The double dark-brown wooden front doors swung open with just a touch.
"Huh... I didn't think they'd leave it unlocked" said Kim.
"The probably thought nobody's crazy enough to come in here." Harlan Chuckled.
The inside was dark. It was an old space, old furniture, and paintings. In the middle of the main hall was a large staircase leading upstairs. The whole place gave a sensation of absence. Like people were supposed to be here. A family maybe. Whoever lived here, left decades ago.
"Would you look at that." he whispered, pulling out his camera.
They smiled at each other and moved further in, shining their torches around. The manor has that beautiful feel. It was built by people who cared what their living space looked like. And who had a boatload of money. Old money.
"Goddamn..." said Kim "Let's start looking around"
Harlan opened a door below the stairs and started poking around in it.
Kim went into the living room. It was lit by moonlight trickling in through really large windows. Old moth eaten curtains ruffled in the breeze. There was also what looked like a knights armour in the corner of the room.
He approached the armour and scraped some rust off with his flashlight.
Harlan came into the living room holding an old blue coat, frayed at the edges covered in dust.
"Look Kim!" He said "They just have a bunch of these lying around in this giant closet"
"Dude, that's dusty as hell put it back" he said. "How'd you like this place other wise?"
Harlan smiled and dropped the coat off on a couch, causing it to cough out dust.
"It's great" he said, recording the knights armour and the rest of the living room "Look at how old this is? And did you see those paintings? I'm surprised they didn't sell it before moving out.... Thank's for making me come with you man"
"No problem" Kim smiled. He knew Harlan would like it. "I'm just upset we haven't run into any ghosts."
"Let's keep looking" said Harlan. "Maybe we'll get unlucky"
"That's the spirit!"
The climbed up the stairs. Even the first floor was huge. There were like an additional five bedrooms up here. He opens one of the doors in the middle and Harlan goes into the rightmost door.
This room belonged to some lady. He could see a mirror and a Jewellery box and everything. The curtains were also really pretty and embroidered. Stuff like this made him wonder about the people that lived here.
He approached the window and looked outside. He could kinda make out the outline of their dorm room. He hoped Mr. Brosham didn't notice that they left.
Harlan peeked into the room, whispering. "KIM!"
"What?!" he whispered back
"Someone cleaned that room recently!"
"WHAT!?"
"Quiet!!!!!" he hissed.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Someone's obviously wiped it up and moved things around."
Kim felt some panic set in.
"Ghost?" Kim asked.
"Dude, don't even get started"
"Let's just calm down and look around?"
"Look around!? we're freaking leaving!" said Harlan.
"Dude, it's gonna be fine."
They sneaked down the stairs. Everything felt different now. Suddenly the place seemed a lot more colder, and darker. Everything a possible danger. The shadows around the manor were darker, someone could be hiding in it. The eyes on figures in the paintings seemed to follow them.
He walked straight to the knight armour. This felt like one of those situations where it would come alive. He approached it slowly, and poked it gingerly with his flashlight.
A loud clang came from one of the rooms.
Kim jumped. Crap, that was scary. Without missing a beat he took off towards the sound holding his flashlight tight.
"Kim!" Harlan whispered "What are you doing!"
But Kim kept going, hurrying as quietly as he could. He was in the kitchen. There was a pan on the stove. What was going on? There's no way this was a ghost. Thudding sounds came from what looked like the pantry.
He pulled the door open and came face to face with an old Hobo, chewing a bit of sausage.
He screamed.