We crept through the dark hallway like a discount Scooby-Doo gang.
No flashlight… well, maybe we do have one. I was just exaggerating
Back to what I'm gonna say..
No map.
Only good vibes and repressed trauma.
The school's atmosphere was straight-up Resident Evil at this point — every creak and groan of the floor felt like a boss fight was about to drop.
"Wait," Tommy said, squinting at the tall kid leading the group with duct-taped phone flashlights. "You said your name is Lock?"
"Locke," he corrected, with the sigh of someone who's been through this before. "With an e."
Tommy grinned. "Okay, Lock."
Locke sighed harder. "Close enough."
I chuckled under my breath. "Tommy's gonna get us all haunted, I swear."
Locke kept leading confidently, swinging his budget flashlight rig like it was a torch in an RPG. "Left turn coming up. Music room's down that hallway. Should be near the trophy cabinet."
I gave him a thumbs up. "Woah that's good."
Locke smirked. "I got good brain."
Ryan, meanwhile, was gripping the back of Tommy's hoodie like a child in a haunted corn maze. "Guys… did the temperature just drop, or is it just the soul leaving my body?"
I turned around dramatically and whispered, "If you feel cold, it means something's watching you."
Ryan squeaked.
"Just kidding," I said with a straight face. "It's because you're sweaty and terrified. Thermodynamics, baby."
James glared at me. "Can you take this seriously for five seconds?"
"Sorry," I whispered. "It's how I cope. Either I joke, or I scream and pee a little."
Suddenly—
📣 CLANG!
We all jumped as a locker door slammed open and down on its own.
Ryan: "OH MY GOD!"
Jake (me): "I regret everything."
We froze and shocked
Silence for a little bit.
Then, slowly, Sophie leaned in next to me and whispered, "Jake… hold my hand again."
I side-eyed her like she just asked me to propose during a zombie apocalypse.
"Respectfully," I muttered, "girl you're hot but you turn into a yandere in Chapter 38 and I ain't dying with a knife in my kidney."
She blinked. "What?"
"Nothing," I coughed, walking faster. "Let's find that VHS tape, huh?"
….
As Locke and James led the way, tall and confident like he wasn't hearing ghost breathing two inches from his ear.
Tommy was next to him — gamer hoodie, calm face, flashlight app out like he was doing a side quest.
Ryan kept close to the wall, holding his backpack straps like they were a bulletproof vest.
And Liza… was just quietly walking, hoodie pulled halfway up, moon-colored eyes scanning everything.
Seriously. If someone screamed right now, she'd just blink.
Me?
I was in middle
Where it was safest.
I think.
Hopefully.
James stopped. "It's here. Music room."
The door looked like it hadn't opened since 2007.
The kind of door that says "bad things happened here and nobody ever cleaned up."
Yep. Great. Love that for us. Just your average cursed classroom Tuesday.
We stepped in.
Broken violins. A cracked piano. Sheet music torn up like confetti for a funeral.
Tommy shined the light toward an old cabinet. "Tape's probably in there."
He sounded relaxed. Must be nice to have nerves made of titanium and too much G Fuel.
I kept scanning the room. My brain was screaming twelve different horror tropes at once.
Don't split up. Don't touch anything. Don't say her name. Don't even hum.
In fact, maybe just stop breathing, Jake. Maybe that's the play.
Still, I moved toward the cabinet. I pulled open a drawer.
📼 Click.
Something inside shifted.
I peeked.
There it was. A dusty VHS tape, black with age.
Label: "Eloist. – Final Solo."Listen for the Light.""
Yep. That's cursed. That is the physical embodiment of cursed.
I didn't say anything. Just turned around and held it up.
James looked at me.
I gave a small shrug, like:
"Hey, we might die, but at least together."
James just sighed and said "Idiot…"
Locke leaned in. "Now what?"
James asked, "Anyway, where's the player?"
Everyone looked around.
Silence.
No VHS player.
Of course. Why would a haunted school make this easy? Why not throw in a maze? Maybe a boss fight with a trumpet demon while we're at it. Final Fantasy: Ghost Edition.
Ryan's voice climbed like it was on an elevator to panic:
"You think we have to… go to the AV room?"
Even Tommy flinched and scared.
That Tommy, who once beat five horror games in one night without blinking.
Confirmed. This is a horror game. AV room is 100% the final dungeon. We are the victims. I am the funny one who dies second-to-last. It's fine. I've accepted my role in this emotionally unstable Scooby-Doo episode.
That's when Liza opened her mouth —
Soft voice. Cold delivery. Like winter itself dropped a voicemail.
"If we stay too long, she'll notice we're not afraid."
Everyone froze.
Okay. Thanks, Liza. Just casually dropping existential ghost facts like that. Totally not horrifying at all. Really soothing. Can't wait for your TED Talk: "How to Be Haunted 101."
James nodded. "Let's move. Quiet."
Tommy tapped his phone light. "I know the way. Keep low, keep close."
Ryan looked at me like I was his emotional support raccoon.
"Jake, if I die, tell my cat I love her."
I gave him a solemn nod.
I don't know your cat's name, but sure, man. I'll let her know. Maybe write it in my will.
I glanced toward the two girls Locke had rescued earlier. They stood near the back, clinging to each other, quiet, wide-eyed — probably wondering why they were dragged into this Scooby-Doom scenario.
Okay. Listen. I'm not being weird. I'm just saying. They were pretty. Like "main character of a slice-of-life anime" pretty. Calm down, I'm admiring with respect and fear. There's a ghost. I'm not here to simp. I'm here to survive.
Then…
James looked back at me. "Are you okay?"
I straightened up like I hadn't been internally screaming for five minutes.
"Fine," I said. "Better than ever before. Peak condition. Mentally stable. Completely normal."
Lie. That was a lie. I'm one jump scare away from ascending into a different timeline.
And that's when it happened.
Sophie looked at me.
Concerned eyes. That soft worried look.
I immediately broke eye contact.
Girl. Girl. Girl. Please. I told you. Don't look at me like that. Look at James. Look at the floor. Look at a damn ghost if you want. But not me. That's how it starts. That's how the yandere arc begins. I'm not dying in Chapter 8.
Still, everyone was looking my way.
I cleared my throat.
Alright. Attention mode: ENGAGED.
Let's turn this mild existential panic into profit.
I raised my hand dramatically like I was about to perform Hamlet.
"Alright, children of doom," I said. "Let's go to the cursed AV room. I heard their surround sound is killer."
Groans. A few smiles. Even Tommy cracked a grin.
Boom. That's what I'm here for. Vibes, fear, and a punchline before death.
I tucked the VHS into my hoodie pocket like it was a sacred relic and followed them down the hall.
Okay, ghost girl. Playtime's over. Let's see what your mixtape sounds like.
+5 Attention Points
(Took command again. Audience locked in.)
…
James Foster
We walked in silence, the flashlight beams bobbing ahead like nervous fireflies.
The VHS tape was in Jake's hoodie now, tucked like it was a holy artifact, and everyone was following him. Not me. Not Liza. Not even Locke, who looked like he'd rather punch a ghost than listen to it.
It was Jake.
Jake Coleman.
My best friend, we followed him because … It feels like the right thing to do
Even though he is kind a sus, he is still the same Jake I know… and yet, somehow, not.
And that grandma story?
The one where she fought off ghosts in a bamboo forest using "pure kung fu and righteous rage"? The one he told me back in freshman year where she uppercutted a banshee through a second-story window?
I used to laugh so hard I nearly choked on my cafeteria fries.
Now?
Now I wasn't so sure he was joking.
"My grandma once sealed a demon in a rice cooker," he once said, serious as a priest. "Didn't even unplug it. Just tossed it in the lake. Bam. Haunted crockpot."
I thought he was kidding. I really did.
But tonight, watching him guide us through this cursed school like he had the walkthrough downloaded in his brain…
It's starting to freak me out a little.
"Jake," I whispered, moving beside him as we crept down the hallway, toward the AV room.
He didn't look at me. Just whispered back, "Yeah?"
I hesitated.
Should I ask him? Ask who is his grandma is and how did she knows all of this… perhaps her grandma is the key to this…
Instead, I just said:
"You sure you're okay?"
He gave a thumbs-up without even turning.
"Peachy. Like, full-on fruit salad."
That… was not an answer.
But somehow, the group trusted him. Even Liza.
Liza, who barely talks to anyone.
Even Sophie was watching him like he was something strange she couldn't quite understand.
And me?
I was trying not to admit it, but yeah. I was watching him too.
...
Meanwhile…
Jake Coleman
James is looking at me again. Oh no. Brain power increasing. He's thinking too hard. Abort mission. Say something stupid quick.
I looked back at him and whispered,
"If I die in this AV room, tell your mom I said hi."
James blinked.
"…what?"
"Exactly," I said, and walked faster.
🩸 [+5 Attention Points — "Cryptic Weird Guy" Bonus]
Current Attention Points: 110
Heh. Worth it.
….
The hallway to the AV room was long, dark, and smelled like old wires, moldy books, and trauma.
Classic. Just throw a fog machine in here and you've got every PS2 horror game ever made. If a little ghost girl whispers "Play with me," I'm jumping out a window.
Tommy led the way with his phone light. Locke followed, holding a metal ruler like it could actually fight a ghost. Ryan was next, gripping my backpack strap like a toddler on his first field trip to Hell.
Note to self: Charge him rent if he keeps clinging.
The two girls Locke saved walked close to Liza. Sophie hovered behind James like a shadow with a crush. And I?
I was in the middle. Prime target position. Great.
We reached the door: AUDIO-VISUAL ROOM — peeling letters, half-open, pitch-black inside.
Tommy whispered, "We're here."
James turned to me. "Got the tape?"
I pulled it out dramatically, like it was Excalibur.
"Yeah. Hope she likes her greatest hits," I muttered, then added, "Now who's volunteering to go first and definitely not die?"
Nobody moved.
Cool. Guess it's me. Of course it's me. It's always the funny guy. It's like a universal law: ghosts crave punchlines.
I stepped forward, pushed the door.
CREEEEEEEEEEAAAK.
The smell inside was worse. Dust. Burnt plastic. Something sweet and rotting.
Oh awesome. That's the 'Haunted Lavender Glade' scent. Limited edition.
We slipped inside. The light from Tommy's phone barely reached the ceiling.
Old desks. Coiled wires. Broken monitors stacked like a cyber-junk graveyard. On the far wall—
There it was.
The VHS Player.
"Holy crap, it exists," I whispered. "That's rarer than a working printer in a school."
I knelt down, blew the dust off it. Coughing like I just inhaled a mummy.
Please work. Please don't eat the tape. Please don't summon a violin demon with anger issues.
I slid in the tape.
It clicked.
The screen lit up—grainy static—and then… music.
A single piano note. Broken. Distant. Slow.
And then a girl's voice. Singing.
Low, haunting, echoing.
Then—
BANG!
The door slammed shut behind us.
Ryan screamed like a kettle.
Liza turned to the corner. "There's movement," she said coldly.
I looked. There—just barely in the screen's glow—was a shape. A girl.
Long hair. White dress. Blood trailing from her fingertips.
Oh no. Nope. She's early. That's not fair. We didn't even get snacks yet!
The ghost tilted her head.
The singing got louder.
Tommy hissed, "Play the full song! You said, It has to finish!"
"I am! I'm not gonna skip it like a YouTube ad!" I barked back, hitting the tracking button like my life depended on it — because it probably did.
James stepped forward.
"She's coming," he whispered. "Keep her calm. No sound."
Then—
Ryan sneezed.
The ghost twitched.
RYAN YOU FRAGILE FLOWER I SWEAR—
To be continue