I watched my brother drive off to do, whatever it was that was more important than driving me home, leaving me in this big empty mansion with nothing to do. Not even grandmom lived here anymore. Almost as soon as my grandfather died she had packed up and left for the beach house that was in her name in Virginia.

Hours passed as I wandered the empty rooms. This place creeped me out. It was the same feeling I had in the Douglas’ basement all those years ago. That feeling of being watched by something I couldn’t see. The lingering souls of my ancestors perhaps, watching me, judging me, from inside the walls.

Why did my stupid brother have to leave me in such a creepy house? The only thing I had to do to occupy my mind besides wandering the rooms was my phone. I texted Laura ages ago that I would be delayed getting home, and she still hadn’t responded. I guess this was a “keep Kish waiting” kind of day.

Outside it had started storming, which only made the lamp-lit house even creepier. Lots of large empty rooms without much in them, a couple of couches in the living room, a kitchen with the bare minimum, bedrooms with dressers and no personal touches. Apparently in these last few years grandfather and grandmother stayed on different sides of the house, almost never seeing each other. The only personal touches I noticed were the occasional photo or painting of them or the family. Grandfather didn’t smile in any of them.

What even did he live for? He obviously couldn’t have cared less about his family, but he didn’t even seem to enjoy his wealth either. It must have been miserable. I had to wonder if his alienating behavior was a symptom of being miserable, or if it was the one thing he enjoyed in life.

His office was the one place where I could see any touch of personality. He had an extensive book collection, including a lot of first editions, Faulkner, Hemingway, and of course, the first English translation of the Seraphic Bible. It was weird having one book, this book, was part of so many key moments in my life. What was once an amusing oddity defined my life now, it was inescapable, inevitable, constricting.

By this point there was only one room left I hadn’t explored. One of the four “children’s bedrooms” upstairs. Which was apparently my father’s. While the room had obviously been changed a bit to make it a more general guest room, there were still a few things which were obviously my father’s. A few old photos, a couple from when he was a child, and one from his graduation, along with some old tapes and early CDs. Apparently my dad really liked Rush.

Towards the end of the room was a closet. One of the werid things about this house was that this particular closet was apparently accesable from both this room and one of the other bedrooms. Basically one long hallway with storage space. I couldn’t say what, but something drew me to that door. I opened it and was greeted with a dark hallway which seemed to extend forever, but I knew logically led to the other bedroom across the house. The closet reeked for some reason, I couldn’t even say what it smelled like… old house? Decaying body? Whatever it was I started feeling nauseous at that point. Not terribly, but enough to be somewhat uncomfortable. I continued on anyway. As I did the light behind me started to fade, but there wasn’t another in sight. My nausea kept getting worse, at a certain point it felt like I was going to throw up.

Then I stopped, and threw up. The smell of the disgusting liquidy remains of whatever I had eaten last made the stench of this place even worse.

At this point I finally came to my senses, I didn’t know how close I was to the other side, so I figured I might as well just turn around. As I came back closer to the light, I noticed a shape in front of it, which I soon recognized as the sillhouette of a person. I wasn’t even sure if it was real, it seemed to keep fading in and out of existence. “I’ve been waiting for you.” The figure suddenly started talking, though it wasn’t a voice exactly, more like something that resembled my own thought process.

“I told you that we would be meeting soon.” The voice continued in my head. “I have chosen you for a specific reason. By this point you’ve only scratched the surface of the world which has been hidden. You see a truth few others can see, but you don’t have the tools to understand it yet… to understand… what these parasites are doing to the planet.”

Eventually I got close enough to recognize the figure. “Leigh?”

They then disappeared before me. “Not much longer now… until we officially meet.”

I’d somehow gotten even sicker by this point, to the point where I could barely stand. I hobbled out of the closet before falling down on the floor. With what little energy I had left I got my phone out of my pocket. Grayson’s number wouldn’t ring for some reason, so I called Laura next. Thankfully she answered. “Hello?”

“Call Grayson, call someone, I’m at my grandfather’s mansion, I feel like I’m dying.” The phone slipped out of my hand. By then I was starting to fade from consciousness. The last thing I saw before passing out was some woman standing over me…