The house had been empty for six months. That's what they were told. It was a beautiful, two- story farmhouse. There was a large oak tree outside the living room window, with a small, old well right underneath it. A tiny, wooden fence separated the house and yard from the rest of the property. Namely, four and a half acres of farmland and five and a half acres of forest. As it was situated at the top of a hill, the view led straight down to the small, quiet town below. All in all, in looked almost like something from a holiday card.
"Man, would you check out this view. I mean, why was this place so cheap?" Crow, a hot- tempered, red headed teen leaned against the fence. The two rings in his headband glinted in the sun.
"All I know, Crow, is that it was cheap enough for us to buy. Now come give me a hand." Jack, a tall, proud, blonde teen demanded, bringing boxes into the house. The two brothers were aspiring turbo duelists, and had chosen to move to this particular small town because of the turbo duel stadium located just inside the neighboring city.
"Okay." Crow spun and grabbed the smallest box he saw, before bolting past his brother and into the house. "I call first pick of the bedrooms!"
"Crow! I already called first pi-" He broke off when he heard something moving in the bushes nearby. "Oi! Who's there?"
"Jack? What's wrong?" Crow stuck his head back out the door. Jack turned to look at him, and, apparently, that was all the time that was needed for whoever it was to escape. They heard the roar of an engine and caught sight of a yellow car as it tore down the road. "Huh. Must have been one of our new neighbors. I wonder when we'll get to meet them- Jack! Get back here! I called first pick!"
"I called it first! And seniority rules!" Jack ran into the first bedroom he came to and slammed the door.
"No, it doesn't! it just goes grey first!" Crow pounded on the door, then huffed and stomped into the next room over. "Fine! I wanted this one anyway!"
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Jack had fallen asleep later then usual, but with moving, unpacking, filing a complaint with the movers about a lost box, and the almost- brawl that had broken out in the kitchen over his culinary skills, it hadn't been as late as it could have been.
Crow was snoring in the next room over, and Jack was dreaming of winning trophies, expensive coffee, and cheap ramen in the dueling arena, when someone opened the door to his room. The blonde was unaware, of course, as he was still signing autographs for a random mob. A random mob that vanished when a firm hand roughly gripped his shoulder, instantly pulling him away from the spotlights and camera flashes, back to the dark, lightless room.
"Who are you and what the Hell are you doing in my room?" Jack's eyes flew open and focused on the intruder.
"Who the heck-"
"I'll ask the questions, thank you very much. Now answer me." The boy demanded. Jack narrowed his eyes, as the intruder didn't appear much younger than himself. The boy wore a black and red shirt, and . . . Jack sat up in shock.
Something was on the boy's head. Something dark and wet. He appeared to be bleeding heavily from his head. And he didn't seem to notice.
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"Crow! Wake up." Jack pounded on his brother's door. He had just finished making sure their 'guest' was alright, when he remembered that the redhead would probably want to be informed. He heard a groan from the other side, and then footsteps.
"This had better be good." Was his brother's greeting when he opened the door, rubbing one eye blearily. Jack almost laughed at his appearance. For once, he lacked his headband, whish caused his red hair to flop everywhere. But he didn't laugh. Now was not the time.
"It's a long story, but right now, I need your help."
Crow blinked, suddenly alert. Jack hardly ever looked so serious, but when he did, something was very wrong.
"Someone's here. He's down in the kitchen."
Crow nodded and followed his brother. Downstairs, leaning against the counter and looking royally pissed, was the intruder. He was slightly shorter than Crow, with a criminal mark of his own below his left eye. Half of his black and blonde hair was mated down to the side of his head, but his blue eyes looked completely alert.
"Yusei, this is my brother, Crow. Crow, this is Yusei. Yusei claims to live here."
Crow blinked. "You live here? For how long?"
"Ever since I was six. This house belongs to me and my brothers."
"You and you're . . ." he sighed and held up his hands. "Okay. It is way too late at night for this. There has obviously been some miscommunication somewhere along the line. When my brother and I bought this house, we were told that nobody had lived here for six months."
Yusei narrowed his eyes. "Six months? That's impossible. That would mean that nobody's been here since spring. We didn't move out in spring. We haven't moved out at all. And speaking of which, where's all of our stuff? And my brothers? Where the hell-,"
As Yusei was gradually gaining volume, Jack was busy doing the mental math. "Yusei," he narrowed his eyes and held up his hand, gaining the smaller teen's attention.
"What?"
"You must have hit your head harder than I thought. Are you sure you don't feel dizzy?"
"Wait, he hit his head? What do you mean? I know I'm still half asleep, but I feel like I missed something kind of important."
Jack glanced at his brother, not exactly wanting to fill him in, but knowing he had no choice. He sighed. "Yusei woke me up about twenty minutes ago. He was bleeding pretty badly from his head, but claimed to have not been aware of it." Crow glanced at the teen, looking slightly suspicious. "Nor does he recall hitting his head on anything." Jack turned back to the glaring boy, curious and slightly worried. "What month is it? Like, right now?"
Yusei narrowed his eyes. "September, why?"
"September?" Crow's eyes bugged out. "Dude, its March!"
"What are you trying to pull? I just looked at the calendar last night and it said 'September' as clear as da-," he broke off as Jack held out his phone. The calendar was pulled up on the screen, showing it to be March 18, 2046. "W-what the hell?" Yusei's eyes were wide and his face paled considerably. "What the hell is going on? I-I just looked at the calendar yesterday. I swear, it said September 4, 2045. How," he stepped back, looking at them pleadingly, "how is this possible?"
Crow opened his mouth to respond with a sympathetic 'I don't know,' but then he noticed something. Shocked, he closed his mouth and took a step towards the now shaking teen, trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"I think I know how it's possible." He said after a minute. He lifted his hand, and, while Jack and Yusei looked on in horror, thrust it forward, right through Yusei's chest. After an initial exclamation of surprise, Jack realized something. Something that made his blood run cold. Crow's hand had passed right through, but there was no blood, no sound, not even any resistance when his hand had entered. Not only that, but he suddenly realized that he, however faintly, could see the wall that Yusei was standing in front of.
Yusei was a ghost.
The moment of stunned silence was over in an instant when Crow withdrew his hand and yawned. "Not that this hasn't been entertaining, but I'm going back to sleep." As he turned and walked out of the room, they heard him they heard him muttering about 'no more pizza before bed'.
Jack listened as his footsteps made their way up the stairs, then a door closed and he looked back at Yusei. The boy was now frozen. His eyes were, if possible, even wider, and his face was deathly pale, no pun intended.
Slowly, almost mechanically, he reached one hand up and touched his chest, right where Crow's hand had been.
'Crow,' Jack thought, almost absently, 'I'm pretty sure we just found out why the house was so cheap.'
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Okay, so I'm just putting this out here. I always wanted to do a murder mystery, and I have this mostly all outlined, so please let me know what you think! Do you have any questions? Guesses? I would love to hear them! Also, sorry, and I know that this is a bit of a jerk move, but I am posting this right before I go on break, so there will be no updates until school lets back in. that said, please let me know what you think of this! And who, if not Crow and Jack, are Yusei's brothers? Hint: I have ZERO OC's in this.