A Night at the Old Chateau
"Come on Jared, stop being such a pussy!"
"B-b-but, I heard ghost pokémon live in the Old Chateau… I-I d-d-don't think-"
"Which is why this is gonna be fun. Don't you want to have fun, Jared?"
It was a lose-lose situation: on one side, there stood the door to the Old Chateau, ever present and looming over the young boy, as if to warn him of his own stupidity. On the other, stood his friends, ever mocking and pushing him to go inside. He really should have known that this "camping trip in the Eterna Forest" was just another trick to embarrass him, but they were his only friends, no matter how much they laughed at him.
In the end, he took the lesser of two evils, pushed the door, and entered the mansion. The trio behind him following, already starting to make "Oooooh" sounds behind him, waiting for a reaction. Desperately trying to be strong, Jared reached for his belt and out came his Buneary. After all, no matter if ghosts were real or not, they were simply pokémon, so there was no need to be afraid.
"AHHH, did you guys hear that!?"
Only muffled laugher and snorting came out.
- - -
In the end, it had been a pretty uneventful, if not boring day. Once his friends stopped laughing at him, they explored the mansion, or what was left of it. Not only was it falling to pieces from the inside, but looters had already emptied most of the place. The only things left were broken plates and appliances too big to even fit in the doorway, forever stuck. The only interesting things left were perhaps the old books in the library, but most were too yellow or mouldy to even decipher. More importantly though, there has been no ghosts. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not, but it made the trio stop the mocking, only to make way for complaining. Finally, this place was just a normal abandoned mansion.
The only particular thing was the fact that the upper section was relatively untouched. It hasn't been looted and most of it was intact. In fact, even the beds were made, not to mention, lacked dust that should have accumulated over the years.
And that was why he was lying in one, staring straight at the ceiling, Buneary snuggling close by. He truly didn't enjoy being here, but at least it was safe, and who could complain about free beds?
"And anyway, you'll stay with me, won't you, Buneary?" he asked, petting lightly, as only light snores answered, and made him fall asleep as well.
- - -
For no reason, Jared woke up. Odd, he thought, he had no nightmares, heard no noises, and was truly tired, so why would he randomly wake up? The room was pitch black, the light of the full moon not reaching the inside of his room, even though it was plainly easy to see from the window. Yet, for a tired mind, it wouldn't register. He noticed Buneary wasn't on his bed, tapping frantically on the bed. Due to the darkness, it would be impossible to look for her, especially since the only light source seemed to come from the wall.
There were two very small spots of red light, shining faintly from the wall on the other side of the chest. Almost forgetting about his pokémon, Jared could help but investigate, but the moment he approached the wall, the light spots simply disappeared. He touched the wall lightly, feeling under his fingers the feel of an old oil painting. He kept on tracing its corners, while staring at where he thought the light disappeared, still unable to see in the thick darkness. It was nothing more then simply staring at a black wall and painting, yet, there was something in there. A faint tint of red, swirling from somewhere past the wall. He leaned in closer, closer, and closer, until his brain registered that it was impossible. His hands where still on the frame, tracing the wood there, yet he realised that said hands, and arms where almost crushed on the wall while his upper body was still leaning forwards. Even if his head understood the impossibility, he simply had to keep going. There was something amazingly attractive about the red, so much that the entire wall became its color.
Suddenly, he jerked back and fell back. His hand, still on the frame, hit a splinter. It was almost out of reflex, he didn't even feel like, still enthralled by whatever he was staring at earlier. Before he could investigate further, a screamed echoed out the corridor.
It was from Mark, his friend sleeping in the next room. He ran out, after bumping into the wall three times, trying to find the door. Odd candles had been lighted up along the walls, making the corridor glow in an odd light. He reached his friend room, only to find it empty. The door slammed shut behind him, closing off all sounds and light possible. He stepped back, bumping into one of the two beds, falling over. He fell on the bed yet amazing crashed could suddenly be heard. It was almost as if dozen of vases fell down at the same time for no reason. He wanted to get up and away from the sound, but as soon as he rose, someone or… something grabbed his foot, pulling under the bed. He fell back on the back, being rather twisted back and the door flung open to reveal twin white flowing figures. They sprang up in the room, rushing towards him, screaming words he couldn't exactly understand. He tried to jump out of the bed, but they closed in too soon, before the one standing in front of him crashed down.
"BUUUUUUUUN!"
Buneary, sprang back, knocking away the second figure before rushing out the door, urging Jared to follow, something he hastily obliged. He ran down the corridor, banging on all doors to wake someone, anyone up, only to find that they were all locked. He didn't know what to do anymore, he was running in all directions, desperately trying to find his way out of the mansion, until somebody grabbed him, laughing.
"Haha, come on, you pussy, don't tell me you're afraid of a little ghost?"
"M-Mark?"
The missing youth was just laughing, still holding Jared with one hand, and a white sheet in the other. The look of terror on Jared's face slowly turned into confusion, to embarrassment, and finally to anger. Before he could let this frustration out on his so called friend, he noticed Mark's face becoming deathly pale right before he bolted, screaming.
"Come back here, I'm not done with you! That- THAT WASN'T FUNNY, YOU-"
He was interrupted by a faint cry by his Buneary, who bolted after Mark… second before a purple blob exploded where his pokémon used to be. Jared jerked backwards, only to fall into extremely cold… sharp… glowing hands.
He ran faster then he ever ran before, only to crash into Mark and Buneary, who were coming back his way. They didn't even have time to get up as about a dozen of ghosts appeared, laughing, pointing, and looking ready to attack.
"H-H-Haunters," cried out Mark, desperately clinging to Jared, unable to reach for his own pokémon.
"I got it!" Jared said, surprisingly confident for the moment, "Buneary, quick attack, hurry."
Buneary gave her master an odd stare as she rushed into the ghosts, passing right through. The Haunter crowd stopped for a few seconds, before exploding into laughter.
"Oh right… those attacks can't hurt ghost types…"
That small moment of inaptitude made him forget about the problems surrounding him, until Mark grabbed him by the arm and started running into the nearest room, using a small window of opportunity as the lead Haunter conversed with a very frustrated Buneary, who didn't like being mocked by silly ghosts. He slammed the door, leaving the pokémon to fend off for herself.
"Mark, you can't leave her all alone there!"
"Shut up, you want to die or something? Better her then us."
A heavy silence fell upon them, only broken by the room's only light source: an open television. Both of them couldn't help to stare at the static on the screen. It was almost hypnotic, as if the rest of the room was ensnaring them within its grasp.
"Mark… the room… it's getting smaller!"
"Shut up, Jared… I'm watching TV…"
Jared left his eyes wander off the screen. The room, it was becoming distorted. The walls were closing in, swirling around him, yet Mark wasn't even moving, his eyes staring forwards into the television.
"Mark… get out of here."
"I'm watching TV, go away."
"MARK!"
Something dark and filled with static started oozing out of the television. It crawled up to Mark, climbing unto him. Jared could only watch as his friend began to get cocooned by static snow… becoming nothing more then an extension of the screen…
- - -
Jared woke up screaming in the room, Buneary jumping out of bed in pure shook. Jared looked around, only spotting his three friends, giggling nearby.
"Had a nice dream there, Jared?"
He jumped out of bed, grabbing Mark by the collar!
"W-WHAT HAPPENED? You-you were being eaten by the TV!"
It was only met by more laughing as Jared's hands dropped. His friends pointing and mocking, telling him that he shouldn't be scared of nightmares at his age, calling him names again, and just high fiving each other.
"It's true! That TV… it was eating…" he mumbled, lightly stroking his finger, sore form the splinter. Angrily, he stormed out the room in order to find the television set, his friends following, still snorting.
He stood in front of the set, still open and only showing static. He just stared at the set, almost as of he was waiting for it to jump up. His friends were standing back, shaking their heads, wondering what to do with such a lost cause. Until they saw it…
Static poured out of the television like an odd shade. Before Jared could do anything, that static shadow grabbed him, rolling onto him. The trio could only watch as Jared frantically reached out to them, before getting swallowed. The set was getting more and more snowed in and flickered on and off as an odd wind began blowing. One last scream from Jared was all it took to send them off running for the door. They left him behind, dashing out of the chateau, back to Eterna, screaming the same thing over and over again.
"THE TV ATE JARED! THE TV ATE JARED!"
- - -
"Oh hi, Jared, welcome home. Did you guys have fun on your camping trip last night?"
"Hey mom. Yeah, last night was really, really fun, right Buneary?"
"I'm happy you made friends, Jared, you used to be such a quiet boy until you met them. Now, put your clothes in the wash, they're all dusty. Oh and Jared, I know you like my pokémon, but next time, could you please ask me before you borrow my Rotom? I was looking for him all night! You know what they can do when you let them out unsupervised," she scolded, not noticing the satisfied grin forming on her son's face.
Fin.