6 Chapter#06: My workmate

Jenifer came out from the office. Now she had to find Jack. She asked about Jack from a worker there. He told her that he was on the right corner at the end of hallway beside the window.

Jenifer could see a lad standing. She could only see his back. It seemed as if he was reading something. "Jack." Jenifer called him in a loud voice from behind.

Jack turned around. He was a well heighted guy, dark hair and fair color. He was wearing a wooden colored jacket and big sized spectacles.

"You?" Jenifer got shocked.

"Hey Jen!" Jack also got shocked to see her, "What a surprise?"

Jack was Jenifer's school fellow. He had a crush on her from the seventh grade. Jenifer never liked him. She always ignored him because she thought of him as a silent weird nerd.

"Don't talk about surprises because I myself am surprised." Jenifer cried.

"Surprised, how?" Jack posed.

"You're my new teammate."

"Are you asking or telling?"

"Can't this day get worse?"

"Hold on…are you the new girl who's here to write an article for her first try?"

"On the abandoned places?"

"You've got to be kidding me?"

"I'll…I'll quit."

"Somebody's backing off."

"No I'm not."

"I never said anything like that to you." Jack laughed.

"Somebody please pinch me and I'll end up with this that this is only a dream, more like a nightmare."

Jack came close to Jenifer and pinched her.

"OUCH!" cried Jenifer.

"You asked me to." howled Jack.

"I never asked you, I mean I never took your name."

"Don't put my lines on me Jen." Jack teased her.

"You're sick! Why would I take your words?"

"That's because you can never compete me."

"Stop laughing!"

"I'm not laughing. It's just my lips reacting on your condition."

"Zip it Jack!"

"Now somebody's getting mad at me."

"Uhh…you're impossible!"

"Okay now coming to the work, you should tell me if you're willing to work with me or not."

"Well I'm not willing to but I think I'm ready."

"You need to be sure."

"Yeah I'm sure because I don't see any reason to quit."

Jack took Jenifer to his office. It was a small room furnished with a study table, a cozy chair, one wall colored grey and black curtains all around. There was a laptop, some pencil holders, note pads, a printer on the table and a black sofa beside the wall. One of the walls had two big boards attached which were filled with newspaper columns, different pictures etc.

"It's so dark and cold in here." claimed Jenifer.

"That's true because I always find myself in darkness, falling deep every day I look at myself." expressed Jack.

"Who pushed you there?" posed Jenifer.

"It's someone I know and you also know well."

Jenifer knew he was talking about her. She could remember the days when she bullied him with her friends. She tried to change the topic. "Forget it. I was wondering that how are you having a separate office? I thought you guys also had small cabins, the partitions like us."

"Well, I asked Mr. Arnold to give me a separate room so that I could concentrate on my drawings and the articles too."

"So you write articles and you also draw?"

"Yeah! I am actually the editor but I am an artist too. I do the designs and most of the comics we publish are mine. Just try to keep myself busy in stuff. What about you?"

"I'm basically a journalist. I write the newspaper's columns and give the updates plus I used to arrange the papers back there where I worked before."

"So you like getting into things."

"I guess so."

"This is the reason you're called here I guess. Sir Arnold wanted someone to start writing on abandon places. He wants to start a new series of magazines which would indicate all the horror, mysterious and thrilling true stories."

Jenifer looked at the board. She started to stare at it. Jack was talking to her but she was lost staring at the board.

"Jenifer!" he held her hand.

"What?" she got her hand out of hold.

"Where were you lost?"

"What is that picture of?"

"This is a strange house. People say that the place is cursed."

"I think I've seen it somewhere."

"You would have seen it on the papers or somewhere else."

"I guess so."

"Do you know any place to write on?"

"Well…no."

"Neither do I know. I couldn't find the creepiest place for our first try."

"We'll find one today and it will be the final one." uttered Jenifer.

Jack and Jenifer spent the whole day to select the place. They couldn't select the right one. There were some places which Jack didn't like and some were not liked by Jenifer. They had great problem while searching. At last, they came to an end that they will continue the finding tomorrow. Jack noticed Jenifer many times getting lost in the picture of that house. He even asked her if she wanted to write on this one but she neglected.

The house was attracting her a lot. It seemed as if she had an old connection with that house. She tried to memorize where she had seen it but could not remember.

What is the mystery behind that house? Why is Jenifer giving her attention to it?