What's It Like To Be A Ghost?

Normally after moving, you would focus on getting everything to have that cozy, home feeling, and unpacking everything before worrying about anything else. That's exactly what his parents were doing.
Andy laid on his bed, having been awoken by the sunlight in his eyes and the sound of his mom and dad going back and forth with stuff like, 'Which box has the coffee in it?' and 'No, put it over here!' Andy pulled the pillow over his face and groaned when he heard approaching footsteps.
"Andy, it's almost ten o'clock, get out of bed." His mom said through the door. Andy grumbled and threw the pillow down, reluctantly sitting up. He took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the brightly lit room, deciding in that time to hang up his curtains to prevent such crude lighting, and walked to the pile of clothes that never made it into the closet. It took a total of two minutes for Andy to pull on his Slayer tee shirt and jeans, not bothering with his hair. He walked down the freshly carpeted stairs, shuffling into the kitchen to get himself some breakfast.
"Oh, look who finally got up." His dad mused, sipping his mug of coffee. Andy rolled his eyes and rummaged through a couple of boxes for cereal. "Any plans today? Or do you wanna help your mom and I unpack some stuff?"
Andy looked at him, cocking a brow. "Um. I dunno, I was thinking about maybe going to check out downtown."
"That sounds nice." His mom smiled, sitting down by his dad. "I'm so glad you dropped that silly idea about that house... You can take the car, if you want." She offered.
Andy stopped mid-pour of the Lucky Charms, glancing out the window. The house across the street? How did he forget that!? "Nah, I'll take my bike." He shook his head, waving a hand in dismissal.
"If you're sure." She shrugged and began to discuss something with his dad. Andy ate some cereal and snuck away to the garage.
The bike made the distinct clicking noise as it was rolled out of the driveway, to the sidewalk. Andy stopped and stared at the deteriorating house just across the street. He should probably do a bit more research before going in blind... Shit, he should get some equipment to.
Not equipment as in the expensive crap those ghost shows have, but basic supplies. Flashlight, extra batteries, first aid, maybe a water bottle. He was just so excited to see what was inside that he didn't even stop to think logically.
"Don't even think about it, son."
Andy whirled around to see his elderly neighbor on the opposite side of the white fence. "I'm sorry?"
"Don't go in there." He warned, eyes cloudy and dull, showing that he was definitely as old as he looked. Andy observed him. If Andy wasn't mistaken, the man looked to be a war veteran of some sorts... Judging by the assortment of badges on his navy blue jacket, a marine, maybe?
"Don't go in where? The house?" he pointed across the road. The man nodded, turning to look at it. "Why not?" Andy dropped his bike in the lawn and walked over to hopefully further the conversation.
"Bad things happen to people who go in there..." He said gravely. "I knew the original family, particularly the boy."
"The boy? You mean As-"
"Don't you say his name!" The man suddenly snapped, eyes showing urgency. Andy nodded slowly and raised an eyebrow. "The boy used to visit my wife and I, always brought us our daily paper. That was back when my leg was bad and I couldn't do much on my own."
"So he helped out, huh? That was nice of him..."
The man nodded with a light grunt. "We never had kids of our own. He was fascinated by all the gruesome war stories I had, even if I told them three times in one sitting. He was all ears... Practically a son to us. I should'a known something was wrong when he didn't show up."
Andy frowned. The way that he talked about Ashley, he was just a normal kid who didn't seem to have any bad blood with anyone. Then again, Andy had only talked to one person...
"Do you... have any idea what happened..?" Andy asked cautiously, seeing that the man had fixed his gaze on the house again.
The man didn't move a muscle for a minute, seemingly lost in either thought or memories. Whichever it was... he seemed to be upset.
"Whatever happened to that boy... was not an accident." His old, raspy voice quivered as he spoke. "Something terrible happened to him. After the police cleared the scene after the last family left, I went to investigate for myself. Look at me, son. I was a marine. I assume you can tell?" His eyes shifted and bore into Andy. Andy tensed.
"Uh- Yeah." He nodded, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.
"I ran out of that house in less than ten minutes and my heart was beating faster than it ever has in my life." He said gravely once again. Andy stared at him in bewilderment. "I have seen Hell on earth, and there is nothing, nothing, that compares to what I saw in th- no..."
Andys head snapped in the direction of the house when the sound of a sickening snap, which appeared to be the rotten shutter slapping against the side of the house and falling to the ground.
"He's watching." The man breathed. "I must go. Stay away from that house!" He warned again, staggering into the house. Andy stared.
"That... was more than weird." he mumbled and then walked to his bike. So the house was really as haunted as they say... Andy couldn't help but wonder what happened... But with that old man on watch as paranoid as he was, he would have to wait until night time to go.
Andy wasted his day downtown, as he promised his parents earlier that morning, but he didn't do much aside from mooch off a coffee shop wifi connection. Something about that house was practically calling out to Andy. He wasn't sure if it was a trap or a call for help, but either way, he was going in.
He waited up, his phone alarm set for midnight on the dot in case he fell asleep. When he was 100% positive his mom and dad were asleep, he slipped on his shoes and tip toed downstairs. He couldn't believe he was actually doing this, but he was doing it.
The only light outside consisted of that of the neighbors obnoxious porch light, and the full moon hanging high up in the late night sky.
Wow.
Cliche.
Andy took a deep breath, grabbing the supply bag he hid under the porch, and jogged across the street, slipping through the broken fence with ease. "Fuck-" he hissed, scraping his knee on the barbed wire that authorities, presumably, put up to keep out troublesome kids.
"Yeah, Andy, wear ripped skinny jeans while you go inside an old house thats probably crawling with a bunch of infectious shit." He muttered, crawling in through a broken window that lacked the glass window pane. They probably just took it out after it got broken so many times... saw no point in a window.
Once inside, Andy dug out his flashlight and first aid kit, sitting on a piece of covered furniture to clean the wound on his knee. "I've only been here for a minute and I'm already bleeding. Nice one." He huffed and put a band-aid over it, tossing the disinfectant wipe randomly into the dark room ahead of him. He caught a glimpse of light in something in the corner of the room, furrowing his brow as he walked over to investigate. With his flashlight grasped tightly, he tugged off the canvas.
The white sheet flung years worth of dust and dirt into the air, causing Andy to stumble back into a chair to sit out his coughing fit. Great, now he was probably gonna get some disease in his lungs... After he recovered, he brought his light up to the mirror, aiming it so it wasn't bouncing back into his eyes to blind him.
Exactly three seconds later, Andy's jaw nearly hit the floor and his eyes almost falling out of his sockets. It was past midnight. Everyone around him was asleep, and he knew for a fact he was alone. But obviously he wasn't, because something was different about the reflection in the mirror.
Someone was behind him.

Notes