Ghost In The Room
Chapter 1: Closing In
AN: Heads up, this will be gory and bloody, so if this is a concern, please do not read! This is my first attempt at bloody horror, and as of yet, it's my most planned story, so regular updates, possibly every week, should be coming, although I'm not one hundred percent sure of this, so I apologise if I fall behind. As before, I hope you enjoy, and should anything be off, characters, spelling errors, etc., please let me know so I may fix them ASAP for you to enjoy more. Well, here we go!
Disclaimer: Ouran and it's characters are not mine. Castor is...maybe I shouldn't take credit for that...
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"Come play with me, big brother!"
Ow …it hurts …it hurts so much …
"All right, I'm coming. Hey, don't steal my hat!"
Why … does my head hurt? It's going to split open from the pain …these memories …they're tearing me apart, I can feel it …
"But you look funny in it! Admit it, I look WAY cuter wearing it than you do!"
Rin …where …where's Rin?
"Haha, try to catch me, big brother Tamaki!"
Wait …where are Haruhi and the others …? They should be here too …right? Tamaki pried open his stiff eyelids, frowning at the nonexistent change in lighting. It was too dark, too still. What had happened? A little girl, with sky blue eyes too big for her face and a beaming smile, jumped to the front of his mind, and Tamaki winced.
"Rin …Rin, where's Rin?" he murmured to himself. Where was he? It was dark, much too dark to be his room at home, and soft, repetitive sounds from outside his field of vision grated against his ears like nails on a chalkboard, though he had no idea why. They were rather relaxing noises, if he thought about it; zip, rustle, zip, rustle, snip, clink, snip, zip. But if they were so calming, then why were they making him so uneasy? Something about the gentle noises were important to him, something ugly and very fundamentally wrong. They had to be stopped, of that much he was certain, but first he had to figure out where he was and get out of there. Tamaki felt around him; wherever he was, it was small and wooden, like a wardrobe or closet.
He was the only thing inside, so, after locating what appeared to be the door, Tamaki readied himself, and threw his lean frame against the flimsy boards. They gave way easily, almost as though whoever had put Tamaki there fully expected (or wanted) him to break free of his prison. The sudden light that assaulted his eyes, though dulled and fuzzy, was still bright to adjust to after complete darkness, and Tamaki stumbled forward, furiously rubbing his eyes against the artificial lighting. Immediately, he wrinkled his nose. Once the door was open, which had trapped a musty smell tainted with the old scent of mothballs, several new smells pounced on the unsuspecting Tamaki. They came in rapid succession …dirt, mold, damp, sweat, wood, blood …and something so foul he couldn't describe it.
Swiftly prying open his eyes to search for the source of the foul odor, Tamaki's entire body froze stiff, appalled at what he was witnessing but somehow unable to even close his eyes again, the memory seared into his brain. A tall, heavily overweight man in a dull plaid shirt was hunched over a table, a metal tray on a stand beside him filled to the brim with a gooey mess of bloody red organs, the topmost of which was a still beating heart …a human heart. It stopped beating very quickly. The tray steadily dripped a constant drip, drop, drip, and peeking out from under the fat man's elbow, were a pair of unblinking sky blue eyes on a deathly pale face. Eyes too big for the face they were part of.
"Rin," Tamaki breathed, beyond sickened and frightened. The man straightened, and Tamaki felt a brief moment of panic when he realized that not only had the man heard him but was turning to face him. A disturbing reddish stain coated his teeth and dribbled down his chin, the tiny glasses perched on the end of his nose gleaming near maniacally as he turned.
"Ah, you're awake, Suoh-san," the man chirped. "My name is Castor, like castor oil." He giggled. "Your young friend here gave me quite a bit of trouble; I do hope you won't ruin that pretty face of yours with scowls and tears as she did. Such a shame, she was so beautiful. I'll be just a moment longer, so you'll have to wait your turn." He held up a handful of heavy black thread attached to a long, curved needle pinched between his fingertips. Tamaki felt his heart, and stomach, drop out from under him, terror spiking high to make up for the loss. It was obvious what he was doing, grotesque and mortifying as it was. He was a taxidermist, stuffing a human subject …Tamaki's little cousin …and stuffing himself with the remains. Tamaki wanted nothing more than to empty his stomach in some dark corner and then curl up in a ball and cry for the rest of eternity, but some tiny spark of common sense told him he couldn't let go, not now.
Tamaki took several deep breaths, and when Castor turned back to the table, he scanned the room as quickly as he could lay eyes on it. There was only one door, so, in a fit of adrenaline, Tamaki lunged forward ad slammed his side into the door, hearing a slap, a creak, a groan, but nothing gave. Locked. Tamaki rammed it again and again, his heart in his throat as he heard the light snick of the needle being set down and the disgusting squelch and slurp as Castor shoved a liver into his mouth and chewed contentedly.
"I'm ready for you now, Suoh-san," Castor announced cheerfully. "Just come sit here on the table beside the girl, and I'll perform the vivisection shortly." Tamaki's movements became more and more frantic. The man was going to cut him open while he was still alive?! Tears sprang to his eyes, blurring his vision. Is that what he'd done to his poor Rin-chan? Tamaki threw himself harder, and finally felt the door crack under the pressure. With one last hurl, the door gave way, and Tamaki shot out the door for his life. It looked like one of the halls from his house - were they were in a mansion? A spine chilling laugh followed him as he raced down the barely moonlit hall.
"You can't hide forever, Suoh-san!" Castor shouted after him, much too cheerily. "This house is mine, I'll find you sooner or later! You're only prolonging your fate!" Tamaki ignored him and RAN, never looking back as he sped around corners so fast he nearly lost his footing and tore tapestries as he slid on marble floors and grabbed them for balance. The mansion was like a maze - no matter where he went, it all looked the same, and there were no windows low enough for him to see out of to know how high up he was, nor stairs to indicate, or even any signs of a door leading to the outside. So, panicking recklessly and already frightened beyond words, he started opening every door he came across, looking for a way out of here, any way out, and angrily slamming every door that opened uselessly to an average, escape - less room. Blind with fury, rage and tears, he almost missed the darker than normal bundle lying on the floor to one of the rooms. Fortunately, the human shaped bulge recognized him.
"Tamaki-sempai?" Tamaki froze, hardly daring to believe his ears.
"H …Haruhi?"
AN: Dun dun dunnnn! Although finding Haruhi is a good thing...Right? I'm really sorry about poor Tamaki's trauma, but torturing characters only shows tough love. I think...anyway, I hope you enjoyed and if you'd like the next chapter earlier than next Tuesday, please leave a review and I'll see what I can do. Until next time! \( ' w ' )/