The following is a work of fiction.
Haunted
Emma Compton’s channel Emma’s Haunted House attracted ten million subscribers within a year. Not to mention the millions of followers on all the other social media platforms. All of that added up to a seven-figure monthly income for this nineteen-year-old who dropped out of college only six months ago. She never planned for any of this to happen. Her ten-minute video “The Most Haunted Cemetery” went viral and catapulted her to internet celebrity status overnight. Naturally, she moved out of her aunt Betty’s basement and even bought her a nice house and allowed her to retire from her diner job.
Emma herself bought a beautiful Victorian house in a nice part of town. She didn’t realise it at the time, but her fans pointed out that she was living in the same street as The McNamara Manor: The most haunted house in the world. At first Emma was too busy to pay attention to what the comments were saying on her channel. She was busy editing, uploading, attending various interviews, premieres etc. Now that Christmas was around the corner, things slowed down, which gave Emma some free time to read through her emails and interact with her fans. There were too many people talking about this haunted house at the end of her own street for her to ignore it. Emma put on her night gown and ran outside to see this house. Her street was a cul-de-sac with a massive house that stood at the end staring down the other houses like a displeased host. Emma was just glad to wrap up the year on a high with all the attention, brand deals, fame and the money, but she was still hungry for fresh new material.
Emma put newly charged battery in her camera, put on warm clothes and got ready. It was fast approaching midnight, but she was too excited to sleep. She announced to her subscribers and followers that she will be broadcasting live from the Manor in twenty minutes. Her phone lit up with heart symbols and comments. That little announcement made her a quick hundred thousand big ones.
It was only a ten-minute walk to the end of her street to The McNamara Manor. It was an imposing house. It wasn’t the largest, as there were bigger ones on the street but had an ominous presence about it. It was pitch black inside as it’s been abandoned for decades. Emma put on her night vision goggles and approached the front door. She was sure that she saw someone peer out the window upstairs. Emma didn’t really believe in ghosts or the supernatural. She slowly turned the doorknob. To her surprise, it wasn’t locked. Emma carefully opened the door and walked through it.
She was confused.
She just walked through the door, but she was outside again. Emma was facing her street. She turned around. The creepy house was still there. Emma grabbed the doorknob but this time it was locked. The lights inside were on and she could see figures moving around with voices coming through.
“Hello!” Emma said as she knocked on the front door.
None of the people that she could see inside came to the door.
After about twenty minutes of knocking Emma decided that she has had enough for the night and decided to head back. She can always come back tomorrow, she thought.
She turned to the street to get back to her house. A weird fog blanketed the whole street. She finally made it to her own house and inserted the key to enter. To her annoyance, more than anything, the key didn’t turn. She was confused again. She ran out to the curb to make sure that it was her own house. Without a doubt, it was her house. She couldn’t even call anyone about what was happening. Her aunt lived three states away and she didn’t know anyone in the neighbourhood. She sat on her brick fence for few minutes when her bedroom light turned on. That’s when she realised that something was wrong. She took off her night vision goggles and squinted to focus on who was in her room. A person approached the window and parted the curtains. To her horror, that person was herself.