Reviews:
Anonym: Thank you! I'm really putting my best over here *insert heart because I can't*
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Author's Note: Sorry for the long as hell chapter, but I found a lot of inspiration (and also laziness) to make this one...
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Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
The respective OC's belongs to me.
Are you a sleeper or a mortal soul?
Are you the devil with a heart of gold?
You and I got the right stuff
The Right Stuff - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
...
"Why can't you leave me alone...?"
*clank!*
A giant sword almost got her, getting stuck against a rocky wall behind her, having got the blade of it grinding her neck, her gaze was fixated to the front, showing fear in her eyes as tears were rolling down her cheeks, she swallowed hard, completely frozen with her arms and against the rock behind, she was on the ground, staring at a tall, dark figure in front of her... all what could be distinguished was a couple of bright yellow orbs as eyes with a torn pupil, apparently the long and thick weapon was being held by the mysterious being.
"Why should I leave alone a pathetic and filthy weakling like you...?" A male voice asked coming from the dark and tall shadow, "When you are something I want to get ridden of to fulfill my vendetta against them..." A hand reached out from the darkness, grabbing the neck of her shirt as she got lifted up like nothing, getting stomped against the rocky wall hardly. Her body was shaking terribly...
"Please... just let me go..." She whimpered.
In a sudden moment, the grip of her shirt passed to her face as she got stomped against the wall behind, to then her her face grind at top speed against the surface, leaving a trace of it until she reached the end, rolling several times on the ground, she didn't move once she stopped, feeling too weak to move an inch, and her face did burn a bit of way too much, leaving large scratches all over her face.
She made an attempt to stand up, to then feel a kick on her chest that sent her flying a few meters away from her previous spot, spinning in the air violently, at the moment she was going to fall again, the process was repeated as she was kicked away once again, and the process was repeated one, two, five times in total until her body heavily fell again, making her groan... there she felt a foot on her back crushing her against the hard soil making her whimper more, "Come on little princess, are you tired already?" The man asked again with venom in his voice, "Come on! Fight me! Or are you a coward?!"
"I don't... wanna fight anymore..." She said in a low voice, feeling way too tired to raise her voice, "Please... I just wanna go home..." The man raised up his sword, holding it upside down to impale it on her, in a sudden movement she barely avoided it, yet getting a cut on a side. Not too deep, but it needed to get a good treatment and some points to get healed, "Leave me alone... just leave me alone..." In any moment she didn't sob, just tear up uncontrollably because of the fear she had.
Most part of time the desire of ending with her life was bigger than anything in the universe...
Sometimes, she just wanted to live a peaceful life again...
This time was the second thing...
"Such a whiny little piece of shit..." The man hissed again, clenching his teeth apparently, there he grabbed her from an arm and raised her up, "And you call yourself a–"
"I'm not like them..." She said looking down tiredly, "I hate to be related to them... because that's my only sin... I'm only paying for the broken plates..." There she looked straight to his eyes, "You are not strong enough to fight him... and you're downloading your rage upon me..." A sudden sharp pain crossed her face, having received a heavy punch.
"I'm not a weakling like you, stupid little princess!" He exclaimed, there was a hand on her neck as they went up to the sky straight to outer space, with the man covered in a white aura, "Come on! Fight! Struggle! I don't fucking care but do something!" He shouted, she didn't reply, which just brought out an angry groan, "Ah! You're so pity! Tell me what's your purpose in this life!" Again there was no reply as he stopped somewhere in the outer space again, holding her neck tight and making her look to his eyes. "What is your true purpose in this meaningless life?!"
"What do you mean... with that...?"
"Who you fucking are! Why are you still alive and why are you still fucking fighting me! You have none asides of the natural instinct of living, and that's so pathetic and pity that only makes me feel angry!"
She had none... again she lacked an answer to him, with a drifted off gaze. The man gave a spin and tossed her away towards the void of the cold space, to then raise a hand towards her... a burning feeling got her body as she was dragged away. For moments she only felt pain and didn't hear anything...
Then...
*splash*
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Alice suddenly woke up gasping for air, sweating and tearing up uncontrollably, clenching her bed sheets just like Flint the day before, the only difference is that she found herself alone in the room... it was just a nightmare... she flopped back again breathing heavily, to then take Newt the bear and hug it tight trying to calm herself down, she closed her eyes and repeated herself that everything was alright and nothing was going to happen, "Bones, sinking like stones and all that we've fought for..." She sang in a low voice, "Homes, places we've grown, all of us are done for..." Slowly her breathing started to regulate once again as she kept singing softly, finding peace in music... slowly her anxiety started to decrease, still her hug against Newt was tight...
Once she finally managed to fully calm down, she stood up and went to the bathroom to clean her face and brush her teeth, then come back and have a change of clothes plus breakfast. Some corn flakes with milk was enough for the morning though... there was a deep sigh from her part, unable to keep thinking that she was abusing of their kindness as Tim pretty much went to spent whatever he had of money to get some normal stuff for her asides of the sardines and even some of the clothes she was using in that moment, they just did it like nothing while she was still out so... she couldn't actually complain...
Right?
Done with breakfast, she did all the dishes and placed them back in their places, clearly she was alone there in the house and Flint was in his lab for sure, which meant, too, that the old fisherman was in his shop or somewhere at the high-seas. Getting in front of the sliding door to the backyard, she looked outside as she leaned against the glass, sticking her face against it, the climate seemed perfect to take a walk again, with fluffy white clouds riding the sky making it seem that a storm was far away from there, and probably it'd remain like that for a few more days, the ambient of the town was something she also liked a lot, it felt so quiet, yet sad, yet still quiet and peaceful which was suitable for someone who was wanting some peace...
It was better to tell him about– "No, no!" She mumbled to herself, shaking her head, "He would stop talking to me and get angry... he will hate me... he will think I'm a monster..." He's probably the kindest person she met in a long time, and as much she knew how interested he was in her past, she had certain attachment to him now, "Oh Gee... why did I ask him that...?" She whimpered slightly in reference to her petition of two days ago, "It's for the best I suppose..." Or that's what she wanted to think?
She still could take a boat one night and– no, no... she couldn't do that either, although if she apologized them with a note explaining her situation, that'd be way too rude as they treated her so nicely. Sighing deeply she got back to the inside, giving a small glance towards the laboratory, when she was getting away from there she heard the voice of the scientist screaming in pain, which quickly made her run upstairs worriedly. "Flint!" She called out, running through the pink tunnel and reaching the inside of the lab.
There he saw him sitting on his rooking chair holding his arm with a rag, not using his lab coat, she noticed the piece of cloth stained with a crimson liquid that was easily identified as blood, she let out a panicked squeal as she got closer to him, getting stopped by him, "Hey, morning Alice..." He said with a smile, not looking actually concerned at all yet seeming like it did hurt, "How are you?"
"W-what happened?" She asked rushed, "You're bleeding!" He felt so guilty for worrying her like that.
"It's alright Alice, it was just a cut though." Nothing he couldn't handle; the girl seemed genuinely and really worried, which kept making him feel guilty, "Can you help me to cover it? I may need some help..." The girl nodded and quickly went for the first-aid kit in the bathroom of the lab, to then come back with bandages and gauze, this time he wasn't surprised anymore that she actually knew how to treat his wound, he didn't give her any indications about how to treat it, at least the wound wasn't deep, but as it got a muscle the bleeding was more than usual, there a couple of minutes later it was completely covered and secured...
"Are you okay...?" She asked sounding slightly anxious, as if he just completely scared the hell out of her, receiving a nod as an answer, she proceeded to hug him tight as a scared child. Alice felt his hand caressing the back of her head softly, making her calm down as her hug tightened like she didn't want to let go.
"I am, Alice, don't worry that much..." He said with a smile, "It was just an accident though..." She looked at him straight to his eyes wanting an explanation, "It's nothing, just got distracted a bit, that's all." He held a piece of glass stained with blood and tossed it to a side, to then make it fall in a trash can. Nailed it.
"Are you sure...?" Still he felt guilty for worrying her like that a lot, seeing that she actually cared a lot for him to not be concerned, she didn't let him go yet, just hugging tight as he kept caressing the back of her head. His hand drifted to the middle of her back, rubbing it softly, then it went down until he felt part of her skin exposed. A sudden feeling of her slipping down made him quickly press the arm near the base of her back and pull her up, which made her cuddle in a ball upon his lap like seeking for comfort and protection as he managed to find a comfortable position upon his chair...
It was curious how she still could get his soft spot that easily, probably because she couldn't stop looking so shy and fearful about pretty much everything... and as much he could actually see, there's been a large progress between them, with her being a bit more open to him in terms of affection, from being completely shy and talk just when she had to, to show her affection a bit more than before...
Probably it was a constant struggle on open up to him and remain retreated in herself, wanting hard to befriend him properly at the same time she wanted to keep her stuff for herself and not share a possible heavy load with anyone... in any case, he liked to make her feel safe...
And there they remained for at least ten minutes before they had to move again, with him caressing her back which apparently was something that was making her feel comfortable with the contact they were having, at the point that she looked like a toddler seeking for some affection from someone, it was adorable, he would take a picture of her like that if he could... there she moved, sitting on his lap seeming red for what she just did, which took out a giggle from him for it. Indeed he found it oddly adorable, "I already told you, I'm alright." She smiled a bit.
"I'm glad you are..." She said jumping down his lap, "I just got scared when I heard you screaming..." He gave her a patient smile in response, "So I came up here and..."
"I understand..." He said, caressing her hair again, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you..."
"It's alright... don't worry..." He chuckled a bit, then asked if she wanted to do something, "Actually... I wanna take a walk again..." She said, "But I wanna go alone..." He first seemed surprised, "I'll be alright, don't worry. I can take care of myself too..." In her mind was just the fact that she didn't want him to expose himself against those bullies again, she preferred him to stay in the lab and do whatever he got to do instead of seeing them about to punch him. "It'll be alright, I promise..."
There was concern reflected on the inventor's bright blue eyes, seeming reluctant to let her go alone, although, there wasn't really anything to fear about out there now the mayor was still in the States. As much as he knew, he'd be away for another week at least so they had nothing to fear at all in the meantime, and he didn't think that Brent and his peers would be that stupid to harm a young girl even if she whacked them with a fishing rod. He didn't give her an instant reply about it, thinking about other things... maybe she could find kids of her age to play with... there was a sigh, then an "Alright" as a response, she gave him a smile and a tight hug in return.
One condition: if there were any problems with someone (mostly referring to the bullies), she had to run away back home or hide, or both if it was possible. She nodded in agreement when she realized the concern of the inventor growing, knowing that what happened the day before had something to do there; she then, gave him a tight hug to calm him down and let him know that everything would be alright, taking out a wider smile from him...
.
A while later...
Somewhere else in the town in a front yard, we can see Cal Devereaux (also known as Earl's little angel as he uses to refer him) with a good friend of him, a girl of around his age with light brown hair, hazel eyes, slightly chubby wearing a blue shirt, shorts and slippers. It seemed like they were going to do something... mischievous... why to say that? A golf stick, with their respective balls.
"Are you sure about this, Calvin?" The girl asked confused, "I mean, we might get into trouble you know..."
"Calm down, Cassie," He said placing a ball on the grass, "It'll be okay." If there's not a broken glass in the process of course.
The girl now identified as Cassie seemed unsure about it, not a bit but a complete lot. It didn't matter that his father was the cop of the town, right now anything could just mean troubles, and no, they weren't playing just mini-golf or something – at least with her knowing her friend, it wasn't just a regular mini-golf play, not coming from Cal at least... the kid got ready to hit the ball, preparing a soft swing towards a plastic cup. He got ready once... two... "Ball!" He shouted as he did a powerful swing that sent the ball flying away.
It first hit the fence, a wall, a garden gnome, the mailbox, almost getting them twice, traveling then in the gutter of the house and falling into the tube to then fly away... "Ouch!" they heard near there, making them flinch a bit as the boy got a glance from his friend, shrugging nervously and going to check on what did the ball hit... to then stumble upon a new face in the town after so long... Alice was holding the ball as she rubbed her head with her fingertips... probably Earl's 'little angel' just started to feel a tiny little crush on her as she looked quite pretty...
"Hello!" Cassie said to Alice, "You must be new at the island. I'm Cassie, and you?"
She looked at them a bit confused, then shyly, smiling a bit as she rubbed the back of her head, "I'm Alice... nice to meet you too, Cassie..." She passed her hand to the hazel-eyed girl, who was too around her age and took it with a smile.
"I'm Cal Devereaux, nice to meet you too Alice." He said confidently and playing it cool, passing out his hand to her too, she shyly took it too with a small smile.
"Nice to meet you too... I met your father yesterday..." She said, he looked surprised that she did already and even seemed to be looking for a positive commentary... she found Earl quite... uh... well she didn't like him that much because of what he said about Flint of being a huge weirdo and how she should stay away from him, but she couldn't say a thing out loud either. Contrary about meeting some of the adults of the town, she felt slightly more confident with them.
"Now I think about it..." The boy said, "Aren't you the girl staying with the Lockwood family?" He asked curious, she blushed a bit and stepped back a bit in surprise, "Then you are! My dad told me that you were found in the ocean and they took you to their home. He even went to visit you later that day," No one actually told that, "But Flint stopped him from bothering you," She smiled a bit with it, "Isn't he a weirdo?"
Her smile vanished to an angry glare, "He's not a weirdo!" She exclaimed angrily, clenching her fists tight, "He's actually one of the nicest persons I've met in my life..." Added in a low voice caressing her arm a bit, yet she meant every single word she said because it was true. He was a really nice person and she cared much more than she thought about him.
In that moment she thought that probably her relation with Flint would bring her some sort of problems with the others as he was the outcast of the town, which in her honest opinion enraged her pretty much a lot, but just didn't show it in order to keep herself calmed down, but have all of the hostility of the people looking at them and mostly at him in a strange way, like expecting already one of his inventions that could still destroy the island by accident was something that didn't pass up her head in any single moment the day before.
And again she felt dumb for having asked him to not get attached to her while she already did the same for him. Of course she should've expected a few days to pass before deciding to ask him that, but she didn't want to tell him to forget that either because there were so many things she was unable to explain him... in any case... she sighed deeply and bit her cheeks when she realized their curious stare on her, like wanting an explanation in her words or something. "I told this kid over here that Flint Lockwood was just eccentric," Cassie said with a smile, "I did have a couple of interactions with him, and he seems to be a nice person." A smile curved again on Alice's face when she finally heard somebody not talking trash about him, "I'd like to ask him for some help with science but I'm unsure about asking..."
"I'm sure he'd like to give you some help..." Alice said still smiling a bit, with her shyness slowly drifting away, "I don't think he'd mind to take a pause and explain something related to what he likes to someone..." In her thoughts were also the idea of him being a science teacher and anything related if he wasn't inventing all the time, which seemed accurate his whole self, "He even taught me some glassmaking a couple of days ago..." Which she also used to give him a crystal heart... thinking about it she didn't know why she did it, but probably it was to repair his kindness.
The hazel-eyed girl grinned when she heard that and looked to her friend once again, who just rolled eyes like saying 'whatever' even if he seemed slightly interested now, with her looking curious to know more and making the Latin-American girl step back a bit showing again her shyness, she just smiled and told her a couple of things from the last day, not talking about Brent and his peers about to beat the hell out of him or do any harm, preferring to avoid think in that affair again or else she'd just like to whack them again with an iron stick at least. Then she passed them their golf ball, Cal apologized her for hitting her head with it, "Hey, don't you want to play golf with us?" He asked.
"In fact is mini golf..." Cassie said, "Someone just likes to hit the ball way too hard!" She received a nervous grin mixed with an 'angel face' from her friend, making her roll eyes and making their new friend giggle a bit, "Anyway, are you coming?"
There was silence for a moment, as if she was thinking her answer wisely, then smiled a bit to them and nodded. On the bright side they haven't asked her how she ended up somewhere in the ocean out of sudden, something she didn't want to explain to anyone... then Cal stopped, he seemed to be thinking on something or that's what they thought, they looked at him for a while... then...
Achoo!
Well... highly unimpressive... quite expected probably. In any case the girls of the new small group gave a giggle to it, receiving a smile from part of the boy and go back to Cassie's front yard. They asked Alice if she ever played mini-golf, receiving a negative answer but saying that she saw people playing it so... it couldn't be hard, right? Well she didn't have to swing that hard (or else she'd end up hitting somebody else on the head), just enough to make the ball move towards the cup.
First of all she gave a glance to the stick, looking every single thing of it... "This isn't even for a mini-golf game, you know?" She said, "This one is for a long shot, if you're not careful enough you may break something fragile after hitting the ball, and..." She then got ready to hit from her right, the stick was one for an adult so, it wouldn't be a surprise if any of them ended up blaming it for a mistake, she got ready to make a swing, but didn't hit the ball at all. "Who's left-handed here?"
"I told to Calvin all of what you said, and my dad is left-handed." Cassie said, one second, two seconds, "Wait, you said you never played golf..."
"I haven't..." She said, "I just have a good eye for some things though..." They looked at her for a moment, then smiled.
"No wonder why you two are friends now." The hazel-eyed girl said with a giggle that made Alice blush a bit more and clear her throat, taking out another giggle from the couple of friends, "We're just teasing you, don't worry."
Sometimes she felt out of tune whenever came up with human interaction, most part of the time she could interact, but sometimes she felt quite lost whenever it came to some things like a friendly teasing, it didn't make a lot of difference from a real tease in her opinion asides of the friendly-like tone... she got... unused to some things... clearing her throat she got to her left side getting ready to hit the ball, maybe she wasn't left-handed...
One...
Two...
Three...
*crack!*
"That wasn't me..." Alice said, with the stick right about to hit the ball, looking to the other two to know what was that, "Guys...?" The sound came from somewhere near, a couple of houses away in fact, they went to see what happened and saw a broken window and a group of kids coming with baseball stuff. That made sense... and at the same time it also scared her a bit because of the sound. The group of three people met the other group of (around) seven kids, then looked to the broken glass... it was the classic creepy old house from those series with the creepy old neighbor, the only thing was that...
"Uh oh..." One of the kids from the larger group said concerned, "That's the McHale house..."
Curiously enough, even if there was a sunny ambient with the white fluffy clouds still riding the sky, when they all looked again to the house, the sky was black and a lightning crossed among the clouds in a very, very dramatic way causing to most part of them shiver down and take a step back... minus Alice, who was the one who was looking with curiosity in her eyes. There they realized she was the new girl hanging out with the oddball of the town, but this time she didn't actually mind their words, just concentrated in the old creepy house... it seemed that actually no one placed a foot there in years...
There was a disturbing aura coming from there as much as her senses were telling her, as if something horrible happened there years ago, why she could tell that? It was like a sixth sense she had... she looked then to the group of children around her and saw them mumbling stuff about the house, who could get into there without being a wuss and some others just saying that they already lost the ball there... she actually wanted to ask, but when she opened her mouth no words came out like feeling unsure to ask...
Paying more attention to her surroundings, her ears started to catch some fragments of their different conversations, hearing stuff like 'there's not such a thing as ghosts', slightly arguing about who had enough courage to get there and gather the ball which of course no one had... there she felt the gazes of pretty much everyone upon her, something she tried to pass up as if she didn't realize their intentions... for some reason she didn't actually feel surprised for what the decision of some kids was: the new girl in the town had to get there... gladly enough, she wasn't the only one who didn't notice that.
Cassie immediately defended her from the larger group saying that if they wanted to get their ball back one of them should get in instead of sending her, it was their fault they got their toy lost and it wasn't fair to involve the new girl into their stupidity as if she got something to do there. At the same time she understood that it could just be a tradition where the new kid uses to do the stuff that the others doesn't wants to and didn't really mind that, "I was going to do it anyways..." She said, receiving a curious glance from the two friends whose names started with C.
"What? No! You don't have to do it!" Cal said and looked to the other group, "They should do it themselves!" She smiled a bit to them, like saying that there wasn't a problem on accepting their petition to add a bigger surprise to all of them... funny how a girl had more courage than any of the group of kids, or maybe she was being foolish. Even if she ignored what could've happened in there or what could be wrong, surely her curiosity already got her deep enough to take a decision.
"It's alright, you can wait for me here if you want..." There wasn't any problem, "I've been through worse anyways..." She groaned a bit when she said that, squinting slightly and then smile at bit. It was alright anyways, she really didn't mind to get into a quick adventure into an abandoned old creepy house.
One of the kids gave her the baseball bat just in case, thing she grabbed and placed the body against her shoulder feeling ready to go, her two new friends looked to each other twice and shouted a "Wait!" to stop her, making her turn around curious towards them, there was a silence for a couple of seconds until Cassie, under the shocked expression of her friend said "We're going with you!"
"Hell no!" Devereaux shouted, "There's no way I'm going in with you two!"
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"Why am I even here...?"
They waited around an hour to get their way into the abandoned/haunted/mysterious house/whatever it was and get themselves ready for whatever could happen there, with Alice armed with the baseball bat, Cassie with a golf stick (not a large one but a kids' one and also a cross under her shirt) and Calvin with a cricket bat (as his father was 100% fitness and incredibly right-handed for sports so he had pretty much a lot of stuff storage in the attic) and a backpack to carry some important objects like a few lanterns.
It wouldn't be hard to get in unnoticed, they spotted an entrance from an emergency exit located on the backyard that leads to the basement secured with chains and a big, old rusty lock. There were two options: find a hammer or something heavy enough to break it, or try to force it with a wire which seemed safer, it wouldn't leave notorious traces of someone breaking in so they'd go for the best. Again for their surprise (and what could probably be for the dismay of Flint), she managed to open the lock with a wire in a few seconds, then retired the chains slowly to not bring other people's attention, placing it down among the tall grass. "Hey, I'm being serious..." Alice said, "You don't have to come with me..."
Perfect excuse for the boy in the group to leave them, turning around about to leave, only to get turned back towards Alice by the hazel-eyed girl he had as friend, "Don't you always say that you would like to have an interesting adventure, Calvin?" She asked curious with a smile, not receiving any sort of response from her friend asides of rolling eyes.
"I do, but I didn't have this in mind..." He admitted, "I'm curious to know what's inside though, I just don't want my dad to get angry at me..." In any way, Earl getting actually angry at him would be like see a shooting star, a rare, very rare case, they didn't actually think he would get angry for more than two or three minutes, "Do you think the lines are still there? Or the stains?" The question made her shiver down a bit of too much, causing her to get goose bumps, "Are you scared?"
And their new friend just stared at them as they had a slight argument about what could probably be found inside, awaiting for them to stop and take a decision before she decided to get in by herself and leave them outside to wait or something, for her there was actually not a lot of difference anyways... it felt like the same, with the difference being just someone to talk with. Slowly she just opened the heavy wooden trap door making a soft creaking noise that reached out the attention of the other two friends making them snap and focus on their "mission" (which was a complete stupidity, but at the same time there wasn't any more options due the conditions of the town and stuff) of recovering the stupid toy.
Looking into the stairs, it was covered with dust as the sides were full of white spiderwebs, evidencing the lack of human activity in the house, taking out the lanterns they got ready to get in, with Alice at the front, Cassie in the middle and Cal at the end trying to avoid as much as possible the webs all over the way down. Once they all got in, they closed the door to the basement to not drag too much attention, turning on their lanterns as the way down felt creepier without lights, without sounds, possibly with rats living among the abandoned stuff there... they kept themselves as close as possible from their new friend.
The place indeed seemed to not had been used for nearly a decade or even more, needing a good hand of cleaning (and the assistance of a vacuum cleaner of course). The basement was full of old, rusty and dusty stuff that probably also belonged to an previous family (someone never knows); there were a few metallic (and also rusty like pretty much every thing down there) shelves with moldy boxes. Some seemed to have a better shape, others well, others didn't have the same luck.
The humidity in the air was heavy, showing up that the place didn't get open for a similar amount of time of the closed house or even longer. Their lights were darting to every corner of the place, hoping to not have bats down there because they were quite scary, and their backs against each other in a triangle-like formation so they wouldn't get too surprised if anything comes out of nowhere to scare the heck out of them and make them leave. Interesting place? Yes? Scary? Hell yes, at least they were alone between the three so, what could possibly go wrong down there?
*squeak!*
The hazel-eyed girl and her friend directed their lanterns towards the source of the squeaky noise that belonged to a rat that managed to hide around as fast as the rodent made its noise, seeming so nervous for whatever could be roaming around... pff, as if a monster would be hiding down there... in any case...
"This place is so quiet and scary..." Admitted Cal, keeping his back as close as possible from the other two girls.
"Don't even remind us that, please..." His good old friend said, holding on her golf stick tight in one hand, "The only thing we should get across with is with a ghost..."
The sound of steps there upstairs made the couple yelp and hug a not-even-close-to-look-scared Alice, who just stopped and looked at them with a curious glare, "How can't you be afraid down here?!" The two friends asked to her surprised for the glance they were having, she just shrugged in response with a serene face that just got them intrigued, "Why...?" They asked again at the same time.
"I don't feel like it..." She said plainly, with an unsettling calm coming from someone who sounded quite mature-ish (?) than them as if she already dealt with that kind of situations in the past, as if she already was in an abandoned building before and alone, "There's nothing wrong with feel fear either, I just think that it's quite pointless to feel it in an empty place like this..." Well, they were more unsettled because of the heavy ambient around the abandoned house, still the sentence of their new friend was quite deep, "Although, it feels so heavy here... or is it just me...?"
They agreed with her.
The sound of footsteps upstairs made the three of them stop and freeze in their place, as much as the two young citizens of the town knew, no one lives in that house and they didn't really know why in their honest opinions... now it felt terrifying for real, but at the same time Alice remained serene to the noises even if they got her by surprise too; just looking up to the ceiling with curiosity. "Holy Christ this place is haunted!" Cassie said.
"Do you really think that ghosts are real?" Cal asked to her, "It could've been a rat too."
"A rat isn't big enough to make the sound of human footsteps," Alice said quietly, "There's probably somebody else in here..." However, she didn't feel like that was the case, the only reason to say it was to calm them down at least a bit, or as much as possible... pretty much enough to not get her nerves or something at least.
Silently they kept their way back upstairs, going up the stone-like stairs (good thing to not hear the creaky and unsettling noise of those old wooden stairs that could get broken in any moment because of the mold and humidity) until reached a slightly open door that took them to a hallway from where the daylight was filtering. Once there they became more careful to not drag anybody's attention of whoever could be roaming the old house; the newest of the group took a peek outside and check that there were no moors on the coast... everything seemed less creepier than before, yet, still unsettling.
The door made a creaky noise when she pushed it, needing a good hand of oil in its hinges, to then pass to the hallway... the walls were painted in a faded marmalade color that now were covered either with mold, or had humidity around, or were down on the floor, which was also covered with dust and completely neglected. In her honest opinion, the house was quite similar to Flint's but adding the basement entrance to it (although, it wouldn't be a bad idea ask if they had one though... or maybe they didn't, otherwise the inventor would be using it as his laboratory as much her logic could tell).
On the bright side there was a bit more of light in there than downstairs, the windows were closed yet some broken at points, letting the air flow around the house taking away a lot of the heavy sensation of claustrophobia down in the basement. As much Alice could tell, the kids from before weren't the only ones who lost their toys there, and possibly they were the only ones with enough courage (or probably stupidity) to retrieve their stuff... then on the other hand, the ambient still felt unsettling, as if there was something wrong, but she felt unable to tell what could it actually be...
"Well, the ball is supposed to be in the living room," The boy of the group said, "So we should be heading there now."
But, curiosity was there too, and at least the new girl was the one who wanted to explore a bit even if she knew that wandering was a terrible sin (1), even more in an abandoned house. She couldn't help it that much to be honest, it was better to cope with them instead of leaving them alone; at the same time there was a chance that they would just follow her around as she was the only among them who didn't seem scared at all... without saying a word they walked to where the living room was, feeling the ambient becoming heavier again.
Weird, was the one word that crossed Alice's mind for a moment, there, it felt like the temperature dropped a few Fahrenheit even if there was an air flow around, letting the warm air of the outside get in...
"This place is still unsettling..." The hazel-eyed girl said, "I mean... it feels like we're not alone at all..."
"Are you thinking that ghosts are real again?" Her friend asked, "That's not possible..."
The sound of steps around made them freeze and hug Alice once again, raising up their guard and looking to every single corner where they were coming from...
It became silent again...
Both Cassie and Cal remained close to Alice, looking to every single part of the house scared as she started to move again, this time she looked a bit tense, but not as much as they were in that moment, being able to handle her nerves from whatever the hell was happening. It could actually be a good scene for Paranormal Activity but with three kids roaming in an abandoned house because of a lost toy that wasn't even theirs. They wanted to take a peek in the rooms so they would see if they would be able to say who used to live there and if they knew them or not... and somehow they managed to hold on their curiosity to focus.
Then in the living room things felt more unsettling for some reason... as if there was something... completely wrong...
This time they split as they were already there, searching for the ball, the hazel-eyed girl went to the window where the baseball ball got through, and it was nowhere to be seen. Maybe it rolled under the couches... but there wasn't a trail, right? "Uh, guys...?" They heard Cal say looking to certain spot in a corner next to the chimney, looking pale... "I-I th-think you should s-see this..." His friends attended there...
On the floor there was white tape showing that it was a crime scene, the floor and the wall up to it was stained in a faded red showing that it was blood, and that wasn't the only spot as next to it there was another spot marked... "Murder..." Alice mumbled, "Of course..." Thinking on what Flint told her about the death of his mother, of course not everything was quiet around the island... probably there were more secrets around, some that shouldn't actually see the light.
"Does this means we're in a haunted house?!" The other girl exclaimed afraid as hell, with the boy of the group hushing her, "Don't hush at me Calvin!" She said nervously, "We're in a haunted house!"
"There's nothing that can actually assure us that this place is haunted," Alice said, "The permanence of a spirit depends on how bad and long their agony was. Not everyone remains, stays because of some unfinished business, others because they don't wanna go to the Afterlife..."
"How do you know about this?" They both asked.
"I'm just a curious eye at some topics..." She gave a smile to them to calm them down at least a little bit, "Well, let's find the ball and get outta here before we get into more t–" Her new friends raised up an eyebrow as she suddenly became completely tense, with the hairs of her body (including her hair) raised up like a threatened animal against its predator, passing her hands on her arms to calm down, to then turn around to the entrance of the hallway nervous.
"Alice...?" They asked, "Are you–?"
The two of them froze when they heard steps around the living room, it wasn't just of one person but of two...
Surely, the victims of the murder didn't leave, and they were around now. In fact their step stopped in the same place, as if the two spirits were now together again; Alice had her eyes wide open and her view towards the spot in front of the chimney, realizing in that moment how close they actually were... none of them could move, feeling the temperature dropped again and their bodies frozen, but none of them knew if it was because of the cold or because the fear they were feeling. How creepier could it become?
"W-we're sorry!" Their new friend exclaimed and bowed down, "We didn't mean to get here like this... we're just looking for our baseball ball..." There she got straight again, seeming nervous, panting slightly like trying to keep herself together, "Yes, I can hear you... but I can't see you..." Okay, they weren't sure if she was already trying to play an obnoxious prank on them or if it was true because they couldn't hear anyone talking. She was still with most part of all the hairs of her body up, but apparently less tense, like listening closely to whatever was speaking; then she looked to Cal, "He's Earl's son... you know him?" She asked, then said "Oh..."
"What?" He asked.
"She said she was a good friend of your mother, even if they didn't know for that long..." There she seemed to listen again, "And that she'd like to see her again someday..." Again she seemed to listen to them, "Fran Lockwood? I-I don't know her personally but... she... passed a years ago..." There was silence for a moment, "Her son is a friend of mine... he saved my life a few days ago... he's really nice..." Her new friends were silently freaking the hell out, unable to understand properly what the heck was actually happening and if it was really just a prank or if she was being serious, "Oh... I understand... it must be sad for you to be here all by your own..." There was a sad smile on her face for it, lowering her head a bit as a sign of empathy, her two friends were very curious though about what were they talking even if it could be a prank. "Uh... I'll see what I can do... you're the nicest ghosts I've met until now... I wouldn't have any problems to come back honestly..." Okay that actually sounded like a complete joke. No one in their minds would ever come back to a haunted place!
The thing that completely got them out of their minds again was to hear the steps again and see the baseball bat floating towards them. That was already insane at the point they could blame the heavy ambient inside for causing them hallucinations; the ball floated towards their friend's extended hand and landed upon it, as if someone was giving it directly to her – which was the actual case even if crazy as hell the situation was. There they noticed that her hair was becoming messy, as if someone was ruffling her head; their friend then said goodbye to them and said that they were going to get out through the basement again as she didn't want them to get into some sort of troubles with Earl, they heard footsteps again, going to different sides of the house to not be heard again after...
Everything still felt way too surreal to be true...
.
Later that day...
The hours passed and Flint was way too concerned about Alice, despite the fact he was sure she would be able to handle herself alone he couldn't stop caring about her safety, and he haven't got any news about her in the whole day either... was she in troubles and no one was whiling to tell him the truth? Surely enough if something already happened he would've gotten a call hours ago, he knew Earl, he would notify anything to them in the right moment if it was something important related to them so...
There he heard his elevator going up, he ran to the pink tunnel to receive her, and once she got out there, he couldn't help but give her a tight hug. "Oh my God Alice!" He exclaimed, "I thought something happened to you..."
"I'm good Flint... I've made some friends..." She said returning the hug to her, smiling a bit to him and walk into the lab. The smell of coffee was filling the air, which meant he was making some, "How's been your day?"
"It's been fine, I've been still busy with the broken stuff..." It was still a long and tedious process, so he couldn't help it but have a ton of patience to get everything settled back, "What were you doing?" He asked, taking a cup from his desktop full of hot black coffee, "Want some?"
She shook her head in response, "No, I don't actually like coffee..."
"Oh... alright then..." He sat on his rooking chair ready to get some stuff done at his computer, to then look at her again curious, "Who did you meet today?" He asked her with a wide smile, she then told him what they did around but not mentioning the affair of the haunted house; her friend seemed like a proud older brother to his younger sibling, listening to her story. "Well at least you befriended them, and being my friend wasn't an impediment..." She could feel the bittersweetness in his voice, aware of why he said that...
It really hurt her inside... "Hey... it's alright Flint..." She said, "You're a nice person... and I really like you for it..." He looked at her like trying to believe it, she gave him a patient smile, looking straight to his eyes to prove she was saying the truth. He scratched his nose and sniffed a bit, to then look away from her apparently happy or something like that, to then feel her giving him a tight hug that he returned affectionately.
"Don't get too... attached to me... because I'll only make you suffer..."
It was too late, and the memory of the request made him hug her tighter, pulling her close to him not wanting to let go... how come she got his heart that easily honestly? It felt quite surreal, but maybe because she was quite different from the others? Hard to tell, maybe was her shyness, her loyalty as she haven't ran away after having being told about the things he does and because she defended him from the bullies... it was just hard to tell... it was just that small part of his heart that felt like needing something to love maybe... whatever it was, it was hard to tell.
She didn't complain nor anything for his sudden move, but get a more comfortable position and cuddle against his chest, allowing him to place his chin upon her head and hug more, feeling once again like an older brother protecting his younger sibling; it just felt so nice actually, he couldn't think on anything else asides the fact of feeling loved after so long... and the warmth in his heart was unexplained, only knowing that probably that was the same feeling his mother used to have for him when she was alive, a feeling he was having for her now, a small yet mysterious girl who was being way too sweet in his opinion.
Ah... so many feelings...
"Heh... you asked me to not get attached to you... but you seem to have become attached to me..." He said with a small smile, still leaning his chin upon her head, "Why...? Why did you ask me that...?"
There was silence for a moment, as if she was thinking for an answer...
"You know...? Forget what I said..." She said, hiding her face against his chest, "I wasn't thinking properly there..." She was afraid of him, that was for sure, "I... I promise I'll talk to you... but not today... just give me time..." There was a brief pause, "It's not like I don't trust you yet... just give me my time... I don't feel ready to tell you some things... I'll tell you anything you want soon..." He felt her hiding more on his chest as if shame was taking over, or probably was still fear for whatever she had to tell, "Just not today..."
"I understand..." He said. There was something else he's been thinking to tell her but he's been reluctant to it... it was something he never told anyone for such a long time, something he'd like to share with someone because no one else knew what happened... "I understand..."
Sighing deeply she moved again, kissing her forehead a bit again making her blush, yet taking out a smile from her. "Flint... can I ask you something?" She received a nod from him, "Well, uh... I've seen this... abandoned house when I was playing today..." She wasn't going to say that she got into there and met the former owners of the house, "And I wanted to know if you know who used to live there..."
There was a silence for a moment, as if he seemed unsure to tell her; a glance straight to his eyes to make him say the truth was enough to take out a sigh from him, close his eyes for a moment and get his mind straight... then bit his cheeks a bit with a serious stare, as if the topic was quite delicate for a young mind like her. Hesitation for another moment, until he finally spoke:
"Well it happened uh... around eight years ago, some time before the fire at the factory that killed my mom... they were killed one night and nobody realized that until a few days ago..." His voice seemed to tremble slightly with the story, tapping his fingers upon his thighs like trying to find a way to continue and explain better, "I-I mean it's because gunshots kinda sounds like when a plastic container explodes inside a microwave... I heard the gunshots from the kitchen... I-I even told mom about that... I heard them... and well she was... convinced that it was just plastic..."
But he wasn't convinced at all about that. Things were just completely bizarre back in second grade when he was already nine, with Brent having arrived near him at lunch sitting next to him; of course the young inventor back then was expecting a tease or something, even the kids around turned towards them to see what was going to happen at the point time seemed to have frozen because a heavy silence fell in the cafeteria...
Nothing happened.
He just took his lunchbox and placed it on the table and opened it, there was a lone sardine sandwich there, which was usually accompanied by a red bright apple, there he looked at him and into his lunchbox to the same sandwich, to then just say, "Be careful out there, Flint..." with trembling lips and voice and leave the place with a tear rolling down his face. Then at the end of the day he just saw him dragging his backpack and leaving the school alone, which was weird because his parents always used to pick him up...
There she understood...
"They were..."
"James and Lucy McHale... they were Brent's parents once upon a time..." He said with a now dry voice, "A few days later my mom went to see them. They've known each other since childhood and were all close friends, she was quite worried as she haven't heard anything for a long while, so she went to see them and have some tea... "She said when she arrived everything was dead silent, everything felt so cold and the front door was open... getting in expecting to find them, she found her lifetime friends on the floor, and the furniture was covered in blood..." Stains that remained right where were left, "And besides them there was even a note saying when it happened. It was the same night of the loud noises..."
Woah... no wonder why neither Cassie nor Cal nor any of the others knew about it, asides of think it as just an old, creepy abandoned house.
Indeed there was something that come up to her mind with it: it wasn't just probably the problems happening nowdays at the small town there, but something muddy was going on under everything.
"There's something else under the crime..." She mumbled quietly, "If they left a note, it was for a reason..."
"I have a theory but I don't have solid proofs..." He said, "I think the mayor sent an assassin back then and killed them... I wouldn't be surprised if he did. The McHales were kind people even if they had a lot of money because they had part of the royalties of the cannery, they always used to make a lot of contributions to the town and keep places like the local school full of the necessary elements to keep on with a good grade of education here..." There was a pause, "Shelbourne's always been greedy and amazingly obscure when it comes to get something he wants, he won't repair on the damage done to anyone even if that means to get ridden of them. He won't hesitate to kill anyone if they disobey..."
The fact that he took a deep breath as he seemed to flinch by raising up his back and driving his hand to his mouth meant that he actually knew that first-handed, with his eyes filling with tears and his face growing red like a tomato, Alice quickly gave him a hug trying to comfort him as much as she could, being hugged back again by the young inventor, who tried to keep her as close from to his body as possible in order to calm down... "It's alright Flint..." She said, "He will get what he deserves in the end..." At least she believed in a Divine Justice, also known as Karma, someday all the damage done would go back like a boomerang, not in the exact same way of course, but in a way he would regret for everything he did in his life probably.
Just like early that day they remained cuddled for a good while until they decided to break away, he cleaned his face with the sleeve of his coat, to then go to wash it at the bathroom, coming back a couple of minutes later seeming to be better; receiving a smile from her and a question about his arm. "Oh, it's alright," He said, "It kinda itches but it's alright." There he received another hug from her, "Have you got something to eat yet? I can make you something to eat if there's anything at the fridge."
"It's alright Flint... I can do it myself..." She said with a smile, "I'll be right back."
Then she headed to the elevator and got down. The inventor for a moment remained silent, to then decide to spy on her by using the camera of the porta-potty; he saw her walking to the house, but stopped when he saw Cal popping up the fence calling out her name, she smiled at him and used some of the metallic junk to get at his height. "Hey Al!" He said in a friendly manner, making the inventor smile, "Can I make you one question? Did you...? You know... hear... uh... voices in there...?" The question made him raise an eyebrow, "It just... felt so... weird..."
"I did..." She replied, biting her cheeks a bit, "It were a couple, a man and a woman... she had a slightly obnoxious voice though, like you know, those people who talks with their nose, but she didn't sound hostile at all... the other was a man... I asked Flint if he knew who lived there, he said it was Brent's family... they sounded... very lonely..." She seemed nervous from releasing the information, the inventor was far more surprised now, realizing she omitted some information.
"I saw you getting all nervous out of sudden in there, when we heard the footsteps closer..."
"It's because I heard the woman say...: "Look love, we have some company..." when they came in..." She said, her friends were listening closely, "Of course when they moved you could hear that too, they realized we could and got closer to us, that's when I apologized for breaking in without invitation...""It's because I heard the woman say...: "Look love, we have some company..." when they came in..." She said, her friends were listening closely, "Of course when they moved you could hear that too, they realized we could and got closer to us, that's when I apologized for breaking in without invitation..."
"Wait... can you hear us...?" The man asked, "I replied that I could... but that I couldn't see them..." Alice said, "Who's the boy with you? Isn't he Regina's child?" Once again the man asked, with the girl having given a positive response from her at the house.
"Oh my God... it's been a long time since we had contact with her... it's a shame we weren't that close when all of this happened..." That was the woman, Lucy, speaking.
"They knew me..." He said, "They also knew my mom..." Alice nodded, Flint was intrigued.
"Do you know Fran Lockwood?" She reminded the woman asked again to her, with the inventor again surprised for what she could hear in case it was true, there is where Alice gave them the news about her departure years ago, some time after their deaths, to then add she knew her son, But you know her son, right? His name is Flint..." In that moment the young inventor felt brand more curious, hearing also that she gave them a possitive answer and how he saved her life, "We know, he's always been a sweet child... quite eccentric, imaginative, yet always kind..." There then was a slight silence...
"It's been so long since we heard something about what's happening in the outside world..." The man said with a sad tone, "It's so lonely to be here alone by our own... it's been also a long time ago since somebody has come here..." It was hard to not feel empathy for them in their honest opinion, even if they were ghosts, they didn't lose their humanity at all. "I'm sorry for asking you this but... can you ever come back...? I know you probably wouldn't want to, but you're the only one who's been able to hear us since we died... and it'd be nice to have someone to talk with and... keep us updated with the outside world..."
"That's why you told them that you'd see what you can do..." Cal said starting to understand, "Are you sure you'd like to go back there?" He just received a smile in response, "Wow, you're crazy..." A chuckle was another response he got, "Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow I guess. You're pretty cool honestly."
The kids said goodbye to each other and got down the fence, with Flint seeing Alice walking into the house again... for a good while his curiosity went off, but now it came back stronger than before... in the first place, there wasn't a possible way in his opinion as a man of science for phantoms to be real, but he didn't actually know anymore... it wasn't a secret that she was aware of the muddy stuff going on in the town in an underground level...
Turning off the screen he took a sip of his coffee, squinting sadly and worried... with the many things going on there was something that crossed his mind for a brief moment, he shook his head to wear those thoughts away...
"Everything's going to be alright..." He mumbled with concern filling his voice and squinting his eyes still with a deep kind of concern, "It won't happen again Lockwood..."
It shouldn't ever happen again...
Because he wouldn't be able to handle it anymore.
(1): Sorry for the Bendy and the Ink Machine reference but I just felt like I had to do it.
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Author's note: I'm fully aware that Halloween was like a month ago (whatever), but this wasn't a late-as-heck "special" nor anything even if it seemed to be meant to be spooky or something. There's just things going on too :)