Chapter 2: One Of These Nights

The sky had grown a soft gray by the time Katrina reached her street.

She approached a street sign, 'Kingwood Ln.' written in bold white letters.

Leaves crunched beneath her boots as she entered the neighborhood,

searching for her house number. She always made sure to come up from the left side of the neighborhood. Something never sat right with her about the house next door, the way the front door leaned off its hinges, the cracked windows and cobwebs surrounding the outside. She couldn't imagine what the inside could possibly look like.

She continued humming as she approached her house. The white exterior lightly spotted with soft orange light coming from the few jack 'o lanterns sitting on the front porch.

As she was about to climb up the small set of stairs, she froze.

A strange noise came from the house next door, followed by grunting.

Without even thinking, her body began to move towards the noise.

It didn't even cross her mind that something dangerous could be lurking around the corner.

Carefully stepping onto the front yard, she searched for any signs of what the noise could be.

She gasped as the front porch light turned on, giving off more light than she had expected.

Katrina looked down to see what looked like a figure kneeling down over something, followed by more grunting.

"Hello?" She called out.

The figure turned around and stood for a good minute before walking towards her.

Her eyes widened as she froze. All she could do was watch until it got closer.

The figure came into view, looking to be a boy about her age.

"Can I help you?" he said in a curious tone.

Katrina relaxed a bit, letting out a slight sigh of relief.

The boy had a pale, thin face. His frilly black hair almost covered his alluring brown eyes.

"Sorry, I just thought I heard a noise."

"Oh, that was probably just me. Sorry." The boy walked back over to the yard,

He knelt over a large box tipped on its side and began to pick up the spilled items.

Katrina stood and watched for a good minute before speaking.

"D- Do you need help with that?" She asked as she approached him.

He held two glass vases and paused for a few seconds before turning to her,

"Uh sure. Yeah, that would be great." The boy replied with a smile.

She kneeled down beside him and began putting random items inside the large box.

"Thank you," the boy muttered to her.

"Yeah, no problem, I just-" Katrina paused for a moment as she looked at him.

"Wait a minute, do you live here?" She asked, pointing to the run down exterior of the house.

"Uh, yeah. Family and I just moved in here a few weeks ago."

"Huh." She gazed over the house, imagining how anybody would want to live there.

"Why, is something wrong with it?"

"Well, no one's lived in this house for years, decades even.

It's rumored to be haunted."

"Really?" He gazed over the house along with her.

"Well, no ghosts have bothered us. Family probably drove them out with their insanity." The boy laughed as he stretched his hand out to her, "I'm Adrian, by the way."

"Katrina."

"Huh. Nice name." he said as they exchanged a handshake.

She smiled as she let out a breathy laugh.

A small gust of wind whistled through the trees, creating a chill through the air.

Katrina shivered as she wrapped her fur jacket tightly around her.

She flinched at a loud tapping coming from the window upstairs,

They both turned their heads to see a dark figure standing at the glass.

Adrian cursed under his breath. "Yeah. So, I have to… go." He sighed as he hurried and picked the box before running to the front porch. "Thank you again for your help. Uh, maybe I'll see you around?"

"Oh, yeah. Definitely." She gave a slight wave as she watched him enter the dark house, the door creaked loudly as it shut behind him.