The three teens stood in front of the abandoned house, conversing about the rumors about the old manor

"I don't think this is a good idea" Gilda said "isn't this place haunted?"

"Oh, don't be a buzz kill. This place was here way before we were even born and we're 16. Any ghosts that maybe have been here probably left, this place is void of life" Don replied and looked at the disheveled manor. Part of what he said was true, that place was there long before they were born, way longer than they actually knew. It was built in the early 1940s, and was passed down from generation to generation until it was subsequently put up for sale in the 2000s, but, even before it was put up for sale, it was already falling apart

"Hey, c'mon. Let's just get this dare over with" Norman said as he pushed the doors open. They entered the house and immediately started coughing due to all the dust collected in the house

"This place hasn't been touched in decades, huh?" Don coughed as he fanned away the debris

"Hey, look" Gilda said when she opened her eyes "a family portrait" she pointed at the musty painting. It was of a family. A messy haired ginger with piercing green eyes, wearing a light pink summer dress and holding a matching parasol. To her left, a boy with a white button up and clip on overalls, his black bangs covering one eye, which appeared to be dark green. And standing above them were their parents, a woman with a black bun and violet eyes and a black dress and a man with dark magenta hair and grayish eyes wearing clothes similar to his son. And, despite the dead condition the house was in, the painting was perfectly clean

"How is.." Norman muttered. Distantly, a laugh shallowly sounded through the bone dry halls

"Boys, that's not funny" Gilda scolded

"Uhh, Gilda? That wasn't us" Don replied. Suddenly, the window shutters started opening and closing and the wooden doors, withered by time, slammed shut

"WHAT IN THE-" Norman exclaimed. Unintelligible whispers and mumbles started echoing. Gilda huddled by Don. Then, two ghostly entities appeared in front of them, a boy and a girl. They recoiled back as they stared in disbelief at the beings

"anata wa dare desu ka" the girl asked

"Oh, crap, uh.. watashi tachi wa anata wa kizutsuke taku ari mase nichi" Norman replied

"you speak Japanese?" Don turned to Norman

"A bit" Norman said

"kanojo no shitsumon ni kotaeru" the boy demanded

"watashi tachi, uh" Norman muttered

"shitsumon ni kotae te kudasai" the girl demanded louder

"I- uh, uhm" Norman stuttered

"What did she say?" Gilda whispered to Norman

"I asked who you are" the girl switched her glare to Gilda

"Oh, she speaks English?" Don observed

"We lived here in Tennessee for our entire childhood and afterlife. What do you think?" The boy replied

"Can- can he see us?" Gilda asked, referring to the bandages on the boy's eyes. Upon closer inspection, they found that the two ghosts had countless injuries and bandages across their bodies with multiple tears on their clothing

"Yes. Only a little bit" the boy answered

"Oh, okay... What're your names?" Norman asked

"Tell us yours and we'll tell you ours" the girl said

"Oh, I'm Norman. That's Gilda and that's Don" he pointed at the other teens

"... I'm Emma. He's Ray" the girl, revealed to be Emma, introduced "now, what are you doing here? You're intruding private property"

"Actually, this place is abandoned. Its up for sale but nobody really owns it" Gilda clarified, pointing at the for sale sign outside the window

"Sale? Hm! I thought this place would stay in the family but some relative of ours decided to sell it? That's just rude" Emma crossed her arms

"That explains why two dozen people came inside a while back" Ray said "I mean, who would want a run down haunted manor? We haunt this place for God's sake"

"Wait what? When did they come?" Don asked, not remembering anything about people going into the old manor

"It was probably around two decades ago" Emma recalled "we scared em off tho"

"Huh" Gilda said

"If you don't mind, can I ask when you, y'know, died?" Norman asked

"1945" Emma replied

"Oh, wow, no- no hesitation" Norman said

"Speaking of which, what year is it? We stopped keeping count at 1957" Ray asked

"Oh, uh, its.. Its 2023" Norman pulled out his phone and showed them the date

"What in God's name is that thing" Emma floated away a few inches from the device in Norman's hand

"It- its a phone, hasn't anyone come in here with a phone before?" Don asked

"Nuh uh" Emma shook her head "only phone we know is that" she pointed at an old rotary telephone

"Wha..." Don whispered " wait, wait, wait. Guys, remember the dare? We were supposed to explore the place?"

"Oh, right. Is it okay if we explore?" Norman asked the two ghosts

"Go ahead. Just be on the lookout for our parents" Ray said as he pointed to the painting

"Oh. Okay, thanks" Gilda said before they all walked away

"Oh, wait!" Emma called out as the teens turned around "catch!" She said as she threw over a gold-ish bronze necklace with an eye attached to the bottom with a faded sapphire iris in the middle. Norman caught the necklace and looked at the girl

"If you run into them, show it to them" Ray pointed at the accessory

"Alright, then. Thanks" Gilda said again before disappearing down the hall with Norman and Don

"Should we warn Mother and Father?" Ray asked

"Hm... Nah" Emma shrugged and they both disappeared into their old rooms

------------------------

The three friends walked through the dusty and run down halls

"You think we'll actually run into their parents?" Norman asked out of the blue

"Probably" Don replied calmly

"You think they have as many scars as them?" Gilda wondered

"Maybe" Norman shrugged. As if on cue, music could be heard from a nearby room. They all went to the room, which was a library, and looked through the broken door. There, they saw the parents from the painting, with the same amount of scars as their children. They were sitting on the old, musty arm chairs in the sight of the door. As soon as they got a closer look, they both looked up and saw the three teens at the door. The mother stood up and went to go investigate who was there and the group of friends just froze. The woman phased through the door and noticed the necklace in Norman's hand

"Leslie, honey. Come here" the woman called for her husband. The man phased through the door as well and also saw the necklace

"Oh, uh, hi" Norman greeted

"Hello, dear. Who may you be?" The woman asked

"I'm Norman, that's Gilda and Don" Norman introduced again

"I'm Isabella. This is my husband, Leslie" the ghost, revealed as Isabella, introduced politely "I see you've met our children" she said, referencing the eye shaped necklace Norman held

"Oh, yeah, we have" Norman held up the necklace

"RAY, GIVE THAT BACK" Emma screamed in the distance. All five people turned and saw Ray, holding a Raggedy Ann doll, zooming down the hallway. Close behind, Emma chased him down

"Oh, my" Isabella sighed "we'll be back, don't wait up, this'll take a while, loves" she said as she dragged Leslie towards where their children ran to

"Ah" Gilda said as she got a call "oh, its Barbara. Lets go before she starts panicking"