A/N: Halloween is approaching and I've been wanting to write a haunted house story for a while. It may take me a bit longer to get the next chapter of Summer Camp out because of this. Hope you'll enjoy it.
Chapter 1
It was an overcast thursday evening when cars were queuing up all over Tokyo. Two old, teenagers climbed over the railing that separates the highway from the woods. The woods aren't far from the University of Tokyo where Tai, Izzy and Joe have enrolled in. Tai and Izzy had finished all their mid-semester exams and thus, had the free time to do whatever they want. Namely, exploring. Apparently Tai saw an old-looking mansion in one of his drunken stupor and he thought it would be a great, cheap camping trip for the gang. He had been mentioning it a lot in chat messages in the past few weeks and eventually Izzy decided to go see it with him.
It was a 5 minute walk between the highway and the mansion. The woods were largely free of breathing life except for the black crows. Izzy could see the bricks of the building were worn, and chipped in a lot of places and half-chimneys were still standing on the roof. Windows were grey and full of marks and large cobwebs cover a good portion of them. The outside main gate that stood in the way between the kids and the mansion were devoid of colour and rusty. Izzy could see a rusty old chain hanging just barely around the two gate doors. It looked like they were in a ghost story which was what Tai probably wanted considering halloween is fast apprroaching.
"What do you think?" His long time friend, Tai asked. Izzy nodded and began to smile at the mansion. "It's not far from civilisation and the nearst store is right across the highway. This might be actually be better than going to camp."
"...and cheaper!" Tai added with a smirk. The other boy sniggered and then something caught his mind. The house had an english name on it. "Bodmin Manor" He read the plaque in his strong japanese accent.
Come to think of it, why is there an English brick house in Tokyo?
Curiosity filled his mind. "Shall we look inside?"
"I was going to ask." The taller boy said. He nudged at the gate which appeared to be closed with a weak padlock. He took a step back and waved for Izzy to get out of the way before leaping and kicking the gate. The grip of the old padlock snapped and the gate swung open.
Several blakc birds flew off when the rusty gate screeched open. The day was getting colder from the sun setting but it didn't deter the two boys from walking into an abandoned, old mansion. Tai playfully knocked on the front door and they both waited. "Looks like nobody's home." He joked. Then, a thud came from the inside, followed by series of faint tappping. It sounded like someone was tapping on a desk. Tai looked at Izzy's face with puzzlement, hoping to hear an explanation from him.
"Erm..someone already lives here?"
Tai didn't buy it mainly because the gate was padlocked and the mansion is surrounded by tall, spiked walls. Izzy felt the guess was bad and he offered another one.
"Birds maybe?"
Makes more sense. Tai nodded in acknowledgement and he got with what he originally thought of doing by first, picking up a few stones from the ground.
"We haven't checked the back door yet." Izzy said but Tai ignored it and threw a stone at the large window in front of him. The glass smashed and a large gap was formed but the pointy ends made it unsafe for use. With the remainder of stones in his hand, he threw them accurately at the sharp bits.
The gap to the inside of the house was now safer. Both kids climbed through the window and into a dark room. They couldn't see the other end at first but once their eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting of the setting sun, they spotted a door at that end and above it was a head of a deer. "How quaint." Tai remarked which made Izzy snigger. "What?"
"I would never dream of you describing something like that." Izzy calmy said in jest.
"Hey I ended up in the same university as you, so I'm not as stupid as you think!"
"Don't get egotistical." He dryly bantered with a smile. If he was Matt, Tai would have talked back in an instant but Izzy's tone and manner had no air of smearing or arrogance which would make it not feel right if he insulted him back. Tai simply snickered and moved on.
Both of them walked up to the door and then Tai just stood there on the spot motioning to Izzy to open it. "I got us in so it's your turn to open it. Or are you scared?"
"Tai, I won't say I don't believe in ghosts but if something weird happens, I want to know what and how."
"But are you scared?"
Izzy shook his head and he got on with opening the door. The wooden door opened slowly to reveal a spacious hallway. Beams of orange light shone through the gaps and stained glass windows. There were so many doors to choose from and not much time before the sun completely sets.
"Let's look for the kitchen." Tai suggested. Their first guess was the door behind the staircases and they were right when the opened the door to find a room full of kitchenwares and appliances. The house wasn't actually as old as they thought when they saw modern conveniences such as a refrigerator and an oven. Curious, Tai opened the fridge and it expectedly didn't work. However, Izzy noticed that the electrical socket that the fridge was plugged into was switched off. Having the urge to test it, he switched it on and within moments; clicking and gurgling sounds could be heard coming from the appliance.
"Is it.. is it working?" Tai asked, astonished. Izzy shrugged. "We won't know until we find out if it gets cold tomorrow."
Tai smirked. "So you agree that this is a good idea?"
Izzy nodded while chuckling a bit. "Yeah the fact this place isn't far off from a store makes this a plus, and if there's running water..." The boy walked up to the taps of the sink and twisted them.
Gurgling noises ran emitted from the pipes underneath and then both taps spat out splashes of liquid before it normalised into a small stream. Both boys looked at each other grinning. "Yeah, this place is a good idea."
Tai nodded to Izzy as he brought his phone out. "I'll go call Matt in case he goes ahead and booked a camping trip for us."
He went though his contacts on his phone and tapped on Matt's name. The phone beeped once and then the call ended without it trying to connect. Puzzled, he held his phone at the font and noticed that there was no signal.
"I'll be outside for a bit." He said and left Izzy by himself.
Once he turned off the taps, they began to drip endlessly. Izzy turned them on and off again. Blobs of water kept coming out, causing a splatter in the sink. Perhaps there was a build-up he cleared up when he turned them on.
Realising he may not have enough time to observe other things in this house, he moved on to the oven. It was an oven and hob combination which would suggest that the last tenants of this place wasn't too long ago. It appeared to be gas-powered judging from the tubes at the back but it doesn't seem to have an igniter button. Perhaps there was a time when people had to start the hob with a match or a lighter.
Izzy pondered about turning on the appliance but he decided against it when this task would probably be best done by a certified gas man.
Having seen enough of the kitchen, Izzy decided to explore a different room. He was hoping to find a room with books, documents, or anything that could give him a clue about the place.
At random, he picked to go to the door on his left.
As soon as he nudged the door open, he found that the room was almost completely dark. Only flecks of light seeped through the lining of the curtain. He took a step forward but then stopped when he heard the same tapping sounds coming from somewhere in the dark. The sound was more clear this time and it had a bit of a pattern. Thinking back to his guess that the sound may have come from birds, he exhaled some air and walked spryly into the dark. He was heading for the curtains to draw them open until he ran into something wooden. The object fell to the floor with a loud thud. If an animal was really there, the thud would have startled it and the tapping would have stopped but it didn't. It kept on tapping.
Izzy touched the pain on his knee. The object was sturdy and the edges scraped his knee. His skin was probably scraped but he couldn't tell in the dark. Izzy resumed his course to the curtains. He was more careful this time and he made it to the curtains without bumping into anything.
The moment he pulled them quickly apart and the room got brighter, the tapping sound suddenly stopped. The boy looked around to see what could possibly make that sound. There was an empty desk, a bookshelf, and a tumbled record player. There was nothing obvious that could make that sound and his mind gradually became more anxious than curious with this mystery.
Izzy directed his focus to the record player which was lying on its side along with its stand. It was the sturdy object he bumped into and he went up to it to set them upright again. Before he inspected the player, he pulled his trouser to see what damage it did to his leg and was relieved to see that the skin wasn't scraped. Just lines of scratch that would go away by tomorrow. He looked at the record player again. It appeared to be an old design, enclosed in a wooden box and a lever could be seen sticking out of the box a bit. He could see a record was already loaded but there was no label.
He could take it out to have a look but the bookshelf held his interest more and since it was getting dark, he decided to use the time to skim through the books instead. The books were a mixture of popular fiction and historical texts that Izzy would have been interested in reading if the sun was brighter. He was only skimming through the copyright dates to give him more of an idea on when the last occupants of this place lived here and after a few minutes, he found the latest one was dated in 1948.
Some of the historical books interested him and he decided to keep a couple of them for bedtime reading. He noticed that the room was getting a little too dark and Tai had been outside for quite some time. He decided it was time to leave but before he did, he turned his attention to the empty desk to the left of the bookshelf. Only a candle, and dust particles occupied the surface. He tapped on the surface with his finger to recreate the tapping sounds he heard earlier. It definitely resembles the sound he heard earlier. Izzy then tapped on the wooden bookshelf. Not quite the same.
To make sure of it, he tapped on the desk again and it confirmed the resemblance. He stood on his spot to ponder what else could make that sound.
Then a finger tapped on his shoulder from behind which made Izzy shriek with a "Wah!" "Looks like you were scared." A familiar voice said. Izzy turned around, relieved it was Tai.
"This place is kind of creepy actually." He admitted. "What took you so long?" He asked to Tai.
"I had to walk back to the highway to get a signal..." The thought of being completely left alone in the old mansion all this time made Izzy shiver a bit inside. ".. I called everyone and they were pretty excited about the idea."
"Then it's settled." Izzy said while pulling off a smile. Perhaps hanging with his friends would make this house seem less spooky.
"Alright, we'll meet at 12. Joe won't be with us until he finishes his exam in the afternoon."
"Isn't it his birthday tomorrow?"
Tai nodded. "Yeah I'll give him a map to this place and me and Matt will make sure drinks will be there."
"Don't forget to bring your camping supplies."
Tai laughed, remembering on the last holiday when he had only his bag and alcohol to sleep with. "Yeah it won't be like last time. It's getting late, do you wanna go?"
Izzy nodded and they both started making their way out of the room. As both of them reached the door, an old song started playing. They both turned around and was astonished to find the record spinning in the old player.
We'll...meet again...
Don't know where... don't know when...
But I know we'll meet again... some sunny day...
Keep smiling through...
Just like you... always do...
Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away...
So will you please say hello
to the folks that I know
Tell them... I won't be long...
They'll be happy to know that as you saw me go
I was singing this song.
We'll...meet again...
Don't know where... don't know when...
The boys' limited grasp of the English language prevented them from interpreting the lyrics but the tune was quite uplifting. It sounded like it was made during the wartime. But despite the uplifting tones of the music, both Tai and were Izzy were a little spooked by the record player operating by itself.
"Erm.. I bumped into it as I came in to this room. I probably broke some mechanism inside."
Tai nodded half convincingly as he watched Izzy pick up the needle away from the disc. Was the needle on the record this whole time? He wondered.
Once that little problem was solved, the two went out of the house via the front door and made their way to their dormitories.
Inside the bedroom of Izzy, the boy was skimming through one of the books he collected. Initially he thought it was a factual historical book until he found it was actually a book about supernatural places. The writing style felt overly dramatic; and the more he read on, the more he thought the accounts of these so-called experts were fictitious lies to generate hysteria. After having read a few chapters, he put the book away and lied down on his bed to rest for the next day.
A/N: The song on the record player is Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again.
