Page 28 of A Haunting at Keystone Manor

“It’s not a closed time loop, bro.”

I stare at Brandon. “What the fuck are you writing about?”

“It’s no big deal,” he says defensively.

“Um, okay. Jake and I wanted to know if you guys would like to go on a double picnic with us. That’s why we came up here.”

Seth nibbles on his lip ring for a second before looking at Brandon. “What do you think?”

He sighs. “Yeah, sounds chill. I need a break anyway. This writing retreat was going great until you showed up, Alex. No offense.”

“Hey! I was here first,” I start to argue but Jake cuts me off. He grabs me by the shoulders and turns me towards the attic door.

“We’ll meet you outside,” Jake says.

***

“They’re totally fucking—Oh, hi Brandon. Seth. Ready to go?” Jake gives me a look that tells me to shut up, so I put a pin in our conversation for now.

“Yep, all ready.” He lifts the picnic basket he has in his hand, showing it off to me. “Snagged this from the kitchen, so we’re good to go. I may have snuck a few brownies in there as well.” Seth chuckles at that.

“You’ve thought of everything,” I say, and they nod in agreement.

As we make the hike up to the lake, I thank my lucky stars we have Brandon to carry the picnic basket. The first time I dragged that thing out here myself, it drained my energy fast.

“So, Seth. How’d you become a psychic anyway?” I ask, wanting to know more about him.

“Oh, well, my grandma raised me and she was a psychic. She used to run a business out of her house reading people’s futures in tarot cards and shit. Communicating with people’s dead loved ones. I used to think it was all bullshit when I was growing up, until one night I saw my dead mother standing in the middle of my room. I learned really quick that it’s not bullshit. Some people are just more sensitive to the paranormal and I guess it runs in my family.”

“Huh, that’s cool. About the psychic thing, not the—never mind. I’m really glad you’re here, Seth,” I tell him, and I mean it.

He smiles at that. “Yeah, me too,” he says, giving Brandon a quick smile. Brandon returns the smile, their earlier squabble long forgotten.

“One of these days you’ll have to tell us how you two ended up in county lock up.”

Seth laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s kind of a boring story, actually. We tried to buy weed from the same dealer, who turned out to be an undercover cop. Got booked and ended up in the same cell for the night. I guess it was meant to be, because we’re still friends all these years later.”

“That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard,” I deadpan, and Jake nudges me in the side.

“Yeah, totally,” Seth says, blushing.

At the lake, Seth lays down a blanket and Brandon sets the picnic basket on it. We all lounge on the blanket, enjoying the breeze coming in from the lake. Jake is sitting next to me on one side of the blanket, and Seth and Brandon are on the other, reclining back on their hands.

“So,” Seth says. “We had the window open in the attic earlier. Overheard this Russian guy talking outside about burying a body out by a shed at the edge of the property. What’s that about, anyway? I’m assuming it’s about the guy that blonde chick pulped, but don’t tell me if it’ll get me whacked.”

“That Russian guy is named Sasha. I can’t believe they buried Andrei on this property. We’ll have to talk to your father about that, Jake. It’s unacceptable.” He nods in agreement, still silent.

“Maybe we can help with that,” Brandon offers. “Dig him up and burn his body, or something.”

“Nice, I like it,” I say. We definitely need to get rid of his body. I don’t want it to be here, a constant reminder to Jake of everything he went through. I want to lighten the mood, so I ask Brandon about his book, although judging from what I heard in the attic, I’m not sure I actually want to know.

“Oh, the book is going so well, little dude. Seth here has been helping me work out some of the finer details, as you know. Thanks for that, bro.” He puts his fist out for Seth to bump, and Seth obliges. Then Brandon pulls a half smoked blunt from behind his ear, lights up and takes a long drag before passing it to Seth.

“Is the weed to help you focus on your writing?” Jake asks. Brandon laughs.

“Nah, but the book wouldn’t exist without it. I got super high one night and it all just… came to me in a dream. I decided if Stephen King could do it, so could I. You know?”

Not really. “That’s nice, cool. What’s it about, other than… time travelling dinosaurs?” I ask. I’m still confused about that.