"Wow. . .ya did great, Rude. ..it's wonderful, absolutely perfect." Reno looked around at the house they had just moved into a week before, the robin's egg blue walls were supposed to be a soothing color, and they were quite pretty, really. The carpet was a pretty beige plush pile, and Rude had even had his great grandmother's baby grand, the last possession he had of his mother's side of the family, placed on top of a Wutain printed rug in the center of the living room. His big screen flat panel LCD was mounted on the rear wall, the game system and DVD player settled onto an entertainment center underneath it. The kitchen was tiled in gray and white marble, the countertops that same marble, with the pots and pans on hooks above the chef's island.
Their bedroom was also carpeted in that same beige plush, with a round king size bed outfitted in black and white silk sitting in the center of the bedroom. There was a roll top desk that Rude had purchased at a yard sale that had a round antique mirror on top of it sitting in one corner of the bedroom. That desk would soon cause them more trouble than either of them could ever imagine.
"Dad, where do you want me to put the storage boxes?" Reno's five year old son Kendall, from the girlfriend he had had when he was sixteen and still unsure about his own preferences, called from the other bedroom, where he was bringing in his own plastic storage cases. There was a hardwood twin size bed, outfitted in bedding with the mascot of the Midgar Moogles on them. The younger redhead whose hair was cropped in a style similar to Rufus ShinRa's poked his head out of his bedroom, a little smile touching his lips. He'd been taken out of his mother's home 3 months before and sent to live with his Turk father and he was actually pretty happy about it. Reno and Rude had been good to him.
"Bottom of your closet, Ken. Dinner's in an hour, so hurry up and get your things put away an' get cleaned up. If ya get it done early you can play Gran Tourismo for a bit until it's ready." The still somewhat-heavy Sector Seven accent tainted the clear, smooth tenor that called out in answer to the child who'd asked the question. Reno brought another box of his son's things into the bedroom and settled them into his closet to unpack later.
Dinner was a quiet affair, sitting around the oval cherry wood table. Reno was generally only quiet outside out of his working environment if he was sleeping, eating, or in pain, but in any of the three instances he was VERY quiet. It was during that meal that the first signs of something unusual being afoot in their home made themselves known. In this case a loud creaking noise from the master bedroom, followed by the sound of the television being turned on. Reno got up from his chair, picking up his emr from the wall next to the kitchen door as walked toward the bedroom.
"Stay here, Ken," Rude's order was spoken in a muted but firm tone. He knew how much Reno loved the boy, and he wouldn't risk the redheaded boy's life by allowing him to get involved in something of this sort. The bald man with skin the shade of sandlewood followed his partner and lover with his own fists clenched and at the ready. They were Turks, their occupation did not make them very popular, and it was something both of them knew well.
The boy nodded and sat down on the sofa, turning off the TV before heading back into his own room to get a shower and get ready for bed. He didn't even hear when the television turned itself back on again after his bedroom door closed, channels changing on their own while everyone was out of the room, covered by the startled yell that came from the master bedroom.
"I know I closed it, Rude. . .I KNOW I did. You know how I am about th'closet door being open, and no way in HELL would I leave it open. I didn't leave it open." Reno was adamant about that fact, absolutely adamant. The lithe redheaded Turk had a phobia about the closet doors being open, partly due to his brother liking to leap out at him from his closet when he was younger, and partly because they were convenient places for people who would break in to hide.
"Maybe you got called away, ok? It HAPPENS every once in a while, and you just forget. " Rude personally thought Reno was being a bit ridiculous with his oddball fears, really, but he knew it was how Reno was. It was how his partner had been since he'd known the man. He draped an arm over Reno's shoulder, trying to be comforting. From there he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to the slender man's lips.
Reno shook his head, getting himself ready for bed as well, and when bedtime came, he made sure to close his closet door tightly, the door making a soft click when he did so. It was around 3 AM or so that a quiet clacking noise woke him, and he blinked softly in the darkened room to see that the door of the walk in was open once again. "Rude. . .Rude, someone just opened up our closet."
Rude rubbed his eyes and in his raspy "sleepy" voice spoke his displeasure with being awakened. "Reno. . .just go back to SLEEP. There is no one here, nothing is happening here, just go to SLEEP. Both of us have to get up in two and a half hours to get ready for work, and I don't know about YOU, but I'd like to go with more than 3 hours of sleep." The bigger man turned over and went back to sleep.
Two weeks passed with incidents much like that one, the television turning on when no one was in the room, things falling over, the water turning on. Just STRANGE occurrences all around, really. Just enough to drive Reno insane, but not enough to convince Rude that anything untoward was going on. The large Turk would notice how UNCOMFORTABLE Reno was getting, though.
"I wanna move, Rude. ..I want OUTTA this house. This place is evil, an' there is just somethin' NOT right here, not at all." He'd been very, VERY jittery ever since the odd things had begun happening, and the various noises and other odd happenings were not helping his mood a bit. The lithe man, normally slender of build anyway, had become almost painfully thin from the stress, dark circles forming under the pale green eyes.
"Reno, you're being ridiculous. Do you know how much MONEY we would lose on this house if we moved out now? We can't AFFORD it, we just can't." The big man shook his head, speaking in firm tones. "I'm not losing thousands of gil just because you think there's a GHOST in the house." The words were spoken with a firm finality that said he would accept no more nonsense about it.
"Daddy! Daddy!" The yell came from Kendall's bedroom where there were suddenly several very loud noises, like things crashing against the floor and walls, and when Reno walked in he saw several of the boy's toys laying on the floor in disarray, and Kendall looked shell shocked. "They started flying at me, Daddy. . .they just flew off the shelves at me."
Reno gave Rude a look that asked if he believed him now, before getting into bed himself. He hadn't slept well for the past couple of weeks at all, not since the whole mess had started, so he wanted to get what sleep he could. Even if it wasn't much. It only took thirty minutes for him to drop into a dreamless, sleeping pill-induced slumber. At around two in the morning, he was awakened by touches up and down his legs, then on his chest. "Rude. . .c'mon. . .I don' wan' any right now. . .sleepy. . .go back ta sleep."
Oh God. . .what the HELL? The thought was followed by a startled yelp as his nose bumped into the ceiling just before a burning, ripping sensation tore from his rectum, up his spine, drawing a scream of shocked anguish from him as blood poured from the shredded tissues like rain. The splatter hit Rude in the face, waking him with a startled yell of his own, then his eyes went wide, wondering just what was happening.
"Reno. . .Oh Sweet Shiva!" Rude's mouth worked soundlessly for a few moments after that exclamation, just staring in utter shock. He'd never seen something like this before, not ever, and it frightened him more than he really wanted to admit to.
Those green eyes suddenly widened, his face turning red, then ashen, as his breath began to come in harsh gasps. It felt to him as if his chest was being squeezed tightly in a vice, cutting his breath off almost completely. Finally, as blackness hovered at the edges of his vision, he was turned loose, falling back into the bed, eyes fluttering closed as Kendall stared from doorway. "Daddy. . .Shiva, what happened to my daddy?"
"I'm not sure, Kendall, but we need to get him checked out. Come on, get your coat on, kiddo, we're going to go." Rude grabbed his own coat before gathering Reno up into his arms. Kendall met him at the door with his own coat on, green eyes wide with terror, but the kid kept himself in check.
"What happened to him?" One of the nurses asked the question as the slender body was laid down onto the gurney, her eyes meeting Rude's with suspicion in them. She'd seen it so many times before, men beating and taking from their lovers, and she believed it had happened here.
"I woke up to blood splattering my face, so I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but I suspect my house is haunted." Rude saw the disbelieving expression on the woman's face and merely rolled his eyes. "Look, I did NOT rape my boyfriend, I am NOT that kind of person, so if you'd just treat him so we can go HOME it would be appreciated."
It took two hours for them to get the tearing stitched up enough for them to feel comfortable with him going home, along with a blood transfusion. One of the other nurses approached him before they left. "Excuse me, sir? Did you say you thought your house was HAUNTED? My brother is a paranormal investigator, if you like I can give you his card, he might be able to help you."
"That would really be appreciated ma'am. We just bought the house, and I'd rather not have to sell it if I don't have to, but I don't want my lover or stepson harmed, either. So anything he can do would be something we'd be grateful for."
The nurse handed him the card and headed back toward her area, going back to finish her rounds for the day. She hoped that he would be able to solve their problem, because she got this odd feeling of dread that really bothered her.
The next day Rude had made an appointment with the investigator, and he walked the house, trying to find the source of the disturbance. He keyed in on the mirror, and closed his eyes. "I recommend you get rid of the mirror. If you don't want to, I can try to cleanse it, but I can't until next week, I'm booked solid until then."
"Fine. . .let's try doing that, but what do you suggest we DO until then? It's already attacked Reno once, who's to say it won't try again? And maybe do even worse than it did this time around?" Rude was of course quite worried about his lover and partner, and wanted him safeguarded. It was natural.
"Watch your back, or go stay in a hotel until then. Not sure what else to tell you, really. As long as you're in the same house with that mirror, you're in danger. That's all there is to it." He gathered up his things, heading for the door. "Call me on Monday, we'll set up a time for me to come out."
Rude nodded, and when bedtime came he got ready for bed. He curled up around his lover, an arm draped over Reno's side. Little did he know it would be the last time he ever saw his partner alive again.
Sometime around 3 AM, a scream split the still night air, blood pooling around the suddenly convulsing and struggling body. A knife flashed in the darkness as the little redhead fought for his life, but there appeared to be no one holding the blade. It wasn't long before the thrashing stopped altogether, and bright green eyes stared sightlessly at the ceiling.
"Oh Gods. . .oh sweet Shiva. . . Reno. . .shit. . ." Rude had called the police, though in the excitement to stop the killing he had touched the knife, and it had his prints on it. Something which would be very incriminating when the police got there.
Once they discovered his prints on the blade they took Rude in, in cuffs. Kendall was returned to his mother, who had managed to clean herself up, though he didn't look very happy about it, in the least. As he was led into the cell, he could hear the guards speaking. "Never thought he'd do this, never. He seemed to love the guy, from what the neighbors say. Who would have ever thought he would kill the guy?"