Please do not get excited! This is not an update. I am replacing chapters.
I have recently returned full time to Fan Fiction writing and hopefully fixing up any issues with older stories. This story is one of my oldest stories and still one of my favourites. So it is only plausible that I fix this one up first. :)
Enjoy the changes.
Italics- Silhouettes speaking
Bold- Spirits speaking
Legend says that both good and evil spirits haunt the Mansion up on the hill past Twilight Town.
Rumours even have it, that people have vanished into thin air, never to be seen again.
The Mansion has been through many, numerous ownership and some of the older generations of Twilight Town, say that the house is evil.
Sometimes on a silent night, you can hear the terrifying screams and eerie noises the Spirits emit.
The last owner had fled the house, claiming that she saw the Shadowed Spirits engulf and consume her husband.
Non-believers become the believers and yet again, the doomed Mansion on the hill is up for sale, cheaper than any other house in Twilight Town.
Waiting ever so patiently for its next family of victims.
It was a bright sunny early afternoon when the car pulled up in the driveway.
A sleek black sedan parked in the undercover drive and four doors opened instantaneously.
"Oh thank God" a loud cry came out echoing in the trees, a spiky haired brunette appeared from the left hand side of the car and stumbled to unsteady feet. He stretched his arms high above his head until his shoulders popped and he groaned in relief.
"This is great," he groaned looking around to the passenger seat.
His mother, Aerith appeared clutching a crumpled pillow and her bag.
Her green eyes instantly brightened when she saw the House and she said in a cheerful voice.
"Oh isn't this lovely, such a beautiful old house, it was up for so cheap as well." She swooped to her eldest son wrapping her arms around him and said, "Sora, it's a new life for us all."
From the other side of the car, Sora's younger brother Roxas appeared with a gloomy look on his face and a tired, frustrated looking father Cloud. Both vainly rubbed their face and looked up at the Mansion sighing, "When can we start to unpack?"
Aerith left her son and swooped to her husband fixing his crumpled shirt, "Well the movers don't get here till later; we have the keys, so why don't we go and look around?"
Agreeing with the eccentric Aerith, her family was pulled along as if on strings and to the magnificent oaken doors of the Twilight Mansion.
"Oh honey, isn't this grand? Better than the tiny place we used to live in at Hollow Bastion." Aerith entered the entrance hall and spun around in a circle, "Oh positively beautiful."
Cloud dawdled in after his wife and looked around the dusty hall, "Well it could have been cleaned before we came here."
Aerith giggled and almost danced to her husband, "Oh it makes it all the more fun, who knows what we will find in such a large house like this?"
Rolling his eyes at the antics of his parents, the brothers, Roxas and Sora walked in and looked around the massive Entrance Hall, Sora called out, "Hello?"
His voice echoed, reverberating off the roof banisters and around the cavernous room. Roxas hit his arm; his mouth pulled up in a scowl "Don't do that you Dolt! Are you stupid?"
He looked up to the roof, his eyes travelling across the beams and down to the mouth of the stairs where he swore, he heard a groan. Roxas felt his legs tense up slightly, with a frown he nudged Sora and whispered, "Did you hear that?"
He got a goofy grin in response indicating that Sora had not heard a thing; with a sigh, he searched the staircase briefly once more.
Seeing nothing
Aerith spun around to her boy's and said, "You better hurry boys, the Movers will be here soon. Quickly go choose your room; I hear there is one with an ensuite."
As she said this in her bright voice Roxas and Sora gazed at each other and Roxas shouted, "I want that room!"
Both brothers thundered up the stairs.
"Shot Gun the room with the bathroom," Sora shouted as they ran up the stairs making an awful racket. The loud rumbles and thuds echoed up the dark hall; that alone could have woken the dead.
"Sora you bastard, I want that room" Roxas exclaimed furiously trying to push from his brother.
"I called the shotgun."
Sora and Roxas ran up the stairs, as they reached the second story hall. They were greeted by pitch-blackness. The boys momentarily stopped before Sora groped around the wall for any signs of a light switch.
"It's dusty" Roxas coughed, blinking around the darkness. Both Boys flinched when the light in the Hall suddenly burst to life in a buzzing of age-old light globes. The Hall was filthy, covered in blanket of thick dust and hanging cobwebs.
Mice scampered away at the light and Roxas looked disgustedly at his Brother. "How does Dad let Mum get away with everything she wants?"
Sora shrugged, letting his hand drop from the filthy light switch "Are we seriously going to live in this? What was she thinking?"
"Guess who is going to clean it?" Roxas sighed "I'll probably die from an asthma attack before we even get settled in."
"But you don't have asthma" Sora retorted, looking to his Brother. Roxas rolled his eyes, "I bet I will after cleaning this dump."
Sora left his sibling's side and opened the first door. It opened with an insanely loud 'Squeak' and the door handle thudded against the wall when it opened.
More darkness poured out and Sora audibly gulped before he hesitantly reached out to the frame and fumbled yet again for another light switch.
After a minute of fumbling, another light flickered on in the bedroom and the first thing Roxas saw was the adjoining bathroom.
"Bastard" he breathed.
However, Sora stepped back, a look of mild concern decorating his face. "It looks like a Mental Asylum room! I'm not surprised if there are bars on the windows."
The one light in the bedroom was high up on the ceiling, one of those rectangular fluorescent lights with the two long bulbs that flickered eerily around the room.
There was crude, grey carpet squares over the floor and the room was painted an eerie light green. The sounds of groaning pipes reverberated around the room and it instantly sent chills down Roxas' spine.
"No way" he muttered, "You can have that room. That's freaky." The Blonde looked down the hall where there were numerous other doors. He left the doorframe of Sora's 'new' room and opened the one next to it.
It wasn't as crude as the other room, it was small and had concrete floor. It was freezing cold and Roxas instantly thought against it when he turned on the light. The light burst after a few moments of it being on, Roxas was plunged into darkness.
With a small cry, he jumped from the room and slammed the door shut.
"It's almost like a scene from a horror movie," Sora muttered, folding his arms across his chest. Roxas saw the Goosebumps decorating his brother's arms and he felt the familiar chill as he started to get them as well.
Crossing to the other side of the hallway, Roxas went to the room adjacent to the room Sora was debating whether to have. He reached and grasped the golden handle, then he swore it hummed underneath his hand.
He twisted it, the rust giving way and screeching lightly. He pushed against the door but it seemed to be jammed. With a light frown, Roxas hit it with his shoulder and this time it gave way.
Like the rest of the rooms and the Hallway, this room was incredibly dusty. It flew up in plumes around Roxas' head, who began to cough and sputter as he glanced around the dusty room.
Unlike the two other creepy rooms, this room had crude wooden floors with a window on the opposite end of the room. Large black drapes obscured the light from the room, but tiny specks of sunlight shone around the edges.
The light switch was on the other side of the doorframe, temporarily throwing off a right handed Roxas before he finally found it. However, this light bulb didn't even turn on when he flicked the switch.
Gathering up his courage and relying on the light in the hall, Roxas strode into the room. His footsteps echoed over the wood, numerous creaks and groans filling the room. Before he got the willies and decided to chicken out, Roxas grabbed the dark drapes and wrenched them down.
More dust billowed up and the sunlight streamed in, illuminating the whole room. There was a tiny balcony over-looking the lawn and terraces.
Roxas looked around the room and saw a small door that was obviously a wardrobe and nothing else. It was a bare, dusty, medium sized room.
Roxas felt a chill run up his spine sending him to the edge.
He looked around feeling that he was being watched.
He shook his head, 'Don't be a fool Roxas, there's nobody in here.'
Sweeping the dusty room once more and making his decision, he shouted, "I found my room."
Sora walked across the room and peeked in, he still had his arms folded, shivering in the cold. He gave Roxas a small smile, "Good choice Roxas, I'll go check the other room; I don't want to particularly stay in this creepy room."
Sora left the doorframe and Roxas heard him open the other door beside his before his cry echoed out.
Roxas ran from the room and saw his older brother stumble from the bedroom, falling ass over head and hitting his head against the wall. He didn't seem concerned about his head for the time being, his eyes were fixated on the room beside Roxas'.
Roxas bit down the pooling fright; he crept forward before gazing into the room. Sora had turned on the light in this room. Like the room he had chosen, there were black drapes hanging over the windows.
But they didn't hide what the bedroom looked like. Roxas saw gauges and deep claw marks decorating up and down the walls of the room. Old, crumbling wallpaper lay in tatters on the floor and the floorboards were partially ripped up in chunks, revealing the concrete floor beneath.
What gave Roxas the shiver were the claw marks that were in the concrete. Deep and clean claw marks.
There were echoes from the stairs, both Cloud and Aerith appeared and were greeted by the sight of Sora on the floor in a heap and Roxas looking pale with fright.
"This place is an absolute mess," Cloud said in disdain, as he looked over the hall "Do you really expect us to live here Aerith?"
Aerith had gone to Sora and was helping him up to his feet before her attention was bought before the room in front of her. Her green eyes widened, but seeing the fright in both of her son's eyes, she consoled them instead. "Maybe it was a family of Raccoon's or another pesky animal. I have seen the damage they can do. Don't worry; I will be able to fix this up in no time."
Sora got up with the aid of his Mother, rubbing the back of his head wearily "I don't think I like this place Mum, It's…creepy."
"Oh don't say that" Aerith simply brushed him off "You are only getting the New-House willies. Once we get this place cleaned up, it will feel like home."
As Aerith tried to quash the rising doubts in her family, in Roxas' room there were whispered voices, watching the family with disgust.
"That Blonde brats Room? Feh pitiful mundane"
"We haven't had a human venture over the borderline in over 30 years; do you think this is our chance?"
"He will get him sooner or later, so why don't we have some fun first?"
"Oh it would be better if we could tease the whole family; his brother is on 'their' side looks like it."
"Well this is our side of the house; we can do whatever we want. They can't stop us."
Cloud peered in the first room, poking his head in before pulling out and gesturing inside it. "Aerith, this room has furniture inside."
Aerith frowned "The Real-Estate said this house hasn't been lived in for over thirty years. It's supposed to be empty."
She strode up to her husband and stepped into the chilly room. Both of her son's saw the Goosebumps rise on her arms.
Cloud was right however, on the opposite end of the room, there were furniture piled up against the wall. A steel, springed bed with a thin, stained mattress, a white equally stained dresser and bedside table was there as well.
"Is this your room Sora?" Aerith said, turning her head to gaze at her eldest son. Sora looked uncomfortable, "I guess I don't have a choice, so yeah, it's my room."
Aerith smiled at him, "That's fine; we will help you move it out. We can put it in the next room or something."
"No" Cloud said, "We aren't keeping them, we'll have to get a Skip Bin and throw them. I'm not keeping creepy artifacts if I have to live here."
They all jumped when the door to Roxas' room suddenly slammed shut. Roxas instantly made a grab for his Mother and Aerith sounded hesitant, "Well, the Movers aren't here yet. How about we do some cleaning up here?"
She sent her gaze to Sora and Roxas before adding, "I can stay downstairs and clean the Lounge-room and Kitchen."
She received mutters in response and she clapped her hands in response, "Well let's get to it?" she grabbed Cloud's hand and they both clambered down the stairs, leaving Sora and Roxas standing in the hall. "She's scared," Sora muttered and Roxas only nodded in agreement.
Roxas sighed and looked around the hall as his parents made their hasty departure. He caught sight of a small cupboard. Walking away from his brother and towards it, he wrenched it open only to be covered in cobwebs and spiders; he jumped away wiping himself and squirming.
He hated spiders…and spider webs.
"Well I better get in and get this room cleaned" Sora muttered, "I'm half tempted just to open the window and throw it out." He sighed and shivered again "That's if I had a window, not one that I can barely get my head out of."
Sora disappeared into his bedroom; he didn't shut the door. He was going to do the same as Roxas. If anything spooked them, they could make a mad dash for the stairs.
Roxas looked back into the cupboard and saw old, but useful items in there. Like a broom. Satisfied he went back to his door and pulled it open, he went out to the balcony and beat the broom over the grass to rid of the dust. He spluttered as 30 years of dust rose up and he ducked back inside and began to sweep the floorboards.
"What the hell is he doing?"
"He is sweeping the room"
"Ugh…like he's cleaning?"
Roxas saw nice mahogany floorboards under the blankets of dust and really pushed himself into it. He swept the dust out onto and off the balcony then dropped the broom when he saw the moving truck pull up into the drive.
He perked up immediately and slipping to regain composure, he bolted back into the hallway and nearly fell down the stairs.
Sora was in his road to the front door and roughly, he pushed him aside, "Move" he barked jumping into the front courtyard and to the movers and his parents lifting the door to the truck.
He pushed into the front and heard his mother exclaim, "Roxas wait your turn!"
She apologised to the Movers as Roxas scrambled aboard and grabbed what he wanted. A box with permanent marker scrawled on the side.
Roxas' Shit FRAGILE
Carrying the box back up to the house Roxas walked back past Sora who snorted, "Oh typical of Roxas huh? Never around to help with anything else!"
Roxas scoffed, "Piss off Sora, you wouldn't know a thing about me."
Making his careful way back to his room Roxas made it and gently placed the box on the floor. Ripping the taped lid open with his army knife that he had in his pocket, Roxas smiled and lifted out the first speaker to his stereo system.
He loved his music, he lived for it. It's all he did, listen to music.
He didn't care if he didn't have anything to sit it on; he plugged it all together and put the plug in the wall, groaning in satisfaction as the blue light blinked to life.
Getting to his feet Roxas went over to his bag in the corner of the room and rummaged through it pulling out his next prized possession, his Ipod Touch.
It had been run flat through the long trip up and Roxas was itching for music. He sat the Ipod in its slot and scrolled for the next song turning the volume up.
The music blared to life shaking the windows in its panes and Roxas went back to the broom and began to sweep.
He would get his other things when they made their way into the Courtyard.
"Oh what is that horrible noise?"
"He likes music! I might like him already!"
"Great! Of course."
Roxas continued to sweep and when the song died down and went to play the next, Roxas jumped violently at the silence when he heard a noise. Dropping the broom, he shut the docking station down and peeked out into the hallway.
His ears had not deceived him, he had definitely heard footsteps.
He knew everybody was still outside, he had seen them out in the Courtyard seconds before.
It was nonsense, Roxas scolded himself mentally again, 'Stop it; you just have the new house willies!'
Taking in a deep breath Roxas swept the remainder of his room. When he had done with his job he went back out, grabbed more and more boxes lugging them back to his room.
As he pulled all the boxes up, it was up to the Movers to pull in all the furniture.
The Family didn't have much; they all lived in a small apartment back in Hollow Bastion.
Roxas watched his bookshelf come in, and his cabinet for his TV, Then the parts of his bed.
It was the same for his parents and Brothers room, As Roxas had swept; Sora had pulled the scant furniture already in his room into the small room with the concrete floor. It had left trails in the dust, revealing more wooden floor.
When Cloud came in to assemble Roxas' bed, Sora waited anxiously at the door, waiting for their Father to finish so he could help assemble his own bed.
Roxas thanked his Dad when his bed was made and began to rip open the remainder of the boxes scattered on the floor.
He filled his bookshelf with the books he loved to read and made sure they were immaculate and ordered in series and height. In a way, Roxas could be mistaken for somebody who suffered from OCD.
"Oh so he reads now too?"
"Whatever is the matter with reading?"
"Oh I forgot you were a Nutcase for Books."
"Hey Zexy, he might have books that you will like."
"Hush, quiet!"
Roxas grimaced when his music came back on and Lady Gaga blared to life. He liked her music somewhat but he had to change it. As he walked over to the station, he heard a noise and spun around to the door to see Sora standing there with a smirk on his face. "Lady Gaga? Little bro, man you have taste."
Roxas heard the sarcasm behind his voice and he snapped, "Shut the hell up jerk." Sora chuckled, "Oh ever so angry little Roxy." Roxas grew red and he had no come back, instead he spat "Get out of my room Sora!"
"Ha Roxy huh?"
"Seems to be a pet name."
"Oh, oh I know his real name, its Roxas."
"Oh real smart Demyx. Gold star to you."
Sora left the doorframe laughing as Roxas hurled his shoe. It hit the wall with a loud 'thud' and fell with an equally loud thump. Roxas changed the song and growled to himself, "Out of all the people in the world why was I stuck with him?"
He threw the empty boxes out in the hallway and looked to his slowly progressing room. It still looked so bare, with what little items he had.
Walking over to the pile of clothes and coat hangers, he began to pick them up and started to hang them in the wardrobe. He swung open the door and was greeted by a gush of warm air.
Shaking his head, he hung his clothes up and went to set up his bedside table and TV cabinet. The lamp went on the bedside table and Roxas picked up his LCD screen and sat it on top of the cabinet.
"He has one of those things."
"It's called a Television, if I recall."
"Its way bigger than the little one that was here before."
"A lot has changed out in the world Demyx."
"I know that, just-…it's exciting, that's all."
As the sun began to set on an early evening, Roxas turned on his lamp and turned down the volume of his music. The Movers had done their job and had left, muttering about how eerie the House was.
Aerith, Cloud and Sora were still unpacking and Roxas was left with the arduous task of cleaning the Hall. True he had not dithered around and taken his time, he wanted things done.
Stretching out his aching bones and yawning loudly, Roxas walked to the Balcony and watched the sun set.
The lawn was a little overgrown but incredibly green and Roxas was able to hear the water in a fountain somewhere out on the grass. He spotted it a moment later; it was massive but hidden behind a lot of grass and vines. Roxas saw a run-down gazebo with the roof missing before looking down to the start of the house.
His gaze went up and up until he saw the roof overhanging a little. He frowned and got up, standing straight, looking at it intently. It was a wooden beam jutting out from underneath the roof that had been cut away. It was sticking out horizontally.
Odd
If that was there, it meant the House must have been part of something bigger. Back in the Past that was.
Again banishing ridiculous thoughts, Roxas pondered on what to do with his new life. The Sunset behind a blanket of black and the air grew a little crisp. Roxas leant over the balcony railing watching nothing in particular.
Suddenly the balcony door slammed shut behind him.
Roxas stood straight spinning around, he heard his music being turned off and the lamp flickered and went off as well plunging the room into darkness.
The curtains fluttered lightly before settling and Roxas barked automatically, "Sora!"
Roxas felt the fear filling his chest and he wobbled to the door and opened it.
His room was now bitter cold and he shivered.
From the hall light Roxas was able to see a small shadow disappear down the hall and he growled through grit teeth, "You bastard." He went to the hall and was shocked to find that it was totally empty.
Frightened and still slightly frustrated Roxas went down the hall and clomped down the stairs.
"Why did you do that for?"
"What, I was scaring him."
"You succeeded as well you wretch."
"So how come Axel gets to scare the kid and I don't?"
"Demyx, it's because you aren't scary."
"That's not nice, I try."
"You never try Demyx."
Stomping down the stairs and through the Entrance Hall Roxas ducked off into the Lounge-room where he saw Aerith and Sora watching Cloud move the TV.
"That's not funny!" he announced to Sora, who was standing behind the lounge watching Cloud. "You know I'm already spooked by this stupid house and you go do that!"
"What did I do now?" Sora exclaimed, "I have been down here Roxas! Guess what! You aren't the only one scared of this God Forsaken House. At least you have a room that doesn't resemble a freaking Nutcase Room."
"Can you two stop fighting?" Aerith said incredulously to her children, "Roxas, Sora has been down here with us the whole time. This house isn't stupid or God Forsaken, it's just the new house willies."
"Stop saying that Mum!" Roxas snapped, "It's more than the bloody new house willies, its seriously creeping me out. We shouldn't have left Hollow Bastion to move into this trash heap."
"The younger brother isn't nice is he?"
"He thinks his brother pulled a prank on him."
"You do know that the blonde is on 'their' side?"
"That isn't a good thing you know."
"I feel sorry for that poor kid, he will be slaughtered."
"Shh, they will hear you, be quiet."
Roxas left the area and into the kitchen. The fridge was set in and he opened the door to find it empty.
What did he expect?
He sighed and looked up to see Aerith walk and shake her head, "I will have to go shopping tomorrow."
She picked her purse up and said, "I will get some Chinese, does that sound ok?"
Roxas shrugged unhelpfully, stretching then yawned, "I'm actually pretty tired."
Aerith smiled and kissed her son's head, "I bet we are all tired, we got a lot done today."
She turned to leave and Roxas snorted, "Well we don't have much anyway, the house is still empty."
He was ignored and as he heard his mother, leave Roxas went back out to the entrance hall. He shivered violently; he wrapped his arms around himself remarking more so to himself.
"It's bloody freezing in here". He walked up the stairs to retrieve a jacket.
He was greeted by warm air upon walking into his room. He unwound himself and walked in, watching and sweeping the room cautiously.
After all, the previous incident was only a prank played by Sora.
Hadn't it?
In a split second, Roxas decided he wasn't hungry and he went onto his bed kicking off his shoes. Then he grabbed a book he had dog-eared and flopped back digging into the pages.
He heard his name being called about 10 minutes later and he didn't go down. So he was ignored.
He grew tired after a while and unable to fight off the fatigue Roxas threw the book on his bedside table leaving it spine up in the air. He dozed off into sleep unaware of the shadows now looming around him.
