“This is bad,” you voiced worriedly, glancing around at the shadows forming on the walls from Eric’s flashlight.

Your footsteps began to lag, and you hurried to catch up, bumping into your best friend in the process. Shooting you a disgruntled look, Eric then smirked. “You were the one who begged me to come in here with you.”

“I didn’t exactly beg…”

“What if I said no?” Eric chimed, clearing his throat before continuing in a tone higher than his. “But what if you said yes, Eric? Was that not what happened before, Y/N?”

“The house looked more inviting on the outside.”

Eric snorted. “It looked just as terrifying. Yet here we are, and I’m okay, but you… well, you look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

Spinning around suddenly and throwing the flashlight under his chin, Eric made a grumbling noise to scare you, a shriek filling the otherwise empty corridor of the old home.

“That wasn’t funny!” you remarked once you recovered, Eric busting out with laughter.

“Your face was hilarious. What’s a scaredy-pants like you doing inside a place like this, Y/N?”

The truth was you had heard the rumours about the house down by the quarry. Once the home to an affluent family, before they came into ruins, all you could see now was the charm of the homestead. Sure, several of the weatherboard panels were rotting, and the roof had seen better days. With some tender loving care, you were convinced the quarry home could be magnificent once more.

And after admiring it from afar for the last three years of living in the area, you were compelled to enter it, at least once. You recently found the floor plans in the local library archive, and since then, the home was always on your mind.

“It’s to do with my career. You should understand why I’m pulled towards this place.”

Eric scoffed. “A place like this doesn’t need a newbie interior designer. It needs a bulldozer.”

“Nonsense!” you cried with horror, patting the wall as if to soothe any bad luck your assistant had just breathed into this place. “You can’t remove history like this.”

“Well, they’ve tried. But you know, the resident ghost won’t let them.”

“Those rumours don’t scare me, Eric.”

“They should. No grown human breaks into a place like this not respecting the stories.”

“It’s unfortunate, the history of this place,” you agreed, growing bolder when you made it safely to the second floor of the home. Glancing at Eric, you smiled sadly. “Losing their eldest son must have destroyed the owners.”

“His body was never recovered, Y/N. It was a murder case.”

You sighed, struggling to separate your thoughts from the stories you and Eric had been fed constantly since you moved to the area.

“No one has confirmed that.”

“No one can,” Eric mentioned with a spooky tone, shivering against his better judgement. “Okay, I’m starting to feel like a scaredy-cat myself.”

“It’s totally safe. I read the engineering report from six years ago. This place is as solid as a rock.”

Eric grimaced. “I don’t think I want to be inside of a rock either, Y/N. Can we hurry up and look at whatever it is that has your interest piqued and then get out of here? It’s cold, and I want to get as far as I can from this place.”

“Why are you suddenly feeling so weirded out? The house is entirely empty. It would be different if there were remaining furniture and a sense of what had been lost. Get it together, Eric.”

“How the tables have turned,” he muttered, shining his light into the next room. Pulling out your phone, you switched on your torch feature and pushed ahead, a positive murmur expelling from you.

“This is it.”

“This?” Eric echoed, looking around the room in confusion. “We broke into a haunted house just for what looks to once have been a nursery?”

Rolling your eyes, you moved over to the unique wall panelling. “This is why. Look at how exquisite this detailing is.”

“I have to admit. It is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

Running your hand gently along the ornate detailing, you sighed dreamily. “The artist behind this was phenomenal. We truly don’t have this style of panelling readily accessible today. It must have taken whoever created this several solid weeks to complete it.”

“It was months, actually,” a new voice mentioned, and you froze, slowly glancing over your shoulder.

“Who-who are you?” Eric asked in a little more than a whisper.

The newcomer was void of a reaction, his cold eyes penetrating yours. “The caretaker of this home. You’re not meant to be in here, now, are you?”

“Sorry, I just–”

“We’re leaving!” Eric cut in with a squeak, tugging on your arm. “We won’t come again!”

Watching the man as Eric dragged you to the exit of the room, you wondered why his gaze grew sombre. Yanking free from Eric, you turned back for the stairs, but he latched onto your waist.

“Don’t go back up there, Y/N!”

“He seems to know about the panelling!”

“Before he calls the cops, come on!” Eric urged, and you groaned, following Eric to the front door.

But all the way home, you couldn’t help but envision the strange man’s dark eyes.

As if he had a story worth listening to.