"This is Ethan Jackson, professional ghost hunter. Today we'll be exploring the abandoned Dusk Manor, which is rumored to be haunted by hundreds, if not thousands, of ghosts. The townsfolk report hearing strange cries, growls, and roars erupting from the mansion almost every night , and we're here to.." Ethan was cut off from what he was saying by a football crashing into Luis' camera.
"Godammit, Dylan!" Luis cried. Dylan laughed and went to retrieve his football, ignoring Luis' complaints. "This thing cost $600! Do you even have that much in your savings account?" "I wish." Dylan replied, and laughed again. The thunder boomed overhead and the lighting cracked. "C'mon, you guys, I want to get up there before everything gets too wet!" Julia called from behind them. "Riley's already up there waiting for us!"
Ethan, Dylan, Julia, and Riley had always been fascinated with haunted houses. They watched Ghost Hunters at each other's houses weekly, had spent copious amounts of money on equipment, and had read every book they could find about ghost hunting. Tonight, they had traveled halfway across the state after hearing about how "haunted" the locals thought Dusk Manor was. It was their first real ghost hunt, so they wanted to make sure they were amply prepared. They had rented cameras, infrared heat sensors, recording equipment, and the like. Luis, a cameraman they found through the union, was just in it for the money... at first. Then he found he was quite interested in ghosts too, so he joined their crew.
Riley had arrived twenty minutes early so she could scope out the place for any dangers. Loose floorboards, holes in the ceiling, broken windows and the like. The others had arrived just five minutes ago and were making their way up the hill. Dylan, the jokester of the group, had brought the football along to play catch with his best friend Ethan, but Ethan took ghost hunting very seriously and didn't seem to be in the mood. Besides, it was raining.
"Can we hurry UP? I'm getting soaked to the skin over here!" Julia whined. "Maybe if DYLAN stopped goofing off, we could get there faster!" Ethan called over the roaring wind. Grumbling, Dylan gathered up his football and fell behind with Julia. "He, Jules, do you think Dusk Manor is actually haunted?" he asked. "No, well I... no." Julia whispered. To tell the truth, she didn't WANT Dusk Manor to be haunted: she was actually very afraid of ghosts.
Finally, Luis and Ethan hit the front lawn. Luis whistled softly. The mansion towered above them in the dark sky like a monster, windows looking awfully like eyes. Ethan let his eye trail from the gabled roof down to the steps of the front porch... and stared in shock. Riley's camera, the lens cracked, lay on the porch near the door. One of her shoes, torn, was splayed across the second and third steps. "JULIA DYLAN! GET OVER HERE!" Luis cried. Sensing the fear in his voice, the two hurried up to the crest of the hill where the house stood. Julia moaned and buried her head in Dylan's arms. "I TOLD you this was a bad place to go ghost hunting!" Julia wailed. "Riley is probably in there, raped, dead or worse!"
Ethan bit his lip as he surveyed the scene. Riley was a track star and had taken several self defense classes. There was no way she just let herself be dragged away. She must have put up a struggle. Dylan, meanwhile, secretly thought this was another one of Riley's pranks, as she was almost as much of a jokester as he was. Luis just looked on in shock and Julia continued to sob in Dylan's arms.
"Look, we need to go in there and look for Riley." Ethan said, his voice trembling. Nodding, Dylan helped Julia up the front steps as they followed Luis and Ethan into the house. They closed the door behind them, locking out the sounds of the storm. The front hall was dusty and old, with a winding staircase leading up and out of sight. There were several doors in the hallway, some of them ajar. A dark maw of a door stood to their right, obviously leading to the basement.
"Ok, if we're going to find Riley, we need to split up." Dylan said. Nodding, the four got into a circle and divided up groups.