𝟎𝟏𝟖.                          𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞

run into trouble ────       alok, bastille

☀︎ 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖢𝖱𝖠𝖨𝖭 𝖧𝖮𝖴𝖲𝖤．One of the scariest places on the Outer Banks, hands down.

When I was a kid, people would dare others to go up to the front porch, but nobody would ever do it. Sure, going up to the front porch of some house doesn't sound all that scary, does it? But this front porch of this particular house... nobody dared. People actually sprinted past this house, nobody really took a second to stand and stare at it── why would anyone want to?

Over the years, stories and rumours have been created, talking about the house and what it represents, talking about those who live or... lived in the house. Nothing has ever really been confirmed, but the horror stories you tell to your friends are enough to keep any sane person away.

This is the closest I've ever been to the house── inside the front garden. Thankfully, it's the middle of the day, not the dead of night, so it's really not all that bad. We're pushing our way through bushes and bramble, trying to find anything that leads us to a clue or, better yet, the freaking gold.

"Which stories did you hear about this place?"

So many, thousands of them over the years, but nobody could ever make sense of which ones were really true.

In all honesty, I never wanted to believe the shit I heard growing up.

"The one where she killed her husband with an axe and that she's been holed up ever since," Kiara talks, moving a tree branch away so it doesn't hit me in the face. She spins around, walking backwards as she talks. "On certain nights, when the moon is full... you can see her in the window!" Kiara moves her hands in front of my face, trying to be spooky.

"Get away." I push her hands away, grinning.

I've heard the story Kiara told a thousand times. She's inside that house, alone and frail, after killing her husband with a freaking axe. I guess I can't blame her for hiding away, but shouldn't she be, like, locked up?

"No, Kie, it's not funny, 'cause it's all true." I snap my head over my shoulder, peering at JJ who is apparently a firm believer. "I swear to God, guys, this is all real. I knew Hollis. Jeez!" I flinch, caught off guard by the stone statue in our path.

Pope smacks his arm gently. "Wait, you knew Hollis Crain?"

"Yeah, dude."

"Dude, how do you know Hollis Crain?"

"She was my babysitter, man." I did not know that, but I didn't know much about JJ before John B and I became friends with him. "She told me all about it. Told me the truth... about her mother and what happened in this house." I try not to roll my eyes, especially when he attempts to make his voice sound spooky and creepy-like. "So as a kid, she heard all the stories that her mother killed her father, and... she was a murderer and all. Hollis didn't believe it. Until that night."

Dun. Dun. Dun.

"What night?" I ask, daringly and in a whisper, trying to play along to this insanity.

"It all came back to her." JJ turns to the statue in the garden, staring up at it as he talks calmly. "When Hollis was six years old, she heard her parents arguing downstairs. So she goes downstairs to see her mom washing her hands in a sink... full of blood." This does not sound real, but we all listen along like we actually believe this crap. "Her mother just says that she cut her finger."

"Hey, maybe she did," I argue which earns me a glare from the boy with all the stories. "Sorry."

"The next morning, she says her father and her split up," JJ continues, still talking in a dramatic tone. "But then, Hollis noticed something. Her mother going into the parlor constantly, in and out and in and out with plastic bags. Weeks pass, and Hollis decides to use the outhouse. And as she's using it, she looks down, and there, in the outhouse, is her father's head, looking straight back at her."

Well, that's spooky.

He uses his hands to emphasise his points, making it clear that it's all true. I'm unsure whether I believe him. Don't get me wrong, I love horror stories, but some often seem too farfetched to be true. This is one of those times where JJ might be dramatising a fake story.

"God, you are so full of shit." John B, on the other hand, isn't too open to the idea that this story could be true. I'm not really surprised, he's never been one to enjoy ghost stories.

"Dude, I swear to God, man."

"Did she call the police?" Pope asks.

"She didn't have time," JJ says quickly, and that's John B's last straw. He begins to move, walking away from the group quickly. "Wait! Dude!"

"Are you sure you wanna do this? She's an axe murderer. You got a cast on, bro." I'm supposed to be telling him to take it easy, but I know he won't listen to reason.

"I don't give a shit if she's an axe murderer, JJ."

"That seems like the type of thing you should care about," I say, staring at his cast. He doesn't seem to be amused, but nobody does today. Something must be in the air── yeah, the ghost of her husband. Ha!

"We got nothin' to lose, alright?" John B looks to me, and then back to JJ, and we both nod, shutting our mouths. He turns away, moving from the group. "You comin' or what?"

I nudge JJ. "Come on, scaredy cat."

We hunch together to formulate a plan. "We need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in Denmark's letter," John B says, and we each nod in agreement.

"Okay, like, what kind of water?" I ask, knowing there are different bodies of water. "Like, pond water?"

"Bong water?" I snort out a laugh, shaking my head.

"No. I── I just said look for water, okay?"

"That's the shittiest secret message ever." Kiara pushes past John B, moving to look for this water. There's still some unresolved tension between them, and I haven't got a clue how to fix this rift between them. I don't think I can fix this rift── they need to.

"You wanna complain a little more, Kie? Nobody said it was gonna be easy." John B follows after her, heading the same direction. With those two heading in one direction, that leaves myself, Pope and JJ to search other areas.

"I'll search the northeast quadrant," Pope says, turning to us. "You search the northwest." He rushes off before we have the chance to argue about how the area we have to search is the──

"The decapitation quadrant."

I nudge JJ, stepping away to head towards the decapitation quadrant. "Hey, maybe his ghost is lurking around."

"It's not funny, Brooke."

It must not be funny if he called me Brooke. Seriously, whatever is up in the air is pissing me off. Kiara and John B aren't getting along due to this Sarah issue, and JJ is running wild on some spooky ghost story. The only one not causing any kind of trouble is Pope── it's always like that, isn't it? Pope's the good one.

We push through a couple bushes, moving towards the decapitation quadrant. I move a branch out of the way, not wanting to smack myself in the face. The branch hits against the tree, alerting the birds and terrifying the shit outta me. "Holy fuck!"

I cover my hands with my eyes, backing up before I'm attacked by a bird, and I crash into something hard. "Ah!" Hands reach out to grasp my arms, and I realise I fell into JJ── that's what's hard... Do NOT take that the wrong way. I mean his body is hard thing I fell into... okay, that doesn't sound much better. Anyway, I spin around, planting my hands on his shoulders to keep myself balanced.

"It was a bird, Sunny." JJ is holding back laughter, and I am wishing he'd get attacked by a bird.

"It was a big, vicious bird." I pat my hands on his shoulders, backing away.

"How about I walk ahead?" He moves past me, walking backwards in front of me. "You know, save you from any wild birds."

"Or gargoyles," I quip, pointing to a giant gargoyle statue that he's about to walk into. He knocks into the stone, flinching and spinning around quickly, holding his hands up defensively. I hide my laughter behind my hand, watching as JJ shakes off his fear.

"It's just a statue, JJ." He looks to me, and I smile innocently, sidestepping him. "How about I take the lead? I'll protect you from those darn statues."

"You're not funny," he utters, beginning to follow after me as I walk forward, pushing through a bush.

"I'm pretty funny."

I am pretty funny, am I not? Boost my ego, please.

"Hey, psst!" I turn my head towards John B and Kiara. They're waving to us, directing us to come over.

I rush towards them, desperately wanting to escape the decapitation quadrant. JJ follows after me, also wanting to escape being decapitated── not that he actually would lose his head.

John B, Kiara and Pope are crouched in front of a small hole in the side of the house. Wood covers the entrance, and they're trying to move it out of the way when we step over. "What's up?"

"It's the only place we haven't looked."

"Well, duh."

John B and Pope pull off the wood covering the gap in the house that seems to lead down. I never like when things lead downwards── it usually leads to something bad. It's like, nobody should go in a basement in horror movies because they would immediately die. However, they always do.

John B steps through first, ducking so he can slot into the... basement of the home. Of course we have to be in the basement. Kiara and Pope step in next, and then I push myself in with JJ behind.

JJ begins to sing.

Yep, that's right. Sing.

"Down came Mrs. Crain and cut off all our heads." I'm going to kill him and his silly rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider. "Up came the sun and dried up all the blood." He pinches my arm, surprising me which makes him laugh. Bastard.

"Can you stop?" I snap, snatching my arm back.

We move down the steps, arriving in the basement. Oh, I wish I could rewind and decide not be born because I so don't wanna be here. This basement is small, it stinks, and I feel like something is going to crawl out and kill me.

"See any water?"

A mosquito buzzes past me, attacking the skin of my arm. If I had known there would be mosquitoes, I would've worn layers. Who am I kidding, I don't have any layers. I smack my arm, squishing the stupid bug.

"Another dead end?"

JJ places a hand on the water pipes that travel along the walls of the basement. "There's not even water on the pipes."

Yes, another dead end.

"There's no water here."

"Not a dropamino."

"Know why we didn't find it?" Kiara turns to John B. I smack another mosquito, wincing because of the bug and because of what's about to come. "Bad karma," Kiara finishes, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh, my God. Here we go." John B shakes his head, looking to Kiara.

"You know, we had a good thing going." Did we? "And then you decide to rope in Barbie and now the trail's gone dry. Coincidence? Probably not."

"This is exactly why I didn't wanna tell you about Sarah. What the hell's the deal with you two?"

"Nothing." Kiara shrugs, obviously not wanting to share the details of their ex-friendship.

"Nothing?" John B scoffs, staring at her as he speaks again, "Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?" Unexpectedly, Kiara reaches her hand up and smacks John B across the face. My eyes widen, and my mouth falls open in a quiet gasp. While that comment was totally unnecessary, I didn't expect her to hit him.

"Oh, shit!"

"Stop treating me like I'm some girl that's obsessed with you instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you."

John B reaches up to touch his cheek. "Did you, uh... hit me?"

She lifts her hand, revelling a dead mosquito. "Skeeter," she claims, but I think she did want to hit him.

"Skeeter?" She nods, smiling as John B raises his own hand to smack her across the cheek── lightly but loud enough for it to hurt.

"Woah! Stop."

"Where's your proof?" Kiara tilts her head, raising her brow daringly.

He raises his hand, revealing a freaking mosquito. "Skeeter." He smiles innocently.

Well, that's John B and Kiara's tension resolved.

Kiara and John B begin smacking at one another like two children play fighting. They're laughing which is good because we so don't need any arguments in our group. We need to find this water, and because they're too wrapped up in attacking one another, Pope and I are the only ones attempting to find this water.

JJ is singing to himself while smacking away the little devils eating at his skin.

"Why are there so many mosquitoes in a basement?" I step up onto a wooden platform, smacking at my skin as a few mosquitoes attack me. "These little..."

"Tiny vampire bats, just leave me alone." JJ hits his arm, killing another. "Okay, can we leave? 'Cause I'm already itchin' to leave." I'm also itching to leave, but I have a small feeling that what we're looking for is in here.

I peer down at my feet, hitting my foot against the wooden platform I'm standing on. "Hey, Pope." Pope moves to join me, and when I hit my foot on the wood again, we realise something.

"It's hollow."

Pope moves, picking up a rock. He crouches down, dropping the rock through the gap in the wooden platform. We listen closely, ignoring our friends who laugh behind us. The rock falls, and I hear the subtle splash of water which echoes upwards.

I look to Pope, clapping my hand over his. "Nice one." See, aren't we good?

"Hey, guys." We step off the wood, moving to either end of the slabs so we can move the wood. "Help us move this."

"Okay, just... be quiet."

Yes, the last thing we want to do is wake that crazy axe murderer.

We begin to move the wood, pulling the slabs off one by one as quietly as we can. With every thump of the wood, my heart rate spikes at the idea of being caught by an axe murderer. Annoyingly, JJ has gotten to my head about all this stupid spooky story crap.

Once all the wood is moved, we find that we've uncovered a literal hole in the floor that drops to water── a well, and not a cute looking wishing well.

We shine our flashlights, looking down at the dark well. "Well, well, well."

"That was a good dad joke."

"They built this part of the house right over it."

"This is where she hid the bodies." JJ's voice is in my ears, speaking low and creepy. I smack his arm, nearly knocking the flashlight from his hand.

"Oh, dude, come on."

"No, I'm dead serious. It was never an outhouse."

"She probably doesn't even know it's here."

"So... we found water." Yes, we did.

"We're gonna need a really big rope."

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❀ soph speaks

so who's finished obx4 . . .