Meet me at the door. Don't knock!

Holding my breath, I discreetly open my door and slide out like a ninja. Once downstairs, I can see the backlight gleaming into the dark living room from Maeve's bedroom—she's in her room. Thank god. I look over to see a shadow standing on the porch. He's here.

I rush to the door and close my eyes as if they'll somehow absorb the creak of the door. Once the fresh air hits my face, my eyes open to see none other than the infamous Jin. He jumps back, looking dumbfounded at me. Without time for a greeting, I reach and grab his jacket, yank him in the door, pull him up the stairs, and shove him in my room before shutting the door with a quiet thud.

I can't believe I just pulled that off. My heart explodes as I stare at the closed door. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I turn around to face him. Jin Caldwell, who I know almost nothing about, is standing by my window with his dark, terrified eyes unmoved from me.

"You like Netflix?" I ask, not knowing what else to say.

"What?!" Jin lingers ridiculously close to the window.

"I mean I figured if we had to stay awake, then we'd watch Net—"

"I didn't come to hang out! I came for answers!" Jin demands, now gripping the window seal.

"SHH!" I whisper as Jin's words beam through my room. "You said you would help me!"

"I did," Jin says, looking me up and down, still unsure how to act around me.

"Let's start over. I'm Vel," I say, reaching my hand out.

Jin turns his cheek away, puts his hand into a fist, and slides it into the pocket of his leather jacket. Who wears leather jackets anymore?

"Jin," he says, cautiously nodding back.

An awkward silence emerges between us as we just stare at each other. I wish I knew what was going on inside his head. Not knowing what else to do, I sit down criss-cross applesauce on the carpet by my bed. Jin moves cautiously to do the same but keeps his distance.

"Why am I here?" Jin's ruff voice asks, his eyes still fearful.

"Your drawings...they're of—"

"You." His answer has the hairs standing on my arms.

"How?" I whisper back.

"You tell me?"

"I just don't know how it's possible...None of this makes any damn sense. I mean go I wake up at the same time every night and can't move, then I see myself leave my room and I can't do anything to stop it, and then those drawings, all of my pajamas match every single one," I begin to ramble at this guy I barely know as his eyes widen in response. I JUST DON'T KNOW!"

"What do you know?"

"I know I'm not a ghost and I know I'm not in control of whatever is happening to me," I become panicked as I say it all out loud. This is insane. Then an idea hits me. "Let's start from the beginning. Tell me who you are, where you came from, and why you moved here."

"How will that help?"

"If we're going to try and figure out what the hell is going on, then we need all the variables and shit." God, I sound like Dwyer.

Jin shifts around uncomfortably, obviously unsure if he should trust me. "I'm from LA until four days ago when I got here."

"Why here?"

"My mom's brother—"

"Rina's dad?"

"Yeah..." Jin says, looking unnerved.

"Her dad got transferred here, and when he saw some old house, he told my dad and dad flipped and bought it sight unseen, so here we are."

Pain runs through my stomach. My house. I think back to the floors and walls destroyed without care. "Why was the house all ripped up?"

"My dad remodels old houses—usually historic houses or unique ones—then sells them. I don't know why he wanted this piece of junk..." Jin breaks off, scratching his head in irritation. "Why are you asking about the house?"

"So, the funny thing is..." I begin, unsure of how to word it. "I grew up in the house..."

"What?" Jin's face twists in shock.

"It's been in my family forever."

"But you sold it?"

"My mom...she died, and I had to come live here with my nightmare of a sister Maeve and Jaxson—Rina's boyfriend—and Maeve sold it without telling OR asking me!"

"Is that why you want me out?"

"I didn't even know you were there till this morning! How could I want you out if I didn't even know you were there?"

Jin's eyes narrow as he bites his lip.

"It can't be a coincidence," Jin begins, his eyes glaze over in thought.

"The house?"

"Tell me about the last four nights. What do you remember?" The fear seems to fade from his eyes, and instead, they light up with something. Not excitement but maybe conviction?

"Umm.." I begin, closing my eyes to try and remember every detail. "The first night was Friday. I had stayed up late watching A Quiet Place with Jaxson, and so when it happened, I thought I was just having a nightmare. I remember feeling paralyzed and saw what I thought was me going out of my window. The next thing I remember, it was morning."

"And Saturday night?"

"It happened again, and so I knew it wasn't just a dream. Sunday and last night, I was shook and felt like I was losing my fucking mind. So I tried staying up so I wouldn't fall asleep, but obviously, I did..."

"Hold on," Jin interrupts, getting up to rummage through my desk.

"What are you doing?"

He returns to the floor with the back of my crumpled PE syllabus and a pen. "We need to write this down." Jin insists, moving his knee up for something to write on.

"Write it down?"

"You were right about us needing to find out the variables, but first, we need to do this right—the scientific way."

"I'm sorry, what?" What just happened? Three minutes ago he was horrified of me, and now he wants to study me?

"You know the Scientific Method."

Wow. This is what my life has come to—there's a boy in my bedroom, but he wants to study me scientifically. This only proves how ironic my life is.

"I didn't know you were so nerdy," I say, genuinely surprised.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't know using a logical process to figure out why you're trying to kill me is nerdy," Jin looks up from his paper, annoyed. At least the look of fear has left his face. "Do you remember what step one is?"

I search my brain for Dwyer's dull, repetitive words.

"Pose a question?"

"YES!," Jin says, a little too excited.

"How about what the hell is going on?"

"Needs to be more specific..." Jin begins scribbling on the syllabus. "What do we need to know to help you?"

That's a loaded question. "Why am I somehow leaving my body and going to my old house each night."

"Closer..." He erases and scribbles again. "How about...how is Vel Shamrock haunting Jin Caldwell when she's still alive?"

"Yup, that about covers it," I say, somewhat impressed and yet slightly disturbed.

A small giggle emerges from across the room. He's laughing.

"How is any of this funny?" I ask, a little perturbed at his nerve to come into my bedroom and laugh about me somehow haunting him.

"It's just that..." he begins as his laugh fades. "This is all just too ironic."

I pause as a sensation I've never felt before fills me.

He continues, "I just imagined sneaking into a girl's room for other things...not to make a hypothesis."

Holy shit.

"I was literally thinking the exact same thing..." I say back without thinking.

Jin looks up from his scribbles and shoots me a quick smile before returning to writing. "Sorry, let's stay focused."

"For sure," I add, looking to the ground as my cheeks become hot with what might be embarrassment?

He clears his throat and then continues, "Step two is what?"

"Do your background research," I say as Dwyer's voice rings in my ears.

"That sounds right...so then...here's what we know: 1. We know you used to live in the house you're haunting. 2. We know your family had always owned the house. 3. We know this all started when I moved in four days ago." Jin reads as his pencil flies across the page. "4. We know you have no control over yourself once you fall asleep. 5. We know the hauntings are becoming violent."

I cringe as number five lingers in the air.

"What else?" Jin asks, looking up.

"Umm," I pause to think. "I'm not sure if it's important, but my mom and basically all Shamrocks going back were mystics that did tarot card readings. Us Shamrocks have always been into a lot of unusual things..."

Jin looks up at me with raised eyebrows. "Ummm yeah, that's for sure relevant. Any other unusual things as I should know about?"

"Your bedroom was my bedroom," I add, as Jin hurries to write that down too.

"So we have: you use to live in my house, the house was in your family for generations, the hauntings started when I moved in, you can't control yourself once you go to sleep, the hauntings are becoming violent, the house was used for witchy things in the past, AND I'm in your bedroom. That about cover it?

"Yeah," I say, suddenly feeling overwhelmed, insane, and dumb all at the same time. "I'm sorry, but doesn't this all sound insane to you."

"One hundred percent. But you haven't seen what I have, and I don't intend on seeing it again..." Jin says, his voice dropping.

"Then, what is your hypothesis?" I ask, feeling the fear growing inside me as my eyes feel the heaviness.

"If Vel Shamrock falls asleep, then she'll leave her body and haunt her old bedroom."

"Pretty solid hypothesis except for the fact that it sounds insane!" I say, looking back at Jin.

"Yeah, it does," he pauses, looking up at me, "Ready to test it?"