Avah froze in front of Jack. He could see the white of her eyes in his flashlight, he focused on her as she stood statue still, her narrowing as she took in everything down the vacant hall in scope of her light. Very slowly, she turned her head to look at Jack, and whispered,
“Did you hear that?” She mouthed,
“Ya,” he mouthed back, although he was lying. He had been so focused on Avah that he hadn’t heard a thing. He didn’t believe in ghosts, anyways. The bigger issue here was that he did not, in fact, like the dark. He thought he hid it well, however Avah was more suspicious of his hidden fear than she let on. She caught him staring up at the shadowy buildings she had been pushing him to investigate with her. He was her best pal, and she certainly was not going into these places alone.
“Let’s keep moving deeper,” she stepped hesitantly forward, her boots quiet on the tiled hallway floor.
Jack wondered when these adventures would end. If he was being honest with himself, he was sick of going into dark places, losing precious hours of sleep to be hauled around dark spooky corridors and vacant houses that smelled like mold and were becoming increasingly freezing in the autumn nights. What had started out as a sort of dare, or joke, was becoming an obsession for Avah. He had seen it in her the first night they had all broken into the neighborhood haunt, drunk and exhilarated with the thrill of the first snow.
…. TUNE IN FOR THE FINISHED PRODUCT LATER THIS WEEK!
Pen of the Prophet 