I was spooked all the time.
I could see now why Becky had chosen this place for Halloween night. Sure, the same tricks would have worked somewhere else too, but the ambiance of the abandoned villa really sold the haunted house vibe. You didn’t know if the floor was creaking because it was real wood battered down by the years, or if it was a sound effect from the Spookmeister. That’s what he called himself, many times. He made sure we all knew. You didn’t know if the spiderwebs touching your cheek were real or augmented. The long shadows radiated from what little furniture was left inside the villa, and things hid in the corners, shuffling away when you looked. The black and white photographs framed on the wall showed people that were long dead, yet twitched and moved.
It was exciting, an
