[Summary] – Welcome to Dead House: When Lily decides to unearth the secrets of the 'haunted house' she gets a lot more than she bargained for.
A/N – Each chapter of this collection is going to be named after one of the Goosebumps books (hence the title). They will all be standalone one-shots or drabbles.
"Tuney, c'mon," Lily whispered. "It'll be fine."
"How can you say that?" Petunia hissed, glaring at her younger sister. "There's a reason no one goes into that house. No one's ever seen again!"
"That's ridiculous," Lily said. "If no one ever went in there, how could you know anyone that did would never be seen again?"
"Well, I– They– It's–" Petunia sputtered, before taking a deep breath and collecting her resolve. "I am not going in there."
"Okay," Lily said, shrugging.
"Okay?" Petunia asked, the scowl finally dropping from her features to be replaced by a look of confusion. "What–" she began, but Lily was already halfway up the path to the small cottage. "Lily? What're you doing?" Petunia hissed.
"I'm going in." Lily turned to face her sister, walking backwards for a moment. "You can wait here if you want. Or I'll meet you back home." Petunia looked behind her, towards the empty street and their little house across the road, then back towards her sister. The Snape's house loomed menacingly behind her, looking innocuous if not for the obvious neglect the building had suffered. She chewed her lip, indecisive; she didn't want to go in there, but–
"This is a terrible idea," she muttered to herself. "Wait, I'm coming," she called, a little louder, to her sister, jogging down the small path to catch up.
"It'll be fine," Lily said. "We're just gonna knock, and–" As she spoke, Lily raised her hand to knock on the door, but before she could bring her hand down the door was already slowly swinging open. She thought there should have at least been a creaking of hinges, but the door opened silently despite the rusted metal. "Hello?" Lily called into the dark hallway, pushing the door open further.
"What are you doing?" Petunia hissed, reaching out to grab her sister's arm. Lily shrugged off her hand and stepped carefully into the empty hallway.
"Is anyone there?" she called into the silent house, ignoring Petunia's protests and walking down the corridor.
"Lily!" Petunia grabbed her hand, her fingers cold and clammy.
"It'll be okay," Lily whispered, trying to hide her own fear from her sister. "We're just gonna find out if anyone lives here, then we'll go straight home." She tightened her grasp on her sister's hand.
Most of the houses on their street had the same layout, so she led her sister over to where she thought the stairs might be, hoping they could find their way in the dark. Her foot almost fell through the first step, and she considered turning back, but–
"Be careful," she whispered, testing out the next step. They made their way up the staircase like this, leaning heavily on each other for support. Upon reaching the landing she moved forward slightly, giving her sister just enough room to stand behind her, and took in her surroundings.
There was a little more light up here, as a narrow beam of sunlight shone through a small hole in the boarded windows, and she could just about make out the room. Empty of everything but cobwebs and dust, she had a brief moment to wonder why there was no furniture or light fixtures before–
A scream from downstairs caused her breath to catch in her throat, and she spun around to face her sister.
"You shouldn't be here," a boy said, greasy hair framing a sallow face and his black eyes widening in ernest. He tightened his hold on her hand. "My parents don't like visitors."
She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out, and she couldn't tell if she was breathing too fast or not at all.
"I'm not gonna hurt you." He smiled at her, thin lips parting in what was probably an attempt at a reassuring gesture. His rotting teeth and disconcerting eyes made the effort pointless.
"Tuney!" she gasped, the word barely more than an exhale. She pushed past the boy with surprising strength and began down the stairs at a run.
"No, wait!" he called after her; she couldn't hear him following over the sound of her heartbeat in her ears, but she felt him grab ahold of her wrist and pull her backwards. The pain was excruciating, the delicate bones of her wrist grinding together in a way that was never intended. "I said wait," he shrieked, his pale face filled with anger. "You need to listen, Lily," he said calmer now, but the anger was still evident in his tone.
"How–" she choked out. "How do you know my name?" she managed to gasp. She could feel the acidic taste of bile and knew she needed to get out of this house, but– "Where's my sister?" she said, her voice a little stronger now.
"I told you," he said, frowning at her, all traces of anger forgotten. "My parents don't like visitors."
"But–" she whispered, her legs shaking so much they could barely support her. "But–"
"It's okay," he said cheerfully. "I'll keep you safe. No one's gonna hurt you."