Shady High loomed before them. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the abandoned campus, making it feel eerily still, as if the school itself was holding its breath.

Luke had been the one to suggest they return. After the previous day’s encounter with the strange man, he insisted they needed more information—real, concrete proof of what they were dealing with. Yen had been hesitant but came anyway, mostly because Luke was going. Hakari was as carefree as ever, playing off any nervousness as excitement, while Sen had kept quiet, turning over the man’s words in his head.

They had barely made it past the front entrance when a familiar voice cut through the silence.

“Took you long enough.”

He was there, leaning against the wall like he had been waiting for them. His gas station coffee was gone, replaced by a cigarette he hadn’t even bothered to light. His expression was unreadable—equal parts unimpressed and weary.

Luke frowned. Had he been expecting them?

Hakari put her hands on her hips. “Dude, do you live here or something? Who are you?”

The man let out a dry laugh. “Yes, unfortunately. But I knew you’d be back. My name is Grunge.”

Sen stepped forward, crossing his arms. “You said this place was haunted, right? So what, are you here to warn us again?”

Grunge’s expression darkened. “I warned you once. You ignored me. I’m not here to repeat myself.” He kicked at a loose piece of pavement. “But yeah. The spirits here? They’re real. And they want something.”

Yen shifted uncomfortably, arms wrapped around himself. “What do you mean? What do they want?”

Grunge exhaled sharply, looking away. “Not something you can give.”

There was a long pause. The wind picked up slightly, whistling through the shattered windows of the school.

Luke, ever the skeptic, pushed up his glasses. “Then tell us. If you know something, be specific. What exactly are we dealing with?”

Grunge’s gaze flicked to him, and for the first time, there was something sharper in his expression. Like he was sizing them up.

“See, that’s your problem,” he muttered. “You keep thinking the ghosts are the scary part.”

The group exchanged uneasy glances.

Hakari forced a laugh. “Uh, yeah? Because ghosts are supposed to be terrifying?”

Grunge shook his head. “You’re looking in the wrong direction.”

Silence.

Yen swallowed. “Then… what should we be looking at?”

Grunge didn’t answer. Instead, he turned and started walking away, hands shoved deep in his pockets.

“Hey, hold on—” Sen started, but Grunge didn’t stop.

As he disappeared around the corner, his parting words drifted back to them.

“Figure it out fast. Or you won’t like what finds you first.”

No one spoke for a while after that.

The air felt heavier in Grunge’s absence, like he had left something unspoken lingering between them.

“Okay, well, that was ominous,” Hakari said, breaking the silence. “So, do we, uh, actually take him seriously, or just pretend that didn’t happen?”

Luke pinched the bridge of his nose. “We should take it seriously, but he’s so vague that it doesn’t give us anything to work with.”

Yen glanced toward the school entrance, shifting from foot to foot. “Maybe we should just leave. If this place really is haunted, maybe we’re pushing too far.”

Sen shook his head. “No. We came here to find something, and we’re not leaving empty-handed.” He turned to Luke. “There has to be some proof, right? If the school’s haunted, we should be able to find something.”

Luke adjusted his glasses, considering. “Well, if we’re looking for a sign of the supernatural, we need to actually look—not just stand around.”

With that, they made their way inside.

They searched for hours. At first, there was a sense of excitement, a thrill that at any moment, something eerie might happen—an unexplainable sound, a flickering light, a shadow in the corner of their vision. But as the minutes stretched into hours, that excitement turned into impatience.

They checked the classrooms, hallways, even the abandoned gym, but there was nothing. No whispers from the dead, no floating objects, not even an inexplicable cold spot.

The silence of the school was unsettling, but it wasn’t proof.

Hakari groaned, flopping onto one of the slightly dusty cafeteria tables. “Dude. This sucks. We’re out here ghost-hunting like a bunch of nerds, and we haven’t even seen a single ghost.”

Luke sat down across from her, tapping his fingers against the table. “It’s frustrating, but it’s not surprising. If the spirits here are real, they’re not just going to perform on command.”

Sen kicked at an empty soda can someone had left behind. “Feels like we wasted the whole day.”

Yen nodded, still looking uneasy. “Maybe that’s a good thing.”

Sen frowned. “How?”

Yen hesitated, then quietly said, “Because if there was something here, maybe we wouldn’t want to find it.”

No one had a good response to that.

After a few more minutes of sitting around in disappointment, they finally called it. The sky outside was darkening, the sun dipping below the horizon.

As they stepped out of the school, Hakari stretched and sighed dramatically. “Well, that was a huge letdown.”

Luke hummed in thought. “Not entirely. Even though we didn’t find anything, the fact that Grunge was so adamant means there’s something we’re missing.”

Sen scowled. “Yeah, but that ‘something’ could be nothing. He could just be messing with us.”

Yen hugged himself as the wind picked up. “…Or he’s right, and we just don’t know where to look.”

That thought left a strange unease settling over them as they walked away from Shady High, their day feeling like a frustrating dead end.

And behind them, in the second-floor window of an empty classroom, a shadow flickered.

Just for a second.