With a slight push, the door opened with a loud creeeeeek

Jac had made her way inside the abandoned house, as she searched around she took great care to not make a single peep. A flick of her flashlight revealed sheets of cobwebs and dust that blanketed the rooms, a scene that made her scrunch her brow. Beyond that were furniture that felt like relics of days gone by. Not that this was of any importance to her.

"C'mon!" Jac spoke in a harsh whisper. "We get the next clue, then we can get outta here. Stat!"

"A-xhoo"

Lagging far behind her was Aiden, whose sinuses had flared up through the roof.

"I don't like this place. It gives me the creeps..."

"Well, the sooner we can find that paper, the sooner we can get going!"

"Aren't we kinda like, trespassing? Someone might still own this joint..."

Jac was mostly wrapped up in her search, the words of her friend bouncing off of her. She was more determined than ever to beat this game they've gotten swept up in.. in her mind, there was no time to get concerned over something silly like this place being supposedly haunted. Unfortunately for the shrunken Wile, Aiden wasn't able to do anything but focus on the eeriness of the house as a whole. When he wasn't clattering his teeth and firmly rooted in wherever he chose to just... stand on, he was sneezing up a storm from all the dust that Jac had kicked up.

"What are you doing? Help me out! Look around in any of the other rooms!"

"Uh, yeah! I'm on it!"

Aiden was actually grateful to have gotten away from that dust cloud. The nearest entrance carried him to a large living room with shelving that was stacked to the brim with old books. On the furthest corner, there was a grand piano that appeared to be playing on its own.

Wait...

That was probably a prank the guys who set up the scavenger hunt made.

'It's a joke. No doubt about that one. Yep.'

Just then, Aiden spotted something sticking out from the top of the piano- a small white sheet of paper. The Wile was just about to lift the lid when he heard a voice reverberating from behind him. It felt like it was breathing down his neck.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you~!"

Aiden dropped the piano lid and squealed at the top of his lungs. The older gentleman from behind covered his ears. "What in tar nation's!!! Get a hold of yourself, young man!!"

Aiden spun around and came face to face with the fellow who came up from behind, a time worn man who greeted him by tipping his black cowboy hat. The latter took a moment to recover his piercing eardrums before speaking.

"Mornin' to ya, laddy." He spoke in a ruffled yet strong voice, "I wasn't expecting any guests this fine hour."

Aiden let out a long breath, holding his hand to his chest to calm his thumping heart. "Oh thank goodness. I had no idea anyone lived here."

"Who? Me? Naw.. I wouldn't dream of it. I just own this plot of land here and I come over to check in on it every now and again."

"Uh! I'm sorry for barging in like this-"

"No need for that now. I could use some company. Gets kinda lonely for me when I'm here."

At that moment the room was lit with a bright orange glow that shone from the large windows that took up half of the room. The sunrise looked marvelous from this view; Aiden couldn't help but stare at it in wonder for a bit.

"It sure is pretty from up these hills" the older man said.

"I had no idea we were in this house for so long..."

"Don't worry about it. You're welcome to stay as long as you like."

Aiden was scanning the yard outside when he spotted a small skinny tree from a distance. The bark appeared to have been charred from a fire, and not a single leaf adorned its branches. Aiden's eyes narrowed to a pencil slit, and he started to shiver at the tip of his shoulders. The landowner took notice of this.

"While you're here, would you like for me to give you a rundown of the history of this place? I promise I won't take up too much of your time."

That snapped Aiden back into focus. "Uhh.. sure? I don't see why not."

The older gentleman gave out a long sigh through his nose before he proceeded. "Well this estate used to be owned by a very wealthy man. A cruel and wicked man who had used his money to carry out all sorts of fornication and what have you. Folks who worked for him would tell strange accounts of him harboring evil spirits... But I'm getting ahead of myself."

He looked down at the piano, its tune continuing to play. "One day he brought home a woman who looked to be the prime of her youth. She was a sweetheart, her beauty was unmatched both in her appearance and her personality. He made her into the model wife- she cooked and cleaned and did everything for his needs. She loved him and he made himself to be the model man for her, only for her to discover that he was still craving other women behind her back. Before long, she confronted him about it. And that's when he--"

The man paused as he shook his head and pinched his eyes. Aiden watched this and drooped somewhat, he sensed where this was going. The landowner turned his head to the sullen tree before he finally spoke.

"That tree right there? That was where the man did the unthinkable before turning the rifle on himself."

The Wile widened his eyes when he heard that revelation, his stare never parting from the tree in question as the old man continued his tale.

"That tree had lost all its luster and it hasn't grown any leaves since then. Rumors spread of the man having housed as many as 108 unclean spirits within him during his life.. who have now manifested this entire area, spreading their influence through the roots. But who can say if any of that holds any truth to it or not." The man then gave one more sigh. "Pardon me for taking up your time with this sad story."

"Oh? Oh no. It was... eye opening. To say the least. It gives me more of a good reason to want to get out of here as soon as I can."

"Do you believe in spirits?"

"I... wish I didn't."

The man had to laugh at that reaction. "Well, that's an honest answer! You seem to be mighty keen to them, that's for sure! All right then, that's fine by me if you want to get going. But before you do..."

The man then picked up the piece of paper that had flung out of the piano before and handed it to the young Wile. "You'll be needing this, right?"

Aiden had completely forgotten about what he had came for at that exact moment, but he was grateful to see the poorly handwritten sticky note when it was given.

"Oh! Yeah. Thank you!"

"I'd be careful with following the instructions for that if I were you."

"Huh?"

"Aiden!! What the hell!?"

Aiden whipped around to see Jac covered in a fine coat of dust bunnies, and she looked kind of beat on top of that.

"Wha? Wha happened?" He replied.

"I heard you scream!"

"I did?!"

"Yeah! Like a little girl!"

"Hey! And... uhhh.. I didn't just now? The last time was about... maybe, ten minutes ago?"

"No it wasn't! You had just come in here like a minute ago and then you screamed enough to scare the ghosts away!"

Aiden took notice of what she had said, and it had just occurred to him at that point that the room was dark in the dead of night.

"W-wait.... what time is it?"

"It's half past midnight!"

Aiden's face colored white momentarily as he was trying to wrap his head around those words. He looked down on his right hand to make sure that he hadn't been hallucinating. Sure enough...

"You found it! Thank you so much Aiden!"

"Y-yeah."

Jac pulled the paper from his hands and held the flashlight onto it.

‘Your next clue is in the graveyard next to Bartleby's tombstone’

Jac let out a very long groan.

"I'm tired. We'll pick this up another time. Let's--"

Aiden was ignoring much of what was being said, for he was transfixed to what he was seeing when he turned his head to the side where the old man had stood. Or rather, what he doesn't see. He retraced the man's steps in his mind multiple times and followed him as he made his way towards the windows and the side of the grand piano. Dust had covered much of the floor with a blanket of gray, disturbed by the shoe prints of the two visitors as they snooped around. However, no footprints were left where the man stood...

"Aiden? Are you ok...?"

Aiden remained silent.

Jac took on a more comforting approach once she took this as an answer. "I'm sorry I brought you along into this. Let's go home okay?"

"Y...yeah..."

Jac then gave Aiden a pat on the back and helped him make their way out. As soon as they closed the front door behind them, the piano, which had continuously played its tune on a loop, had finally stopped.

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