WARNING: Contains spoilers for HetaOni part 11

This is my first successfully completed fanfiction. I apologise in advance for any spelling or grammatical errors.

Loss of Soul

I walked up the long mountain trail towards the supposedly haunted mansion. I wasn't visiting the mansion out of curiosity; I didn't want to enter the building; or even the garden for that matter. I hated ghosts and all things scary; and nothing on earth would make me enter that mansion. It seemed to ooze with malice and the air around it was permeated with fear. That mansion didn't just stand out in the mountains. It loomed. Leered. It seemed to have a personality.

The only reason I was heading towards it was because I made a weekly walk out into the mountains and it was my turn back point; the walk took the entire day. Three hours there and three hours back again. As I followed the mountain path I caught a glimpse of the fence around the mansion's garden. Nearly there. I walked towards the gate and stopped, resting my hand on the wood. It seemed more daunting than usual today.

I had always been confused by the appearance of the mansion, it was said to have been abandoned decades ago, but the garden was immaculate. The lawn looked freshly mown and the bushes were pruned to perfection. The mansion itself – when I could actually bring myself to look at it – was also spotless. It looked as though it had been repainted only this week; it always looked like that, of course. The windows sparkled like I'd just missed the window cleaner coming in the opposite direction.

I was just about to turn around and leave – I'd been forcing myself to stay in the close vicinity of the mansion for five minutes, and that was five minutes too long in my opinion – when suddenly a tiny movement caught my attention – I could swear I'd just seen the doorknob move as if someone was trying to open the door from the inside. That was exactly what I'd seen. As I shook my head and told myself I was imagining things the door to the mansion flew open and a young man in blue came running out. He looked terrified. Fear bordering on madness (or maybe it was the other way around: insanity so deeply rooted that fear was all that man knew). He had dishevelled brown hair; although it would probably be auburn if he washed it. The man had a strange curl on the side of his hair, it was matted and tangled; I could see that even from where I was stood. The man's blue uniform looked badly worn and in need of repair, it was also filthy, but after watching the man for a while I realised it wasn't mud or ordinary dirt that caked his clothes. It was blood. The man muttered something to himself, but I was too far away to hear what he had said.

He moved forwards and I ducked behind a nearby tree, I didn't want the strange man soaked in blood to see me. At this point I realised it had started to rain; I had been too wrapped up in the shocking events beforehand to notice.

The man spoke to himself again; this time I could hear him "I shouldn't have been able to get out..." He said, in a strong Italian accent. The man turned to face the mansion again, then spoke, as if addressing the building

"What the hell?" He exclaimed "This doesn't make any sense! Out of everyone, I'm the only one left? What the hell? What the hell?!"

He was screaming by the end of his outburst. What on earth had happened in that mansion? Something horrifying, to be sure. But what?

At that point, my question was answered: a huge, terrible, hideous thing burst from the door. I stifled a scream and the man gave a jolt of fear before turning and sprinting towards the gate where I had stood just minutes earlier. As he reached the gate he screamed "Stop!" his feet obeyed him and for some reason I could not comprehend, so did the monster. He turned to face it, and, as he turned, I caught a sight of his face. Twisted into an insane grin and a horrifying mimic of anything human. He looked almost as monstrous as the thing in front of him.

"I won, right?" He asked the creature "You couldn't catch me; you lost!"

He gloated, sounding as though he was about to break into laughter "The moment I get out of here, you'll lose!" This time he did laugh; nothing but a small giggle, but for that it seemed all the more insane and dangerous "There's nothing you can do from that distance!" He added, he sounded as though he was trying to wind the beast up, like he was trying to achieve something from it. "When I get out of here, this place won't be the same as before, you know? I'll destroy it!" He screamed at the grey skinned monster; I realised what he was doing then. He was trying to provoke a reaction from it, he wanted to see that monster show emotion; be in pain. Any type of emotion, but the monster remained as emotionless as the stones its colour mimicked. "Doesn't that make you frustrated? Angry?" If it did, the thing showed no sign of it "I'm your last trophy, after all!" The Italian man said; I noticed that his accent had grown stronger as he continued, probably due to his heightening emotions.

Another thing I hadn't noticed about him was that he was carrying a book, of all things; this puzzled me slightly, but now wasn't the time to be fretting over trivial things such as books.

The man laughed properly this time, not just a little giggle, a full – and somewhat sarcastic sounding laugh, once he had calmed down enough he told the monster "You lost to the guy whose only redeeming feature is his fast feet!" He broke into laughter again, as though this was some hilarious joke. The man seemed to stop suddenly, as if he'd remembered something vital. I shifted my position behind the tree slightly and saw his face: the insane grin from before was gone, replaced by a small frown, he looked like he was about to start crying... Maybe he already was crying, it was hard to tell whether it was just the rain or not. He mumbled something that I couldn't hear, but it didn't matter, because he repeated it again "Take us back!" He shouted at the monster.

What happened next, I could not say. It was all too crazy, too insane. I was dreaming, or imagining things. I must have been. I backed away from the mansion, the insane man, and the gray skinned monster as quietly as I could. I made it back down the mountain in what must have been a record time: only an hour in place of the usual three.

As for whether it was a dream or not, I've never set foot near that mansion again. I walk a different route now. I don't know what happened to that man. If that monster is still there in that mansion. Or whether it was all a figment of my vivid imagination. I never have a good night's sleep any more. The dark is haunted by the shape of that thing, the blood-stained man's face as he grinned at the monster, and above it all looms the mansion, leering above us all with its perfect lawn and white, white walls.

Reviews are appreciated, if anyone has any suggestions on how I can improve, they're appreciated too. Thanks~