Chapter Nine : Day One (Beverly-Thomas)

They all stand together in front of the house that they considered mysterious.

"Okay, guys let us turn on our cameras and flashlights. Its now time. And remember at no point are you supposed to stop your camera, except when you change the batteries. And keep Iliana's equipment handy. And we all will meet here at exactly, 4 in the morning no one dare turn up late because we all need to have foolproof alibis if by any chance something bad happens."Bev tells everyone.

"You all will at all times stay with your partners because we do not know how big this trash house is and we do not want anyone getting lost in this shit hole," Thomas announces.

And as soon as Thomas finishes everyone starts for the house, crossing the "NO TRESPASSING" sign that was rooted deep into the lawn.

Patrick pushes the door which then opens with a creak. All six of them step inside feeling nervous.

"So, let me make it clear once again, Mary-James you take the Kitchen. Patrick-Iliana you take Living Room and the Corridor, while Thomas and I would take the Basement. Let us finish this floor today and we can then go around for the rest of the floors later."Bev told everyone that day's plan and the rooms each of them are going to inspect.

*****

BEVERLY & THOMAS(BASEMENT)

"Hey guys, it is Thomas and Beverly if you are seeing this tape then this means we decided to have it turned into a documentary or we died and police confiscated our cameras as evidence and decided to make these tapes go public but whatever the case is, we just want you to enjoy our adventure. Sooo.... We are here in the Basement of the mysterious house on 24 March 2019."Beverly said into the camera.

"It smells like something or somebody was left here for days. It smells like a dead body down here. And according to Iliana's ghosty thermometer, it seems to be like 11°C in here. Whereas before entering this house when I checked the temperature it was 28°C out ther..."Thomas said.

But, before he could have completed his sentence, the camera indicated a low battery.

"Thomas, you did check the batteries right?"Beverly questioned his mate who was equally confused about hearing those beeps that indicated low battery.

"Yes, I did! It could not be possible. Let's just change them it could have been some kind of glitch because we have been here for like just half an hour and it is already low. Wait let me check the time."Thomas says checking his watch, "It is just 11:46 we are supposed to be here till 4 and we are still stuck here for like 4 hours or something. It is suggestible that we change the batteries."

Thomas takes out a new set of batteries and swaps them with the discharged ones. After the batteries are changed, the two face the camera.

"Okay the problems aside, let us continue because we have already wasted about like an hour. So let us continue people!"Beverly says into the camera.

They walk further into the basement, flashing torch around, making a visible path for them to roam around.

"It mostly looks like a basic basement, but nothing about this place is basic. This very house has its cemetery and fun fact watchers, that lady was buried in the very same cemetery behind this house, so there is a great possibility of us stumbling into her ghost."Bev says, as she monitors and captures every movement of Thomas who is ahead of her.

"Babe? Don't you think that we should check some of the articles on these shelves? Like, that lady without any doubt was crazy. So, I think she must have kept some of her crazy things too..."Thomas says as he picks up a sharp butcher's knife, "Just like this butcher's knife. Why would anyone require this? Don't you get meat chopped nowadays?"

"She was creepy, indeed," Bev says turning the camera towards herself.

Beverly sets up the camera on one of the shelves in such a way that both she and her mate were in the frame. Thomas sets the flashlight above the camera so their faces were lit up enough for the camera to focus on their shivering bodies because of how cold it was.

They started picking up things randomly off the shelves.

Beverly picked up a can of what seemed like paint. When she brought this so-called can paint into the path of light and it lit up its body for her to read what it was she was stunned, her expression caught up in the camera.

"SULFURIC ACID" the label read.

"What is it?"Thomas said when he inspected his girlfriend's expressions.

"Are you crazy Beverly? It could have burned you to ashes it not even diluted! Oh for God's

sake keep it now."The boy says when he notices what the label reads.

"Oh goodness, gracious! Calm down, boy! Plus, Chemistry genius what would she have even needed sulfuric acid for?"Beverly questioned Thomas keeping the container of acid away, far far away from her.

"Sulfuric Acid has many uses from making fertilizers to making drugs! And even dissolving a dead body."Thomas said, recalling everything he knows about sulfuric and maybe about

dead bodies and on how to dissolve them.

"Dissolving Bodies? What are they even teaching you? Are we even in the same school?"Bev questions, definitely troubled with the knowledge Thomas shared with her.

"Okay leave that but it is not like she has some sort of garden that she would require fertilizers. And even if she would have wanted the fertilizers for the weeds growing in front of this lawn then she could have purchased it from the market, why would someone manufacture their fertilizer right from scratch?"This time Thomas questioned.

"You mean we would find some dead bodies around?"Beverly asked sounding frightened.

"Babe? Calm Down! And it is not a surety that she was dissolving bodies around here."Thomas says, "Let us just check around because Woah man, it is one now. We just

have three more hours."

Next few minutes they just shuffled around stuff, finding just things like a hammer, rat poison, shovel, helmet et cetera. Stuff which was not all-important.

Another hour passes who would have thought it would take so long to inspect a basement.

Thomas came across a bedside table which just laid around in the basement dust. He swiped his hand across the top cleaning it and opened every drawer of the table. But failed to open one and called out for Bev.

"Beverly? Hey check this out, this drawer won't budge do you have anything? Like a pin or something to force open it?" Thomas asked his girlfriend, while he searched for something to open it, and was successful in doing so.

"JACKPOT!" Thomas exclaimed, showing Beverly a scalpel that he found on the floor.

He then tried opening the drawer with the same. CLICK a sound came, and the drawer opened.

The two inspected the things lying inside the drawer and found nothing but some newspaper cuttings which were impossible to read the light of the torch. Beverly made sure to keep these cuttings inside her bag.

They searched around, trying to find something. But failed, as they did not come across anything interesting enough. They just decided to sit down and take a break as they were exhausted. They drank water and just took sat on the basement floor. Soon enough Bev's head was on Thomas' shoulder.

"It is weird how small we were when that lady came by. And now look at us, sitting here in

her basement."Beverly speaks up.

"I know, we used to feel so terrified whenever we saw her looking or heard those shrieks," Thomas says in reply.

They just sat there for a few minutes with their eyes closed.

"Bev stop playing with my hair," Thomas said trying to find Bev's hand on his hair.

"I am not playing with your hair, it's neither the time to be romantic nor the place! And I am dead tired so you'll need to carry me out of this place." Bev said.

"Do not lie man! And stop grabbing my legs now."Thomas says, clearly irritated from being tired.

"You know what Thomas, go to hell! I am leaving."Bev says standing up.

She walks towards the stairs but stumbles down this is when Thomas comes rushing to her side trying to pick her up. He places the flashlight, which points in a random direction. This is when Beverly sees it.

"Tho-Thomas, pi-pick me up! QUICK!"Beverly says scared, screaming her lungs out. Shaking. Sweating.

And, she faints. Lying on the ground her body, no movement.