Chapter 342 "Haunted House"

Lee Seng shut off the shower and let out a sigh. The strange memory played in his head. He wondered if the temporary amnesia he was having of that specific event was starting to reveal itself. He had many questions as to what put him in the situation he was in, but he didn't think it was this serious.

Lee Seng grabbed his towel and dried himself off. Nobody bothered him today. They, shockingly, kept their distance from Lee Seng. He wrapped the towel around his waist, folding it tightly so it wouldn't fall off of him. He stepped out of the shower stall and made his way back to his locker.

"Feeling better, Lee Seng?" Garcia asked as he passed.

"Yeah, just a headache." Lee Seng answered. He punched in his locker code and opened it. He pulled his clothes out and began to change as Garcia continued the conversation.

"What're you up to after this?" Garcia asked.

"Going to see the house my teammates and I are living in for the rest of the year."

"Oh, you got the haunted house?"

"Yeah, why?" Lee Seng turned to look at him. He pulled the towel off of him, revealing his black boxers.

"Mmm, just curious to see how it looks."

"We're doing a final walkthrough if you want to come with us. You live that way right?"

"Y-yeah. If you don't mind, I-I can join y'all."

"Sure, come with. I can figure out where you live so I can come hangout with you when you don't want to come to me." Lee Seng chuckled. They dressed themselves and closed their lockers. They both sat on the benches and started to slip their shoes on.

"It's not that far from that house." Garcia told him. "Since we're speaking about the house now, I don't think I've heard anything for a long while. Everything's been quiet for the last month."

"What noises did you even hear, again?" Lee Seng asked.

"Running, laughing. Sometimes lights were on. When someone would go to see if they could get in, the doors and windows would be all locked. Garage would be locked up as well. The place would periodically get checked and most times, nobody see's a trace of anything in that house."

"Didn't someone find trash in the place before?"

"Yeah and signs of people actually using the furniture. I would clean everything. Purge it all with cleaning supplies." Garcia stood up.

"We're having a cleaning crew come in. I guess I'll have to look around closely since I couldn't come to the other viewings." Lee Seng stood up.

"You ready to go? The others said to meet at the house and maybe swing by one of the restaurants nearby there." Ritsuka spoke, rounding the corner.

"There's a cheap pizza place two blocks away if you wanna get some grub afterwards." Garcia told them.

"Oh, don't you live that way, Garcia?" Ritsuka asked.

"Y-yeah. Lee Seng said I could tag along and see the house if I wanted."

"Yeah, come see it with us. It's a REALLY nice place for being haunted. Pretty clean, too, to be honest."

"Come on, let's go." Lee Seng motioned.

It was a twelve minute walk. They had to go towards the Korean BBQ place, curving off in opposite side blocks before the restaurant. Garcia led the way like he had walked the same path a million times.

"Oh, I never asked." Ritsuka looked at Garcia. "What're your teammates like? You seem to talk about them in passing and it's always been positive."

"Ah, th-them." Garcia nodded. "They're all cool people. I guess you could say I'm cl-close to them, too. T-they encourage me a lot like you two do. Th-they can be… Strange though."

"Strange, how? Are they all socially awkward like you?" Ritsuka asked. Garcia shook at the words 'socially awkward.'

"Dude," Lee Seng swatted Ritsuka. "Don't be mean. He's just introverted. He's gotta warm up to you in order for him to be comfortable, right?"

"Y-yeah something l-like that." Garcia nodded. "Come on, we're nearing the huge haunted house." Lee Seng didn't know what to expect. They slowly came up to the huge home. Manny and the others described it like a mansion. It wasn't the case, but a huge house that matched the chill rustic vibe the neighborhood had going on.

The home had a large driveway that led up to the L shaped home. It had stone and large wooden pillars. On the L end of the home was a two-car garage. The place had enough spots for parking.

It had dark color tones and his friends were all standing near the middle of the home, looking at it together.

"I can't believe this is ours." Olivia spoke.

"It's so huge. How many floors?" Liz looked at Manny.

"Two floors and a basement just as large and intricate." Manny reminded them.

"I heard it had a huge pool." Lee Seng commented. His friends turned and all waved at them. When they saw Garcia, they all looked at Lee Seng and Ritsuka for an explanation.

"This is our friend, Garcia. Xavier Garcia. Just call him Garcia." Ritsuka introduced Garcia to the group.

"Hello. Nice to meet you." The group waved.

"N-nice to meet you, too. I live a couple houses down." Garcia pointed.

"Ahh, a neighbor. You're in the same class as these two?" Liz pointed.

"Yup. I wanted to see the hau— House for myself." Garcia smiled nervously.

"Is this everyone?" An older woman popped out of the home.

"Yup. Plus a friend." Manny nodded.

"Alright, final walkthrough everyone. We've put in the beds and upgraded the tech in the house. Feel free to look around while I talk to Lee Seng, alright?" The woman opened the door and motioned them in. "Get outta the cold. It's nice and toasty inside."

"Well, I guess we'll be going first." Ritsuka waved. "Come on, Garcia. Lee Seng will come inside after talking."

"Al-alright." Garcia nodded. Lee Seng watched them enter the home as he climbed the steps and turned his attention to the older woman.

"Hello, we're officially meeting for the first time today. My name's Maggie Williams. I'm one of the many people who handle housing at the Academy." Mrs. Williams introduced herself. She pulled out a business card and handed it to him. "I heard you were in the hospital so I handled all of your friends' requests."

"Requests?" Lee Seng asked.

"Well, if you step inside, I can show you around and show you your room. Your friends all chose their rooms already and we've spent the last couple of weeks changing it to fit their needs. That's what I'm here to talk to you about. We should have everything ready by move-in day, so you don't have to worry about that."

Mrs. Williams led him into the toasty home. The rustic style continued on the inside as they stepped into a large foyer.

"This is the foyer. The garage is on that side." She pointed right. There was a set of stairs off to the side as Lee Seng acknowledged where she was pointing. "There's two bedrooms on this floor, two on the second and two in the basement." Lee Seng took off his shoes as he shut the door behind them. Mrs. Williams did the same and led into the living room.

She took him to the left and the living room led into two bedrooms and a bath. The moved to the right side of the house and a door led out to the garage. IT was connected to a large kitchen and dining room. She moved him back to the foyer where the stairs were and led him upstairs.

There was another living space with two bedrooms and a bathroom on the left and a large bedroom on the right with its own bathroom in it. It seemed like Manny had claimed this one. Mrs. Williams led him down to the first floor and took the stairs and took the staircase down.

"This is the basement. The boys wanted a gym space so we took this space and turned it into that." Mrs. Williams showed him the large gym space. "Everything you could ever need. If you need to head to school, you'll have to walk still. No telepads."

"Alright." Lee Seng nodded.

"There are two bedrooms down here unlike the first and second floor. If you noticed on the second floor, there was three bedrooms up there. One of those spaces is for guests if you guys ever have anyone over. We've left that pretty much neutral so it's up to you guys one what you do with that. I believe Ritsuka took the left room and left you the right room in the back through the gym." Mrs. Williams motioned himto follow. He moved into the room and noticed a laundry room before entering his room.

"This one comes with its own walk-in closet. You'll have to share the bathroom at the end of the hallway where we came from." Mrs. Williams explained. Lee Seng took a look around and nodded. "As for any recommendations in this room, what would you like to do with the space?" He noticed a queen sized bed was already set up in the middle. It was pretty bare other than the bed.

"A desk maybe there." He pointed to the right side. "A TV on this wall near the door entrance/exit and then a small couch at the foot of the bed. Other than that, maybe some shelves." Lee Seng explained.

"Alright." Mrs. Williams nodded. She tapped away on the air and then a holographic mock-up of the things he asked for showed up in the room. "Is this what you had in mind?"

"Yup." Lee Seng nodded.

"As you can see there's some natural light coming in from the small windows here, as well. We've already gone through and changed all of the curtains out too."

"Alright." Lee Seng stepped into the walk-in closet. It was big and would probably be a bit unused with the amount of clothes he had.

'I could grab some clothes and fill this.' He thought.

"Anything you want done in here?" Mrs. Williams asked.

"No, this is fine."