So. Nolan's grandma's haunted house.

The three are currently in the car, Nolan in the back as usual, and Sunshine turns on the car lights because her camera light doesn't work, like, at all.

"Yeah, this is really safe," Kat huffs. "Nolan, are we almost there?"

He looks pretty serious and is more dressed up than usual. His hair is slicked back, not hanging in front of his face, and he's wearing a checkered collared shirt underneath his usual black leather jacket. Fancy, for him.

"Uh, yeah, it's right up here," he responds, squinting through the window into the darkness of the street.

"Do you even know where we're going Nolan?" Sunshine asks.

"Uhhh..."

Kat interrupts. "I think — it's his grandma's house, I think he knows where she lives. Like this? Go up here?"

"Gravel road," Sunshine commentates. "Creepy street light.."

"You know what? Hey, give him the camera, let him be the camera guy."

"O...kay..?"

"Cause you're prettier, we'll put you on camera then."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that.." She looks unsure for once, because she hasn't ever really given her prized camera to anyone but her mother. But she trusts Nolan, right?

"Hold it steady," Kat orders, more or less light-hearted. "You've got this, Nolan."

"I'm gonna do my best," he sighs.

After a little more confusion and Nolan giving terrible directions, they finally manage to pull up to the driveway of the home.

"That's a cute little house!" Kat exclaims.

"It doesn't look haunted at all," Sunshine snorts.

"Well... I know." Nolan scratches his head, observing the greenery around them.

"Okay, so, where's grandma?" Kat puts the car in park.

"Oh, she went away for a while."

"Oh — did she die?!" Kat looks back at him incredulously. "Did you kill your grandma?"

"Well — I — wouldn't tell you if I had. She's in Cabo now. She goes once every five years."

Kat grunts as all three get out of the car. The house is a dainty little place, white wood panels flowing down and an old school-shaped roof. The porch has bushes spilling through, and yet there's a very homey feeling about the place.

Sunshine glances at her mother through the darkness, who flashes a grin. "Don't worry, I have a flashlight."

"Do you," she says, rolling her eyes. "You're like a Boy Scout."

"Look how prepared I am!" Kat rolls the flashlight through her fingers, clicking it on.

"Well I mean," Nolan speaks up, "there are lights in the house."

"Oh," Kat wheezes, "I forgot about that. On haunted shows they.."

Both teens stared at her.

"Okay." She purses her lips and makes her way toward the porch.

Nolan trails after them, observing the house as if he hasn't been here in years. Maybe he hasn't. It would make sense, after all, because his directions are just terrible. Either that, or.. he just gives terrible directions. "If you think it's gonna be more... appealing.. we can keep the lights off, but, honestly, like, that's — not — a good idea."

"Cause it's haunted!" her mother exclaims.

"So this is, uh—" Nolan pinches his gaze as he looks through the swathing shadows blanketed over the home. "This is my grandmother's house."

"This is a little sketch." Kat steps on a twig and Sunshine nearly runs back to the car.

"Be careful with the vegetation. It's alive," Nolan jokes.

"Woah — grandma needs to do yard work." Kat takes a white flower in her hand and Sunshine steps up to the trees

"If you knew my grandma you'd understand." Nolan waved the camera around the porch. "I mean, I love the lady, but she's a little— uh— peculiar."

Sunshine stood next to the front door and stared at Nolan, waiting for him to open the door. The place was nice, she could admit, but deep inside her stomach she felt something writhing. Something bad. It put her off guard and she wasn't exactly sure how to feel. She instead just rolled her eyes at Nolan's comment and tried to push away her paranoia.

He clicked the key in the door and Kat playfully knocked on the door. "Anyone home? The ghosts can't let us in?"

Nolan didn't respond and instead opened the door to the house, stumbling around the darkness. "Alright," he muttered, squinting.

"Do you want me to get that for you there?" Sunshine snorted, "you can't multitask the keys and the...?"

Kat laughed somewhere father off as Sunshine turned the light on.

"Sorry, I'm trying to, uh..." Nolan scratched the back of his head and frowned. Light spilled over the living room, opening the house to everyone's eyes.

"This is so cute!" Kat exclaimed, glancing around at the pictures hanging on the walls.

"Yeah, no, it's a— it's a nice house." Nolan genuinely smiles, as if he's reliving memories from years before. Sunshine smiles at that, too.

Her mother pokes her chin. "It doesn't seem very, um, like your traditional— haunted— facade." She waves her hands above her head, as if she was stretching out a rainbow.

"Yeah! Well... you know what, make you— make yourselves at home, um, we can— have some— do you guys like snacks?" Nolan staggers awkwardly over words, brows pressing together in slight worry and embarrassment. "Did you guys bring snacks?"

The two of them look at Nolan. "Grandma doesn't have food?" Kat asks, while Sunshine questions the same thing solemnly.

"Well, um, she has food, but— I— well, see, there's this thing." Sunshine grunts and Kat smiles, a mix of amused and confused. "Uh, I tried once to take some of her food when I was six years old—"

Mother and daughter exchange a glance. "This is gonna be a long story," Sunshine groans.

"And she didn't like it," he finishes."

The two laugh at him and amuse the idea of Nolan's grandmother kicking him out of the house. They eventually turn all of the lights on and keep poking around the house— it's set up nice and quaint, honestly. When walking in, the house opens up to a living room and spreads into a nice, old-smelling kitchen. Down the hall are a few bedrooms and a bathroom that they haven't yet explored.

Sunshine feels something there. It isn't anything good, either. That being said, she takes the camera from Nolan and slumps her shoulders, growing relaxed at the familiar feel of the camera in her hands.

"Okay guys," she states, "so we have—" Clattering from the cupboards, "—moved into the kitchen and... Nolan's in there trying to set up some cameras or something, and mom is raiding the kitchen of food."

Kat walks around the island, holding a Diet Coke in one hand and munching on a protein bar in the other.

In the other room, Nolan positions his camera, tilting his head to make sure it can span through the entire living room. He furrows his eyebrows, pushing his dark hair back. "How do you tell if this is... on?" he calls back, swiveling his head toward the kitchen.

When no response comes, he wipes his hand over his mouth and suddenly stiffens, pointing a finger toward the kitchen. "Hey, hey, hey! What did I say— what did I say about the food? Nobody—" Nolan gives up and grunts, standing and quickly walking over to the kitchen. "Guys, come on.. please don't touch anything.."

"She doesn't have anything at all," Sunshine drawls when Nolan joins them in the kitchen, "she's foodless— why's there so many chickens in here, seriously, does your grandma have a set?" She scrutinizes the hanging chicken paintings and fragile decorations dotting an old, brown dresser.

Kat pulls out Cheetos. "Here."

"More... chip bags."

"Guys," Nolan stresses, running a hand through his hair. He stands, unamused, watching Kat open the bag. "Don't do it." She pulls out a Cheeto and pops it in her mouth. Nolan presses his lips together and sighs, closing his eyes.

Sunshine only laughs and Kat appears to not care.

"Alright, fine, you know what? No, that's.." Nolan sits in a chair next to the chicken dresser. "...that's fine, just eat then, that's.. You know." He tries to shrug it off, nonchalant, but clearly cares very much. "Like I care about, you know, making sure that my grandmother has things that she can eat. You know, she's frail, y'know, she's frail and she needs her carbs."

"Her Cheetos?" Sunshine snorts, unconvinced.

"Show us this house," Kat says, turning to wash her hands. Nolan doesn't move, just stares straight forward, ignoring both of them.

"Come on!" Sunshine exclaims, walking toward him.

"Well, this is the kitchen," he says, continuing to stare straight forward.

"So enthused."

"Hey, it's gonna be a great time, okay?" Nolan stands up. "You ever had a slumber party before?"

"Oo, a pillow fight," Kat snickers.

"Over here," Nolan continues seriously, pointing inside a room tucked in the corner of the kitchen, "this is the washer. And the dryer. This is where we do the laundry."

Sunshine turns her head to stare.

"This is our dining room table." He gently pulls out a chair, glancing at both of them to make sure they're listening. He slaps the chair, "What happy meals we've had here, I'll tell you what."

Sunshine snorts and exchanges an amused glance with her mother. "So thorough."

Nolan turns around and glances into the living room. "Uh, living room." He leads the two to a white door with a hanging metal star on the top, opening it up. "This is the closet, clothes closet."

He begins to walk down the dark hallway, which stops Sunshine in her tracks. She eventually continues to follow, feeling slightly more comforted by being in the middle.

"So, uh, even though we're not consuming food, or beverages—" Nolan looks darkly into the camera but his expression loosens, "—other than tap water, that's fine. If you do need to relieve yourself, uh, bathroom is here." He switched on the light to another small white room, containing a sink, a toilet next to it, and a shower in the back.

"It's very... white.." Sunshine observes.

"It has all the necessities," Nolan goes on, then loudly clears his throat when she and Kat linger.

"I'm assuming that means we continue on?"

"Yes." He leads them to the end of the hallway, eyeing a door to the left. "So this is the den. You know why I love the den? I don't really know." There are cat pictures and posters hanging on the walls, several plump chairs and couches laid around on the floor. "It's just cozy."

"Mmhm..." Sunshine cocks a brow at all the clatter lying around on the ground, spilling out of the closet. "This is kind of, um, messy."

"A little bit," Kat agrees from the door.

"Hey." Nolan stares at her, but continues on his rambling, "yeah, I used to— used to play with this little barn right here." Sunshine glances down at the wooden toy farm below their feet, a fence surrounding it.

Sunshine quips, "Maybe that's where your grandma's chicken obsession comes from."

Nolan mutters something unintelligible.

"Okay," Kat says.

Sunshine rolls her eyes and exits the room. "We're walking away from you."

"Anyway," Nolan continues, pushing past them to lead, "Uh, so, this is the guest bedroom." He opens the last door on the left side of the hallway, revealing a stark white room with a white bed, old hanging pictures, and a white dresser. "As you can see, it's, uh.."

"It's cute," Kat finishes. "I like it."

"Pretty," he says. "This is where I used to stay."

Sunshine observes the mirror, squinting. There doesn't seem to be anything that bad here, or at least in her field of vision. Maybe Nolan's grandma's house isn't haunted after all.

"Yeah.. I think it's responsible for a lot of my masculinity." Now, Sunshine can tell he's being sarcastic, only because he knows he's a pussy. He shrugs his black leather jacket over his shoulders, "you know, the strong, silent type that I..." He trails off and turns to the last door on the right side of the hallway.

"Agreed," Sunshine mutters while following.

"So, this is my grandmother's bedroom. But," He raises a hand, staring at both of them, "in the interest of privacy, I don't think that we need—" Sunshine opens the door, "—Okay. No, please—" He gives up.

"I feel like we need to explore the whole house if we're gonna really do this right," Sunshine says in an amused sing-song voice, turning the light on and panning her camera around. It has more mild colors than the continuous white of the other rooms, but keeps the same old lady decor.

"I guess I can't argue with you there," Nolan grudgingly agrees.

"Pretty cute," Kat adds, and Sunshine finds it hilarious that her mother's been able to go this long without really talking or making fun of Nolan.

Sunshine sways by the tan curtains and eyes the headboard of the bed, "It's very... nice."

"Very nice," Kat nods.

"Your grandma can decorate."

"Well, yeah." Nolan shrugs and slides open the bathroom door, "Now. I don't know if anything's gonna happen, but if it does, it'll happen while you're around. That's my theory."

"Good theory," Sunshine says, then turns the camera to show her rolling her eyes.

"Strange things," Nolan goes on, "slamming doors... my grandma's a total, uh, a total—"

"Where'd my mom go?" Sunshine asks, because when she looks around Kat isn't there. Her heart begins to pump heavily in her chest and it feels like the blood is draining out of her body. Memories of the exorcism come to mind, flashes of fangs and claws, thunder rolling up above and lightning streaking in the clouded skies. No, no, please, please...

"Uh." Nolan doesn't notice her slight panicking and whips his head from side to side, narrowing his eyes. "Hey, Kat?" They're back in the hallway now, and no answer comes.

"Mom?" Sunshine's voice comes out high-pitched and slightly broken.

"Kat?" Nolan calls again, poking his head into the guest bedroom. Sunshine looks down the hall, past the bathroom and into the living room. Something is wrong. She was right behind us! Attempting to soothe her nerves, "She's probably in the kitchen eating more Cheetos."

Nolan beguns to walk that way. Suddenly, Kat jumps out from behind the wall and screams, "Bah!" Nolan rears back and nearly throws Sunshine to the ground, hands flinging into the air. He gasps in shock and ignores both women's laughing, biting his lip in annoyance. Kat claps her hand and jumps around like a little kid.

Sunshine doesn't mention the terror she'd been feeling earlier. Better not.

"Hey!" he finally exclaims after catching his breath, following Kat into the middle of the kitchen and living room, "no, that's not funny, come on, like if that—" His hands drop to his sides and he pushes his brows together, clearly very agitated. "Kat, how are we supposed to find a real ghost if you're pretending to be a ghost? That's not—" He waves his hands by his head. "That doesn't make any sense."

Kat grins and claps again, laughing.

"You two, come on," he orders.

"What are we doing?" Sunshine laughs. "Are you gonna tell us?" Kat site down on the couch and she joins her mother, eyeing Nolan.

"Tell you what," he mutters.

"Tell us," she insists.

"Tell you what?" He pulls up a chair and watches both of them.

"A history of the house!" Kat begs, "you said it's haunted!"

"It is haunted," he nods. Nolan leans his shoulders forward and rests his hands on top of his legs. "Probably."

"It's all you," Kat sighs.

"I'm telling you, guys, you don't need to— just—" Nolan leans back and scratches his nose, sighing. "Okay, you wanna hear it?" He pushes a pillow to his side and crosses his legs. "You wanna hear it? Alright." Nolan points to both of them. "But when you hear it, you can't unhear it."

Sunshine can't tell if he's trying to be funny or not. If so, it isn't working. "Okay," she responds, just hoping he gets on with it.

"Okay," he finally continues, "So the year is 1947." Nolan crosses his fingers and averts his gaze between the two women. "It's a nice town, people like each other, white picket fences. You know, all the good 50s stuff. And there's this guy, his name— his name's Frederic Loren. Right. And.."

Sunshine and Kat exchange a glance. This already sounds... great.

Nolan looks away, thinking hard. "He's— he's a nice guy, he's a little bit of an oddball, he has an odd sense of humor, and he has this wife... that nobody ever sees. And— um— you guys don't want to hear this." He scrunches up his nose and shifts in the chair, waving a hand at them. "It's— it's gross."

"Well, now we kind a have to..." Kat trials off.

Sunshine nods. "You already started, you have to finish."

He sighs heavily and dramatically. Oh, brother.. "Alright, so, basically, one day, somebody— somebody anonymously reported the police that they saw this Frederic around gentlemen dragging a body into his house, or what they thought might be a body."

"Into the house," Kat attempts to confirm.

Nolan sucks his teeth. "Uh-huh."

"Wait, this house?"

His frown deepens. "Yeah."

"Okay..."

"Now, this is— this is a nice town," he goes on, "everybody knows each other, everybody likes Frederic Loren. Right, so, the police don't take it seriously. A couple days later, somebody else goes missing. So they have to. So, uh, they send a deputy out and, uh, y'know, they don't hear back from him. Time goes by and—" Nolan clears his throat, "the sheriff gets worried, so he sends out a, uh, he sends out another deputy that doesn't do any better.

He realizes there's something going on. So, he, uh, he drives himself and a shotgun to the house and knocks on the door. A thin voice says to him, y'know, 'Come in!' Yeah? And he does come in, and there's a guy in there, a tall, lanky guy, wearing a white mask and coveralls."

"What...?" Sunshine mutters.

"And uh, he's— he's got these, uh, deputies strung up from the ceiling, and he's got a blowtorch in his hands, and he's burning the fat off of these guys into a..." Nolan spreads his hands out. "Into a pot, right—" He laughs, "this is Frederic Loren in his own house, boiling people into pots and he, and he turns to the sheriff and he goes, 'You should come back later, and I will be done.'

Frederic Loren gets arrested. He's laughing the whole time they take him to the vehicle, the sheriff calls for backup, and they search the house and they find a trapdoor to these, uh, underground rooms, like catacombs or something, and uh, there's a very particular layout of these rooms. There's this skin at the back, like a human pelt, pinned up like a trophy, and in each room there's a vat of fat.

Now, it's been a while, and one would assume because all of these bats have solidified— bacon grease— the exception of a couple in the back. Which are empty. So the police look around and they find— they find a thin, very thin, little corpse. No arms. No legs. Next to an empty vat. Next to the vat as well, there's a little note, written presumably by Frederic Loren. It just says, 'Drink up, my dear, you're looking thin. Drink the whole thing.'"

Nolan shifts in his seat and suddenly jerks back into— well, normal him, not story-telling him, and shrugs. "So yeah, that's the tale. You're welcome."

Sunshine's mouth is dropped open. "Ew." She repeats this several times as she walks into the kitchen to— what, wash her hands? Nolan rolls his eyes and points his thumb to her.

"What kind of Luiseach are you? Come on," he criticizes.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew!"

"I'm gonna go get another snack," Kat grunts.

Well. That went great.

yes yes yes i know it's been forever i'm a terrible human being and a terrible writer but it's here and i was finally able to finish. for some reason the beginning of this chapter was really, super hard for me and i just pushed my way past it i guess.

not my best work but it'll suffice. thx for my 3 readers much appreciated hope ur not too angry at me