𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 24
3𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐯

— THE LAST THING JASPER SAW was the clock on the bedside table flashing 8:00 AM before he realized the hands crawling up his body had nails too long to be Colby's, his gaze hesitantly lowered and found a rotting hand crawling up his chest towards his neck, before he woke and met the clock's gaze with wide eyes, relieved to find it was only a dream until he recognized the clock reading 7:59 AM, the spot next to him in bed where Colby had been was cold and empty.

He shot out of the bed, legs tangled in the sheets but not for long as he threw them off and rushed out of his bedroom, he heard footsteps down the hallway, by Colby's room. He barely had the chance to let out a relieved breath before he was off, desperate to find Colby and escape into the warmth of his embrace but when he reached Colby's bedroom door, he realized the footsteps had continued towards the window at the end of the hall, however the figure was not Colby, but an older woman with a long flowing dress, dark hair, her skin was almost opaque from her legs up, however the further up the more visible her skin became, and his gaze reached her rotting arms before she turned and met his gaze with her cold, dead eyes, staring into his soul.

"Fuck that," Jasper managed to get out before he turned and ran the opposite direction, towards the stairs.

He nearly tripped on the rug by the top of the stairs, but managed to steady himself as the sound of chatter below reached his ears, he recognized the voices as Colby and Sam, and the realization brought new motivation as he moved quickly down the stairs.

By the time he got to the kitchen, the duo must have heard his commotion because they had gone silent and were staring at him before he even reached the doorway causing him to freeze in the space between the living room and kitchen, staring back at them almost breathless.

After a moment, Colby moved forward and placed his hands on Jasper's shoulders to steady the blonde, "Jay, are you okay?"

Jasper went to shake his head, to tell Colby "No, I'm not fucking fine, theres a rotting spirit in the hallway" but something stopped him, the words on the tip of his tongue but a hand was already crawling, grasping at his throat.

He nodded, "I'm fine, just..." he trailed off uncertainly, shaking his head in a sheepish manner after a moment, "tripped on the rug a bit at the top of the stairs. Almost rolled down em like a bowling ball." He joked humorously, hoping they wouldn't see through it as he swallowed thickly under Colby's studious gaze.

After a moment, the man stepped back, "As long as you're okay." Colby responded seriously.

"Sounds like you need coffee." Sam joked lightly, offering a Starbucks cup and straw.

Jasper took it gratefully and glanced at the label, "Caramel frappuchino, my favorite." He noted aloud with a smile, glancing back at Colby as he stuck the straw into the cup. "Your doing?" He asked knowingly, Colby only smiled sheepishly as he stepped back to the counter to grab his own cup, the silence and red on the brunette's cheeks paired with the smirk on Sam's was answer enough, Jasper laughed.

"So, we wanted to ask, since a lot of the history and activity of this place seems to circle back to you, would you rather us not mention that in the videos or keep it all in?" Sam asked casually in a more kind but serious tone.

"Are you kidding?" Jasper grinned, "It's great content, leave it in. I would."

"Are you sure?" Sam questioned, continuing, "There's plenty other history here to explore."

He nodded, "Yeah, absolutely."

"You can change your answer at any time, and we'll take it all out or just any part that you don't want to be posted." Colby chimed in seriously.

Jasper nodded, going to assure them once again that it was fine, really, when his phone began to ring causing him to jump. He hadn't even realized he'd brought it downstairs with him, it having been in the pocket of his sweatpants already. He pulled it out, glancing at the screen where the contact name Grams lit up the screen.

"I got to take this." He told them, his lips down turned into a slight frown and his brows creased with worry as he stepped out of the room, the phone pressed to his ear, "Grams, you okay?"

"Well hello I love you too, my favorite grandson." Came her response, in the sassy tone he was quite familiar with— the same she'd taught him to use which his mother always hated, his father more so.

"Sorry, grams." He apologized sheepishly, adjusting his footing, "Hi, how are you?"

His grandma rattled of a response, before throwing the question back at him, once he'd responded hesitantly, he heard movement on the other line before she spoke again, "Well sorry I missed your call earlier-" she started, however he cut her off confused.

"Wait what?" He asked, his brows furrowed deeply in confusion as he retraced his steps in his mind, after a moment he shook his head with certainty, "Grams, I - I didn't call you."

"Uhuh and you say I'm bad at butt dialin'." She responded teasingly.

"I didn't butt dial you either." Jasper responded, "But..." his eyes flickered to the window, a flicker of movement caught his eye. The wind or a spirit he couldn't be sure and didn't allow himself enough time to figure it out, focusing back in on his words, "I did have a question."

"Well, go on then." She shot back expectantly.

He huffed slightly at her antics but couldn't find it in himself to laugh, as his eyes caught a strange figure, dressed in white with flowing hair, but she wasn't so clear — nearly a whisp of the wind as she disappeared. The hairs on his arms raised nonetheless.

He'd always seen spirits, or sensed them— a family curse he supposed, however it had never been like this. It seemed like ever since he came to this house, there was a spirit lurking around every corner with five more behind it.

"I've been trying to find out more about our family history," he told her, a half truth without a reasoning, "And I found some pictures online of someone who looks a lot like me, from our family apparently, but I can't find anything else. Do you know anything about him?"

"Julian Jett." She began, her tone reminiscent and full of melancholy, "My big brother. You wouldn't find anything online, he passed when he was only nineteen. Terrible thing."

"What happened?" He asked curiously, trying to keep the urgency out of his voice.

"Nobody knows." Grams responded a bit bitterly, though he wasn't sure why, "He just disappeared one day. At that house."

"The Briar house?" He found himself asking before he could think better of it. A strange sort of Deja vu settled over him.

"He was just like you," she continued, "In looks, as you know, but also in spirit. When you were growing up, I thought it was a sign from him." Her tone was light but as she continued it grew more serious, "You know, I'd always seen spirits, but his never came to me. I think he's trapped there, in that damned house."

Jasper found himself tense, "It's just a house, grams." He told her, unsure if he was telling her or himself.

"It's so much more, Jasper. It's dangerous. That place, it haunted him when he was just a boy, and then it killed him before he could live." She told him in response, "That's why I made you promise to never go there, or go looking for anything to do with it." She said in a slight scolding tone.

He grimaced glancing around the room, "About that, grams..."

"Jasper Elias Jett," came her stern and lecturing tone, making him wince, she always had a way of knowing when he was causing trouble though it was very rare she would be the one lecturing him for it, "What have you done?"

Jasper glanced around the room again and in a quick moment thought he should just rip the bandaid off.

"I'm at the Briar house." He rushed out, just like ripping a bandaid off, he reminded himself as he waited for the tense silence to end.

Except ripping bandaids off always hurt just as much as easing it off.

"That's not funny in the slightest, Jasper." Grams responded warningly.

"It's not a joke, grams." He replied cautiously, knowing he couldn't take it back now, "I'm at the Briar house with a couple friends from Kansas."

"Well then you better get out of there, now."

"Grams, I can't just leave—"

"NOW, JASPER ELIAS!" She hollered loudly, voice filled with far more rage than he'd ever heard from her, "I won't lose you too."

"Grams—"

"Leave that house, Jasper." Her voice sounded small now, like he'd never heard before, like she was younger than himself rather than a wise elderly woman he'd been raised by, "Before it takes you too. Your sister shouldn't have to bury her brother." Without another word, the phone clicked. She had hung up.

When he lifted his gaze from the screen of his phone where her contact stared back at him, he met Colby's gaze, his brows furrowed and his eyes filled with concern as he carefully approached, "are you okay?" He asked gently, taking another slow step forward, he moved slowly and made his movements clear as though approaching a scared animal rather than the love of his life.

Jasper swallowed thickly and shook his head, the hairs on his arms stood at attention, his body tense and he was all too aware of the eyes on him, unsure if they were Sam's or something other, "I have a really bad feeling about this house, Colbs."

✧˖*°࿐
𝟏,𝟔𝟑𝟓 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬