She wasn’t my friends anymore. She was different. “Oh. Oh!” The wariness broke into a smile. I couldn’t be sure if it was my imagination running away or not, but she actually looked relieved. “Wow, thank you.”. Did you want to come in?” “Yes. Ruby. That’s me. Yes.” Stop talking. You sound like an idiot. Ruby laughed and stepped back. “All right, but I have to warn you, this place is still a mess. It came furnished, but everything’s covered in dust. You would have thought the old owners would pay for a cleaner or something, huh?”“Yeah.” I didn’t tell her about the terror I’d seen in the dreams’. She hesitated. “At the moment, yes.” We passed through the foyer. It really was like something out of a mansion. A runner matching the blood-red carpet curled up the length of the staircase leading to the second floor. The windows were all framed with heavy matching red curtains. There wasn’t much furniture, but what existed was understated but classical. I never explored Ruby’s room. This mansion was so big. “Through here… I think.” Ruby turned a corner. “Oh , good, it is the kitchen. I’m still getting used to this place.” I laughed, but I couldn’t stop staring at the house’s interior. What I’d seen of the previous family had made me think they were fairly normal. The children had worn T-shirts, ridden bikes, and screamed with laughter. The mother had smoked, and the father had worked some kind of construction job. But the house looked nothing like a normal suburban family home. It dripped with importance, every part of it stately, reserved, and aged. Ruby turned to face me in the kitchen’s entryway, and it struck me that she looked dwarfed by the house. Like a tiny morsel lying on its tongue, waiting to be swallowed. “I brought muffins.” I was repeating myself, but I didn’t know what else to say. “Banana.” “They smell really good. I forgot to have breakfast this morning. Can I get you some, uh… tea? I think I have tea.” She began opening cupboards and drawers. “Oh, looks like they left coffee, too. That was considerate.” Eight-month-old coffee would be well past stale. “Tea’s good. Here, I can help.” I put the basket on the centre of the wooden table and helped Anna sort through her drawers. I washed two cups and plates while she boiled the kettle then chose one of the herbal teas she’d found in a drawer. It felt strangely wrong to be using the whitegoods and tea left by the previous owners, almost like trespassing, as if they would be scandalised to know what was happening in their home. They left it here, I reminded myself as I threw out the teabag. They didn’t want it anymore. If I had to guess, Anna felt the same. She flitted around the kitchen, seemingly reluctant to touch most of the things in the cupboard. “It will feel more like home once you’ve been living here a while,” I said. She gave me a quick smile and dusted her hands on her jeans as she took a seat at the table. “Yeah, I guess it will. It’s just surreal. It all happened so fast.” “What made you move?” I passed her a muffin, which she took gratefully and cut into cubes. “Oh, just life being unpredictable. There were some problems with my old life. So, because of that you planned this trip. To this strange mansion. Where we almost lost all of us. I couldn’t say ” Lucky, and Sannu joined us in the kitchen. Sannu said “ So, we planned to expose our lovely ghost today,” I said “what???” Lucky said we decided to keep Jagran today and stay awake today. And play, eat and drink altogether. Before someone kills us, let’s celebrate this moment. Lucky was back to us. We both agreed. Happy? Where is happy? Ruby asked. Well, he is still busy with his office stuff. But at the same time, it seemed unfair not to tell her about something so major. I struggled to find a middle in the night. “This place has been empty for a while.” Everyone went back to their respective work. “Has it?” I looked around the kitchen, taking in the dark-wood cabinets and granite benches. “It was a bargain. Surprising no one else wanted it.” “Yeah.” I watched the mension closely. It didn’t surprised me. It is suspicion she knew why the property had been untenanted for so long, and we were just dancing around the subject. I pushed a little harder. “This place has a bit of a reputation.” Ruby shot me a glance. Her eyes were bright blue; I hadn’t noticed before. Then I realised she hadn’t made eye contact before. Her voice dropped very low. “The real estate agent hinted at that. She said some families have had trouble living here. Some… unexplained stuff.” “Ghosts.” It felt good to say the word and not get stared at like I was crazy. “Do you… believe in ghosts?