By the time the 19th rolled around, we had everything prepared. Paisley went out and got her own off-white dress with three of her friends who all made their way up together, I added some white lace to her mask as per her request. Mom and dad wore matching outfits, but dads mask had a long obnoxious nose, and moms had a large feather darting off the side. The modifications on Sophie’s dress made her look like a true princess. There was purple-red fabric draped along the sides and back of the dress, and there were button-like decorations on the torso, and over the top of it all was the same reddish dress, cropped down drastically to form a shrug jacket. There were also realistic red roses lined along her waist, and framing her mask like a crown. She loved her new outfit, and couldn’t wait to wear it the next day. I myself was just finishing adding some roses and flowers to my own hat (Sophie requested I match her in some way, so I included my own set of flowers). I pinned the last flower down, and turned it over to observe from the front. I heard my phone ring, picking it up without checking who it was I answered.

“Owen L. Lancaster.” I said as I moved to place the hat on the mannequin wearing the rest of my outfit. A loud screaming noise greeted me on the other line.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH- hey it’s me come open the door.” My first reaction was to drop my phone, but thankfully I restrained myself. My second reaction was to sprint out of the room, up the stairs, to the door as fast as I can. When I got there I slammed open the front door and grabbed my best friend in an embrace. He started screaming again as he hugged me back, thankfully much more quietly, and I even joined him this time. When we pulled back I saw his phone in his hand and remembered to hang up on mine. He was wearing his pyjamas, he was the kind of guy who wears comfortable clothes for a long drive. He has brown hair, shaved in the back and sides but longer and styled at the top. His voice got deeper in the past month, that or I haven’t gotten used to hearing him in person after only texting for a month. It was so good to see him.

“Hey, come on in. There’s a lot we gotta talk about.” I said as I started walking back in. “It’s so good to see you though. I missed you so much, it feels like longer than about a month.” He smiled and returned the sentiment.

“Let’s drop that bag off in my room, then I’ll show you around.” The two of us went around the house at a slow pace till eventually it was dark out and there was one place left that I had to show him. We ran into Paisley and her friends when we were on our way to the basement.

“Ladies…” Duncan said quietly, and let them pass. A couple snickered at him but he didn’t seem to mind. Alice, who was following the girls, changed direction and went with us. When we got to the room I fumbled with my key for a moment before I remembered I left the door unlocked on accident. I opened the door, and ushered him inside.

“This is what you ‘really had to show me’?” He started as he walked in the room. I locked the door behind us. “No offense bro, but compared to the rest of the house this ain’t that big of a deal.” I smiled, knowing what was about to happen.

“Actually,” I stopped talking, and walked over to the armor that he was looking at. “This is what I really had to show you.” I said smugly, and stepped on Angelica’s foot. I stepped back as I waited the few seconds it took to start moving, Duncan turned, about to say something, when he was cut off by the now familiar grinding sound. His head whipped back to the wall as the hidden room revealed itself. Once the door opened, I casually walked inside the small library, and lit all the candles. Alice sat at my feet beside me, and I turned back around to find Duncan still standing outside the door.

“Dude… What?” He asked, wide eyed, and mouth agape.

“This is what I wanted to talk to you about.” I said as I sat on the loveseat. He finally walked in, looked around, and sat beside me.

“Okay…” he paused. “Start from the beginning.” and I did. I explained my first day here; followed by the second, when the basement was making noises at Paisley and I; I told him about the early morning after, with the glowy dusty orb that led me here; then the armor, and accidentally finding this place while I tried to fix it. I also told him that nothing else weird has happened since then.

“I am feeling inclined to not believe any of what you just said but…” he gestured around him. “I see no reason not to though. After all of this…”

“I feel the same, honestly. And I’m the one who dealt with all of it.”

“Man…” Duncan leaded forward, “Its insane.” he put his hands on his forehead.

“Not as insane as the last guy who was here.” I got up and went over to the desk. I grabbed the journal from where I left it and brought it back over to Duncan. “Listen to this.” I flipped to one of the random pages I had bookmarked and began to read.

“‘They tell me that I am crazy and at this point even I believe this to be true. But there is no denying that in some of my so-called delusions there is a truth far greater than reality would have you believe.’ There’s more after that but I can’t make it out, this guy’s handwriting is horrible.”

“Let me see.” Duncan held out his hand. I passed the book over to him. He stared at it intently for a moment, brow furrowed.

“It says: My only hope is that someone, someday, might see the truth as well.” He translated.

“How did you even read that? I couldn’t make out hardly any of it.” I wondered.

“I helped grade elementary english papers man. But hold on think about that for a second.” He changed the topic.

“What?” I asked, unsure where this was going.

“Dude like, what if that thing you saw had something to do with this? What if it wanted you to find this?” He was starting to get excited.

“I mean, that would make sense I guess…” I suddenly felt much more curious about what this guy was talking about. “But why me?”

“I dunno man. Maybe you seem familiar to it somehow, that’s how it goes in the stories…” He trailed off. We sat quietly for a moment.

“Do… you wanna help me figure it out?” I asked after a few beats of silence.

“Abso-freaking-lutely.” He had a fire in his eyes. Duncan loved anything supernatural and mysterious, so this was right up his alley.

“Okay, if you want you can take that with you. You figured out what it said after like five seconds where it probably would take me five hours.” I exaggerated.

“Great! I’ll let you know what I find. Better yet, if I have the time I’ll translate the whole thing on the computer and send you the file.” He was already making plans. “You can be the field guy, and I’ll be the guy at the computer telling you where to go and what to do it’ll be sick.”

“It’s not like a buddy-cop show but alright.” I snorted, and checked the time. “Dinner will be soon, we should get out of here before someone comes to check on us.” We got up, I ushered Duncan and Alice out the door and pressed the button from that side before stepping through. We hung out in the fashion studio for a while, I showed him my outfit for tomorrow, until surely enough there was loud knocking on the door. Opening it revealed Sophie, hand still in the air, then suddenly she raised both hands high

“Duncan!” She ran in and into the arms of my best friend, who picked her up and swung her around.

“Hey little one! It’s been a while, huh?” He grinned at her, as he set her onto his hip. They always got along nicely, it was nice to see. Sophie nodded then looked to me.

“Momma said it’s time for dinner.” She began to wiggle her way out of Duncan’s grasp, who gently set her down. She then ran out of the room, her little feet making tapping noises as she went. We exchanged looks before we made our way out of the room, locking the door as we went. On our way to dinner I requested that he keep quiet about our… Investigation. He swore to secrecy, and with that, we spent the rest of our night acting as much like normal teenagers as we could.