Haunted

The inn was old, but it had been well looked after and now served as a small museum. Artifacts relating to the town's past were exhibited in glass cabinets and mannequins lined the walls donning period costumes, but it was the heavy atmosphere that caught Lily’s attention.

“I don’t like this place,” Lily stated as they took a few photos, placing her hand on one of the cabinets and pulling it away as an icy feeling crept over her skin.

“How come?” Jay inquired.

“There’s something dark... secretive almost.”

There wasn’t much that would stop Lily from exploring a location, but the feeling she got was intense and she didn’t know if it was a good idea to open herself up to that. It wasn’t easy to block out the negative entities and the process was draining, especially within a structure that held so much history.

“Perhaps you should give this lockdown a miss,” Jay suggested as they walked the grounds.

“This could be the only opportunity I get to hear the stories that this place has to tell...”

“I get it,” Jay stated, “Just promise me that you’ll be extra careful and that you’ll tell me if you need to get out, or take a break.”

“I promise.”

They soon headed back to the hotel and Lily dropped onto the sofa in the room where Jay was staying, opening her laptop to help edit some of the snaps he’d taken. She had just finished editing her fifth photo, when someone knocked on the door and Jay went to answer it.

“Did you get the pictures you needed?” Zak inquired as he followed Jay inside, perching on the arm of the sofa and glancing down at what Lily was doing.

“We got everything we needed,” Jay told him.

“How did the place feel?”

“Dark,” Lily stated quietly, “Something isn’t right there.”

“Not right, how?”

“It’s like it has secrets... it’s seen things and the energy has stayed.”

They spent the next hour discussing the lockdown and then headed over to the inn for interviews, but it wasn’t long before the spirits began to make themselves known. Stood in the main room of the house, Lily listened as the tour guide they were interviewing spoke and glanced over at the doorway as a little girl peered around the wooden frame curiously.

Not wanting to interrupt, Lily smiled and slipped away as the little girl disappeared. The distant sound of giggling led her to a room on the second floor and she headed inside, finding the girl standing by the window.

‘What’s your name?’ Lily asked as she approached the girl, crouching down and picking up an old framed photo.

‘Sarah.’

‘It’s nice to meet you, Sarah, my name is Lily.’

Movement behind her soon caught her attention and she turned around, gasping when she found herself face to face with another spirit.