A/N: Wahoo for my newest horror shenanigans! This story is entirely original and I totally pulled it out of my ass, soooo I'm not taking any established concepts and revamping it this time around. I'll admit it now, it's messy. It gets verrrry eerie and totally freaking gross. The cast of characters is limited to 12, and will shrink by the masses. I had a lot of fun writing it and scared myself at certain points. You may think twice next time you hear a phone ring by the end of this thrill ride. No new characters will be appearing in this and yes, darling Mindy Stratus will grace this story with her presence. What would any story of mine be without the little nutjob? This story is very short (compared to my other ones...it's about 93 pages on Word as opposed to Raze which was 344 and the others not far behind it) and exciting, not for the weak of heart or stomach. Yet another Vermi classic, you can smell trouble after the first chapter. Happy haunting-I mean reading ;)
PLAY DEAD
"I need you to come with me" the Undertaker addressed his little brother backstage at their most recent Smackdown taping. Kane scoffed.
"Are you joking?" the Big Red Machine shook his head with a snort, "Big Brother you know that shit's not my forte."
"AS MY BROTHER…" the Undertaker pleaded once more, following an exhausted and perspiring Kane to his locker room and lingering in the doorway, "will you do this?"
"YOU'RE the 'Lord of Darkness'" the younger brother rolled his eyes and whirled around to face him, "yet you're afraid of a DEAD CELL!"
"I don't KNOW that…" Taker tried all that he could to keep his voice from rattling.
"Really? When was the last disappearance?" Kane asked disinterested. "I don't particularly remember hearing anything about a house that eats people."
"...thirteen years ago" the Undertaker responded lowly.
"Making the house a DEAD CELL…AGAIN!" Kane shouted in irritation and groaned obnoxiously, "So I WAS right."
"Kane, please…" he NEVER liked to beg, his ego usually didn't allow it.
"Why? WHY is this deathtrap such a thrill to you? What do you think is going to come out of it? An adventure?" Kane mocked his older brother, a bold move to say the least. "WHY?"
"Will you just COME I need thirteen god damn people!"
"Ahhh so NOW the truth comes out…" Kane snickered, "YOU want people to FEED to this thing! Because you KNOW it's not truly 'dead', they never are!"
"I'm TRYIN' to wake it up, that's all!" the Undertaker admitted, "It ain't truly 'dead' yet-"
"But you'd like me to tell people the opposite…" Kane raised both nonexistent eyebrows and sighed, "I knew you had ulterior motives, Big Brother…I know you better than YOU do." He nodded along at the silence for a second (Taker was never known for taking jokes well) and then took a long inhale, "How long have you been obsessed with this place now?"
"…long enough" the Undertaker shrugged subtly, "Bearer was the one that kept yappin' 'bout the great enigma that is-"
"Does it have a special little name?" Kane asked more as a joke than anything, "You know…Rose Red, Winchester Mansion, Lizzie Borden house-"
"Nope" the Undertaker shrugged, "No one knows enough 'bout what goes on in there to name it."
"Which is where WE come in…?" Kane ran a hand over his face, this was all too predictable. Though Kane was more humored by it than anything, the Undertaker was SUCH a sucker for this haunted house shit…and who better to rile him up about it than Paul Bearer?
"One twitch an' we're out" the Undertaker tried to further entice him, "I don't need much"
"You just want to know how a single home can turn into a monster and gobble up all the poor bastards who trespass…or perhaps a little psychology and try and figure out if the house is just 'troubled' or actually has the ability to 'hate'" he laughed, though the Undertaker didn't find it so funny. "Big Brother" he tried to stifle the laugh boiling up inside him, "This is coming from ME…you're insane."
"Are you in it with me or NOT?" the Undertaker grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Cause if ye just wanna waste my time I'll go find another copilot"
"But I know NOTHING about ANY of this ghost shit"
"I never said it was ghosts…" the Undertaker's sea green eyes bore into his little brother's, "that's the enigma."
"Honestly…" Kane rubbed the back of his neck and took a quick step back, "I'm not too keen on getting eaten before I see my children graduate kindergarten"
"I TOLD you, Baby Brother…" the Undertaker took a single step closer, "one single TWITCH that house gives us, an' we're outta there."
"You payin' me?" Kane asked with a smirk, being pushed back by his older brother quickly, "Minda and I are THERE, you know that…no matter how idiotic your idea."
"…I wouldn't bring Little Sister…" the Undertaker would have cringed but remained stoic.
"Why? You think the house is gonna eat her?" Kane laughed and shook his head, "No...I'd HATE to be the home that's got HER soul in it for all eternity."
"I thought you were an Agnostic…?"
"I am" Kane snickered, "which is why you're really going to have to convince me that something is actually going on with that shack"
"It ain't a shack by ANY means…" the Undertaker's eyes widened and he shook his head, "It's a big-ass manor."
"Aren't they all…" Kane exhaled and curled his lips, "You've got three counting me and Minda…who else would you like us to sucker in to your suicide expedition?"
"It ain't NOTHIN, Little Brother! Houses do NOT kill people. GHOSTS do."
"Too bad I don't believe in THOSE either…"
"How the hell are you going to be able to explain this to Little Sister? She won't go if she knows it's-"
"I'll tell her it's DISNEYLAND" Kane sniggered to a knock on the arm from his older brother.
"Don't you DARE con her into it!" the Undertaker hissed, he was obviously hiding something or he wouldn't be going off this way, "She don't wanna go leave 'er HOME with your children!"
"Her stupid sister can babysit" Kane shrugged apathetically, "If I go she goes…I'm not dealing with eleven people that I HATE all by myself while you're ghost-hunting…I doubt anyone will actually want to go"
"DUDE I was ON Ghost Hunters, are you KIDDING?" CM Punk nodded excitedly to Kane's question, "When are we leaving? Where is this place?" Punk was Kane's only true 'friend', if he could be called that.
"…but my brother IS the one leading this" Kane warned him, the Undertaker and Punk were NOT exactly getting along as of late. "You're going to be living with him"
"AND you, right?" Punk nodded while tilting his head, "I mean you're coming, right? You wouldn't leave me hangin' like that"
"I'm bringing Minda so you may just BE alone a lot more often than you think" Kane's voice rose slightly, but the emotional flatness stayed the same.
"DUDE Spaghetti's coming?" Kane nodded, though he didn't like being addressed as 'dude'. "Awesome! So who else is going besides me, you, Spaghetti, and our 'wise and powerful leader'" Punk bent his fingers mockingly but Kane steeled.
"My BROTHER knows EXACTLY what he's doing!" he wasn't sure about that, but regardless NO ONE talked down about his brother, he didn't care that Punk had some sort of rivalry with him. "It's ONE thing if you dislike him" he snarled, "but don't you DARE make fun of him!"
"WHOA WHOA SORRY CHILL!" Punk held up both hands and drew a white flag, backing up nervously, "I'm just saying…he doesn't seem very sure about all this, does he? I mean what's his motive?" He figured that wouldn't offend Kane too badly…though he never knew what actually offended Kane. For someone so nasty he was such a defensive bastard over his family. The monster sighed and placed a hand on the doorframe, staring at the ground and shaking his head, HE didn't even know how to answer that.
"He's…" Kane grimaced and looked up to his only friend, "he's convinced this house is a dead cell-"
"No longer active?" Punk interrupted, irking Kane.
"Yes…" the peeved monster answered, "the last disappearance according to my brother was thirteen years ago"
"And WHY does he want a crew of people again?" Punk rubbed his chin and asked with a smirk. Kane was frank.
"My guess?" he raised his shaved eyebrows, "To feed you all to it…he's a dick like that. You're going at your own risk"
"But Spaghetti's going…" Punk added pointedly, "Why would he let Spaghetti go if she'd be in any real danger?"
"…she IS" Kane scowled, leaning forward enough to make Punk uncomfortable, "That was MY decision to bring my wife."
"Why?" Punk asked with a shrug, "I mean if she were MY wife I certainly wouldn't want her-"
"I am NOT leaving her alone any longer than I prepared her stupid sister for. She needs her medication and shit…Trish isn't prepared for an extended amount of time."
"Still Kane…" Punk cringed and looked up at him, "A schizophrenic in a haunted house? Is that the brightest of ideas?"
"She doesn't know what it is."
"Well what'd you SAY to her?" Punk asked with a hand gesture.
"…told her we were going to a dead cell for a week or so." Wooooow. Punk knew she was dim but THAT dim? Oye.
"Well when are we going?" Punk placed a hand on his hip and flicked his lip ring a bit.
"As soon as my brother can gather thirteen people I would surmise…"
"But doesn't he like…" Punk laughed shortly, "Not talk to anyone?"
"Minda's asking around" Kane nodded while staring at his feet, "I'm sure she'll find nine idiots around here to drag along"
"Thirteen? Why thirteen?" Punk asked with a frown, always a nerd for this ghost kind of shit. Kane swallowed hard and shrugged, it was anybody's guess what his brother's intentions were.
"I'm sure my brother will be telling plenty of stories my father jacked him up with once we get there."