Chương 43: Interlude 3 - Something's in the attic

"Drink, drink, drink!" chanted the small audience as Daniel shotgunned another beer.

"Yeeeeeah," they finished as the last drop of drink made its way from the beer can and into his mouth.

"Woooo, yes!" shouted Daniel, throwing the beer can onto the floor.

"My turn to spin," he said as he reached for the bottle sitting in the middle of the room.

"Wait," said Emma, shaking an empty wine bottle.

"I think we're out of booze." A couple of swearwords could be heard from the people in the room. They were all relatively young, wearing shirts with logos of the same college. And what kind of respectable student party lacked alcohol? Some people started shaking their bottles of the chosen drinks just to realize they were also empty.

"Who bought the drinks?" asked one of the five guys in the room.

"I think it was Daniel," responded Mateo.

"I told you what I would be buying beforehand. Maybe you should have watched out for your drink yourself. Not like you can follow a plan anyway," Daniel barked back at him. Mateo was supposed to be his wingman tonight. But when the bottle landed on Emma, instead of making her give him a kiss, he just challenged her to make out with one of the other two women in the group. Betraying their plan.

"Whatever, dude," Mateo just shrugged.

"Umm…" Liam awkwardly raised his hand like he was answering a teacher.

"Maybe we can just sit without the alcohol?" he suggested awkwardly, and immediately shrank in place as others looked at him as if he was a moron. He was the only person here staying abstinent. He was not of drinking age yet, after all. And he was not comfortable with parties, let alone with his older brother's friends, and in the house of their deceased grandmother.

"Shut up, Liam, you can go drink Grandma's tea. But this is the last time to party here before the house is for sale, and I'm not squandering it." Saying that, Daniel looked toward Emma. Liam just shut up after the scolding. Daniel felt bad for a second, but then the feeling was replaced by panic as one of the girls spoke.

"So if the party's over, maybe we should get going. I do have family over tomorrow."

"N-NO!" shouted Daniel. A bit too loudly. His chance to woo Emma was practically slipping away right before his eyes. Everyone turned to him, questions visible in their eyes.

"I mean," he cleared his throat, "look, it's a massive house, and every grandma has some alcohol stashed. There has to be some here." An idea popped into his mind.

"How about this? We make a bet. The first one to find something drinkable gets to make the rest do anything he or she wants. You all in, or are you chickening out?" The group of youth looked at one another. A treasure hunt in a massive house with the promise of something more to party with actually sounded fun. Smiles started to show on their faces.

"All right, maybe there is some 100-year-old wine or some shit," said Mateo.

"Let's go." They started to slowly look around, checking the cabinets as everyone tried to find a bottle of something drinkable. Daniel grabbed Liam by the shoulder and whispered into his ear, "You find anything, you hide it and call me, got it?"

"I don't know. The house gives me the creeps. I don't want to snoop."

"Holy fuck, Liam. Grandma's dead, what are you afraid of, offending her ghost? We have tonight before all the cleanup begins. Let go for once and get a drink," spat Daniel.

"I don't want to. But I guess I can help you look," Liam finally relented. His older brother looked as if he was about to argue once more, but finally just sighed.

"Fine." He proposed this whole plot for one main reason. He had an unfair advantage. One: his younger brother, who would not be interested in any bets with his friends, and two: knowledge of the house. Although their grandma was a black sheep of the family and they had last seen her years ago, he still remembered some places where some booze might be stashed. So without wasting time, he took his younger brother and they bolted for the kitchen. The search continued.

Slowly, almost the entirety of the house was scanned, and still no alcohol.

"Hey, what exactly did your grandma do?" shouted Charlotte from one of the rooms close to where Daniel and Liam were currently looking.

"Why do you ask?" Daniel shouted back.

"Because the house is massive, but no offense, nothing exactly speaks about where the money came from." She said, walking into the room holding a disgusting-looking coat made from fur with an actual tail still hanging from the lower part of it.

"Ewww," said Liam, looking at the thing. Daniel cringed a bit.

"Not sure. This part of the family is kind of weird." He said, pointing at a few African masks decorating the shelves next to a statue of a Chinese dragon.

"You know, conspiracy theories, witchcraft, the works. The money was passed through generations. They spent it on bullshit, but real estate is hard to lose money on these days."

"Yeah," said Liam.

"I still remember when Mom sent us there. She straight up told us to be nice to Granny and secure some inheritance." He chuckled at the memory.

"The house gave me the creeps back then as well. But I guess it worked. Mom's about to throw a celebration," groaned Daniel.

"Not like there was any other competition for the house," grumbled Liam. Like that, they spent some time on small talk while looking for anything to keep the party going. Daniel felt growing anxiety. He was sure that there should be some alcohol. Old people always had some stashed, in his experience. But there was nothing. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

He could feel a slight tension as people sobered up and were less and less interested in the treasure hunt if there was no treasure. After slamming another cabinet shut, he sighed and went to the next room.

"Do we have to go there?" asked Liam.

"I don't like her room, and she died in her bed. It's weird."

"Yes, we do. Stop whining, ghosts aren't real. Man up and come," Daniel grumbled, his mood souring with every second. He then grabbed Liam and marched into the room. It was a big, cluttered room. And while he wanted to pretend he did not know fear, especially in front of his younger brother, he had to give it to the place, it was really creepy. To the right was a wall with windows, all with closed wooden shutters. The chandelier's old, dusty bulbs cast a yellowish glow.

The only other source of light was an old lamp standing next to the massive bed. The lamp had a red lampshade, which paired with the old chandelier gave the room a strange orange color. The dim light added many shadows, which was not helped by the clutter in the room. There were coffee tables, old clothes, wardrobes, and shelves. And all of it was filled with a mixture of old-person belongings like old photos and books, with the strange hobby for the occult manifesting as masks, statues, and crystals.

The whole room had an ominous feeling. Daniel looked at the bed and subconsciously swallowed. But it was too late to back down now, he would look like a coward. And what if Emma asked him if they had searched the room? Liam couldn't lie for shit and he would look like a pussy.

"Come," he said a bit louder than necessary, and they started to look through the clutter. There were many things here, but again, not what they were looking for.

"Maybe she was abstinent?" proposed Liam.

"She drank when we were here," answered Daniel.

"Fuck sake, where do old people keep their alcohol?!" he asked aloud, anger clear in his voice as he tried to get to one of the boxes, but in his hasty movements, he hit his leg on a coffer.

"Fuck!" he screamed, massaging the sore place.

"It wouldn't be so goddamn hard if the light wasn't from the Stone Age," he shouted in impotent anger as he looked up at the chandelier as if it had wronged him in some way.

"Wait a second." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"What's that?" He pointed at the ceiling. There was an entrance there, barely visible as it was very well fitted to the ceiling, but the lines were clear.

"That's an attic," he said to himself.

"If there is some stash, it should be there, right?" he asked Liam with hope in his voice.

"I don't know. A cellar, sure. But an attic?"

"But if the house doesn't have a cellar, then the attic is the next best place," Daniel announced, sure of himself. Liam clearly wasn't convinced. It was weird to have an attic entrance in your own room to begin with. Not to mention, he did not see any ladder to reach it. But he knew that look on his brother's face, there was no talking him out of it.

"Come, I'll lift you up," said the older of the boys as Liam stiffened.

"W-what? I'm not going in there, it gives me the creeps. Also, there is probably no light there," he protested.

"You have your own flashlight in your phone, genius. Come on, dude, or do you think you can lift me?" he said, looking at Liam's clearly much smaller build.

"Do it for me, okay?" The boy clearly hesitated, looking between the attic entrance and his brother, but he finally relented. He knew that Daniel really had it on for Emma.

"F-fine." He let his brother lift him up to the entrance as he pushed the trap door. It moved easily, surprisingly without any squeaking. The room was completely dark. He thought he heard something, like cloth moving, barely perceivable.

"H-Hello?" he said toward the darkness, but it was his brother who answered.

"Stop joking around, you're giving me the creeps, dude. There's no one there. Now go and look," he said and pushed Liam further in. The boy pulled himself up and, with hasty movements, got his phone from his pocket. Sitting in the small circle of light created by the open trap door was even more unnerving than the darkness. He finally pulled the device from his pocket but hesitated. What if he lit up the flashlight and there was someone there? Or even worse, a face just right on the edge of the light?

He gulped and took a breath. With shaky movements, he lit up the phone. And… nothing. There was only the attic. It was just as cluttered as the room below and relatively similar in size, if not even bigger. Most of the things were covered by white sheets, meaning he had to actually move them, which was also unnerving in its own right. He pulled one sheet after another, praying he didn't see anything scary. There were old photos, coffers, and storage spaces of all shapes and sizes.

He looked into some of them just to find old books and clothes. There was one strange thing though, there were no spiderwebs. Actually, now that he thought about it, there were no bugs at all, no spiders, mice, moths, or even flies he would expect to see in an attic. He gulped, telling himself that he was just scaring himself. He never told this to his brother, but he actually was afraid of ghosts.

It was silly at his age, but he still remembered when he was little and his brother put on a sheet and stood in his room to scare him. He never told his brother that he pissed himself that night. He shook his head, trying to get the weird thoughts out. Scolding himself for thinking about something like that in this moment.

"Get the alcohol and get out," he murmured to himself.

"Get the alco—" Bang! A loud noise made him jump.

"Who's there?!" he screamed, turning to his left. And to his horror, there was a silhouette there. Standing. Unmoving.

"W-who's there?" he asked again. Nothing. No movement. He readied his light and saw it. A mannequin. There was a mannequin standing there next to an open wardrobe that had tilted forward, spilling its contents and overturning some boxes. But he could swear there was no mannequin there before. He looked down at a smaller wooden box that had fallen out of the wardrobe. It opened slightly, showing a mirror and some letters. But then he felt a tug.

He jumped up and turned, ready to punch any ghosts, just to almost swing at his own brother.

"What the fuck, man? I heard a scream and a bang. You all right? You didn't answer when I called," Daniel snapped at him, looking him over for injuries.

"N-no. A wardrobe fell over." He pointed at it.

"Jesus, don't scare me like that. I didn't think—holy shit, you found it!" shouted Daniel, pointing at the fallen box. It had fallen over, opening slightly, showing the whiskey and wine bottles inside.

"Liam! You genius! I knew I could count on you." His brother hugged him, and called to another guy who was climbing into the attic.

"Hey, look what I found. My win, losers!" A few people climbed into the room as they tried to get the bottles down without breaking them. All in celebratory moods. Liam approached the box and opened it, then immediately recognized what it was. It was a Ouija board. The box had the board with the letters on the base and a mirror fitted inside the lid so that it reflected the board. He cringed. He wanted nothing to do with ghosts. But one of the guys looked over his shoulder.

"Holy shit. Want to talk to your grandmother?" he chuckled, his breath smelling of alcohol.

"Hey, look at that!" he then screamed for the rest, taking the box from Liam. Liam felt fear. Something was wrong. It was just a stupid toy, but why did it unnerve him so much? He then realized what was wrong. He could swear that he could read the letters reflected in the mirror without any issue. The letters weren't reversed. They looked normal.