- Text Size +

 

Ghosts in the Attic

 

Nick

 

The second week we were in the studio sucked and it sucked hard! I spent so much time shaking my head that I thought it might fall off of my shoulders. I did try to control my eye rolls though. It was tough, but I managed. We fought a lot this past week and even though it wasn’t great, it was familiar. That’s the part I enjoyed about it, the familiarity of the five of us not always agreeing on everything just like the old days. It was different in a lot of ways, but still, when the drama was happening and the half spoken, mostly muttered insults made their way to each of our ears, we still were able to walk away content at the end of the day.

It’s like that light bulb went off in our heads and for the first time ever we were able to leave our work at work.  It sounds like such a simple thing to do, but it’s not. Ask anyone with a job that entails more than “You want fries with that?” and they’ll tell you, they take their shit home with them.  Imagine working ten to twelve hour days with the same people, fighting with them at work and then going home to live with them after work!

I know for me, I never saw this as a job. It was my life, just like I never saw these guys as anything more than my brothers. They were never co-workers, ever! But the reality of our situation is this. We are family, we do love each other, but this is a job and they are my co-workers. So, while we are in the studio that’s how I try to look at it. As four other people I have to iron out details with and agree to disagree with. Once we leave, I can give in to the other part of it. These guys were my best friends and my big brothers who I loved more than well… a lot of people.

That’s why despite what happened in the studio from one day to the next, we were all able to come home and have some fun. Tonight fun came in the form of a showing of Batman. We all wanted to see it and decided that it would be our reward at the end of the long week. It didn’t disappoint at all. In fact, it was awesome! One of the best movies I have seen in a long time. I felt like a kid again sitting there in the theater with all four of my big brothers. I was trying to think back to the last time all five of us went to a movie together. I mean we have gone to a ton of them, but in my recollection, never all five, at least within the last 15 years or so.  You know, I’ve mentioned before how much our roles have changed, but tonight  was the exception to this rule as we all kind of fell back into the roles we were always meant to play.

Kevin sat at the end of the row and Howie next to him. AJ sat beside Howie and then came Brian and I. The two of us decided to share a huge thing of popcorn and M&M’s sprinkling them into the tub and taking huge handfuls into our mouths not worrying about calories or anything else. When AJ would reach over for some we promptly slapped his hand away telling him to get his own, which after the first half hour he did. By then ours was gone and we found ourselves dipping into his.

When we got too loud, Kevin would slip us his trademark look which would result in a friendly chuck of popcorn his way, when he would look over I’d make sure to point to Howie and he would shake his head and then turn his attention back to the movie.

Good times!

That’s why when we got home; I wasn’t ready to let the night end. I felt rejuvenated and happy and nowhere near ready for bed. I knew once we all got a chance to go our own separate ways, wives would be called, and the moment would be lost. So as soon as Howie unlocked the front door I had an idea.

“Guys, let’s explore the attic!”

Kevin put on the light and we all hung up our jackets, “What?”

“The attic! None of us have been up there yet.”

“There’s no reason to go up to the attic, that’s probably why.” Howie said as he sat on one of our uncomfortable couches. That’s the thing with this place; it was lovely and big but not really all that comfortable.

“I was talking to Jason,” One of the guys that works at the studio and also the guy we rented this place from, “And he told me that the original owner of this house killed his daughter in the attic.” Okay that was totally untrue but whatever; I wanted them to buy into it and that idea just came out of nowhere.

“How would he know that?” AJ wasn't buying this story at all.

“It was his great uncle!” I glanced over at Brian in quiet disbelief as he took over.

Of course, coming from Brian, AJ suddenly seemed interested and more willing to believe…such a naïve boy…

“Yeah, he said that the guy came home drunk one night and killed his little girl and then felt so bad, he hung himself in the attic!” Wow, Brian is pretty good at this. He should write that fan fiction crap I always hear about.

“How come this is the first time you've mentioned this?” A very skeptical Kevin asked.

“He just told me today.” I jumped in. “I'm not sure when he told Brian.”

When everyone looked over at B, he had this priceless look on his face. It was the same devilish look he used to have when concocting the schemes that used to get ME into trouble so often when I was a kid. “Oh, he told me at the beginning of the week but I didn't know if I believed it or not. You know how I feel about that stuff.” He shrugged his shoulders as if he could care less, God he’s a master at this.

“How come you didn't tell me?” I acted like I was hurt he would keep such dirt from me.

“Because I knew you'd believe it and want to explore.”

“Well why wouldn't we want to explore? It might be haunted!”

“There have been stories about hauntings…” What the fuck? Now Howie was getting in on this.

“There have?” I asked interested about what was going to be coming out of his mouth next.

Howie nodded, “Well yeah…I mean I didn't want to say anything before but the reason this place was so cheap and was empty for so long is mainly because no one wanted to stay here after what happened.”

“What happened?” AJ asked sitting on the edge of his chair, literally. I thought he was going to fall right off of that thing.

“Supposedly late at night when people were sleeping, they would hear creaking coming from the attic and also hear the cries of a little girl.”

“Holy shit!” Both Brian and I said at the same exact time.

“Yeah, and this one time I guess there was a couple staying here in the dangling penis room…” We all looked over at Brian and smiled. That’s what he gets for taking the biggest room, “And I guess they saw a figure of a little girl standing over their bed. They left before the sun came up.”

“And why didn't you tell us this before?” I asked him, trying my best not to smile.

“Because I was afraid you would all say no and this place seemed perfect. I mean we did make Q come and spend the night before us.”

“You sent Q as a sacrificial lamb?” Kevin sounded amused by this.

“Yeah and he said nothing weird happened so we were good to go!”

“Nice…” I nodded, proud of Howie for being so creative.

“I have a confession to make.”

We all looked over at Kevin, “The only reason Q didn't say anything is because I told him not to.”

What the fuck? Now Kevin too! This is awesome!

“Why? What did he say to you, Kev?” I asked now more amused than anything else.

He let out a sigh and made that serious face we have all come to love so much and by love I mean mock. “He said that in the middle of the night he heard a weird creaking noise coming from the attic…” He once again stopped and let out a dejected sigh, as if he wished he wasn't confessing such a dark secret. This guy…

“So, he went up there, afraid that maybe a fan or two had gotten in.”

“Like mice or rats.” Brian said and we all burst out laughing because that’s what Kevin made it sound like, the fans had crawled in and were now living in our walls or something. “Maybe we should invest in adult sized mouse traps or those glue traps.”

Uh…

It’s clear that if Brian did write that fan fic crap, it would be a gory, suspense one. Ah well, better than Kevin humping me, I guess.

“Can I finish?” Kevin asked his cousin after the weird and disturbing thought of our fans all stuck in glue and mangled in the attic wore off.

“Sorry…”

He nodded and kept going, “When he reached the attic he said there was a rocking chair and it was going back and forth. That was probably what the creaking was all about. He checked the window to see if there was a breeze but it was locked. It was rocking on its own.”

At this point, I glanced over at AJ, the only one not in on this little joke. He was pale as a ghost. This was epically awesome! His eyes were wide and he was biting on his bottom lip. I swear to God he was going to cry! When we got him up to the attic he was going to shit his pants and I would make sure to make a nice bomb video of it for all his fans!

“What happened next?” I asked trying to sound scared. And people say I can't act, I say pfft! To them!

Kevin glanced over my way all serious and sullen. I swear I could hear the dun dun dunnnnnnnn... coming from an imaginary organ in my head. I'm sure a gopher in a tuxedo plays that organ, but that’s beside the point.

“He was just about to come back downstairs when he heard a little girl crying….”

Again I looked over at AJ who just looked scared shitless!

“He said he could swear he saw a little girl, holding a teddy bear right next to the rocking chair, but when he took a step towards her, she disappeared.”

I tell you what… even though I knew this shit was not real I had goose bumps on my arms. I was having me a good old fashioned ghostgasm! Brilliant!

“Holy crap!” Brian whispered and even made the sign of the cross.

I almost lost it right then and there. I mean I had to bite on my bottom lip and think about dead puppies otherwise it would have been all over. We had to get AJ up to that attic! If only there was a way we could conjure up a dead girl. My brain was going a mile a minute. All these different thoughts in my head as to how we were going to pull this now elaborate joke off and get AJ to not only go up to the attic but scare the crap out of him as well. I mean not that it’s overly difficult to scare AJ. Opening those Pillsbury Dough canisters scare him… but even still… This is going to be epic…I mean colossally epic….epic to the umpteenth degree of epicness…epic…

“I can’t believe this is real…I thought I was just seeing things…”

Epic beyond…what the fuck did AJ just say?

“What are you talking about?”

AJ looked over at me with his eyes big and wide, “I didn't say anything because well you all know me and I didn't want to be made fun of…”

“What happened?” This time it was Brian who looked kind of surprised.

“I saw her too.”

“You what?” I swear to God we all said that at the same time.

“I saw her too…last night. I thought I was maybe just dreaming or seeing things but what you just described…”

Kevin stood up and walked over to AJ, “A little girl holding a teddy bear?”

AJ nodded.

“Was she wearing…?”

“Pink pajamas…” AJ finished Kevin’s question.

“Wow, well I'll be damned.” Howie whispered.

I looked around the room again and saw concerned looks and that’s when it dawned on me that maybe I was the only one joking. But Brian was so quick to jump in I just kind of assumed he was working with me. Thinking about it further, I realized that he was right about this house. It did kind belong to Jason’s family, so it’s very possible that Jason did tell him a story about the place being haunted. And I could totally see all of them keeping that info away from me. Jesus, we were in a fucking real haunted house!

A new layer of goose bumps replaced the old ones. Let’s call it a double ghostgasm!

“You okay Nick?” I looked up to see them all staring at me.

“Uh…yeah, I'm fine…never better.” I lied again. If you must know I was freaking out.

“You still want to go explore the attic?” Brian asked with his head tilted, “Even though I'm not sure it’s the smartest thing to do.”

“Guys, this place might actually be haunted for real! Of course we need to go up there and check it out!!” Howie said which kind of took me by surprise.  Now Howie is brave?

We all looked over at Kevin, “haunted house, London…little girl…I'm in.” Okay, wasn't expecting that one.

“I say we do it, if nothing else to try to help her soul rest in peace.” Good lord, Brian, can you be anymore Ghost Whisperer than that?

“I don't know guys….I already saw her, I'm not anxious for a repeat performance.” AJ said shakily and I admit I was relieved. This way I could claim look it’s either an all or nothing deal. It’s too risky to leave AJ down here all alone so I think it’s best if we leave this girl in peace up in the creepy attic all alone with her creepy ghost bear… “But, I'm in too.” What the fuck? Even AJ is all Ghost Hunter International now?

That left me, the one who originally crapped this idea out of my ass. I wish I could plunge it right back up there. I so did not want to do this. I knew if I'd see this kid I'd cry like a baby, but my pride was at stake so I sucked it up and shrugged like I had made these kinds of decisions all the time.

“Let’s do it.” I finally said, with a huge ass smile on my face. “Why not?”

They all nodded and then said the words I knew were coming, “You first!” All at the same time.

Bastards!

I took a deep breath and headed up the stairs. Of course I was so focused on finding this ghost that I didn't pay much attention to the high fives and smirks going on behind me. Finally by the time I reached the top of the stairs, I realized I was all alone so I turned to see them all standing at the bottom of the stairs smiling up at me.

What the fuck just happened?

“Dude, Nick…you are so gullible!” Howie teased as they all laughed and high fived each other.

“Wait….what?” The look of confusion on my face further amused them as they continued to laugh at my expense.

“Nick, dude…come on! That was too easy!” AJ said that…AJ!  

“But…”

“But…but….” Kevin said mockingly, more laughter at my expense.

“Come down here Frack, we were just playing with you. Let’s have some ice cream!”

Did Brian just call me Frack?

I couldn't believe they pulled one over on me! I wanted to be mad, but instead I just burst out laughing.

Familiarity…

I love how if you look closely you see the word family in there.

These guys…

I walked down the stairs as the smallest hint of a creaking noise came from above my head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter End Notes:

Hope you enjoyed! I had to get suspense in here at some point! lol I am running out of ideas now so if there's anything I'm missing you would like to see concerning their stay in London, let me know & as always, thanks for reading & reviewing!