Elizabeth had offered to make breakfast, promising Will that he could make
her breakfast in bed at another time. As she had turned to her task, Will
and Jack had disappeared upstairs. The guest room was still cluttered, and
it was clear that it was going to be a full day task just to get it clean
enough for someone to sleep in it. Will retrieved his shirt from the
bedroom, rolling the sleeves up to his elbows. His head still ached from
the blow by the frying pan, and more than likely if he looked in the mirror
that night, there was going to be a fresh bruise there. He was still
denying that he'd seen anything in the kitchen, that it had just been a
product of his overactive imagination while unconscious. He got down on his
knees, pulling one of the boxes towards him.
Jack pulled off his coat, throwing it on a chair in the hallway before entering the room. "Ye know we could just dump all this stuff outside instead of going through it bit by bit..." He said and his tone made it clear that he didn't want to be sifting through someone else's junk if it wasn't going to profit him.
Will opened the flap of the box. "It had to be done anyway. Besides, if you don't want to help me, you could always go help Elizabeth make breakfast." He muttered, sifting through the papers inside. It was mostly inane things, letters from relatives of the people who had lived in the house a few years back. Things he could easily throw away. After sifting through enough to find that there wasn't anything worth him keeping, he put the flaps back down and pushed it to the side to throw away later. Jack stood behind him, giving the option a moments thought before flopping down in a dusty arm chair in the corner of the room. A cloud of dust rose, and he coughed, waving a hand in front of his face to clear it away. Will shook his head, chuckling slightly to himself.
"You're in a pretty good mood for someone who dropped a frying pan on his head." Jack muttered, settling into the chair and kicking his feet up on a box, clasping his hands on his stomach.
"What can I say Jack? Maybe you put me in a good mood." He joked as he pulled another box forward. Flipping open the lid, he found a sketch on top, most likely of the last family to occupy the house. His heart skipped a beat as he looked down at the paper. There were four people drawn on the yellowed paper. The man looked like a British Officer; his chin held up high and seemed to have this air of importance about him that Norrington so often seemed to exude. Next to him, the woman stared straight whoever had been doing the drawing. Her hand rested lightly on the arm of the man Will assumed was her husband. In front of them stood two kids, a young girl and her brother. His hands shook slightly as he gazed at the paper. The wife and the daughter, he'd seen them both in the house. Their first night there, and then this morning...
Will dropped the page as if it had been lit on fire, closing the box up in a hurry and sliding it to the doorway. He wanted to go through that later, figure out why these people that he had never seen before were suddenly appearing at different moments. Jack had grown bored with the whole business, idly inspecting his fingernails as Will went through the various boxes.
"Nice house you got here." He said finally, in an attempt to bring noise to the room other than Will moving boxes around. "I didn't think a blacksmith's apprentice made enough money for fancy house like this." A smirk crossed his face, his tone making it clear that he was wondering if Will had finally indulged in his pirate roots. Will stopped looking through the box of papers and glanced up at him.
"I'm not a pirate." He said dryly, continuing the search. Again, it was more of the same things; newspapers from other parts of the British Empire, and letters from friends and family. He kicked the box aside and pulled the next one over to him. "I finally finished my apprenticeship and I'm not considered a master of the craft." He pulled the box open. "Brings in a little bit more money than what I used to make."
"Which was next to nothing." Jack supplied. "That's no way to live, mate. But still, even a salary like that couldn't pay for a nice house like this."
"It was inexpensive. Nobody has wanted this house for years, after the attack on Port Royal the night after I was rescued. I was told that some murders were committed here that night. After that, people tried to live here but found the house so uninviting they put it back up to be sold again. When I offered them a price I could afford, they surprised me by taking it. Thus we have a house." He pulled the box open to find clothes. More specifically, the uniform of a commodore. Jack got up from his seat, grabbing the blue jacket from the box and pulling it on. Will couldn't help his laughter at the comical sight Jack created. A pirate in a commodore's coat. Jack straightened the collar, holding the lapels in his hand and turned to Will.
"How do I look?" He asked with an amused grin on his face. Will waved a hand at him to wait until he could talk without bursting into laughter again. The memories of the morning and the night before were pushed from his mind.
"I'm sorry, commodore, but you don't match well." Will finally replied, getting a hold of himself. Jack held up his hands in a gesture for Will to wait a moment, and grabbed the hat from the box. He set it on his head, striking a pose.
"Aye, what about now?" Will couldn't respond, on the ground laughing so hard that his stomach hurt and his injured head throbbed, but he couldn't stop. Jack turned to look back in the mirror. "Bloody pompous hat." He mused, taking it off and setting it down on Will's head. "More your style than mine anyway." He pulled off the coat and threw it back in the box. "Alright, I'm intrigued. Might be something in here worth me light fingering." He sat down next to Will, who had finally calmed down enough to sit up, and pulled another box towards him. Flipping open the lid, he wiggled his fingers. "Let's see what we have in here then."
A few hours later, Elizabeth found the two in the room, still scrounging through boxes. At this point, the pockets on Jack's coat were nearly bursting at the seams with all the little trinkets he'd found that might be worth something. Her first reaction was to laugh at the hat still sitting on Will's head, too big for him as it nearly slid down over his eyes. He heard her musical laugh and glanced up, an amused smirk on his face. Jack looked up as well, in the process of slipping something silver into his pockets.
"I brought you a light lunch." Elizabeth told them, setting the trey down on the ottoman for the old armchair. "Just some bread, meat, and cheese and water to wash it down." Her eyes went to the full length mirror that Jack had been mugging in front of earlier. She checked out her reflection, before trailing her fingers down the wood. "This is beautiful. Can we put it in the bedroom?" She asked Will as her gaze traveled over it.
"I don't see why not." Will said, pushing another box aside. "As soon as we clear the things away from it, Jack and I can take it into our bedroom."
"You can take it into yer own bedroom. I'm not slave labor." Jack groused, throwing aside another box for one that looked more promising of riches. Will rolled his eyes, before smiling at Elizabeth.
"Absolutely. I'll have the mirror in there tonight." She checked her appearance one more time and walked towards the door. On the way there, she stopped long enough to kiss Will on the forehead. Jack got to his feet, as did Will, and both men pulled up a box to sit on as they ate lunch.
"Ye know what makes a good lunch?"
"Let me guess. Rum?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow as he chewed on a piece of cheese. Jack didn't say a word, but pointed at him instead to say that he was right. The remainder of lunch time was spent on idle talk; how the Pearl was, how Ana and Gibbs were, Jack's recent voyages and pillages. He in turn questioned Will about the business at the blacksmith shop and such. After the food was finished and the drinks drained, they both returned to work. Jack kicked the last of the boxes away, moving to one side of the mirror as Will moved to the other. "On the count of three. One, two, three..." They lifted the heavy mirror, and Will backed towards the door with Jack following. A few moments, curses, and bumped shins later, they'd gotten it settled in the bedroom. Both men moved away, dusting off their hands. "Well, that's a job well...done..." Jack's voice trailed off, and Will looked up from wiping his dirty hands on his pants. He stopped as he saw what Jack was looking at as well.
In the time between moving it from the guest room to their bedroom, a two crudely drawn black noose had appeared on the mirror, and at the angle Jack and Will were standing, it looked as if their own heads were in it. They both stared mutely at it for a moment, before Will turned towards the door, calling for Elizabeth. She came soon after, entering the room.
"What? What is it?" Will pointed shakily towards the mirror. She glanced towards it. "Oh...it looks wonderful! Thank you both for moving it for me." She kissed her husband on the cheek.
"But...but there's something on it." Will's voice was shaky. She scrutinized it, finding a small mark on the edge of the rounded surface.
"No one will notice, Will. Don't worry about it." Jack shook his head as Will went to say something else. No use in making Elizabeth think they were crazy if she didn't see it herself. She turned back towards them. "You two don't look so well. It's most likely from being trapped in that room all day with all that dust. Why don't you go downstairs and take a break?" She suggested as she swept out of the room.
Jack shook his head. "I've been told I'm insane, but this is just..." Will looked back at the mirror, the two nooses still there.
"This isn't the first time." He confided. Jack raised an eyebrow. "Last night, before Elizabeth and I...I saw a woman in her place, from the picture I found earlier today. She called a dirty pirate. Then this morning, I saw the daughter standing in the doorway. She said something about a short drop and a sudden stop." He swallowed, glancing over at the noose with a sense of growing dread. "Both of them were obviously dead. I seriously doubt people walk around covered in blood."
Jack uttered an oath, shaking his head. "Nice choice on the house, William."
"We can't tell Elizabeth. This sounds too insane still, even to me. I've seen them."
"This is interesting. You live in a bloody haunted house." Jack said, before heading towards the door. "Should make for an interesting night, eh?" He shot over his shoulder before he left the bedroom, his usual smirk still on his face. Will wished he could be as confidant as Jack was about all this. He knew he had to find a way to stop this, or he would never find peace in the house. Following Jack back to the room, he searched for the old sketch among the boxes they'd gone through. When he found it, he folded it up and tucked it in his pocket.
There were some questions that needed to be asked.
Jack pulled off his coat, throwing it on a chair in the hallway before entering the room. "Ye know we could just dump all this stuff outside instead of going through it bit by bit..." He said and his tone made it clear that he didn't want to be sifting through someone else's junk if it wasn't going to profit him.
Will opened the flap of the box. "It had to be done anyway. Besides, if you don't want to help me, you could always go help Elizabeth make breakfast." He muttered, sifting through the papers inside. It was mostly inane things, letters from relatives of the people who had lived in the house a few years back. Things he could easily throw away. After sifting through enough to find that there wasn't anything worth him keeping, he put the flaps back down and pushed it to the side to throw away later. Jack stood behind him, giving the option a moments thought before flopping down in a dusty arm chair in the corner of the room. A cloud of dust rose, and he coughed, waving a hand in front of his face to clear it away. Will shook his head, chuckling slightly to himself.
"You're in a pretty good mood for someone who dropped a frying pan on his head." Jack muttered, settling into the chair and kicking his feet up on a box, clasping his hands on his stomach.
"What can I say Jack? Maybe you put me in a good mood." He joked as he pulled another box forward. Flipping open the lid, he found a sketch on top, most likely of the last family to occupy the house. His heart skipped a beat as he looked down at the paper. There were four people drawn on the yellowed paper. The man looked like a British Officer; his chin held up high and seemed to have this air of importance about him that Norrington so often seemed to exude. Next to him, the woman stared straight whoever had been doing the drawing. Her hand rested lightly on the arm of the man Will assumed was her husband. In front of them stood two kids, a young girl and her brother. His hands shook slightly as he gazed at the paper. The wife and the daughter, he'd seen them both in the house. Their first night there, and then this morning...
Will dropped the page as if it had been lit on fire, closing the box up in a hurry and sliding it to the doorway. He wanted to go through that later, figure out why these people that he had never seen before were suddenly appearing at different moments. Jack had grown bored with the whole business, idly inspecting his fingernails as Will went through the various boxes.
"Nice house you got here." He said finally, in an attempt to bring noise to the room other than Will moving boxes around. "I didn't think a blacksmith's apprentice made enough money for fancy house like this." A smirk crossed his face, his tone making it clear that he was wondering if Will had finally indulged in his pirate roots. Will stopped looking through the box of papers and glanced up at him.
"I'm not a pirate." He said dryly, continuing the search. Again, it was more of the same things; newspapers from other parts of the British Empire, and letters from friends and family. He kicked the box aside and pulled the next one over to him. "I finally finished my apprenticeship and I'm not considered a master of the craft." He pulled the box open. "Brings in a little bit more money than what I used to make."
"Which was next to nothing." Jack supplied. "That's no way to live, mate. But still, even a salary like that couldn't pay for a nice house like this."
"It was inexpensive. Nobody has wanted this house for years, after the attack on Port Royal the night after I was rescued. I was told that some murders were committed here that night. After that, people tried to live here but found the house so uninviting they put it back up to be sold again. When I offered them a price I could afford, they surprised me by taking it. Thus we have a house." He pulled the box open to find clothes. More specifically, the uniform of a commodore. Jack got up from his seat, grabbing the blue jacket from the box and pulling it on. Will couldn't help his laughter at the comical sight Jack created. A pirate in a commodore's coat. Jack straightened the collar, holding the lapels in his hand and turned to Will.
"How do I look?" He asked with an amused grin on his face. Will waved a hand at him to wait until he could talk without bursting into laughter again. The memories of the morning and the night before were pushed from his mind.
"I'm sorry, commodore, but you don't match well." Will finally replied, getting a hold of himself. Jack held up his hands in a gesture for Will to wait a moment, and grabbed the hat from the box. He set it on his head, striking a pose.
"Aye, what about now?" Will couldn't respond, on the ground laughing so hard that his stomach hurt and his injured head throbbed, but he couldn't stop. Jack turned to look back in the mirror. "Bloody pompous hat." He mused, taking it off and setting it down on Will's head. "More your style than mine anyway." He pulled off the coat and threw it back in the box. "Alright, I'm intrigued. Might be something in here worth me light fingering." He sat down next to Will, who had finally calmed down enough to sit up, and pulled another box towards him. Flipping open the lid, he wiggled his fingers. "Let's see what we have in here then."
A few hours later, Elizabeth found the two in the room, still scrounging through boxes. At this point, the pockets on Jack's coat were nearly bursting at the seams with all the little trinkets he'd found that might be worth something. Her first reaction was to laugh at the hat still sitting on Will's head, too big for him as it nearly slid down over his eyes. He heard her musical laugh and glanced up, an amused smirk on his face. Jack looked up as well, in the process of slipping something silver into his pockets.
"I brought you a light lunch." Elizabeth told them, setting the trey down on the ottoman for the old armchair. "Just some bread, meat, and cheese and water to wash it down." Her eyes went to the full length mirror that Jack had been mugging in front of earlier. She checked out her reflection, before trailing her fingers down the wood. "This is beautiful. Can we put it in the bedroom?" She asked Will as her gaze traveled over it.
"I don't see why not." Will said, pushing another box aside. "As soon as we clear the things away from it, Jack and I can take it into our bedroom."
"You can take it into yer own bedroom. I'm not slave labor." Jack groused, throwing aside another box for one that looked more promising of riches. Will rolled his eyes, before smiling at Elizabeth.
"Absolutely. I'll have the mirror in there tonight." She checked her appearance one more time and walked towards the door. On the way there, she stopped long enough to kiss Will on the forehead. Jack got to his feet, as did Will, and both men pulled up a box to sit on as they ate lunch.
"Ye know what makes a good lunch?"
"Let me guess. Rum?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow as he chewed on a piece of cheese. Jack didn't say a word, but pointed at him instead to say that he was right. The remainder of lunch time was spent on idle talk; how the Pearl was, how Ana and Gibbs were, Jack's recent voyages and pillages. He in turn questioned Will about the business at the blacksmith shop and such. After the food was finished and the drinks drained, they both returned to work. Jack kicked the last of the boxes away, moving to one side of the mirror as Will moved to the other. "On the count of three. One, two, three..." They lifted the heavy mirror, and Will backed towards the door with Jack following. A few moments, curses, and bumped shins later, they'd gotten it settled in the bedroom. Both men moved away, dusting off their hands. "Well, that's a job well...done..." Jack's voice trailed off, and Will looked up from wiping his dirty hands on his pants. He stopped as he saw what Jack was looking at as well.
In the time between moving it from the guest room to their bedroom, a two crudely drawn black noose had appeared on the mirror, and at the angle Jack and Will were standing, it looked as if their own heads were in it. They both stared mutely at it for a moment, before Will turned towards the door, calling for Elizabeth. She came soon after, entering the room.
"What? What is it?" Will pointed shakily towards the mirror. She glanced towards it. "Oh...it looks wonderful! Thank you both for moving it for me." She kissed her husband on the cheek.
"But...but there's something on it." Will's voice was shaky. She scrutinized it, finding a small mark on the edge of the rounded surface.
"No one will notice, Will. Don't worry about it." Jack shook his head as Will went to say something else. No use in making Elizabeth think they were crazy if she didn't see it herself. She turned back towards them. "You two don't look so well. It's most likely from being trapped in that room all day with all that dust. Why don't you go downstairs and take a break?" She suggested as she swept out of the room.
Jack shook his head. "I've been told I'm insane, but this is just..." Will looked back at the mirror, the two nooses still there.
"This isn't the first time." He confided. Jack raised an eyebrow. "Last night, before Elizabeth and I...I saw a woman in her place, from the picture I found earlier today. She called a dirty pirate. Then this morning, I saw the daughter standing in the doorway. She said something about a short drop and a sudden stop." He swallowed, glancing over at the noose with a sense of growing dread. "Both of them were obviously dead. I seriously doubt people walk around covered in blood."
Jack uttered an oath, shaking his head. "Nice choice on the house, William."
"We can't tell Elizabeth. This sounds too insane still, even to me. I've seen them."
"This is interesting. You live in a bloody haunted house." Jack said, before heading towards the door. "Should make for an interesting night, eh?" He shot over his shoulder before he left the bedroom, his usual smirk still on his face. Will wished he could be as confidant as Jack was about all this. He knew he had to find a way to stop this, or he would never find peace in the house. Following Jack back to the room, he searched for the old sketch among the boxes they'd gone through. When he found it, he folded it up and tucked it in his pocket.
There were some questions that needed to be asked.