Silence
Author's Note: I keep listening to songs that freak me out and it gives me inspiration. Well it's Hao and Ren's turn. Read & Review!
Disclaimer: Shaman King © Hiroyuki Takei
Chapter 3: Shadows
The next morning proved that the storm had not died down. In fact it seemed to have gotten worse.
"Well I guess we're still stuck here." said Yoh with a small sigh.
Everyone nodded and went about trying to make the place as homely as possible. About an hour into the clean up Hao ran into the livingroom yelling for everyone to join him. When they all were assembled Hao was pratically jumping with happiness.
"Look what I found!" he yelled spreading the paper on the table. "It's a plan of the house. Now we can tell where to clean and where to find stuff."
"About time you did something right." Ren said looking at the map.
Hao glared and was about to reply but Yoh spoke first. "Well we should split the tasks then. "I'll keep working down here, Horo can work in the basement. Ren why don't you clean the hallway and Hao you can take this last room." he said pointing to the room where his onii-chan would be cleaning.
Everyone nodded and headed off, agreeing to go to the kitchen for lunch at noon exactly.
Ren took a broom from the closet and started sweeping, careful to avoid the hole that Horo had made the night before. As he swept he hummed to himself, trying to ignore the harsh silence. There was still the wind but it was no replacement for the current lack of human company. As he hummed and swept he happen to look up and notice something strange. He thought he saw someone turning the corner at the other end of the hallway. But unless it was Hao then that was impossible... plus Hao wasn't in a dress. He walked to the other end of the hall quietly and peeked around the corner. There was no one there... Suddenly he heard footsteps heading downstairs. Light footsteps... just like Horo had described the night before. Ren shuddered. Was it possible that maybe Horo wasn't imagining things? Ren shook his head. They were the only ones there. It was nothing. He pushed the mysterious circumstance to the back of his mind and continued sweeping.
In the untouched, dusty and boarded up room, Hao was busy doing what he was told. He moved things around, including old dust-covered books and diaries. He didn't give any of these things a second glance and put them in the bookshelf. All the fallen furniture he put on the side so that middle of the room would be clear. He had his back to the window most of the time while he cleaned and bolts of lightning created eerie shadows on the wall. One particular bolt of lightning made Hao jump in fright and look at the shadow twice. Was that a person in the window? He turned around and looked but the window was empty. And besides how could someone be in the window? He was on the second floor. Hao blinked and kept working. There was no use worrying everyone with something as stupid as a supposed sighting. After all he was probably hallucinating because he was so scared.
Nothing really eventful happened the rest of the day. Horo found a few supplies that would last them a while, though they were hoping to be out of there as soon as possible. When Yoh suggested that they check how powerful the storm was, everyone looked at each other and shuddered a little. The wind didn't sound all that inviting. The house wasn't all that inviting either but it was better than battling the elements. The only major problem was the rats that seem to be infesting the basement. They had no mouse traps and no way of getting rid of them. They concluded that they'd let the rats stay in the basement. So long as they didn't come upstairs the boys would fine.
Another major problem was how to contact their friends. No one knew they were there. Everyone thought thet were still on their trip. What would happen when the time came for them to head home? If they were still trapped in there and didn't arrive at home at the expected time, what would everyone think? The weather was breaking up the cell phone signals and the house was so old that there was no phone.
Everyone thought of that but the first question that came into their minds was how old the house was. If there was no phone then it was old enough. There was enough in the house to point to the early 1900s. The stove was a wood stove with logs in the basement to fuel it. There was running water and very primitive electricity.
They got their answer when Hao looked in the bottom right corner of the house plan. The name of the owner seemed to be scratched out but the date that house was built in was still slightly visible. It read 1905.
A/N: Forgive me if the facts don't go with the dates. I tried. Funny thing that I came up with this plot in religion class. Lol. Read & Review!