We start retracing the steps we'd taken during the afternoon to go to the forest. I check my phone for the time--00:00am. Wow! Nice number.

"So, slept well?" I tease Ned.

"Couldn't sleep better." He replies sarcastically.

"By when do you think we'd we back?"

"Hey, it's not as if the ghost is waiting for us to arrive and then it'll begin its show. How could I  know when the ghost will appear! Or, even if it will." He answers me.

"What do you mean?" I ask slowly.

"I just saw it once, and that was a day before yesterday. So we might even have to wait for a few hours. Or could be that it won't even come tonight."

"I don't know if it comes or not, but I'm telling you I'm not going to come once more like this, however adventurous this may be. You don't have to climb down the wall of your house, finding spaces to rest your foot on, while going down."

He suddenly looks at me with wide eyes.

"You did what?"

"Climbed down the wall of my house. From the window of my room, which is on the first floor."

"How--How did you do that? I mean, why? Doesn't your house have a staircase or something?"

"Silly, if I came down by the staircase, which is a wooden one, my parents would have heard me. Plus, I could even have done that, but then the front door of the house would be open when I left so if someone woke up before I returned, they'd know I'm not in the house."

"Okay, okay, got it, smarty-pants!" He grins and holds his hands out in front of him, in defense.

"And now about the 'How', what do you mean, 'How?'?" I mimic the way he'd said that.

"Well, I mean, 'How?' as in--How did you manage to climb down a wall?"

"Umm, I don't know. I just did. That's why I'm here right now." I shrug before saying, "And anyways, I'm a rather adventurous girl, you know. So it wasn't even that difficult."

"Wow. I'm impressed." And he does look like it, as well.

Somehow, that makes me blush a bit. Thankfully, it's too dark for him to notice.

We arrive at the entry to the forest, and Ned takes out a flashlight from a small sling bag hung across his left shoulder, which I didn't notice earlier as I'm walking at his right side. Our eyes are well accustomed to the dark, though not such darkness as the forest is cradling, so when he switches the torch on, we squint and cover our eyes with our hand, and then blinking, start moving forward.

"Why didn't I think of bringing my  flashlight?" I wonder.

We walk slowly into the forest, going deeper and deeper into the darkness, guided only by the small beam of our flashlight. Even Ned is slow and cautious this time, as it is night time and there could be nocturnal wild animals all around us, for all we know! So after about ten minutes of walking, we finally come to a stop and Ned whispers, afraid to shatter the silence of the night: "We're here. The Tree House must be somewhere around, try if you can spot it above us."

"Okay." I answer and look up to find any big structure in the trees, darker than the rest of the forest. No luck.

I turn around in a full circle slowly examining the tree tops around us for any signs of a tree house, but to no avail.

I'm about to tell Ned that I think we're at the wrong place, because the tree house couldn't have disappeared in just half a day, when suddenly we notice a faded yellow-ish light coming from somewhere behind and above us, between the trees. Noticing it, I look at Ned with alarm when I see that he's also looking at me with the same expression, and then, nodding to each other, we carefully and silently start moving toward the source of light.

As we near the tree house, we see that the yellow light, brighter now than it was before, is coming from one of its windows facing us. But how can it be? The house looked so forlorn and abandoned just this afternoon, and now we find that somebody's there? How is it possible? I'm wondering if anyone could actually  go inside it without it tumbling to pieces!

But if no one can, then who turned on that light?

Just then, we see the silhouette of a person moving around in front of the window. My breath is caught in my throat as I gaze at the shadow, seemingly belonging to a woman. But almost as suddenly as she appears, the light goes off and at that exact moment it's turned off, we hear a blood-curdling scream emanating from within the house. I put my trembling hands to my ear to shut out the terrible echo of the woman's loud wail, and close my eyes.

Half a minute passes before it completely dies out.

Then, opening my eyes, I look over to where Ned was standing, and find that he's gone! I'm still frozen to the spot in shock over what just happened, and then, find that Ned is gone!

"Ned!" I had meant to shout, but it comes out in a whisper. Clearing my throat, I say, more loudly this time, "Ned...where are you?"

A sudden sound of "Shhh!!" comes from the bottom of the tree on top of which rests the tree house. I narrow my eyes, and spot Ned there, signaling me to be quiet. He beckons to me to come over, and when I do, my legs still shaky from the frightful scene we witnessed not two minutes ago, I see that he's trying to find a ladder or a rope or something with which to get up to the tree house.

I start helping him in the search, but there's absolutely nothing to be found! No rope, ladder,  wooden or metal. Nothing at all to climb up to the mysterious tree house.

I think he remembers something then, as his face suddenly lights up and he starts rummaging in his bag for something. Five seconds later, he has a stout rope in his hand, and a wide grin on his face! I'm seriously starting to consider if a tent or something will pop up out of his bag next, as it seems to contain every necessary camping equipment!

Time for his lasso skills. Very efficiently indeed, he makes a loop out of one end of the rope, tightens the knot, and flings it up toward one of the branches jutting out from under the floor of the tree house. Expertly he starts climbing up the rope, using the trunk of the tree for supporting his legs, after he ensures that the loop is tightened and secured safely on the branch.

When he's done, he signals for me to tie the rope around my waist or hold onto it tightly, meaning to pull me up. Huh! He thinks I can't climb up a rope? Let him! He'll know the truth soon enough.

Ignoring his signals and frantic whispers, I hold the rope tightly and hoisting my legs one by one on the tree trunk, start climbing up. One foot above the other, then the other foot above the first. One-two, one-two, one-two.....

....

....one, and two!

Ta-da! Finally at the top, I manage to heave myself up onto the tree house floor, even as Ned looks on, astonished. "Didn't know you were such a good climber!" He exclaims.

"Thanks, and same here. You can lasso well enough too, I must say." I reply with a smile.

"Umm...Thank you. Now let's go in and see what's inside."

I start moving ahead toward the rotten wood door of the tree house, and take a deep breath.

"You sure you still want to do it?"

"Yes, of course. Why?"

"Umm...you seemed very scared when we heard that scream, when we were down there." he speaks and concern is evident from his voice.

'Yeah, I admit I was  frightened, but hey, who wouldn't be, after hearing such a scream in the middle of the night, out of the blue? Weren't you? Tell me, honestly." I say calmly.

"You're right, I was too, but I don't think--"

"Let's not waste any more time if we can afford it, shall we? Just be assured that I'm completely fine, and I'm NOT going to faint or something if you're thinking that."

And without waiting for his response, I push open the old door, and as it opens, its rusty hinges produce a creaking sound. It is pitch-black inside, so I hold my hand out for Ned's torch, and after he hands it over to me, I switch it on and let it shine in front of us.

We're left shocked.

There's nothing there. Totally nothing. I shine the torch around the big and only room, on the floor, on the ceiling, along the walls, but no--there is absolutely nothing! Plus, there's no one inside, not even the ghost!

But we're left shocked mostly because, we observe that there is no source of light anywhere there, not even the bulb from which I assumed that yellow light must have come. Not even a single window inside!! What's more, the floor of the tree-house is covered in a thick layer of dust, and there are zero footprints, ruling out the possibility of someone being here recently. But how could that woman have walked without making any foot marks on the dust?

Puzzled, I look at Ned, who's busy thinking something, leaning on the open door, his arms folded in front of his chest and his eyes concentrating on a point on the ground.

I'm seeing this look of deep thought on his face for the first time. He looks so intelligent and wise in it! I almost ask him if he's already figured out the "ghost's" whereabouts, and the mystery behind this tree-house!

Just then his gaze shifts to me, and he sees me staring at him, when I suddenly look away and move ahead inside the tree-house, pretending I'm going to explore every corner of this mysterious place.

"Ashlee?"

I turn around. "Hmm?"

"Do you think there could be a secret compartment in one of these walls, or maybe a trap door or something, through which someone could enter the place inconspicuously?"

I consider the possibility, before replying, "Could be, but from where do you think the person would come up till here, even?" My brain  starts functioning now. "We didn't see any rope or ladder or anything with which to climb up to here, though we searched properly around the tree. Remember?"

"You're right...and there aren't any footsteps marked in this thick layer of dust, ours are the only ones here."

"Yeah."

"So..."

"...do you think that it really was a ghost, after all?" I finish, echoing the exact same thought going on in our minds.