The sun was already starting to set, and in following their bedtime routine, Ray made the exact same mistake that Dare had. Their shirt was almost all the way over their head before they heard it.

“MMMMMMMMMMMM!” a muffled voice yelled from the bathtub.

“AHH!” Ray yanked their shirt back down and stared into the tub. Nothing appeared. “Shit. I forgot – hang on.”

Face burning, Ray dug around in their backpack for some more Ectoplasm Illuminator and tossed it into the tub, where it settled around a muscular young man with shaggy blonde hair and a shocked look on his face. “Sorry!” he yelled. “Just – you were – I panicked.”

Ray shook their head. “No, it’s – it’s fine. I forgot there might be ghosts in here.” They sighed to themself. It’d be so annoying having to ask Lukas to leave every time they needed to use the bathroom. How did a house this big have only one bathroom, anyway? “Can you leave?”

Lukas seemed to really ponder the question.

“I –” Ray sighed again. “Get up and walk out of the room, please.”

“Oh!” Lukas’ eyes lit up with recognition. “Yeah. I can do that. Sorry. I do so much moping around in the tub, sometimes I forget I can move.” He paused as he was about to walk through the door. “So you live here now?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.” Lukas nodded. “I’m the artist formerly known as LukasLive. You might’ve heard of me.”

Ray closed their eyes, because the alternative was rolling them and they didn’t want to be that rude. “The vlogger. Very popular with eleven-year-olds. Famous for dangerous stunts and pranks that are literally just bothering people.”

“Eh…” Lukas shrugged. “I mean, depends on your perspective, you know? I think I’m funny as shit, but you know, opinions.”

“Please leave.”

“Cool.” Lukas nodded and left.

Ray filled up the tub and lay down in the water. They felt boneless and completely exhausted. They weren’t sure if they’d done as many things as they’d done today in their entire life.

They knew they should relax. Instead, their thoughts turned helplessly to the future.

Getting back to their old world should probably be their priority, but… what was there for them there? A useless English degree and a thousand classmates that thought they were a freak? Parents that would’ve kicked them out if they knew they didn’t feel like a girl?

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The outside world was unpredictable and mutable. Here, they knew, at least up to a certain point, exactly what was going to happen.

The only problem was, part of that involved evading and killing a killer.

They had a set sixty days until Jackie attacked. During that time, they had to befriend the ghosts, make money, and fortify the house to ensure their survival. This would involve breaking curses they didn’t know how to break, working at a shop they barely understood, and worst of all, making friends. They were terrible at making friends.

As they sank deeper into the tub, they realized there was another option.

They could find Jackie.

Not kill her, of course. That would get them arrested immediately. Also, killing was wrong. But maybe they could talk her out of it. Maybe they could even get her on their side.

Wait – no. Jackie would instantly recognize them as the person who had moved into the house. There was no way she’d let her future victim talk her down. Maybe Layla had some sort of shapeshifting magic that could help them?

Ray traced shapes in the condensation on the side of the tub. Layla. Out of everyone in this world, Layla scared her the most. She was unpredictable, she was volatile, and she hated ghosts. They’d have to get some sort of shapeshifting equipment from Layla without letting her know what they were doing, and then they’d have to steer Jackie’s thoughts away from ritual sacrifice without letting her know what they were doing, and as a backup, they’d have to befriend every ghost in the house without letting them know that they knew the fucking future.

If there was one thing Ray hated most in the world, it was lying.

The alternative, of course, was spending sixty fruitless days wrestling with their conscious and then dying to a well-meaning murderous maniac.

But, well… it wasn’t all bad. If there was anyone Ray actually wanted to be friends with, it was the ghosts here. They knew so much about them already, cared for them already. And they knew exactly what to do to trigger relationship events with them. In a way, it’d be easier than social interaction in their real life.

They already knew what they needed to say. The only question was whether they had the courage to say any of it.

Ray drained the tub, stepped out, dried off, got dressed, and opened the door to a very impatient Lukas. “Took you long enough,” he groaned. “What were you even doing in there?”

“Bath,” Ray said.

Lukas sighed. “Whatever. I was getting so itchy waiting out here! Don’t you ever think about other people?”

“Sorry.” Ray was surprised to find they didn’t really mean it. Lukas was extremely annoying… but that also meant he was one of the only people they weren’t intimidated around. “Bathroom’s open now. Go ahead.”

“Cool.” Lukas raced into the bathroom and dove headfirst into the drain. Ray nearly screamed, but instead of cracking his head open on the tub, the drain sucked him up harmlessly. Ray sighed. Right. Ghosts.

They turned to leave, and were met with a sopping wet, wide-eyed person staring straight at them.

“Hi,” Ray managed.

It was cold in the well.

Even after they died, it was cold. Then water started coming in, and it got colder.

The first time they managed to get out, they just lay there on the grass, basking in the warmth of the sun, until they felt a strange and horrible tingling in their nerves that only subsided when they went back.

“So take me with you,” Rosie said.

Sam hadn’t understood at first.

But then she told them she was always warm.

And at the bottom of the well, in that chill, they held each other, and felt alright.

-Sam and Rose Drabble by Ray Johnstone