Fwoosh! The airplane had finally landed. It feels like we were on it forever, but it had only been a few hours. We still have a 20 minute drive to our destination. I could have just appeared there, but I decided to stay with my friends, Cass and Lara. I've been friends with Cass ever since I saved her from the frozen river. Lara, on the other hand is a ghost hunter and she isn't too fond of my kind. We met her in Edinburg, Scotland. She's gotten somewhat nicer to me since we first met her, but I still don’t trust her that much. After the drive, we  finally arrive to the town of Parsippany. We’re here on account of Cass’s parent’s television show, The Inspecters. There’s supposedly a haunted house here that they are going to investigate, and we’re coming with them.

First, we head to the hotel to stay for the night. We got two rooms, one for Cass’s parents and one for Cass and Lara. The rooms are small, a big contrast from large room from Edinburgh, which was the size of a large apartment. It doesn’t matter much to me though. After all, I am an incorporeal being!

“I can’t believe how tired I am!” Cass yawned out.

“Hah! You get tired!” I joked. “Being a ghost has its perks!”

“Don’t forget that I can reap you,” she retorted. I rolled my eyes at her and smiled.

After a little bit, the two go to sleep. I decide to go out and get some fresh air. Even if I can’t breathe it, it’s still nice to be around. There is a thick blanket of fog covering the town, and there is a strong chill in the air. After looking around for a while, I see a big house that is seemingly abandoned. It looks old a rickety. It looks like a house for a horror movie. It’s definitely the house we came here for. I didn’t go in, because I wanted to wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow is when Cass, Lara, and me are going to explore it. I stare at the house for a bit, then walk away. I look around the town for some time, and hear a clap of thunder. Then there’s the patter of raindrops hitting the ground and the smell of petrichor is in the air.

All through the night, rain slammed down on the windows and thunder rumbled. The storm continued into the day. Both Cass and Lara were asleep until there was a clap of thunder that sounded like a bomb going off.  That woke them right up.

“What was that!” yelled Lara. I didn’t expect Lara to be the one to freak out. It’s more something Cass would do.

“Calm down. It was just a clap of thunder,” I pointed out.  “No need to freak out.”

“Easy for you to say, Jacob. Imagine being asleep and there being a loud noise that wakes you up. You’d freak out too.” This time, it was Cass who spoke.

“It’s not my fault I’m dead and that the dead aren’t capable of sleeping!” I rebutted. “Anyway, when are we heading to the house?” The camera crew won’t arrive until a few days from now, so they aren’t shooting the episode yet, but we decided to check out the house before they started.

“Probably an hour or so,” responded Cass. “We still need to eat and get ready.” I wait and an hour passes by. Once they are finally ready, we head off.

Like last night, there is a thick, gray fog and it’s raining like somebody turned a giant sink on in the sky. We make our way to the house, despite this. After a little bit of walking, we get there. We slowly step up the stairs to the front door. Creak! The door opens up and we step in.

BANG! As soon as we enter, the door bangs shut completely by itself! “It won’t open!” Cass exclaimed, tugging on the knob. There’s definitely a ghost here. A powerful one.

“In the time I’ve been hunting ghosts, I’ve never seen one powerful enough to keep doors shut,” Lara spoke. “We have to destroy it, or else it may kill us.” This means we get to cross the Veil.

The Veil is what separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. Both Cass and Lara can cross it because they had a near-death experience. I know Cass almost drowned in a frozen river, as I was the one who saved her, but I don’t know what happened to Lara. While behind the Veil, you can see ghosts and their final moments before their death. Some ghosts are powerful enough that they aren’t in the loop of their death, or they are connected to a living person, like me. I am connected to Cass, because I saved her.

While behind the Veil, you can also reap ghosts. This causes them to disappear to who-knows-where. All you need is to make them look in a mirror or something reflective, say a phrase, and pull out their life, or the black string in their chest. I don’t remember how the phrase goes, but hopefully either Cass or Lara do, because we're definitely going to have to get rid of this ghost.

Cass and Lara pull back the Veil, and we are now in the world of ghosts. There’s not much here, but it’s the only place we can find the ghost. We start to look around.

“We should stay together because if we don’t, it will probably pick us off one by one,” said Lara, as we walk around. Suddenly, there is a very loud bang. Definitely not the thunder. We quickly head to the source of it. On our way there, an entire bookshelf almost falls on us. We keep on rushing, though, because we want to get this over with as soon as possible. When we get there, hovere, there is nothing there. There is writing on the wall however. It looks like it was burned in. It said, “Find me in the attic,” so that’s where we go next.

There are a total of four stories in the house including the attic, so we have to go up two flights of stairs to get up to the third floor, then we have to find the attic stairs. The first two stairs are easy, as they are right next to where we walked in. Then we have to search the ceiling on the third floor for the attic entrance. After around 15 minutes, we find a cord hanging from the ceiling. It’s the cord to open the attic. Cass tugs on the cord.

Creaak! The attic opens up. We slowly ascend the ladder that dropped down. It is dark, except for a large, faintly glowing shape. The ghost. It looks like nothing we’ve ever seen. It has no more human features. It must be ancient. “Hello?” Cass called out. At first it does nothing. Then, it lets out a loud roar and turns around.

When it turns around, it swings a massive arm at us and we get knocked down. Well, Cass and I are knocked down. Lara, on the other hand, dodged it. “Show off,” I muttered. She’s about to pull out her mirror pendant when a vase comes crashing into her head, knocking her out cold.

“What just happened!” shouted Cass.

“I- I think that it has some sort of telekinetic powers or something,” I replied. “It makes sense, considering it locked us in and caused a bookshelf to fall.” The next thing I know, there is a  flying towards my face.

Boom! “What was that!” I yelped, waking up. I’m still the attic, he ghost seems to be gone, and  Lara is awake.

“Calm down. It was just a clap of thunder. No need to freak out.” Lara, said, imitating me.

“Ha ha. Very funny.” I responded. “What happened while I was unconscious? Also, how did I get unconscious? I thought that couldn’t happen to me.”

“Well, I destroyed the ghost, and as you can see, Lara’s awake again. I guess since we were behind the Veil, you were able to be unconscious, which kinda makes sense, since it’s where ghosts are supposed to live. Or, you can’t sleep, but you can be knocked out. ” said Cass. “Anyway, we’ve been waiting for you to get up so we could leave.”

“Alright. So let’s get going then.” We head back down the the front door, and thankfully, it’s open again. It’s still rainy and cold out, but it’s not as bad as it was when we first got here. We walk through the neighborhood and get back to the hotel, where Cass’s parents are waiting for us. Well, waiting for Cass and Lara. They can’t see me.

“How was the house?” her father asked.

“It was spooky, I guess. Definitely haunted.” Cass replied.

“Great!” her mother responded. She’s a big fan of spooky stuff.

Over the next few days, we explore the town while her parents do the episode. When they are all done, we get to the airport and head back home.