Back and forth they went, retelling the stories from their youth. They laughed at some of them, remembering how much they believed or wanted to believe. What neither of them mentioned though, what they refused to remember, was how it was those stories that brought them into the woods that day.

“Mira,” Jesse said as he edged closer to the reason behind his question. “Those stories everyone used to tell—I think they were true. You asked me why I came back. This is why. To find out the truth. That day when we snuck onto the property, there was someone else on the grounds. I felt it. I knew someone, or something, had been inside that house, despite what the police said. I just couldn’t prove it. At first, I thought it’d been an actual person, someone hiding I couldn’t see, but then I remembered those stories. The ones about the ghosts. Hauntings. When I heard about Alden Jones buying the Woodsman property and wanting to build his tourist attraction, I thought it could be my chance to have access to this place and see if they were right.”

“But they couldn’t have been,” Mira said abruptly. “Jesse, come on. What you’re saying. They’re not real—”

“I’ve seen them, Mira.”

“What have you seen?” she asked. She crossed her arms to keep her body still so Jesse wouldn’t see she was shaking.

“Well, you know I’ve been working here long enough that you get to know what everyone does. Every person has their role and they rarely change up. One night I was the last to leave my shift and I saw a group of men. They wore the uniforms but I didn’t recognize any of their faces. They were walking to the cabins, but I couldn’t figure why. They should have been following me toward the exit to go home, since the day was over. What could they be doing? I should have followed but I thought it wasn’t my business and left. I never saw them again.”

Jesse paused to take a breath, but his story reminded Mira of the woman she’d seen on the grounds, and she needed to ask. “I’ve seen a woman,” she began. “Dressed all in white. Young. With long dark hair. Have you seen her? I wish I could describe her better but I couldn’t really see her face. She wouldn’t look at me. She kept staring out into the fields. I don’t know what she was looking at.”

“No, I haven’t seen anyone like that. Not a woman.”