As I stepped inside the large abandoned home, the floor board beneath my foot creaked. Cringing at the unpleasant sound, I removed my foot stepping onto a different board. I peered my head inside the door frame, my eyes darting around. The inside was dark, dust coated the area, and the slight smell of mold filled my nostrils. Turning on my flashlight, I slowly walked inside. Something unknown drew me to this house, making me drag my feet inside of it. Walking through the small hallway, I noticed a table to my right.

My fingers grazed the dark oak wood that was at least thirty years old. Random objects such as candles, pictures, and small knickknacks occupied the space. While searching the table, my eyes caught on one particular picture. I picked the picture up to examine it with my flashlight; a family consisting of a mother, father, and small boy filled the photo. By first glance, I could tell that the family had been of Asian ethnicity. Smiling at the picture, I sat it back down in its original place. I shined my flashlight around the hall finding cobwebs and dust floating throughout the air.

Sighing, I was unsure of why I was here in the first place; this house seemed so inviting to me despite its old and scary appearance, and I began to wonder why it felt that way. Not having much time to think it through, a noise sounded startling me. This noise though was an unmistakable one and was the very one I heard when walking into the house.

There was someone behind me.

I cringed yet again at the unpleasant noise, feeling goose bumps begin lining my arms. My heart raced. I was going to disappear tonight by the hands of the stranger. Too afraid to turn around, I waited for whomever was behind me to move.

Agonizing silence passed between us. As I dared to glance back, a male voice spoke, pausing me in my tracks. “Holly? What are you doing here?” The voice that spoke was familiar to me . Turning around, I faced my best friend Jungkook shinning my flashlight into his eyes by accident. His arm reached up covering his face.

“It’s only you, Jungkook! You scared me,” I said lowering the flashlight from his vision.

Jungkook nodded walking closer to me. “Why are you in my old home?”

Confusion struck me as I looked from him to the picture on the table. The little boy in the picture had been him? “I’m not sure,” I honestly said scratching the back of my neck, “I felt like I needed to come inside, so I did. I don’t know why though…”

“Ah,” he said with a light chuckle, “maybe my parents wanted you to visit them?” I looked at him even more confused than before. Jungkook was my best friend, and I was well aware that his parents had died when he was young, but they wanted me to ‘visit’ them?

“At random times,” he continued, “I’ll feel like they’re calling out to me from the afterlife and telling me to come home. When I come back to this house and sit in my old room, I feel that they’re with me. Sometimes things will even move in response to questions I ask them. I know it may seem weird, but this is the only way I can communicate with them and feel that they’re still a part of me.” Walking closer to me, Jungkook wrapped me into his embrace as I took in what he was saying. “They also may have called you here to meet the girl who takes care of me best and wanted to thank her.”

A blush crept onto my cheeks and I was glad he couldn’t see my face well in the darkness. “I treat you pretty well, don’t I?” I joked.  Jungkook’s warm laughter filled the air erasing the uneasy aurora the house gave off.

Pulling back from the embrace, Jungkook took my hand in his and began leading me up the stairs. “I know it’s strange,” he began glancing back to me, “but don’t be scared.”

We began ascending the stairs. While climbing them, my foot caught something and I fell. I looked back to see what had caused me to trip only to see the outline of a man grabbing my leg. He was completely black and only took form of a human. Screaming, the man began to pull me down the stairs.

“Holly!” Jungkook screamed running towards me.

Jungkook ran as fast as he could, but whatever grabbed me was faster. I was pulled into a dark room and the last thing I saw was the door slamming in Jungkook’s face before a sharp pain went through my chest. I fell screaming clutching onto what had pierced me. I couldn’t see, but I could still feel the hot and sticky liquid pouring out of me. Whatever that thing was was definitely not Jungkook’s parents. Something had been luring him here. By why kill me? The pitch black room began to spin before my eyes shut. I was finished.