GHOST HOUSE.

Chapter: 5.

******

“Feels so good!" Nancy exclaimed the moment she stepped out of the shower. All three girls were present in the room while the boys got a different room downstairs.

They haven't really had time to talk about their experience at the Gate but they have plenty of time to talk about that, tonight is for finding food and sleeping as much as they can, then tomorrow its party all the way until their two weeks is spent, then it's bye-bye SinCity.

"Your uncle is rich! Look at the size of this house, it's massively huge, like six months is too small to go around this entire place!" Admiration laced Betty's words and Nora laughed.

"Well, welcome to Sincity." She winked at them.

"Would you be sleeping here with us?" Nancy inquired as there were only two beds available, although she and her girlfriend would obviously share one bed yet she felt the need to ask.

"No, this is my uncle's house, I have my own room, which means, you two lovebirds have the room to yourselves." A glint of mischief in her eyes when she smiled.

"We should go clubbing tonight!" Betty announced. "The boys just texted me that."

"No, not tonight, I need to meet with my uncle but tomorrow we can go wherever we want, tell the boys that," Nora replied and got up to leave.

"Goodnight Norah!" Nancy rolled into bed pulling her girlfriend down with her.

"Goodnight you two." Nora waved and was out of the room before they could ask her about food.

******

Back in the boys' room, they had just finished unpacking and settling into the huge bedroom. The red walls filled the room with dread, one that doesn't sit well with Jamie, as if painting the walls red wasn't creepy enough, they had spread the beds with red sheets, the floor held a tick red rug, the only black colored furniture in the room was the sofas and the table.

He walked towards his bed and sat slumped in it. His head swiveled slowly taking into detail every single thing in the room. The room held three beds for each of them and he groaned remembering he got paired with Mike and Tommy, the thoughts of both boys diverted his troubled mind and he found himself facing them with a frown on his face.

"I can't believe I have to share the same room with you two horndogs," he voiced his thoughts, and they cracked up.

"Dude, chill, the room is too big, and look how far the beds are from each other, trust me, we won't bother you," Mike replied with his usual cocky smirk.

"And you won't hear a sound." Tommy chirped and Jamie groaned aloud in agony.

"Ugh, I hate you guys!" If only, he could never hate them, they were his best friends, he has known them since high school but the girls, they had met on their first day of college. Remembering his previous concern he asked, this time with a serious tone. "But, guys. . .seriously, don't you think it's weird that the room is this big and the beds this farther apart? It's like they are trying to prevent something from happening." Jamie watched as the other two spun around to check out the room.

"Man, the color is so creepy," Tommy spoke a little softly this time, he has only just noticed the blood-red painted walls.

"My thoughts exactly." Jamie agreed.

"The bigger the better." Mike cut through their wandering minds and they were forced to stare at him as if he had gone completely mad.

"Come again?" Jamie asked, stunned at the boy's calmness.

"The bigger the better. Come on, Jamie, do you have any idea how much we would have to spend if we were to get a hotel? I think this right here-" he threw his hands around in demonstration. "This right here is fate smiling down on us broke college kids so we can have the perfect break." Tommy seems to agree with his boyfriend since his face was starting to light up and his eyes sparkled with delight as he went to hug him.

"That's right, babe." He kissed his lips. "Take a shower with me." He whispered into Mike's ears, his hands slowly working their way down to cup Mike's perfect ass.

"I thought you would never ask." Mike followed him into the bathroom much to Jamie's growls of dismay, when he heard them moaning, he simply shook his head and got out of bed. He needed to take a closer look at this massively expensive mansion they were in.

He reached the door and twisted the knob, the door creaked and slowly he pulled it open to reveal a bright hallway, taking his time, he commits the place into memory, from the red carpet that leads all the way to who knows where down to the many paintings which lined both sides of the walls.

For a house this big, it was surprisingly quiet, too quiet. Uncle Charlie mustn't be the only one who lives here. The curious man thought. He stumbled to his feet and quickly caught himself before he fell. Taking a closer look at what had nearly tripped him, he saw four flights of stairs, he hadn't noticed that since his eyes were transfixed on those weird paintings on the walls. One of which caught his attention was the painting of a man thrusting into a bull with blood like rain dripping down on both man and bull. It was the creepiest thing he had ever seen. Carefully, he mounts the short stairs and soon he was met with a very luxurious living room. The space was as big as his entire house back in Farmcity.

They hadn't seen this since Uncle Charlie and Nora had both led them into the house through a different door when they had arrived.

The living room was spacious, but weirdly enough it was in the same state as their bedroom, everything present there was in red and that was when it sunk in, the whole walls were painted red.

Could it be that the entire building is red? Heartbeats thundering in his ears. The thought troubled him greatly. He has never seen a house this strange-looking before and if it wasn't pitch black he would have rushed outside to get a better view of the entire building.

Were they blindfolded when they got in?

Where did they even park their car?

How many entrances are there?

None of this makes sense as he thought about them.

"This is going to be a long vacation." He whispered into the empty space and then made a turn for his bedroom. He had only walked a few steps when he heard a knock on a door not quite far from where he stood or so he thought until he started towards the sound of that knock.

With a racing heart, he moved cautiously, his brain telling him to ignore the knock and just head-on back to their room but he wouldn't have that. He traced the sound of the soft knock to a much darker hallway only one chandelier hung at the center of the ceiling, its dim glow giving the space a certain 'keep-out' feel. It was a very long hall to have just one light.

The feeling he got from that place sent chills crawling down his spine and his stomach suddenly rumbled from distress, a sudden need to go to the toilet overbearing the farther he walked into that hallway.

It was cold down here, the air thin, his arms coming to wrap around him, seeking warmth.

He didn't see who had knocked but he did see the door open and close so he knew just which door he needed. He made it and stood in front of that door, with his ear pressing into the smooth brown wood, trying to catch a sound.

"Hello, Uncle Charlie."

That voice, he would recognize it from anywhere.

"Nora, my beautiful girl. How are you?" The man rushed to his feet to greet the girl with a warm hug as if he hasn't seen her in ages.

"I'm doing well, uncle, how is everyone? I haven't seen anyone since we arrived."

"They are doing great, they visited the grannies, they will be back tomorrow." The man poured her a drink which she took with gratitude.

"Thank you, Uncle." She smiled and took a sip of her cold beverage.

"Are your friends settled in?" He asked.

And Jamie jumped back at the sound of the man. There was something about the way he asked that question, the feeling unsettling, he just couldn't place it.

"Yes, they are." Her voice held a certain smoothness as she spoke. "I saw Lidia going to serve them dinner." She smiled at her uncle and the man returned her smile with a cold one, his lips didn't even move. "Thank you so much for having us over."

"Anytime and anything for my little niece." At the sound of their laughter, Jamie knew it was time to run. Silently, he ran out of there and into the living room. This part of the house felt different, even the air was breathable, unlike that ungodly place he had just returned from. They all need to hold a serious conversation concerning his feelings, he hoped they don't shove it aside as him being his usual paranoid self.

"You should get some sleep too. We have a long day tomorrow." Charlie followed the girl to the door and opened it for her.

"Good night, Uncle."

He waved the girl goodbye and watched her exit his private studies.

******

"Dude," Both boys shouted, startled the moment Jamie burst into the room, tripped, and fell facedown panting heavily as if he was being chased by death. "Where were you?" Tommy asked, untangling himself from Mike and getting out of bed.

"I-I just took a walk." Jamie crawled his way to his bed, once he reached it, he grabbed the sheets and climbed into bed.

"Don't you want dinner?" Tommy asked coming to stand before the man. "Some old lady brought in dinner." He nudged him by the side but Jamie didn't respond. He just couldn't get that voice out of his head, the apathy in his words, the stiffness in his tone, it was as if a different person had taken over the man who came to greet and helped them into the Gates that evening.

"I think we should leave here tomorrow," Jamie whispered. His heart was racing, breathing heavy, he couldn't stand this dreadful feeling anymore.

"Are you joking?" Mike rolled over to his side so he now was face to face with Jamie. "You have got to be kidding, right?" He asked.

"I am serious, we really should leave."

"Why? We just got here." Tommy sat beside him, he touched Jamie and he flinched.

"Something is not right with this place, I don't feel comfortable here anymore, I want us to leave." He gazed pleadingly into Tommy's eyes and the man looked at him confused.

"Can we talk about this in the morning, you know with the girls around and all?" Tommy reasoned.

"Yes," Jamie whispered.

"Do you want to sleep with us tonight? There is enough space." Mike worried as he eyed his friend. He seems a lot shaken, but from what?

"No, I wouldn't want to be sandwiched between you two." He tried to laugh but failed miserably as the laughter sounded like a broken record.

"Good night." Both Mike and Tommy called out at once.

Jamie tried to sleep but he knew there was no use, it would take a miracle to get his mind to settle long enough for him to fall asleep.

A few minutes later, he heard light snoring coming from Tommy and he knew they had both fallen asleep. He envied them at that particular moment. His stomach chose that moment to grumble and he pulled his blanket off and climbed out of bed in search of food.

They left him his own food on the only dish sitting on the table. He rushed over to it and grabbed it, throwing aside the cover and picking a spoon, he ate to his stomach's content.

He gobbled half of the bottled water then he felt his eyes suddenly become heavy.

"Sleep. . ." He yawned and made his way to the bed.

That was fast.

Who knew he needed just food to fall asleep.

He didn't remember getting to bed but he did remember dropping.

******

An older woman stood with two men as she whispered in hushed tones, the thing that she had witnessed. Her eyes held hatred for what she had seen and her mouth itched to speak it out loud.

"I am telling you, something is not right with those two, they need to be watched like a hawk!"

"What have you seen?" The first man by her right asked.

"They were both half-naked when I saw them, the other was leaning into one and was kissing his shoulder blades, I saw this with my own eyes. It was horrible, I couldn't get it out of my head and it deprived me of sleep."

"I will send out Men to stand watch at their door and I promise you we will keep our eyes on them, Lady Ann." The other man told her and at this news, she smiled.

"Go to Stan and he will accompany you to the House so you can receive your reward." Happily, she walked away to go find the one that would lead her to her prize.

She has done a good deed.

"What do you think, Leech?" The first man asked his second.

"We do as we have said, if indeed her suspensions are correct then we have our hands full." The other man nodded in understanding.

"Let us get men to guard their door."

And as both boys slept, men stood watch at the door.