“Can you please tell me what had happened that night?” The therapist looked at me, yet I kept my face hidden.  Silence filled the small yet cozy room.  I looked up slightly, only to find him staring at me still.  Waiting for my response.  I look down again, covering my already sweaty hands.  It’s been 20 years since I’ve talked about the night.  Every day and night it’s been on my mind.  Taking a deep breathe I begin.

It was spring break of 2015.  We all had been talking about going out of town and having some fun.  “Where are we going, Chris?” Lili asked shyly.  Lili isn’t much a talker, but she is joyful to be around.
“Well, first we are going to pick up some people.  Then go have some fun.”  I explained simply yet excited.  First we needed to pick up my friend Jasmin along with her brother Dylan. Then we’ll need to pick up Tayler and her boyfriend Jake.
Jasmin and Tayler are like me.  Both have colored hair, Tayler with blue and purple, Jasmin with black and red, and me with a rainbow.  We always have a band T-shirt on and some sort of black pants. We all have some sort of piercing or piercings. I have my all of ears done, top to bottom, both sides, with a nose ring.  Tayler has an industrial, with a septum piercing, and one side of her lip done. Jasmin has only her ears done, like mine, and her belly pierced.  Jake is similar to us. Black hair, with band T-shirts.  Dylan and Lili are the oddballs of the group. The ones that like sports, and basically the complete opposite of us.
After we had everyone together, we made the 6 hour journey to St. Francisville, Louisiana. We live in Dallas, Texas.  Little after 6pm is the time we arrived at our destination, The Myrtles Plantation.  After a few decades of being abandoned the main building was rebuilt and made into a fairly decent house, with trees surrounding most of the area. 
  After arriving, we all gathered our belongings and headed inside. “Dibs on the master bedroom!!” Tayler called out. She scampered up the loud squeaky stairs to go find her desired room. Following her was Jake.  As for the rest of us, we went to go find our own rooms, and look around the house. After putting my bags in the bedroom, that was left, I went down stairs to the kitchen to find something to make for dinner. There were cupboards full of food and snacks, and the fridge, was the same!  Finally I found everything I need to make spaghetti with garlic toast and side salad.
Everyone seemed to enjoy dinner, and went off to the living room, to hang out and chat. “So did you hear about the man who got mysteriously got shot?” Tayler said trying to be spooky. 
“That’s just a myth, Tay! No one really believes that” Jasmin looked over Tayler and snickered.  Everyone was joking around about all the things that had happened in the house, and soon enough we were all tired from the long day.  Wonderful days had gone by.  Going to the park, and some theme parks.
I had a restless night, one night.  Around 2 am I had heard rustling in the kitchen.  Looking over I saw that Lili was still asleep.  Trying to be quiet I made my way down the creepy stairs and into the kitchen.  I turn the corner, and all of a sudden the noise had stopped.  I turn around to head back up to bed, but the noise started up again, but louder. I turned again, and nothing. Everything stopped, slowly I turned, and saw a man standing in front of the window. Gasping I turned on the light, and looked up to find that he was gone.  Quickly yet quietly I went back to my room.
That night, I couldn’t get back to sleep very well.  I awake with the smell of bacon and eggs, and heard laughter.  I slowly got out of bed, and made my way to the kitchen to find Lili, Jasmin, Tayler and Dylan at the table eating, and Jake by the stove.  Keeping quiet I sat down slowly.  “Chris what’s wrong? You look… terrible.”  Jasmin looks at me with concern filling her face.  I keep quiet. Jakes comes over,
“Chris, what’s wrong? You know you can tell us anything.” I look up, and take a deep breathe.
“I heard and saw something last night.”
“Like what?” Tayler asks, wanting me to continue.
“I heard rustling in here, but as soon as I got here it all stopped, and then I saw a man at the window”, I turn around at the window he was at,  “but when I turned on the light he was gone.”
“Do you think it could have been a dream?” Jake asks trying not to laugh.
“I’m serious!”  Practically yell at them, furious that they wouldn’t believe me.
For the rest of the day, everyone wanted to go out to the beach. It was alright but I couldn’t stop thinking about the man I saw, and the noise.  Just how it stopped when I entered the room.  I tried to keep that out of my mind by grilling lunch and going out for a swim with the others, but I just couldn’t.  Jake said he wanted to surprise us for dinner.  We ended up at the Grand Buffet. They had just about everything you could think of. Your favorites from Mexican food, to Chinese food, to Italian food and more!
That night everyone was tired and yet happy to be back at the house.  I’d gone to sleep, when I heard a small scream coming from down stairs.  I slowly got out of bed and down the stridulate stairs to the kitchen to find Lili standing in front of a shadow facing me.  I turn to flip the lights on, and they both disappeared.  I heard crying from upstairs, and followed.  I saw Jasmin on the floor crying, while Dylan on the bed, empty pill bottle in hand.  Jasmin ran out, and there I saw the man again, a bit more clear now.  A man in his mid-thirties, early forties, dressed in a black suit, like the ones in 1500’s.  I turned to see Jasmin and Tayler crying and upset. I looked past them at my window to find a large willow tree.  There’s Jake.  Upset I turn my focus back to the girls on my bed, but their gone. I searched all over the house for anyone. I go outside, and it’s black. I went back inside. It feels like everything is fading away. Getting dizzy I fell.
“Laughter. Laughter is the only thing I could hear in that darkness. Slowly yet surely the laughter got softer, until it is barely upon a whisper. Then it came again louder than before, and I jolted forward, only to find darkness surrounding me. White eyes.  White eyes piercing at me, as the laughter grew louder.   Those were the last things I remembered before everything went quiet.” I sat still in my chair, as the therapist wrote a few more notes down.
“Alright Chris, I see we are out of time.  I’m sorry for everything that had happened to you, and I promise that everything will be alright from now on.  I will see next week?” He sat his notebook down on his desk behind him.
“Yeah.” As I got up to leave, I look towards the door.  There’s Lili.