Captain Gray glanced behind him as he waited by the door. Ricka had just taken the jacket that Harry had offered to Jez - an act that betrayed either her anxiety or self-obsession. Jez looked none too pleased. The captain considered for a moment offering the second girl his jacket.
But only for a moment.
He was very proud of his uniform and didn't want some grubby teenager wrinkling it up. Straightening his pilot's cap and cufflinks for the third time, he turned back to the door and prepared to greet whoever--
CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAK!
The door unlatched and drifted open, slowly, noisily and eerily, causing a family of spiders to scurry away from the threshold and into shadow. Beyond was a lobby draped in cobwebs, a grand staircase sweeping up to the next floor, and archways to the left and right that led to other rooms. An aroma of stale air and wood-rot greeted the guests, and though it was dark there was moonlight coming from windows high in the eaves. It was enough to see by, and it gave the whole place a tinge of gothic silver.
"Hmm, must've been the wind." the captain muttered, before straightening his cap again and stepping inside. The silvery gloom repainted him, as if he had just stepped into a black and white movie.
"Hello?"
His voice echoed between the rooms and up the staircase, the effect making it seem as if ten other captains had spoken at the same time in uncertain chorus.
"We're with the plane that's crashed - we need to borrow your telephone!"
He wasn't sure who he was talking to... perhaps the house itself... because no answer came and everywhere had the sense of emptiness and neglect. However, the lights he had seen on approach to the house were definitely coming from the rooms that led off from the lobby. Perhaps the occupants were in there.
The captain walked to the middle of the lobby and put his hand on the bannister of the stairway, pondering his next move.
"Hmm..."