The first ghost he ever saw was smilling.
It was the kind of smile that streched too far.
They locked him in here just before sunset.
The abandoned house on Halina Town road had been empty for years. Rotting wood, shattered windows, graffiti layered over older graffiti like scars that never healed. The kind of place teenagers dared eachother to enter but never stay long enough.
Ita stated
Because he didnt have a choice
"Have fun sleeping here"lucas had laughed before slamming the door. The other boys followed, their footstepd retreating down as they laugh before it slowly vanished.
Silence.
Ita stood in the dark hallways, fists clenched, heart pounding so loud it felt like the walls could hear it. He was used to locked doors because his room at home had one and his stepdad like to used it
"You need to think" his stepdad would say that gentle voice he used around other people . The voice that make neighbours call him "such a kind man" the same mouth that whispered filth when no one else could hear.
At school, Ita was the quiet kid. At home, he was the problem. Thats what his mother said.
But the house on Halina Town is different.
It was listening
The air felt thick, wrong, like breathing through a wet cloth
The first sound wasnt a creak or whisper.
It was breathing.
Slow.
Close.
Ita froze.
"I know u can see me" something said .
The voice came from the staircase .
He didnt want to look but curiousity got the better of him so he did look anyway .
At first, it looked like a boy about his age, pale , thin, standing halfway up the stair but the proportions were off, arm too long ,finger bending backward slightly at the knuckles, it head tilted, slow and curios.
And its eyes.
There was nothing inside them.
Just depth and hunger.
Ita stumbled back "t-this is not real" he whispered.
The boy mouth widened. Not a smile but a split.
"We are very real"
The hallways grew crowded. They peeled from the walls like wet paint sliding down. Face bulged from the ceiling, hand clawed from the floowboard. A woman with no lower jaw crawled across .
They werent suprised.
They were excited.
"You can see us" the stair boy said
Ita run.
Through a hallway into the kitchen. Up stair while fingers scraped his anckles and something giggled behind him. The door slamed shut. The handle rattled instantly. The wood bulge inward as something heavy struck it from the other side.
"Ita" they whispered together
Cold finger slid through the crack and wraooed around his ankle.
He screamed "HELP!"
The door began to splinter.
The ghost pressed harder, their shape bleeding through the wood like ink soaking paper.
"You opened your eyes" the stair boy hissed "now let us open yo-"
BOOM
The door shook violently.
Not from inside.
From the hallway.
BOOM.
" ITA!"
a familiar voice.
Human.
Angry.
The ghost hesitated.
BOOM.
The door burst inward. Flying off.
Standing there,breathing hard, its was Kiel. Anger in his eyes.
Kiel look around wildly
"What are they doing to you?!"
The room look empty to kael.
No stair boy.
No crawling woman.
No writhing shadows.
Just ita on the floor scrambling backward like he was surrounded.
Kiel's face darkened "those jerks locked you in here, didnt they?"
Behind him, the hallway twisted with figures only Ita could see. The stair boy stood righ ober kiel's shoulder. Grinning inches from his ears
"It cant see us" it whispered.
The ghost began circling.
Ita shook his head frantically.
"kiel! Run!"
Kiel misheard everything.he stepped in the room instead.
"I knew lucas was messing with you. I heard them talking" he clenched his fists "i thought they were in here"
The ghost drifted closer,curios.
One reached towards kiel's face.
Its hand passed through him harmlessly. It recoiled slightly.
"Oh" the stair boy murmured
"Not this one"
They weren't interested in Kiel.
They were interested in Ita.
The shadows lunged.
Ita felt icy hand grab his shoulder, his arm, his throat. He choked.
Kiel saw nothin, only ita gasping,clawing the air.
"Hey!HEY!" kiel grabbed Ita by the collar " snap out of it!ITA!"
The stair boy leaned close to Ita face
"You are the one who sees"
Kiel wrapped both arm around Ita and pulled him foward. " We're leaving"
The ghost shrieked, the sound slicing through ita skull.
They swarmed him.
But everytine kiel dragged him another step toward the door. The ghost flickered, like smoke disturbed by wind.
The stair boy smiled faltered.
Kiel couldnt see them.
But somehow he disrupted them.
They stumbke down the hallway. The front door was still locked. Kiel didnt hesitate.
He backed away and rammed his shoulder into it
Once.
Behind them, the ghost surged.
Twice.
Cold hand clawed at Ita back.
Three time.
The door burst open.
Night air flooded in
Kiel dragged Ita out onto the lawn.
Ita collapsed in the grass, gasping.
The house stood quiet again.
Still.
Empty.
Kiel crouched down "what the was that? Were you having a panic attack? Did they do something to you??"
Ita stared at the doorway.
In the darkness inside. The stair boy stoof just beyond the threshold.
Smilling.
Watching.
Waiting.
It raised one long finger.
And pointed.
Not at Ita.
At Kiel
Ita breath hiched.
Kiel followed his gaze but saw nothing.
"What" kiel asked
From inside the house something knocked slowly against the wall.
Once.
Kiel frowned "its probably just a wind".
Ita didnt answer.
Because the stair boy wasnt looking at the house anymore.
It was looking past kiel.
Toward the road.
And more shape were gathering in the dark behind them.