Alabaster Hymns

The tones of the piano reverberated throughout alabaster hallways. Chipping paint covered the walls and kudzu began to take back what had once belonged to nature. The castle was all but falling apart, having become rather decrepit over the years. The grand chandelier that once hung from the ceiling was now shattered into copious pieces on the ground. Wind rushed through the castle, blowing the dead, colorful leaves along the floorboards, circling through the rooms until the leaves came to a fluttering halt in the ballroom. There sat Neo.

Neo watched uninterestingly as his fingers danced along the keys of the grand piano that he had just finished tuning. The piano was a deep, dark cherrywood color that had long since begun to fade, the wood splintered ever-so-slightly here and there and yet the keys seemed to play as if they had been protected from the elements by magic or something. Despite being rather ravished, the old piano still played just as it had before having been abandoned and forgotten. Neo closed his eyes as the tune seem to grow softer and the tempo changed for a short while, slowing down before picking back up again. Once he opened his eyes, he was staring at sheet music which had been yellowed with age. The papers had been torn and nibbled on by rats around the edges and yet they always seemed to stop their dinner before reaching any bars containing the notes of the piece. That much, Neo was thankful for.

Neo had not come to the castle by accident. No, it was ingrained into his blood, ingrained into his memory from stories told by his grandmother of her time growing up in the once lavish home. The castle in and of itself was his birthright. Birthright or curse, Neo hadn’t exactly decided which yet. According to his grandmother, it was more along the lines of being a curse. Yet, all that he knew was his soul was all but bound to this disheveled house, he couldn’t bear to part with it now that he found it still standing.

The castle, as his grandmother had put it, was built out of greed and the desires of her great-grandfather. As grandma Edith put it, her great-grandfather, George, was a hateful man who had hurt multiple people despite the fact she wouldn’t explain exactly how that had come to be. Neo understood her hesitance and never pushed her to reveal the things she wanted to remain a secret. It was all but clear that his grandmother wanted the castle to be just a faded memory of the past. Just a memory of what their family had once been. Whether it was to protect him or herself, Neo had no clue… at least until he got to the castle, he hadn’t had a clue.

Neo had come across the old family estate three years ago when he was merely twenty-two years old. When he had first gotten ahold of the old family documents in his parents’ attic, he was merely hoping to visit the old grounds of the castle and leave a bouquet of flowers as a way of honoring his family and their memory. But once Neo climbed the grand stone stairs and stepped onto the porch, there was a shock shooting through his body and he knew that he couldn’t just completely abandon the building, the history, the souls screaming from within the walls of the once-grand abode. This was his castle, his family’s heirloom per se and he wanted to have the estate revived. Of course, he didn’t expect to live in it, but it would be nice to have renovated specifically for historical reasons.

After that day three years ago in the summer, Neo began to make a trip to the house once a month for a full weekend. After every trip, Neo began to feel more and more at home and he even began to grow rather accustomed to the creaking floorboards and the groans that came from deep within the house. As time seemed to pass on, Neo would hear new things during each trip. There was occasionally the sound of a crying baby, wailing oh-so loudly for its mother. There were the chillingly haunting screams of women of the past, cries for help in various languages such as English, Romani, and several others that Neo did not recognize.

Neo began to hum along to the tune that danced so gracefully off the keys of the piano. He was beginning to come every so more lost in the music with each verse, his mind swimming comfortably and yet he felt as if he was continuously going between drowning and breaking through the surface of water. As each feeling seemed to come and go, come and go, and then repeat, Neo felt himself sinking more and more, deeper and deeper into the history that surrounded him.

As the tune danced on, silhouettes began to appear throughout the ballroom. Many men and women dancing about in pure and utter glee. They were dressed up to match standards against the upper class from the 1890s. The men had tall top-hats and tail-coat suits while the women wore wide, bouncing dresses. The ghosts seemed to mix and mingle within the confinements of the ballroom. Neo could hear the chattering amongst the groups and eventually had come to recognize a voice that had haunted him every night he spent within the castle. Hands gently began to rest on Neo’s shoulders, the thin fingers, nails manicured beautifully seemed to gently rub into his shoulders before the nails dug into his shoulders.

“Neo. Why do you always return? You need to leave before the curse swallows you up.”

The sweet voice was like music to Neo’s ears, the sound and longing behind the words tugged at his heart and he couldn’t help but feel the remorse brought on by those same words that he seemed to hear every month, no matter what memories seemed to be appearing. Neo looked to his side as the young ghost of his grandmother sat beside him. Grandma Edith, of course, was far too young to have ever attended the party currently going on within the ballroom. The party had been one that her great-grandfather had thrown once the castle construction had been completed.

Neo took in his grandmother’s young face. He had only ever seen her this young in photographs from her youth and yet, here she was, in her prime. In this vision, she couldn’t have been much older than Neo himself. Neo offered a rather remorseful smile to his grandmother as she began to play the piano alongside him. The duet danced throughout the ballroom and the ghosts seem to be rather happy that the music had once again begun to pick up in tempo.

“Your playing has gotten better again. Why waste the talent here when you could be playing out in the public?” Grandma Edith watched over the piano, playing just as gracefully as her grandson if not more-so, she had the sheet music memorized from her youth as well as teaching Neo piano while she had still been alive. Edith had a solemn look on her face, her eyes were crystal blue, full of pain. They carried a deep blue that matched the sky and seas, mixing and brightening up just after a storm.

“Neo, I do not appreciate my warnings falling on deaf ears. You need to get out before you’re in too deep. I love you and I don’t want you spending your eternity here once you pass on. Just please, leave before it becomes too hard.”

Once Grandma Edith had spoken her piece, her ghostly form began to fade away. It was as if watching static from the tv envelope her body and it began to blow away as if made of dust. Neo took his hands off the piano as he watched her disappear and when he turned around, the ballroom was once again empty, and it was glowing with the rays from the sunset. The shattered stained-glass windows allowed for what little glass was left to envelop the rays, colors dancing along the walls and ballroom floor that seem to be warping and contorting due to years of dew having rested on the wood and seeping into it. The light from the windows varied, some of the rays remained as simple white light while it mixed and shone brightly along with the rays that cast through the bits and pieces of stained glass that clung to the wooden windowsills.

As the sun set, Neo could hear the screams of the night starting to pick-up from deeper within the castle. Even now, after all his visits, there were places within the castle Neo had not yet ventured into. For the most part, he tried to heed his grandmother’s words and try not to become too invested in the house, and yet he was always reeled back in, just like a fish trying in vain to escape from a hook. There was just something about the castle that had Neo coming back month after month. He just couldn’t let the place go.

Neo gathered up the sheet music he had been playing from and placed it in the piano bench. The cherrywood bench was in rather good condition, no splintering and it was still sturdy, despite the discoloration that years of sunlight and dew from early mornings had caused. Once closing the seat-lid, Neo grabbed his bag from the floor and began to make his way into one of the bedrooms he had repaired in the past. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to keep him comfortable during his stay.

When Neo first came across the castle, the bedroom on the first floor had the windows shattered out, the floor weakened by age, and seemed to buckle under Neo’s weight. The ceiling, despite some minor water damage, seemed to be in rather good condition, better than some other areas within the castle. After taking a week to fix up the room, all but the ceiling, the room looked to be rather brand new. Neo had spent nearly a fortune trying to fix just the one bedroom he had picked out for himself. Buying wood to fix the windowsill and replacing the broken windows was costly enough due to the fact Neo had tried his best to remain as close to the original designs as possible, with help of family photos of course. Once the walls and windows were fixed, Neo had even gone so far as to furnish the room, making himself a quiet living space which contained a bed and bookshelf, which all of this had come after repairing the floors; he had gone down into the basement to add new pillars underneath the floors of the room to offer a new support system to keep the floor from buckling. Once the new supports were in place, he had taken out the rotten floorboards and replaced them with new ones.

The basement was a deep, dark room that could hardly be illuminated by the light of one candle and so, Neo had all but filled the stone floor with candles in order to give himself just enough light to do his work. While in the basement, Neo had found a trunk with a lock on it, no key to be found. He had no clue what could have possibly been inside the trunk and yet, he allowed his curiosity to get the better of him. He left the trunk where it was but had decided he would later come back to open it.

When later had come the following month, Neo brought bolt cutters along on his next visit to open the trunk. The metal of the lock was weakened and rusted with age and within minutes he had the lock cut open. The trunk opened with minor issues and once it was opened, he discovered the trunk was laced with fancy, red velvet. His great-great-grandfather’s name, George, had been carefully embroidered in gold into the velvety lid of the trunk. The trunk was filled from bottom to top with letters that were yellowed and slightly browning with age. The letters were remarkably well preserved, and the fancy writing was still legible. Many of the letters seemed to be from women he had been having affairs with behind the back of his wife. With each letter, it became more and more apparent that his grandfather seemed to be leading the young women to his estate under the false pretenses of divorcing his current wife for them. Each letter was written a week or two apart depending on the woman’s location and it also seemed that within a month of having one woman completely enamored with him, he would begin talking to yet another.

The letters were all filled with passion and longing. There was written proof of love as well as a deep jealousy and hatred directed towards Neo’s great-great-grandmother, Myrtle.

Once he had gotten to the bottom of the trunk, Neo found the letters his Grandfather George sent to the woman who went as far as to come to visit the family estate. The letters were filled with sweet nothings, promises of wealth, as well as promises of children in order to maintain a strong bloodline for the family. Many of the letters left nothing to beheld from the imagination, being quite vulgar and detailed with the actions written about within the confinement of the parchment paper.

After going through four, maybe six of the letters, Neo began to feel a bit sick at just how voyeuristic his great-great-grandfather had been and decided to stop reading the letters. Instead, he picked up a journal that had been at the bottom alongside the letters. The journal contained dates and on certain pages, it contained the name of a different mistress. The journal went into great detail about his grandfather’s exploits with these women as they arrived at the castle and it was always ended with a note on how the women had been murdered. The journal read more like the ravings of a madman. Neo placed everything back into the trunk, shutting the lid and even placing the now busted lock onto it. He had no clue that his great-great-grandfather had been such a horrible person. Now that he had found the journal, Neo began to wonder just who had placed all these things into the trunk. He thought about his grandmother Edith and her extensive knowledge of the family history and assumed that she could have been the one to discover her grandfather’s dark secrets. It would explain why she would never want to talk about him specifically.

That night, after opening the trunk. Neo began to experience nightly visits from the ghost of his Grandfather George. Neo would be unable to move as the brawny, bearded man would stand over him for hours, just staring down at him and watching him until sleep would overtake him out of fear. The next night, Neo witnessed the ghost sitting on the foot of his bed, and yet he felt nothing there. Grandfather George began to rant and rave about his exploitations of the women he had written letters to. He talked on and on about times he would visit them under false pretenses of having work to do in other cities, sometimes even different countries. Once he ran out of those stories, the old ghost began to tell the stories of each woman that had visited the castle.

First was Jaqueline, a lovely dark-headed seamstress from the beautiful shores of Greece. He had met her while dining in a small inn near her home and the two seemed to have a lot to talk about. Then there was Rosetta and Margarite, twins who knew nothing about George two-timing them as they had promised not to mention a word of the affair to anyone, even their twin. There was also Mary-Beth, Emily, and Abigail, Annabelle, Geneva, Esmerelda, and even a fair woman from Japan by the name of Kimiko. Of course, this was just the tip of the iceberg. Each night George would visit Neo, names of girls would be added to his list. Neo could hardly believe that any man could be capable of courting so many women, while already married, without getting caught.

Neo halted his visits for a month or two before he got the itch to get back to the castle. He was being called to in his dreams, the castle appearing to him every night. He longed to be back amongst the family and the history, to be close to his grandmother’s remorseful soul in order to just feel her presence again. Despite the fact he hated the stories brought to him by his great-great-grandfather, Neo just knew he needed to start taking his monthly weekend visits again. There was something about the house that helped Neo unwind and now that he had gone two months being away, Neo needed another fix. He needed another visit to melt away his worries and anger. He needed to be by himself to clear his mind once more. Which, being by himself was a horrible choice of words. He was never alone in the castle, ever. Neo knew that the spirits were always watching him.

Neo entered the room that he had spent up to a year repairing and once it had been fixed, he had been using it as his bedroom. While away from the castle, Neo would deadbolt the room shut to avoid any pesky intruders that may come across the castle. By this point, Neo understood that there were urban explorers who had visited his family home in the past. He had come back one weekend to find his door had been messed with. After that he decided to leave a notice on the door, explaining who he was and why the door was locked. He even left a note on the page about how this was his family estate which he was trying to renovate to its former glory as much as possible.

Some of these explorers had been rather respectful and even left behind offerings for the dead listed on the large memorial left in the front yard of the castle, placed in front of a large fountain that had long-since stopped working. The stale water of the fountain was remarkably still and deep green with algae, something you most definitely did not want to fall into.

Other explorers were not so respectful during their visits. They had spray-painted on walls, shattered windows, kicked out wooden poles that lined the staircases. Throughout the castle, these explorers had left behind food and beer cans, not caring about the history surrounding the house, the victims and ghosts within, or even the fact that their trash would affect the nature once they were long gone. With each trip, Neo would find himself picking up after the visitors. He knew it angered the spirits in the castle and yet, they couldn’t really do much about it.

It truly sickened Neo that such people could leave behind trash to taint the beauty of the old castle and it most certainly angered him when his Grandfather George tried to blame him for the trash left behind by the explorers. Neo had tried to explain to his grandfather, but the sleep paralysis brought on by the nightly visits not only affected his ability to move, but it had also affected his vocal cords. It was an uphill battle Neo knew he wouldn’t and couldn’t win.

Once Neo had changed his clothes for the night, he got into the covers he had freshly put on the bed when he arrived and snuggled into the mattress. He closed his eyes and soon enough his body was heavy and limp. He felt his muscles paralyze and he opened his eyes, once again coming face to face with his great-great-grandfather. The old ghost seemed to be wide awake as he observed Neo again. Grandfather George placed his hand atop Neo’s head and began whispering words in an unknown language and Neo began to fall asleep. Grandfather George removed his hand and stood, leaving the room as he phased through a wall. There seemed to be no stories tonight, no adding names to the list of women he had led here, doing only heavens know what to those poor women. Or rather, it would have been more of a mystery had Neo not read the letters and journal.

Neo awoke and he felt slightly different. His body felt heavier and at the same time, Neo also felt a bit lighter on his feet. His mind was swimming rather uncomfortably, and he felt slightly feverish. He slowly got out of bed and opened his bag that he had sat on a chair. He pulled out a lunchbox he had packed with food and began to eat the two sandwiches and apple he had prepared to be his breakfast. Neo sat in silence, listening to the sounds of birds whistling outside and squirrels roaming around through the walls and upstairs of the castle. Neo had grown quite accustomed to the sound of nature that would often surround him in and around the castle and its grounds.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

Neo recognized the tapping on his door that continued for a few seconds before hearing the giggling of a small girl and the sound of small feet running down the hallways. Neo had absolutely no clue who this young ghost was, but he had grown rather accustomed to her tricks and the fact that the little girl always seemed to be watching him from a bit of a distance. Neo wasn’t sure what her intentions were, but he had a feeling that maybe the young ghost just wanted someone to play with other than the ghosts she had been residing in the house with for so long.

Neo had tried befriending the young ghost after first noticing her during his first few visits and yet, despite the fact she seemed to be so interested in him, she would always run away or disappear into the walls as a means of getting away. Neo wasn’t sure what the girl wanted anymore, a friend or maybe just someone to patronize. Either way, the more time Neo spent in the house, the more comfortable she had gotten with messing with him. Often, when Neo was playing the piano in the ballroom she would come stand by the piano and just watch him play. She was interested in the music and it seemed she wanted to learn to play herself but whenever Neo would stop playing, she’d turn and run into the wall behind the piano.

Neo changed clothes and left his room, beginning his usual walk around the rather large manor. Despite coming around so often, Neo was always taken aback slightly at the largeness of the castle. It felt almost as if he stepped into a storybook every time he came for his visit and yet everything still felt so real. Other times, Neo was simply experiencing a drowning feeling of déjà vu. He was unsure why he often felt this feeling, maybe it was simply due to the fact he had been visiting so many times and noticing every small detail throughout the castle over and over again.

After taking in a deep intake of breath, Neo was overwhelmed by the smell of moss and the trees as they began to dry themselves of the dew they had been covered in overnight. The forest was coming to life and Neo knew that this meant that the castle too would be sprouting to life within a few short hours. Already, Neo had spotted a few fleeting glances of what he assumed to either be passed away family members or possibly even the ghosts of his great-great-grandfather’s mistresses. The mistresses, despite being as much a part of the castle as any of the other spirits, hardly ever let themselves be seen; especially when the spirits of Neo’s family members were out and about. It seemed to be an unspoken code amongst the spirits; the mistresses could stay as long as they did not interact with the others.

Tap… Tap… Tap…

Neo heard an unfamiliar tapping. This tapping was not coming from the young spirit as she seemed to have disappeared for now. The tapping continued, always in sets of threes, stopping and then starting again. The tapping was different from anything Neo had heard within the castle walls before and it made him nervous.

Neo followed the sound of the tapping, delving deeper and deeper into the castle. He was entering unknown territory, parts of the castle his grandmother had absolutely forbidden him from going into.

“It’ll eat your soul and your heart out. Don’t let it have you.”

“The castle is a curse. Leave now and forgot this place.”

“Neo, turn, and run. Stop delving into the past and let it rest”

“Neo, leave. Forget this place.”

“Stop ignoring me! Leave!”

Grandma Edith’s words began to resonate within Neo’s mind, and he stopped in his steps. He stared down the dark corridor, listening as the tapping stopped before starting up again. The tapping was growing louder and louder. Neo felt his stomach turn, a sickening feeling overtaking his body as the darkness seemed to grow and surround him. He turned around to head back and he could see nothing but darkness, he was completely enveloped in the dark. The tapping was maddening loud, growing faster, and surrounding Neo from all sides as the noise seemed to encase him. Neo felt choked, his lungs absolutely refusing to intake any air. Not refusing but being refused by...something.

A putrid smell of rotting meat and an intense chill took over the air. It became harder to breathe and Neo fell to his knees, grasping at his throat as he felt fingers encircling his throat in a death-tight grip. Neo began to cough for air, nails digging into his throat as his vision completely went black.

Neo awoke in the middle of the ballroom floor; the young ghost girl was sitting beside him. The girl was patting his hair down and once he looked up at her, she stopped. She gave him a wary smile as she stood, patting down her dress for any dirt and she turned her back on him, walking towards a wall behind the piano and disappearing into it. Neo sat up once he watched the girl vanish. His head was throbbing, and his throat was dry. Once he stood up, he looked around and saw through the windows of the ballroom that it was dark outside. Neo didn’t know what to think about the experience he had just had. Was it a dream? A nightmare? Or maybe it had all been real. Had he just been attacked by a spirit? Or was it a demon? Neo didn’t know the answer to any of the questions running through his mind, all that he knew was that he definitely felt…different now.

Neo made his way to his room and began to gather his things. He was feeling way too spooked to even think about staying the night again. All he wanted to do at this moment was head to the nearby town, get a room in an inn, and think over just what the hell had happened in that dark corridor. In the past three years of visiting the castle, nothing like this had ever happened and certainly, nothing had ever scared him or made him feel unwelcome within the castle walls. These feelings of uncertainty were new and strange. Once he finished packing, he grabbed a water bottle and began gulping down the water as if he’d been parched for days. The water offered little relief.

Neo made his way out of the castle, closing the large double doors and locking them. He made his way down the large stone steps and down the grown-up dirt driveway that had once been well-traveled. He walked through the rusted iron gates and opened the door to his car, placing his bag in the passenger seat. He started the car, and, in the headlights, he could see the ghost girl standing on the steps of the castle, just watching as he got ready to leave. She still held that wary smile and she held a hand up, slowly waving at him as he put the car in drive.

Neo turned his car around in the overgrown dirt roundabout and began to drive down the bumpy, winding road. Once Neo made it to the main highway, he exhaled a sigh of relief as he turned onto the blacktop road and began the thirty-five-minute drive to town.

The lights of the town shone brightly as Neo drove through, searching the sides of the road for an inn to stay in for the night. Once he pulled into the parking lot, small droplets of rain began to dot his windshield. He parked his car and got out, grabbing his bag and wallet as he walked into the main office of the inn. He bought a room for the night and was quick to settle into the room as the rain began to pick up. The night was a rather restless one due to the fact Neo had been unconscious for most of the day but eventually, he was able to fall asleep for a short while.

The next morning, Neo checked out of the inn and went next door to the small country diner that shared a parking lot with the inn. A quick breakfast and then he would return to the castle; that was the plan Neo had as of right now.

Once in the diner, Neo sat in a booth and ordered a coffee along with a plate of eggs and bacon. He sat quietly, drinking his coffee as he looked out of the diner window. Once his food had been brought out, he ate in silence. As he ate, he couldn’t help but take a few glances around the diner at the customers. Most of the customers consisted of elderly people who were meeting old friends for breakfast. They took up the majority of the booths, laughing loudly and recollecting on days long since passed by old memories that still brought joy. Neo hoped to live long enough to one day live as they did, seemingly without a worry in the world.

In the booth across from Neo, he noticed a woman with her nose in a book. The cover of the book was a historical photograph of the castle he had been in just hours before now. Once he finished his breakfast, he left a tip on the table and paid his tab before walking over to the woman, taking in the photo on the book. It was definitely the castle... his castle.

“Can I help you?” The woman spoke rather uninterestingly as she didn’t even bother to look up from her book. When Neo didn’t speak, she put her book down and arched an eyebrow at him, looking him over carefully before looking back at her book. “Please go away.” The woman spoke again, and Neo cleared his throat.

“You know, the book you’re reading is about my family estate,” Neo spoke softly, and the woman lowered the book, looking him over again before finally closing the book and placing it on the table. She seemed to examine Neo from head to toe before shrugging her shoulders and pointing at the seat in front of her. Neo sat down in the booth with the woman as she continued to look him over. “I have the keys to the castle if you wanted to look inside. I’ve been trying to renovate the old place.”

At hearing about the renovation, the woman’s interest only seemed to grow. “And why do you want to renovate such an old, decrepit castle to begin with? Not many people even remember that that place even exists. Besides, it’s haunted. You wouldn’t be able to sell it, even if you tried to just give it away, no one is going to want the place. The most you could make out of it is a spook house for Halloween.”

Neo listened to the woman speak, not fully listening to her words as he examined her face and the way she spoke with ease about such things.

“I’m Neo. Do you think you would be interested in accompanying me on a date sometime?” Neo had no clue where this confidence was coming from. Usually, he didn’t like talking to many people and often times he found it a bit hard to talk to women.

“I’m Lillium. As for your date, I’m going to have to pass. I’m not interested. However, I wouldn’t mind seeing the old castle…once we get to know one another better that is. I can’t just wander off to some hidden castle with someone I’ve just met. You do understand from my side how that is more than a little strange, don’t you?”

Neo went silent for a few minutes before agreeing with the woman. The two of them exchanged phone numbers and parted ways. Neo kept in touch with the woman, even after heading back home at the end of his visit.

Neo had told Lillium about the different things he had experienced in the castle, about the voices and visions, all except for the presence that had attacked him on his last visit. It happened so quickly he felt that maybe it was just the isolation getting to him. Even so, he never mentioned the experience to her. At this point, Neo just wanted Lillium to be comfortable with the thought of visiting the castle, he didn’t want to scare her off. Besides, spirits were one thing while demons were on a whole different spectrum of creepy. Neo knew she would want to visit the castle and explore it for herself, but he knew talk of demons would have her changing her mind. They spent a great deal of time texting and even talking on the phone, becoming good friends by the time Neo was getting ready for his monthly visit. But even after a month of conversing he still felt that it would be a bit strange to just randomly invite her to the castle for a visit. So, he waited. He waited until she was the one to bring up the offer again. Of course, it was a good four months before the mention of her visiting was even brought up. But eventually, the date was made.

Once Neo got into town, he stopped at the inn, parking his car, and leaned against the door as he waited rather patiently for Lillium to show up. Neo had talked Lillium not coming and at least walking through the castle to see how the spirits would react to her. Ever since the day they had met, Neo wanted nothing more than to introduce Lillium into his world and that meant including her in his time at the castle. Once her car pulled into the parking lot, Neo stopped leaning against his car door and stood straight up and waved at her. Lillium got out of her car and waved back at Neo. She grabbed a bag from her car and locked the doors before finally coming over to him.

“I’ve got my camera equipment. Hopefully, your little ghost friends like having their picture taken. If I don’t catch one single ghost on film, you have to admit you were lying just to get me to hang out with you.” Lillium laughed and poked a finger into Neo’s chest which he just rolled his eyes at her as he walked around the car and opened the door for her.

“Oh, what a gentleman you are,” Lillium snorted before getting into the car, placing her bag in the floorboard, and buckling her seatbelt.

During the drive, Neo and Lilium chatted and joked about things that had happened while they were apart, even going so far as to joke about ghosts. Lillium was a firm believer in the scientific method, she believed that anything and everything could be explained through science, she didn’t really believe all the stories of spirits haunting the old castle. But still, she wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to possibly interact with a spirit, or simply prove they didn’t exist.

Neo pulled into the overgrown driveway, driving all the way up to the gates of the castle before cutting the car engine off and getting out of the driver’s seat. He opened the back door, grabbing his bag and a few other items before leading the way to the gates. Lillium walked along behind him, taking in the greatness of the decaying castle. She already had a handheld camera out, snapping photos of the castle.

The castle stood tall, the stone walls crumbling, and metalwork beginning to rust and fall off the windows and porch. The windows were dark and shattered, save for the windows Neo had repaired in the past. It was about noon now and the scent of the forest was becoming overwhelming, the leftover smell of rain was still fresh on the air despite the fact it had stopped raining some hours ago. Lillium spent a great deal of time taking photos of the fountain, the porch, the windows, everything, and anything she could see. She was documenting the entire experience.

As Neo stepped onto the porch, his head began to throb, and he felt short of breath. The feeling of being attacked in the corridor returned to the surface and yet all he could do was bite back the feeling and step inside once the doors are unlocked. Neo led the way into the castle, Lillium looking around in awe as Neo unlocked the door to his room, placing his things on the bed. As he unpacked his things, Neo could hear Lillium walking around the main hall of the castle, her shoes tapping softly against the wooden floorboards.

“This place is wonderful. It’s definitely not as grand as it had once been, but it still has a beauty to it. Just look at the craftsmanship! The carvings on the railings of the stairwell, the carvings in the stone walls. It has a rather haunting beauty to it.”

Lillium was chattering away as she walked around, taking photos, and looking at the different walls of the main room. She eventually made her way into the ballroom, basking in what was once a glorious, luxurious room. Neo walked in behind her and took his seat on the bench of the piano, beginning to play a soft tune as he began to lose himself in a trance of music. Lillium took a second camera out of her bag and set it up on a tripod. Once the camera was set up, she walked over by the windows and walked along the length of the wall, the camera began taking photos. “There, the camera senses movement. If anything comes in or out of this room, this camera will catch them.”

Lillium walked back over to her bag, setting up another camera on a tripod facing the piano. It picked up on Neo’s movements and began snapping photos of him. Lillium walked back to her bag once again and took out the same handheld camera from early and began snapping photos of the surrounding walls, the stained glass, and even a few shots of Neo seated peacefully at the piano.

Eventually, Lillium made her way out of the ballroom, beginning to take photos in the main hall. She took close-ups of the wooden staircase, taking photos of the carvings and even the structures on the stone walls. The alabaster and peeling wallpaper in some of the rooms would make for great shots on her website.

The sound of the piano was echoing throughout the castle as Lillium walked through its halls. The music enveloped her, and she began to drift off into her mind, taking photo after photo as she walked carefully through a hallway that brought her back out into the main hall. There was the sound of giggling and just as Lillium turned to face the stairs she saw a young girl disappearing at the top of the stairs. She began taking photos of the staircase and when she looked through the photos in her camera, she saw nothing.

The music from the ballroom came to a stop and not even a minute later, Lillium felt a hand gently grab her shoulder.

“Are you alright?”

The voice was that of Neo. Lillium turned to face him before looking back to the stairs. She could hear the sound of small footsteps walking around and soft giggling. Lillium held up her camera again, taking photos of the stairs before finally lowering her camera again.

“Yeah, I’m fine…but who is that little girl? Did you drop your little sister off here before coming to get me? Are you trying to prank me?” Lillium laughed and the giggling stopped. There was a loud bang upstairs, a shattering of glass echoing through the castle before a sea of marbles came flowing down the stairs. The marbles hopped along the stairs and once at the ground floor, they began to roll around in all directions. Though the noise had startled her, Lillium took photos of the marbles, the staircase, and even the banister overlooking the room on the second floor.

“Lillium, I don’t have a sister. That’s one of the ghosts I told you about.”

Neo looked up the stairs, watching as marbles continued to fall down the stairs and eventually his eyes rested on the small ghostly figure of the girl. She was looking down at them, hiding behind one of the polls. Lillium seemed to notice her too and took two photos back to back. The girl walked away from the stairs, heading into one of the upstairs bedrooms, the doors slamming shut behind her. Lillium continued taking photos before turning to face Neo.

“I’m going to go grab my bag and set up the rest of the cameras, alright?”

Lillium gave Neo a half-smile and ventured back into the ballroom only to come back with her bag. She now had a camcorder out and was videoing the marbles and began to video her ascent up the stairs, keeping the camcorder focused on the stairs before panning around the room and the top of the staircase. She cut off the camcorder once the data saved and placed it back into the bag before taking out another smaller camera and a tripod. She set the tripod up so the camera was at an angle, viewing both the door that had slammed as well as a hallway beside it.

Lillium set up two more tripods on the second floor before grabbing her bag and heading back downstairs to Neo. She had her camera out again, taking more and more photos of the wall decorations. Once she was on the last couple of steps, she snapped a photo of Neo and he squinted from the flash before rolling his eyes at her again. Lillium giggled as she looked down at her camera, but her smile faded. She slowly came over to Neo and showed him the photo.

“Neo, who is this?”

Neo looked at the photo and nearly choked. There were hands on his shoulders, nails digging into his shoulders as his great-great-grandfather George stood behind him, glaring at Lillium.

“That would be my grandmother’s grandfather, George. He’s the one who had the castle built. He comes into my room at night and haunts me while I’m here. From reading family documents and such I’ve found out that some of my family members think he made a deal with the devil in order to achieve and maintain his wealth. That’s probably why this place is so haunted.”

Lillium exited away from the photo and took another photo of Neo but this time, there was no one behind him in the photo. “He’s a bit odd, I’ll give him that much.”

Lillium went back to taking photos and wandering around hallways as Neo trailed behind her. Once they neared the hallway he had been attacked in, he grabbed her shoulder and steered her away, having her take a different route leading back to the main hallway.

“What was that all about, Neo?”

“What do you mean?”

Lillium sat her now empty bag down on the floor as she pulled her hair up in a bun, “that one hallway back there. You wouldn’t let me go near it. Why?”

“The day before we met at the inn I had left to stay at the inn because I had been attacked in that hallway. I don’t exactly know if it was just another spirit or a demon, but it’s not a good place in the castle to be.”

Lillium rolled her eyes, “I don’t believe in demons.”

Lillium turned away from Neo, taking more photos and walking back to the stairs. There was another sound of giggling and the cameras upstairs began to flash, taking photos repeatedly as the giggling continued.

The smell of rotting meat suddenly enveloped the hall, Neo covered his nose to try and block out the scent. The scent only grew, and Neo felt hands on his shoulders and nails digging into them. Neo looked over his shoulder, coming face-to-face with his great-great-grandfather’s ghost. The ghost’s eyes seemed to have turned black, shimmering as he watched Lillium take cautionary steps towards the stairs again. A black figure stepped in front of Neo, a hazy and incomplete figure, see-through, almost like specks of dust floating. Another pair of hands gripped his shoulders, the two spirits holding Neo between them.

“Do it. Do it. Do it.”

“Do it. Do it. DO IT.”

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!”

“Do it for me, Neo...”

“You won’t regret it.”

“DO IT! DO THE DAMN DEED!”

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!”

“Neo!!”

“DO IT! DO IT NEO! DO IT!”

The spirits began chanting the words over and over. The words were in Neo’s head now, growing louder and louder with each second. The spirits were screaming, and piano music began to fill the air. The tune was low and dark, almost menacing before growing higher and it almost took a cheerful tune…almost. Within seconds the tune went back down, the sounds of the keys growing deeper as the pianist began to play more on the left than the right. The two sets of hands began to wrap around Neo’s throat and shoulders, nails digging into his skin and dragging across, all twenty fingernails left cuts in his skin, the cuts beginning to bleed.

“OKAY!!”

Neo shouted the word, and his head began spinning as he felt something pulling him to his room. He stood there silently for a moment before his eyes came to rest on the baseball bat and pocketknife on the nightstand. After standing there in silence, he grabbed the knife, slipping it into his pocket before grabbing the bat and heading out of his room.

“Neo stop you don’t know what you’re doing! Don’t listen to them!”

Neo’s grandmother, Edith, was by his door and calling out to him frantically. Neo couldn’t hear her, the same voices of his great-great-grandfather and whatever the hell the other thing was were still screaming inside his head as he walked towards the stairs. He looked up the stairs at Lillium and the voices only grew louder in his head.

Lillium stood at the top of the stairs, peering down as Neo came out of his room. She had heard the shout and fear had kept her from investigating. Lillium watched as Neo came up the stairs. He seemed different, had a menacing air about him. His eyes were... black. Lillium wasn’t sure if this were a sick joke or if she should start running.

“Neo, are you alright?”

Neo continued to stalk up the stairs as Lillium took a few steps back, knocking over one of the tripods.

“Neo! This isn’t funny!”

Lillium yelled before beginning to run as Neo ran up the stairs towards her. She began to scream hoping that somehow someone could hear her. But the thought was all in vain. The castle was miles from the town, not another home within three miles. The castle was completely isolated, closed off in its own little world.

Neo chased her and the cameras all throughout the castle began taking photos repeatedly, the flash and the shutter of the cameras continuously went off. There was giggling in the castle and then a scream and the sound of a child running down the stairs as Neo slammed the bat against a vase and caused it to shatter.

The floorboards creaked and groaned, footsteps echoing loudly throughout the castle as the two of them ran. Neo was breathing heavily, blood from the scratches on his shoulders having stained his shirt, his neck having been stained red by the blood. Lillium was now shoeless- having kicked her heeled shoes off in an attempt to run faster, accepting the fact that a few splinters would be easier to deal with than a beating.

“Neo! Stop! Please, this isn’t funny!”

Lillium shouted over and over again as she continued to run but the chase did not end. The two raced through the castle, in and out of doors, up and down different flights of stairs. Lillium led Neo through parts of the castle he had never even been in before. The floorboards crackled and splintered here and there. Some of the floorboards even gave way slightly under Neo’s weight. He’d get his foot stuck, having to fight the aged floor, freeing himself before racing after Lillium.

Lillium began to push things in Neo’s way, hallway decorations, furniture, anything she could grab she would throw at him or simply shove it down behind her in desperate attempts to slow him down. Lillium was just as out of breath as Neo by this point and she was even starting to grow dizzy from her shortness of breath. Her mind was racing, and she was losing her comprehension of where she had and hadn’t run to, places she had tried to hide before being found out. She tried to remember the way out, as running through the castle she had ended up losing her way and everything was starting to look the same in her haste. As she continued running, her legs began to burn, her muscles starting to tense up as they were screaming at her to stop running but the fear enveloping her brain and urging her to continue on is what kept her going. She had no clue if this was all a sick prank or if Neo was actually going to kill her, but one thing was for sure, she wanted to get the hell out of this castle and away from him.

After entering a hallway that seemed familiar, Lillium ran down into a bedroom, slamming the door and locking it. She walked over to a dresser, pushing the furniture in front of the locked door. She frantically looked around the room for something, anything she could use to aid her in her defense but there was nothing other than a few empty bottles left behind by previous explorers.

In a last-minute decision, Lillium picked up one of the bottles, gripping the neck of it tightly before hitting it on a windowsill. The bottle shattered and she waited, listening to the sounds of her assailant kick at the door. The room went silent for a few minutes before the banging started up again. There was the sound of wood breaking, a lock being forced open, and the dresser slid across the floor as the door slammed open. The man covered in blood began to stalk his way into the room, dark eyes like an abyss were locked on Lillium. As he got closer, she jabbed the bottle forwards, cutting the man’s arm as he lunged towards her, swinging the bat at full force.

A scream echoed through the castle as Lillium fell to the ground, her assailant standing over her. Neo blinked, once, twice, three times before he brought the bat up above his head and began to swing it down, backup, then back down, repeatedly…

The tones of the piano reverberated throughout alabaster hallways once again. The young girl’s fingers danced gracefully over the keys, even more graceful than Neo himself as the sweet tune came to life. The young ghost drowned herself in the music, ignoring the sound of heavy pants of breath, cracking bones, and the shrill screams echoing throughout the castle. A loud thud was heard, causing the girl to skip a few notes before falling back into rhythm as Neo dropped the bat and covered the woman’s mouth, knife in hand and ready to be used.