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It was a miracle that the ground wasn't covered in at least a foot of snow by now in the quiet town of Alta Vista. Instead, a slight fog paired with a sprinkling of rain came down on the frozen ground, leaving everything around a very dull and dead grey color. For all students, it was the beginning of winter vacation, a week off for the holidays to be spent with friends and family. For these five friends the day had started even earlier. Around 7:00 am they all decided, (somewhat reluctantly) to all wake up on the first day of the break and spend all day with one another. Having breakfast at the diner, they ate happily and started their day off on a bright and cheerful note, for the most part.

Gaining a bit more energy and after the heavy rain halted, the group decided to go exploring in the forest that surrounded the outskirts of the town. Before they knew it they had reached a small clearing, and in that clearing appeared a faded yellow home. The windows were boarded up, and if they were not boarded, broken. The siding decrepit and crumbling. The friends looked at one another, varying faces of excitement, curiosity, and worry spread across their face. They had never seen this place before, and they had sworn they had stomped over every inch of that town- twice.

Georgina adjusted the white beanie on her head as she looked to her friends, "You guys wanna take a look?" she asked innocently, as she hopped up the very weak and wobbly steps, almost going right through when she stepped on the termite infested wood. Wiggling the door handle, she pouted. She half expected it to open for her, but of course it was bolted shut.

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“The place looked so… dilapidated.”

It was the only word she could think of in the moment. Curling herself just that little bit closer into his body, Isaura tilted her head, resting it gently against Sebastian’s chest as she sought out the warmth that came from being close to him, her tired eyes lifting to look over the building that had somehow managed to stand the test of time long enough that it was still standing before them. The paint was weathered… the house boarded up tight. Windows were shattered; moss growing wild and free over the walls and the stairs- there was nothing about this house that didn’t make her feel nervous.

Turning her head, she buried it into Sebastian’s chest, hiding it from view as she stifled a yawn with the heel of her palm. She felt sluggish… tired- as though she would rather have spent the whole day cooped up in bed, wrapped up in the covers while a movie played in the background. But she couldn’t do that. Plans had been made; so here she was, having woken up for breakfast at seven, only to find herself now standing in front of an old run-down and abandoned building. Chemotherapy could put a real damper on her day… though in this case; it had put a damper on the last few days. Taking a few moments to compose herself, Isaura eventually turned her head, her attention once more lifting up though this time, her gaze fell on Georgina, her dark eyes following her figure as she made her way up to the door in an attempt to pry it open with the handle.

“I get that it’s something we haven’t come across before, but… do you guys really think that this is a good idea..?” Her voice was soft… a slight weakness behind the Australian accent as she spoke out to her friends, giving way to the fact that she might have been just as tired and run-down as the house they were looking up at, “..it kinda looks like it might come crashing down if you manage to yank the door open too hard…”

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Ignatius stood slightly apart from the rest of the group, watching them all, he couldn't help but look to Isaura, snuggled up against Sebastian. It angered him somewhat. Actually, it more then angered him. It was almost as if there was something churning in his stomach, twisting him apart, and the normally jolly young man found himself...miserable. And dare he say it, jealous. Why? Isaura and himself had been friends for...eons. And Sebastian was....like the brother he never had. So why did he feel like this? it wasn't the first time, and Ignatius wasn't too sure he liked feeling like that. He managed to, for all of five seconds, look away, to glanced about them. The cold didn't seem to touch him, dressed rather warmly, Ignatius managed to pull of style without looking like a prat about it. He was, of all things, dressed in bright colours. A bright red jacket covered his shirt, and his warm winter pants were a light tan, the somewhat bulky socks a bright blue, and around his neck was a black scarf, the only bit of darkness in his assemble.

The forest, always a holder of secrets despite the fact that they had been through it, and the town few times, had revealed to a rather rundown cottage. It looked as if it had been there a long time, to be falling apart like it was, yet Ignatius was sure they had never come across this before. He was also sure that they had been through this part of the forest before and that it hadn't been there. Yet he wouldn't swear to it. He took a few seconds to study the building, Someone must have been out here to board up the windows, if nothing else. So therefore it stood to reason that it had been there...perhaps they just hadn't seen it before.

His gaze was drawn back to Isaura and Sebastian, as Georgina approached the building. He gave a soft chuckle, the sound seeming to dance around them, something warm against the cold, as he approached Isaura, gently tugging her towards him, "Come on now, Isiesaura! Don't be a party pooper!" He spun her about lightly, giving her a bright smile, "It will be alright! We just won't yank the door hard" He said, with another soft laugh, giving her a tight hug, before letting her go, "Have I ever led you astray, dear Isaura?"

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The early morning fog rolled gently over the still-dewed hills of Alta Vista, giving a haunting yet peaceful feel to the forest. From the late night phone calls with Parker and Raven to the early morning showers that had dragged him from his bed, Sebastian was exhausted, and he stifled a yawn as he trudged through the woods with his companions.

The coffee at breakfast had done little to assist him in his battle against sleepiness, resulting in a rather lackadaisical attitude.

"You guys wanna take a look?" Gina's voice fully pulled Sebastian out of his stupor, forcing him to focus on the strange house. The decrepit windows and overgrown vegetation made Sebastian slightly hesitant, however his curiosity got the best of him, per usual.

For a moment, Isaura's head rested against his chest, and he smiled, leaning his cheek against her forehead and giving her shoulder a quick squeeze. The sleepiness of the morning was quickly fading, being replaced by an insatiable wonder towards the house. Sebastian, more than the others, except perhaps Parker or Gina, knew the area like his own body. He had stamped up and down every trail in the region, both alone and with company, but he had never encountered this house.

After Isaura was pulled away by Ignatius, Sebastian cast a glance in their direction, making a slightly grumpy face at the sudden disturbance of what was a peaceful headrest. Then again, he didn't mind the body heat leech being taken off of him for once.

"This place is kinda creepy..." Sebastian took a few steps forward, cautiously joining Gina on the steps to the house. "But when has anything exciting seemed dull?" Sebastian cast a sly glance at Gina as he slid past her, jiggling the doorknob once again before giving a small rap of his knuckles on the door.

"Any hobos home?" He called out, attempting to see in through the crack of the door and the wall.

Connor looked up at the rickety old house, squinting to block out the sun. He'd yet to come across this in any of the late night traipses he'd taken with Kestin, or the constant adventures he dragged Parker on. In fact, he hadn't even known this old place had existed. Which only served to make him even more curious. What was this mysterious manor, this strange woodland enigma? He was determined to find out. Glancing around his friends, he waltzed up the rickety stairs and lightheartedly nudged Sebast out of the way.

"You guys need to live a little," he said, smirking before turning around and facing the door. He looked it up and down, noticing how weathered it seemed. This place clearly needed some TLC. Turning around briefly to give his friends a smirk he then turned back around and threw himself shoulder first into the old, rickety door. It didn't budge.

"I won't lie, that was one of my more embarrassing moments. You win this time old, decrepit house." Connor chewed on his lip as he looked around the exterior of the house, searching for a way in that didn't look like it would involve risking tetanus or some other awful disease. "Hey, anyone feel like climbing in that window over there?" Connor asked, pointing out a window that lacked the boards seen at the other openings to the house. The glass pane was broken and what remained looked like jagged teeth, waiting for trespassers. Nothing a stick couldn't take care of.

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Kestin stood a little off to the side of Ignatius, staring at the seemingly abandoned home. To him, it had to have been abandoned just by looking at the shape it was in! Though, that wasn't what made him interested in the place, but rather, it was how he could have missed such a place! Sebastian and him had explored these woods countless times beforehand, so he was a bit puzzled as to how such a brightly colored house could have shown up without them knowing. Or... maybe they just hadn't explored this section of the forest yet, he didn't know. The forest always looked the same once you were inside, so he supposed it was plausible they could have missed it before...

But whatever that case was, he really didn't care how they could have missed the place. And when he had heard Georgina's offer to investigate, instinctively he began searching for something off to the side of the group as they discussed what they should do. He heard Isaura's concerns, and while she could be right that it would come crashing down by yanking on the door, it seemed stable enough to still be standing. He was certain that it was in decent enough shape to not collapse immediately they got inside or at the very least daring enough to want to tempt fate like that. Besides, he thought to himself, she needed to break out of her shell anyway and have some fun!

He bent down, grabbing hold of a decent sized rock, only to frown a bit when he felt it wasn't big enough, proceeding to chuck it far into the forest instead. It seemed Ignatius had a bit of his enthusiasm, and it fired him up to continue to search for a bigger rock, maybe a large enough tree branch, anything really for his plan. Though while he listened to his friend, he felt as if Ignatius were attempting to cling to Isaura as she clung to Sebastian.

Speaking of which, it seemed Sebastian at least shared some of Kestin's desire to get in, but he was way too passive about it. Or, maybe he was just messing around, Kestin couldn't really tell with how he decided to ask if any hobos were home. If it had taken the group this long to find such an interesting place, he doubted anyone else really know of it... Well, besides the people who probably lived here beforehand. But they surely couldn't be around with how run down the house currently was.

But luckily for Kestin, he managed to find a rather large stick, the largest one he felt he would spot in the area no less, and picked it up. While was surprisingly heavy to him, it could still be held and moved with just one hand, and that was all he needed for the remains of a window. It even seemed Connor had a similar idea, which didn't surprise Kestin at all.

"Yeah! I love it when you guys are feisty and wanna have fun, especially you Connor! just give me a couple seconds to..." He said, pausing near the end as he began to shatter the remaining glass that remained with the branch. He did his best at attempting to remove the jagged window pieces that had remained, and soon, it seemed relatively safe to go through. With a job well done, he tossed the branch off to the side, turning to face the group.

"And there we go! Who wants to be the lucky one to go in first? If we have no volunteers, I guess I could venture into this awesome place myself." He told them, giving off a confident and rather excited smile as he spoke.

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It was her favorite time of year. She wouldn't admit it, but she loved the holidays. She loved snow and cold. Bundled up in your home, drinking hot chocolate and watching a cheesy B-horror movie with the people she cared about. Thoughts raced endlessly about presents to buy, holiday plans, and so on. She wanted to pick up something special for her grandparents, she'd been saving up for it. A week long cruise for the both of them. They deserved it. It had all the accommodations the both of them would love. Rock climbing, scuba diving, and so on for grandma and bingo and jazz for grandpa.

It didn't hurt she'd be alone for a whole week.

As she traveled with her friends, she remembered fondly how she met all of them and how far she got. Her old self was harsh. Rebellious. She still had her moments, of course (she says with the pink hair), but it's mainly a way to show she isn't like the others. And it served as a reminder that she could still branch out so long as she remembers to reel it in.

When they came to the boarded up house. She had to admit, she was intrigued. "This is the part of the horror movie where the killer is spying on us, planning to take us out one by one. I wonder who would go first?" She joked with a sly grin on her face as she neared the door. She peeked around the boarded up windows. She wanted to explore and Kestin, it seemed, wanted to go in alone. "Oh no, don't think you're having all the fun. This house is practically made for me, I am definitely exploring. Question is...how do we get in?"

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Sebastian rolled his eyes as Connor pushed him aside, hopping up onto the rickety banister and hoping it would support his weight. To his surprise, while it did give a slight creak, the banister that surrounded the stairs was actually quite sturdy.

He watched the others as he gave a large yawn, not bothering to stifle it. As far as Sebastian was concerned, it was too damn early to be doing anything but sleeping or eating. He hated waking up at anytime before noon, which was probably unhealthy, but he wasn't too concerned about it. Anyone that was a dazzling ray of happy sunshine at six in the morning were Sebastian's mortal enemies.

The sound of glass shattering caused the boy to glance over his shoulder, seeing Kestin destroy the remains of a jagged window with a tree branch. Giving a slight chuckle, Sebastian lifted his legs over the banister and dropped into the desolate flowerbed that surrounded the edges of the house.

"Move your ass, pretty boy." Sebastian joked as he gave Kestin a playful shove to get him out of the way. As he squared up with the window, he realized that it was a small distance higher than it normally would be. The entire house was elevated, and this put the window roughly six feet above the ground.

Sebastian pulled off his jacket and ran towards the house, kicking off of the wall and boosting himself through the window. He held the jacket between his hands and the few sharp edges of glass in the window, however a small shard still sliced his finger as he unceremoniously fell into the house head first.

Inside, Sebastian muttered a few indistinguishable curses as he rubbed his head, letting his eyes adjust to the lower levels of light.

Mold, mildew, and cobwebs coated every inch of the place; carpets were black with mold, floorboards were rotting, and wallpaper was peeling. Sebastian's nose crinkled as an awful stench filled his nostrils, causing him to choke back his breakfast.

"On second thought, I shoulda let someone else go in first." Sebastian complained, getting to his feet. "It smells like dead people and shattered dreams in here."

He stood up and walked into the next room, cautiously eyeing the floorboards to make sure none of them gave out under his weight. Once he had given a quick glance around to make sure he was alone in the house, he unlocked the front door, leaning against the doorframe as Connor's face appeared behind the rotting wooden barrier. "Welcome to my humble abode!"

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“..a-ah...”

The feeling of an arm wrapping around her middle caused her to lift her head, her soft pink lips parting ever so slightly from one another as she was pulled back, the warmth of Sebastian’s embrace ripped away from her and instead replaced by that of another. It wasn’t the first time she’d been pulled away from one of her friends, and she was more than sure that it wasn’t going to be the last. Especially when it came to Sebastian and Ignatius; she tended to get passed around quite a bit.

“Come on now, Isiesaura! Don’t be a party pooper!”

Her head turning as she felt her back pressing against the warmth of another, Isaura lifted her gaze up, her dark eyes meeting with that of Ignatius as she listened to him speak, the smile she knew she wanted to show never seeming to come to the light of day as she shook her head, causing her long dark locks to brush back and forth over her shoulders with the action. It wasn’t that she was being a party pooper... or if she was, it wasn’t as though she was going around doing it on purpose; she was just worried. She couldn’t count how many times they had trudged, both willingly and unwillingly through the forests and the town... the number was just too high, and she had lost track so long ago. But what she was sure of was that never before had she ever come across this house... and either way, she didn’t have a good feeling about it...

“..Iggie, stop... I’m not being a party pooper; I’m just trying to be reasonable... I-...” Pausing a moment, she glanced back over to the house, watching on as one by one her friends moved closer to it, some of them with the same idea as they began to try and get inside, “..I just don’t think this is a very good idea...”

Dropping her attention down to the ground in front of her, Isaura sighed softly. Maybe she was being a bit of a downer… but really, could they blame her for being cautious..? None of them were. All they wanted was to rush into things without thinking; and nine times out of ten she was dragged into it. Heh, but then again, that was the issue when you hard a hard time saying no to those you cared about. Her mind pulled away from her current train of thought, Isaura’s body was spun around on the spot, surprise flickering across her features as she lifted her attention up, her dark eyes meeting with that of Ignatius as she brought both her hands up, letting them come to a rest over his chest.

“It will be alright! We just won’t yank the door hard. Have I ever led you astray, dear Isaura?”

He had a point... between he and the others, she had rarely ever been let down or led astray. They had all been there for her at one point or another; lending her an ear, picking her up when she was down, making her feel like she had a place she truly belonged... Whenever she was with them, she felt brave... like she could do anything she wanted to; but even so...

“Well… no, but-...”

Her attention drawn away from him at the sound of a muffled ‘thud’, Isaura tore her gaze away from him, her dark eyes instead turning to look up at the building in time to see Sebastian’s familiar figure disappear through the broken window. And there it was again, clear proof that it was far too early in the morning for any of them to be doing anything other that sleeping because, obviously, no one but her thought this might have been a bad idea.

Shifting nervously in his arms, she kept her eyes trained on the door, watching... waiting... and once she saw it open to reveal her best friend standing unscathed behind it, she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had even been holding. She couldn’t believe it, he was joking around... they all were. Shaking her head lightly from side to side, Isaura dropped her head, her eyes closing as she tried to shove the thoughts out of her mind. Okay, so yeah, she was being a downer... but it wasn’t as though she wanted to be, “I-... I am not going in there- it doesn’t look stable... I don’t trust it... and besides...”

Pausing, she lifted her head back up, her worried gaze meeting with Ignatius’ before she turned it back to the house in question, her fingers curling lightly over his chest as she seemed to press herself closer against him, “..something about this just doesn’t feel right...”

Ignatius looked over at Sebastian and grinned, ”Ah, Sebby! Creepy is the best, don’t you think? So many wonderful things in creepy” he chuckled, his eyes dancing with amusement, as he watched one of his best friends move towards the house. How could he ever be jealous of Sebastian? Sebastian was a brother to him, but...it was Isaura. His Isaura. Maybe he was going crazy. It wouldn’t surprise him. A laugh suddenly escaped him at Connor’s words.

”Oh, Conny, Conny, Con, con conner!” He chanted out, eyes alight, and voice full of merriment, ”I live every day to its fullest!” He laughed again, humming slightly. He turned his full attention to Isaura again, meeting her eyes, her deep, beautiful eyes that he could just lose himself in. And that, if he was being entirely truthful, he had a time or two. There was just something about Isaura, that he could never quite put his finger on. Something that drew him to her, and kept him there. ”Oh, Isie! If we didn’t do things because we had a bad feeling about them….then we wouldn’t live!” He said rather dramatically, ever the one for dramatics and flare. He chuckled, and hugged Isaura to him, enjoying her warmth, and the contact with her.

Soft, warm, and so very Isaura. He couldn’t really describe it. She was just...she made him laugh, made him smile, kept him from being a complete fool, and..she made him feel special. Even if she didn’t know it, didn’t notice it, she made him a better person, in every possible way. He looked down at her as she shifted, seemingly uneasily, and he gave her a small squeeze, looking about them. It appeared in the few moments he’d been….absorbed by Isaura, the others had been acting. Sebastian’s disappearance could only mean one thing-the scrawny little bugga had made his way in the house, through the window. He watched, waiting, ready to run in there and drag his butt back out if required, his grip tightening on Isaura slightly as he stood there, a little tense.

And then he appeared again, opening the door and Ignatius let out a slow breath. He looked down at Isaura again, as she pressed against him, and he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his features. He tightened his grip on her again, as if he could quite easily just...not let her go. What was he going to do? There was just so much...emotion. He sighed softly, and shifted, not letting Isaura go. ”You’re right, it doesn’t look stable. In fact, it looks like it might just fall over with a gust of strong wind. Like the three little pigs and the big bad wolf” He said, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out in an explosive puff, with a menacing face, before he broke it, and smiled.

He let it fade after a moment, looking back to the cottage. ”Normally I wouldn’t want you doing anything that freaked you out...but Sebastian is in there, and you know he’ll get into trouble without us, or rather, without you...” he said softly, looking back to her, a little worried. He wouldn’t go in, if she wasn’t. He wasn’t about to leave her out here by herself, and maybe they could talk….or maybe he’d just make a fool of himself. He didn’t even know what was wrong with him. ”Come on Seb, get your butt out here, it doesn’t seem pleasant in there, at least from your expression! I don’t want to have to uncover your butt from the wreckage if that thing falls on you, not if it stinks!” He said, tone amused once more, although he didn’t mean to joke. He tried to see behind Sebastian, frowning slightly. It didn’t look like the inside was better than the outside-in fact, it looked a hell of a lot worse.