I must admit that I am bit squeamish about blood and violence so the beginning of this excerpt shocked me a bit. It was spooky to start the story at a haunted house without giving context until the second paragraph. This is just me though, I am sure that people who enjoy mysteries or are not as squeamish will be just fine and not thrown off by the first paragraph. The characters did not feel very real to me. They seemed more like the characters one would expect in this situation rather than real people. The reactions they all had seemed very done and did not feel original. I was not impressed by this excerpt and hope that the story becomes more relatable and real as it goes on or that this lack of originality is on purpose.