My sister has asked this question before. She tells me all the time how scary movies don't get to her anymore. Honestly, I agree. Maybe it's similar to why people get addicted to drugs; the more they intake, the more their bodies adjust.

The scenes of the films that are supposed to trigger the shock and fear in your brain don't activate anymore. They want more. More scares, more fear. But my sister says new horror movies aren't as scary as they used to be.

I think at one point, the haunts used to frighten me. At least a little bit. There's something about the dark hallways and the thought of the unknown. Like how the idea of Area 51 gets the conspiracist's brain in motion. But after visiting dozens on dozens of locations and not experiencing a single, real phenomenon, it just...wears off.

Especially when you're the one who controls the scares behind the camera.

I wonder what it's like for people who make horror films... Do they ever get scared when they know the bad guy is going to jump around the corner when they were the ones who staged the scene? Do the actors react in real fear to the maniac chasing them with a chainsaw after they read it in the script?

I'll admit, sometimes — sometimes — when I'm entering an empty room in the dark with Danny following me with the camera, the hairs on my arms stand on end. Sometimes my brain warns me that someone might be creeping in the corner, just waiting for me. Or the girl from The Grudge is crawling on the ceiling, her black hair dangling over me.

None of it is real though. There's no actual threat, only the ones we've planted for the viewers. And I have to say, there's a bit of pride that leaps into my throat when I read their reactions to our spooks. To know I inspired a response that strong in people who hang on to our every movement.

It's truly intoxicating.

Danny jokes that I'm drunk with power. Georgia gets it though. Hell, she loves it even more than I do. The way she carries herself on camera, how she speaks to our viewers is what you'd find in the Oxford Dictionary under the definition of star power. I suppose that's why she's the star of the show; why her face is the profile picture of the channel.

Georgia Quinn is Creep it Real.

Anyway, back to the question at hand. Is your job still scary?

Of course, I keep my entire long-winded answer to myself since there's no need for the audience to get a peek behind the curtain. No need for them to meet the wizard. So, instead, as I follow Georgia into the back bedroom of the Asher residence, I read the question from rocksun aloud and then reply.

"I think it's still scary. There's an unpredictable aspect of it that keeps me on my toes, for sure." I face Georgia more directly so my helmet cam catches her. "What do you think, Georgia?" I ask.

She hums and turns around. Her blonde hair is ghost-white in the night vision. "Oh, I think it's super terrifying still." She clutches the heart-shaped locket around her neck. "I never know what they might say or do, and that's probably the most dangerous part of my job." She takes a nervous breath, her eyes locking onto the camera of my helmet. "Speaking of, shall we start?"

Georgia spins around and looks up. I peek out of the corner of my eye to avoid moving the camera on my head. Danny is moving in closer to Georgia with the professional-grade camera in his hands. Georgia closes her eyes as if she's concentrating really hard. She whispers softly to herself, which is complete unintelligible bullshit that won't be picked up by the mic pinned on her shirt. Then, she loudly expresses to the empty room, "If there's someone else here, give us a sign."

Silence echoes through the room. I take a peek at the chat feed, which is on a holographic screen that hangs off of the helmet. It takes up the left side of my face, but it helps us communicate with the viewers efficiently. The chat moves fairly quickly even in the forced slow mode. There are currently 964 people watching according to the live count. We have the usual visitors who spew negativity such as "This is so fake" and spammed bored emotes. But for the most part, the others are regulars chatting amongst themselves on how creepy the house is.

There's a soft ding in the earpiece in my left ear. I glance up at the top of the feed to see that one of the mods started a prediction. The viewers get to vote on whether they think Georgia will make contact with a spirit. While the camera isn't on her, Georgia smirks at me and gives me a quick wink.

This room looks like it used to be for a child. In the corner, there's a small play table with a plastic chair that's matching in color. On the other wall is a bookshelf that looks to be the height of a kid. It still has various books on it, all of them covered in cobwebs and dust.

Georgia clenches her eyes shut and focuses harder. Danny moves in closer. "If there's a spirit in this room, speak to me! Show me a sign!"

As she faces the play table, one of the toy blocks tumbles off and it hits the floor with a thunk. Georgia gasps and she looks down, her helmet cam focusing on that area. In the feed, I see the chat starting to stir.

FellowMellow: Omg did you see that?

sobrice: fuckkk that moved on its own

Chattybeau: poggers

"Did you see that? Did you catch that?" Georgia asks Danny, who comes closer to her.

He laughs in surprise. "Yeah, I think so! What do you think that was?"

She turns, facing his camera so she's speaking not only to him but also to the audience. "It has to be Charlotte. This was her bedroom."

In the chat, someone tags me, asking what the story is behind the house.

"Hey, Georgia," I say, and Danny turns toward me. "What happened to the family again?"

Danny angles the camera back to her. She takes a deep breath and a somber expression crosses her face. "The Ashers were a family of five: Bernard Asher and his wife Penny and their children Louise, Trenton, and Charlotte. Apparently, things were good, and they were happy. Until one night, Bernard snapped and he murdered his wife and children in their sleep. He even called the police and pretended that intruders broke into his home and killed his family. We think that Penny and her family haunt the home to this day."

"What else makes you think it's Charlotte?" Danny asks from behind the camera. He's so focused on watching through the display. I bite my lip. It's kind of cute.

She folds her arms as if she got a chill. "There's this feeling... It's not quite a voice, but I can feel her trying to speak to me. I can feel her name..." She reaches up and touches her mouth. "It's on the tip of my tongue. But I don't hear it."

Even though I can tell when Georgia is acting — I've gained the expert ability to detect her tells after years of friendship — the viewers have no idea. And they're eating it up.

Georgia glances around the room before focusing on the table. "Charlotte?" She calls out. "Charlotte, if you're here, give us a sign."

For a minute, we stand in silence. Georgia faces the table, waiting. Danny films her the entire time. When nothing happens, she takes a tender step toward the table — and then the plastic chair goes flying and it crashes into the wall across the room. Georgia leaps back and she lets out a cry.

"Holy —" Danny says as I say, "Shit."

"Holy shit," Danny tries again after a second. "Did you see that?" He asks, moving the camera between the chair and the table. Georgia stands back with her hand pressed over her throat. I hurry over to her and touch her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" I ask. She nods while she tries to catch her breath. Her eyes are filled with tears. I hate letting the viewers get these close-ups to her face like this, but I can only hope that Seth has Danny's cam set as the primary feed for the stream. "What happened?"

All the while, in the corner of my eye, I skim the messages that are flying in through the chat.

Doomis: Is Georgia okay??

NekoRun: Wtf this is too real for me

Brewedia: Shit is she possessed or something?

"I..." Georgia attempts to say, but the words sputter. She stumbles for a moment, moving her hand around her face. "I saw her. She showed me." She looks at me — but not at me. She looks into my helmet cam. I've learned to tell who she's talking to. "I saw flashes. Images of that night. Of her father." Tears crash onto her cheeks, and she lets out a sob. "She was awake."

Suddenly, the door to the room slams shut. I jump, and Georgia screams. We all face the door. "Oh my God, is it locked?" I ask. Georgia is frozen in place, and Danny can't put the camera down. "Fuck," I mutter and hurry over to the door. I imagine that the camera is on my back as I try the handle.

It's locked.

I spin around, and the two of them are facing me with their cameras pointed in my direction. "We're locked in," I tell them.

Ainhauti: WTF

Passengo: They're not gonna die, right?

maxency: this is some deep web shit

"Here," Danny says to me. When he steps toward me, I take the camera from him. I'm still not used to the weight of it, so I try to hold it steady. I point it toward the door while Danny takes my place. First, he wiggles the handle to be sure it's really locked. Then, he slams his shoulder into it. It barely budges. To my left, Georgia cries.

"Please, Charlotte!" She cries out. "Please let us out! We aren't here to hurt you!"

Danny continues to struggle with the door and he swears. Georgia keeps pleading, so I face her instead. Tears stream down her cheeks, making her already ghostly appearance seem brighter and shiny in the night vision.

Without warning, she gasps. Her mouth hangs open and her eyes are wide and they look dead and empty.

"Georgia?" I call out but she doesn't move. A chill sweeps over my arms. In the background, I hear Danny slamming his body into the door. "Georgia!"

Slowly, she turns her head and locks dead-on with me. "We have to leave. Now."

"Why?" I ask, stepping closer. "What's wrong?"

She shakes her head. "She's... She's not the only one here. And they want to hurt us."

I whip my head to look at Danny. "Danny!" I say, the panic evident in my voice. "We have to go!"

"I'm trying!" He says tiredly, and with one final slam, the door gives.

He takes the heavy camera back, and with that, Georgia hurries out of the room. I trail behind her while Danny keeps filming behind us. When we reach the front of the house, Georgia pushes the front door open. Outside, the rain pours onto the front porch.

Georgia and I turn to face Danny and the camera. "So, I think that does it for the Asher Residence," I say with a nervous laugh. Georgia stands behind me slightly out of frame, her figure stiff. "And I think it's safe to say we won't be coming back."

As quickly as we can, we say our goodbyes and sign off. As soon as the channel goes offline and the cameras turn off, the lights in the house come on. I exhale heavily. My shoulders sag and I take the helmet off.

Behind me and Georgia, there is a short burst of applause. Seth comes in, his dirty-blond hair soaked from the rain. "Wow, Georgia," he says with a grin. "That was quite the performance."

She gives him a cheeky smile as she combs her hair with her fingers. "Thanks. I practiced a lot this week."

"I have to ask," Danny says as he puts the camera down carefully. "Did that guy really kill his family here?"

Georgia laughs and shakes her head. "God, no. I made that shit up."

"Seriously?" He asks. "That's fucked up, Georgia." Still, she's unashamed. "What if people do their research? You gave a ton of names."

She shrugs. "Let them. If anyone brings it up, we just say that we changed their names for the family's privacy. Easy peasy."

For a moment, Danny looks annoyed. To keep the peace, I step toward him, holding out my phone. "Look," I tell him. "We did so great tonight!"

"Hell yeah, we did!" Georgia shouts. "Did you see all those donations?"

Every stream, the tips and donations pour in like the heavy rain outside. They're mostly in the amount of 100 bits, which is the equivalent of one dollar, but some users are a bit more generous.

Sk8rtex is one of them. He's a long-time moderator and top donor of the channel. He tends to drop huge tips at the end of the stream, and tonight was no exception with a whopping 2500 bits!

Tonight, though, he asked us to consider going to Grimwood Manor before it's torn down in three weeks. As in the Grimwood, the haunted estate that was on Buzzfeed's top ten most haunted places in the United States.

That's a no from me, Dog.

I glance around at the three of them, and I wonder if they're thinking the same thing. "What are we gonna tell Tex?" I ask them. "When we ditch Grimwood?"

Georgia smirks. "Why don't we do it?"

"What? Are you serious?"

She shrugs. "Why not? It's supposed to be scary as shit — the most haunted estate in the Midwest, if I'm correct, which I always am."

"Yes," I nod. "But what about our golden rule? The one about staying away from places that could be actually haunted?"

She tilts her head with a smirk. "I thought you didn't believe in that sort of thing, Claire?"

"I don't!"

"Then it shouldn't matter, right?"

I'm used to Georgia being stubborn, but I don't get why she's pushing so hard on this. We both agreed from the start that staying away from notoriously haunted places is for the best. What if we can't live up to the hype?

Behind me, Seth seems to hold similar hesitation. He doesn't believe any more than I do, but he's the one who composes the majority of our sets. I can't imagine him being too eager about designing a haunt on such a large estate.

"Tex has done so much for us," Danny says after a minute. "I think we owe it to the guy to do the haunt. And I think Georgia's right. It could be fun."

Georgia grins. "Yes! See!" She turns to me. "Come on, Claire! Imagine what we can do there. We can make history!"

For as long as I've known her, it's been next to impossible to say no to her. And right now is no exception. I'm weak. So weak. Even though I don't want to be.

"Fine," I say, and she lets out an excited squeal.

Please don't let this be the end of us.

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