You and the others return to the living room in a hurried silence. After some uncomfortable glances at each other, you decide to be the first to break the quiet here. You turn to the stranger.
MANDY
My name is Amanda. Was that really a ghost out in the stairwell? Why could you all see it too? Why have I been seeing them for the last ten years?
The stranger stares at you. They blink rapidly.
LUKE
You can call me Luke. It's nice to meet you, Amanda. I don't have any answers for you about most of that, but yes, that was a ghost. I didn't realize they could exist outside of this kind of place...
SOKU
And what, exactly, is this kind of place we're talking about again? Soku, by the way.
LUKE
A House. With a capital H.
The rest of them stare blankly at Luke, and they seem to think that's a sufficient answer for a beat, before realizing it wasn't.
LUKE
There are a few places around the world where something tragic happens, and the emotions around it spawns what I call a House. They're not always actually houses, but usually, they are, I've found.
VINCE
There's more places like this?
LUKE
All over. They teleport through time and space, finding victims in secluded locations and luring them in to kill them for energy. Then, those victims who die become ghosts who continue the cycle in these Houses, killing more visitors as they come in.
JENNIFER
They... teleport? What? Nothing you're saying is making sense, how can they teleport? This place existed before we came here, it- it's Vince's grandpa's house...
LUKE
This place became a House. The real world location's unchanged, but usually the House itself teleports all around... this place used to, too. I... I couldn't answer why it took you here when you entered the actual building, that kind of thing shouldn't happen.
MIKI
Why do you know so much about all of this? How do we know you aren't a ghost?
LUKE
Firsthand experience. I've spent the last few years of my life dedicated to hunting down places like this and dismantling them. If you all just listen to what I tell you to do, you're going to make it out alive.
They seem uncomfortable with Miki's questions. You narrow your eyes but decide to let it slide.
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LIL
So you're like, a real house hunter!
VINCE
Oh, shit, the real estate agent that was supposed to meet us in here...!
As Vince points this out, you all hear a shrill scream from upstairs, causing everyone to tense up.
Vince is the first one to move, which prods the rest of the reluctant people into action, following him upstairs again.