Who's Afraid of the Dark?

[Audrey]

The door opened with a rather ominous creak. Why do creepy places always have to have creaky doors? Do ghosts not know what WD-40 is? Well of course they don't, ghosts don't exist right?... Right. With a cautious step, the timid Stephanie stepped into the mansion and groped the wall for a lightswitch. About two feet down the wall, she found one after kicking some stuff on the floor around and flicked it, illuminating the magnificent chandelier in the center of the room. With some light, it was clear that this place hadn't seen occupants in a long long time. The carpet leading up the grand staircase was rotting away, the ugly rose pattern wallpaper peeling off, and dust and stray bits of trash were strewn about the floor. At least there weren't any bums. That would've been awkward to deal with.

Stephanie had come to this derelict old mansion upon overhearing some people back at the Beedlestone saying there had been noises coming from the mansion like screams, gunshots, and wailing and that the place was haunted by the ghosts of the former occupants. Steph did some research before coming here and found the place was called Wilson Manor and that the family met their untimely demise when Mr. Wilson went crazy and the lot of them just vanished. They tried to give the manor to a relative, but he was in jail and his child had gone missing several months ago. Probably one of the many lowlife's here in Jump. It was sad that even people from good family's had turned to crime in these hard times.

Stephanie of course didn't believe in ghosts and was pretty sure the noises were someone trying to play Scooby Doo and scare people away from the mansion, so she set it upon herself to investigate and get to the bottom of this mystery. It didn't seem like the main hall had anything wrong with it apart from a serious need of some redecoration, so Stephanie stepped on through the trash covered floor and up the staircase. If the rumors were to be believed, the source of the screams were the master bedroom where Mr. Wilson supposedly sent his wife to some demonic realm of some kind. As she ascended the steps, her legs began to quiver. Oh, why did she have to go and watch that horror flick at the hotel the other night?

[Deleted]

Ecto took a personal interest in the rumours of a haunted house in Jump City. In his seven years of death, he had never once encountered another ghost. He hadn't even believed in them prior to becoming one himself. The house was wrecked in the perfect way. Peeling wallpaper, rotting carpets, mold creeping up the walls... He could see why people assumed ghosts. He wasn't one to leave much of a mess himself. Maybe he would if he trapped himself in one house for eternity. He'd go insane. Then again, he was pretty sure all ghosts were already insane. Restless spirits, such a euphemism. Really they were just bats hit-crazy dead people. That sounded bad, though. No mother wants to tell her kids that. Despite its ragged appearance, the house didn't seem to bear any ghosts other than himself. He lurked though, knowing since he'd heard of this haunted house, so would others. People were so nosy-- or curious, however you decided to put it. Either way, he knew this was a golden opportunity.  He floated straight up through the ceiling to the master bedroom, completely invisible. It was dark in here. It was nice, letting him have full control over his powers. It made him feel so... well, not alive, exactly. He could hear the front door creak open. Yes! He decided to let go of his physical form, appearing now as a fog in the room. No longer in one singular place, he could watch from every angle. Was this really creepy enough, though? There was an old, flowery box on the dresser... a jewelry box? He moved it, making it float steadily in the center of the room. The box was empty. That was fine. Might be even creepier if the person about to find this room ever got to opening it. Dark room? Check. Dust? Check. Huge mess? Check. Ghostly fog? Hell yeah. Weird floating box? Check. Showtime.

[Audrey]

With a full foot in the door, Stephanie flicked on the lightswitch to the Master Bedroom and immediately noticed the floating box in the center. Her facial expression went from vague fear to disappointment... not that anyone could actually see it under her mask, but even just from her posture it was evident her fear levels were diminishing instead of augmenting. "Really. This is the best they have, the old Oooooh, spooky levitation triiiick?" she sighed stepping all the way into the room. She admired the old feel of the place, she had a little piece of her heart that went out to historical monuments. The room even had a custom made wood mannequin fitted to the shape of what was likely Mr. Wilson. It wasn't wearing anything, but it was still neat. Stepping through the room to look inside the closet, she pushed the jewelry box playfully away from her as she passed by it. Even if it wasn't piano wire holding the thing up, one in four metas had some manner of levitation powers. This haunting was easily just some really bored orphan meta at this point. She threw open the closet with a flourish, revealing a dazzling set of 20's and 30's era suits and dresses that the museum in town would just gobble up if there weren't mothballs and holes all through them.

No sign of a perpetrator to this floating jewelry box like she was expecting though. Perhaps there was a magician in her midst and this thing was just a lingering spell. She'd find the prankster yet. She was just about to leave when she felt something underneath her foot. Giving a look down to the floor, she found a circle of ash in the corner near the mannequin. Based on the damaged floorboards, it seems there was a perfectly circular ring of fire ignited in this room. How peculiar. Maybe some weird good luck thing "Or the mysterious remains of the portal to a demonic dimension OooOoOooOOOoh!" she mumbled to herself giggling.

Standing back up, she looked at the jewelry box again. She had to admit it was tempting to open the thing, but if it is magician work as she thought, there was no doubt some awful prank or spell waiting inside. She'd take a pass on that one. Satisfied the place was thoroughly looked at, she left the room and headed down the hall to the room of the late Mr. Wilson Jr.

[Deleted]

He watched as his target turned and left the room. Angrily, he slammed the box into the ground where is was crushed with a loud cracking sound. The fog that was the essence of Ecto rolled out the door, following her to the next room. It kept up with her, and was soon right on her heels. The cold that accompanied it would be unmistakable. He drifted into the room right before she did, not yet moving anything, just watching her. This room was dustier. The cobwebs in the corners were thick and hung loosely from the ceiling. The bed was even left unmade. That bothered Ecto. Come on, just make your damn bed.

[Audrey]

Stephanie turned on the light and gasped at the greatest terror she'd seen in the house so far. AN UNMADE BED. You'd think they'd be neater in the 1920's or whenever the people occupied this house were from. Giving a sigh and finding no "spooky" traps in the room, she figured she'd clean up a bit. She stepped over to the bed and grabbed the sheets at two ends. With a great heave, she fluffed out the comforter and jumped back a bit when the sheets underneath were revealed. Stained with the stains of nearly 100 years, was a pool of red. Steph was a little shocked at the revelation, but turned sly when she noticed the red was a little purple-ish. She leaned in towards the stain and gave a sniff and immediately retreated backwards holding her nose. "Uggggggh, 100 year old spilled wine! What a slob, he probably slept in this stuff!" she complained out loud, waving the smell away with her hand. With that settled, she left the dusty old comforter on the ground and looked at the rest of the room. There was another one of those mannequins, this one a bit more young adult looking. What was with these people and their mannequins? The empty wooden eyes of them were starting to give Stephanie the creeps.

A particular thing she noticed was the pictures in this room were left upright. In the master bedroom, the pictures were all pushed downward as if to hide what was in them. These though were upright and visible without having to pick them up. They displayed a rather dapper young man dressed in a WWI uniform posing proudly. In one of the pictures, he was kissing a rather young gal in a sundress and floppy hat like Audrey Hepburn wore in her movies. Stephanie loved those floppy hats. They were so superfluous and yet just looked so neat. She almost felt a bit of a twinge of jealously looking at the charming photo of the young man dipping her into a kiss. Sure she was only 14, but Steph always had fantasies about her Prince Charming coming along.

She had to admit she kind of was starting to like Robin... despite him running around in a speedo all the time, but of course... he had to go and disappear. Thanks to stupid Batman.  Eh, she couldn't stay mad at the Dark Knight. Sure, he kind of maybe sort of influenced her dad to become a supervillain and yeah maybe he let that Jason Todd guy die or whatever, but Gotham probably would be a lot worse without him. She had to admit if he ever walked up to her and said 'Ms. Brown you're gonna be the new Robin' she'd say yes a million times. Wouldn't that be awesome? The first female Robin... Not that THAT'd ever happen in a thousand years. Can't have a girl be the BOY wonder can you? She'd probably get shot or something anyway. 'Heh, and then reveal I faked my death and come back to become Batgirl. That'd be funny.'

[Deleted]

This girl seemed pretty clueless. She didn't notice the fog, she ignored the box, she seemed convinced that this was all the practical joke of some meta kid who was bored that day. Okay, so maybe that was true. But what she didn't realize was that he really is a ghost. Ha. In her face. Your so mature. Look at her, how old is she, even? a familiar and unwelcome voice asked in his mind. Old enough to deal with potential nightmares, young enough not to die of a heart attack. Those were his rules when picking out victims. He rippled the wine subtly as he checked the rest of the room to see what he could ghostify.  You're so full of it. Look, she's not scared at all. What kind of ghost are you? Last time I checked, there weren't rules on How To Be A Ghost. What do you want me to do, jump out and yell BOO? I think we can all agree that that would be more entertaining than this. Ecto noticed the way she looked at the mannequins, and would have face-palmed if not for his current lack of hands. And face. Maybe he could fog-palm. Or Face-fog. Or... really it would just be fog-fog. Wow, that was a really pointless train of thought. He reached his energy out to the mannequin and was about to possess it when it felt something else already there. He was repelled, and the realization gave him a sinking feeling in the pit of his... fog. Ha! Thwarted.

[Audrey]

Stephanie snapped out of dreamland just in time to catch the wine ripple a little. Seeing this she let out a very over the top gasp clearly intended to be sarcastic. "The mold in the wine is so old... IT'S COME TO LIFE TO EAT US! AAHHHHHH!" She yelled waving her hands in a silly manner and fake running towards the door. She pushed the door out with some force to leave, only for it let out a resounding 'thunk' about halfway through it's revolution and come flying back right into her face, knocking her clean onto the dirty carpet floor. She sat up as she rubbed her head and looked at the door slowly reopening from it's momentum. "Playing wise now are we? We'll see what you think about my fist then," she cried throwing herself to her feet and running to the door. She quickly threw it closed behind her and threw a punch at whatever stopped the door. Her fist met with a the chunk of wood that served as the torso of the mannequin from the master bedroom. She paused for a second as her fist remained slammed into the chest of the mannequin, before pulling it away and waving it in the air. "OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW," she wailed, pulling the glove off her hand and revealing the bright red swelling on her pale white hand. "That's not even fair posing the mannequin there to-... Wait a minute," she looked at the mannequin and realized it moved ever so slightly closer to her when she wasn't looking.

She paused for a moment and blinked, finding the hands of the mannequin were now going for her neck. "O-Okay, joke's over, it's not funny anymore," she stuttered, stepping backwards away from the mannequin only to bump into one behind her shaped like a woman. She let out a small screech and stepped back closer to a position where she could keep an eye on both of them at once. "Just don't blink Steph. It's just like Doctor Who, keep them in your sight and slowly walk away..." she said to herself as she edged along the wall towards the entrance. When she suddenly felt something on her shoulder, she nervously turned and saw the third mannequin from the son's room grabbing her shoulder. She let a couple breaths out before proceeding to scream as she ran as fast she could towards the entrance. By some manner of luck, she slipped past the mannequins and began to descend the stairs, but slipped on one and tumbled the rest of the way down. As she lay on dust, she prayed The Doctor would show up to save her... Or at least maybe a cute boy or something.