to picture the ruins of the castle before her back when it had actually been full of people and life. She let her mind create ghosts of what had once been as she shimmed sideways past the thick wooden entrance doors that lay half askew, stepping into what had once been the grand entryway. The domed ceilings stretched far above her head, chipping remnants of the sky that had once been painted on it making it look like the end of the world had come.

"Well, lets find a place to set up for the night," Emelyn said out loud to herself as she looked around the ruins, trying to find some place that looked safe enough to set up her camp before all light faded from outside.

The sliver of sunlight pouring in through the tall windows and half open door led her to explore what felt like only a quarter of the ground floor. She eventually came across an old ballroom. The diamonds on the half dangling chandelier above her head tinkled in the slight breeze coming in as her footsteps clapped against the floor. A disused piano sat off to one corner by a large fireplace, the sunlight streaming in through one of the windows casting the piano's dust covered self in an orange light.

Deciding to set up camp in there, Emelyn put her baggage down before crouching to unzip it. Inside she had managed to bundle up several blankets. Underneath the blanket was a box for an air mattress. Taking it out, she used a charger she had brought to blow it up. The whooshing noise of the air mattress blowing up echoed around her, causing creatures that called the castle home to scurry away and hide. When her air mattress was done filling with air, she draped a blanket over it before grabbing her flashlight, tucking some spare batteries into one of her black parka's pockets.

Now came her favorite part of being at haunted ruins. The exploring part.

Stepping away from her set up, Emelyn re-entered the main hallway, finishing her scanning of the ground floor. As she began to debate whether to ascend upwards or downwards, a sound reached her ears. At first, she thought it might be the wind that the impending night was stirring up whistling through the ruins. Emelyn stilled for a moment, taking a step or two down the basement steps she was near when she heard it again. It definitely sounded like it was coming from somewhere underground.

"Could this be the ghost that scares everyone off?" Emelyn asked out loud to herself, bound and determined to find out for herself once and for all.