I couldn't scream. I couldn't move. Yozora was sleeping next to me oblivious to the thing with us in the bedroom. What made my horror multiply by the hundreds was when the shadow began to move. Its head was twisting and twitching bizarrely and began to develop long arms reaching to the floor. Then its size started to grow.
No, it wasn't getting bigger.
It was getting closer!
Then at some point it suddenly teleported from its previous spot to the next.
It was getting closer, and closer, and closer.
Until it was standing right by the foot of the bed.
I'm so glad I didn't know what happened next cuz I woke up with a short shriek that startled Yozora awake as well. I was laying there panting shakily as I allowed myself to be hugged by my boyfriend in the midst of his hushing and coos. I sat up with my face in Yozo's bare chest as I checked my surroundings with the corner of my eye. In my peripherals, I saw my room in its familiar layout illuminated by the sunlight. Morning, already?
But most importantly, there were no ghosts in here with us. No mysterious entity trying to do us harm. When my eyes instinctively averted to the bedroom door, there was nothing over there.
Fuck me. Told you I was going to have nightmares…
"Sshhh. It's ok, Noct. It's alright, babe. It was just a dream." Yeah well, 'just a dream' wasn't exactly the most accurate way to go about it. Better to describe it as 'motherfucking nightmare'.
I sat there allowing him to continue rubbing my back with his lips on my forehead thinking about what I should do now. Thanks to the shit I've seen in my sleep, I considered cancelling our plans and leave this all behind us. The dream alone felt like an omen of what's awaiting us if we dare venture inside that house again. Making me question if this was all worth the stress.
But, on the other hand, I wasn't gonna let a shitty dream shake me up like that. When I think about it, it felt stupid to abandon the quest just because of a dream!
Hey, Noctis. Why did you change your mind?
Oh, I had a bad dream!
See where I'm coming from? All the more reason why I should use that dream as a motivation to carry on instead.
I gently pushed Yozora back from his shoulders and kissed him appreciatively on the lips, hoping he didn't get a whiff of my morning breath, then got up from the bed and headed over to my bedroom toilet with him right behind me. With both of us still in our birthday suits, we went with the morning routine together; we took a piss together and brushed our teeth together. As I was scrubbing my teeth with the brush letting toothpaste foam slide down my chin, I spotted Yozora in the mirror reflection with the toothbrush in mouth taking a couple steps behind to view my rear. He wasn't eyeing my butt. Not this time at least. Instead, he touched my back carefully as if he was afraid it was gonna hurt me. He was inspecting the ghost wounds with a contemplative look on his face as if expecting they'd have healed overnight. Then he stood next to me running the brush back and forth inside his mouth with his other hand rubbing my back in loving circles.
We didn't say anything to each other during the time in which we prepared for the day ahead. We both were aware of what we were up to tonight without the need for words.
Throughout the day, me and Yozora kept exchanging knowing looks occasionally while making sure they stay unnoticed by my three retainers. I felt bad for keeping something hidden from my own trusted ones. But in my defense, I couldn't let them get involved into the unknown. Not to mention they were most likely going to maim me if they ever found out. Yozora even shouldn't have known about it either but… one thing led to another. And even then, I still didn't know whether having him join me was a good thing or a bad thing. Because while some company should provide me with enough courage to face the possible – no, certain horrors of that mansion one last time, I couldn't shake the thought out of my head that I'm about to get someone hurt alongside me. Which was the main reason why I wanted to go alone in the first place. But I'm not exactly sure if I could do this shit on my own again.
I decided to just shake it all off as the five of us were having afternoon snacks in the living room watching whatever the TV had to offer for us. The coffee table between the wide high quality TV screen and our couch was littered with trays of small triangle sandwiches, hot beverages and biscuits. While my protector, cook and photographer got immersed into a conversation Yozo and I barely participated in, we both sat having our share of the meal secretly squeezing our hands together in apprehension for what's to come.
"Noct?"
"Yeah, Iggs?" I responded lazily as I took a bite of my sandwich. Hopefully, that smart aleck didn't notice something was off. Just act casual. It's not that hard.
"I've been meaning to ask you: who's your favorite Jaeger from Pacific Rim?"
"Gipsy and Striker." I instantly gave him my answer which was established ever since I have watched the movie.
"Hoho~!" chuckled Gallius in amusement at my choices.
"Yozo was right! You really do like Striker!" exclaimed Prompto holding a half-eaten cookie in his hand.
"Why?" inquired Iggy but not before swallowing what was inside his mouth first; something most people wouldn't bother with. Hey don't look at me like that!
"Gipsy feels like she has a personality of her own that makes you feel connected to her. Not only is she a great and reliable fighter, but she was the only Jaeger that really stood out from the rest since she has a neat iconic design that is easy to recognize. Striker was a total Kaiju ass kicker and he's actually the strongest out of them."
"What about Obsidian?" asked Yozo before dipping a cookie into his tea.
"Oh yeah! Always fancied those swords!"
"But what caught my attention was Crimson Typhoon! That guy is nuts!"
"Oh yeah! I like his chainsaws!" I agreed with my Chocobo butt-headed friend as he mentioned the massive psycho machine. "Otachi is also the best-looking Kaiju. The rest look just weird." I switched the talk from the giant robots to the creatures they were assigned to fight.
"I keep forgetting that thing is a female." Mumbled Prom.
"You're a fucking crackhead!" laughed Gallius. "Even when it was revealed it was pregnant, it still took you too long to notice!"
"I was half asleep, okay?" Blondie defended himself.
"Even a braindead sheep would have been quicker to conclude the type of genitals the monster possesses." Participated Iggy in belittling the shooter's sense of observation.
And that's how we spent our afternoon peacefully having our small meal while discussing our favorite Jaegers, least ugly kaiju, and shitting on Prompto's ability to recognize genders, which was a much required distraction from the trip awaiting us at midnight.
Wish there was a way for me to realize that this was all a terrible mistake…
"This is it. Are you ready?" I asked my companion who stood next to me right at the mansion doorway. The house looked as creepy as the last time I've seen it underneath the night sky. Can't believe I'm back to this shithole again. This is what happens when a random burst of OCD kicks in and you insist on giving it all a thorough examination otherwise your brain won't shut up about it.
"We haven't even entered and I'm already getting the creepy vibes." He said as Freya flapped her wings anxiously behind us. It was surprising that she obediently flew us out here again considering how she reacted from last time. But judging from her body language, she didn't like this anymore than we did. she kept shooting the house weary looks as if daring who or whatever was inside to come near me or my companion.
I had to quickly infuse her again with a few assuring pats on her muscular flank before she yanks us away from here. Because of Freya's protective nature, she tend to react impulsively without awaiting orders. Like that time when I almost walked too deep into a dangerous Malboro territory alone and she grabbed me from the leg and flew me away back to camp in the midst of the others' confused looks.
I took a look at Yozora from over my shoulder to tell him to brace himself. That is until I noticed what he was holding. "Is that Prompto's camera?"
"Well yeah. He let me borrow it."
"Ever thought that he might ask to see what you recorded?" I turned around to face him feeling slightly exasperated that he missed this little detail.
"Relax. Once we're done, I could record some random sceneries on our way back for him to see."
Why hadn't I thought about that?
Oh well…
As Yozo prepared the video camera, I started thinking about what is gonna happen this time. Will the objects move on their own or will we find more bodies? And let's not forget the shadow creep who is most likely waiting for us inside right this very moment. I shuddered at the notion of facing that fucker again as I turned my phone video recorder on and directed it at the doorway then opened it to walk inside followed by Yozora.
I half expected to find a dark figure standing right in the middle of the reception hall for a nasty surprise. But everything was just how I left it. The chair was left half bare of its cover and the suit of armor's head was still gone to who-knows-where. I heard Yozora whispering words of awe next to me and I turned to find him recording his surroundings as well. He seemed especially focused on the random hairs scattered about.
Ah shit… I completely forgot about the Rock star Jinn. I slowly averted my eyes to the door of the room where I had a run-in with the pretty haired asshole. Interestingly though, the door was closed. Pretty sure I never touched it the last time I was here. But I'm far from surprised by this point, nor did I have to wonder about who closed it. Already saw the culprit with my own eyes. Hopefully we don't run into that thing again.
"Hey." I turned at the sound of Yozo calling to me. "Wanna check that door?" he pointed with his head at the door I was looking at as if reading my mind. But from the grin on his face, it was hard to tell if he was being serious or trying to be annoying.
"Uh…" before I had time to utter the first syllable, he was already approaching the dreaded room with wide strides. "Jeez, talk about enthusiastic." I mumbled with me following close behind him. no way I'm letting that maniac enter that room on his own. What if that ghost or creature or whatever the fucking shit it was was hiding in there expecting us for another peek-a-bo?
I saw through my phone screen Yozo reaching out slowly towards the knob and my own hand intruded to hold his in place. "Are you out of your solid fudge brain?" I whispered harshly. "You do realize what I found inside, do you?"
"What are you so scared for? There's two of us. We'll just take a look from the outside and if we saw something, we will just close the door and never open it again."
"What if that shitface was still inside? What if it managed to escape out the room before we had the chance to shut the door?" I couldn't believe how easygoing and eager Yozora was about all this. One would expect that he would be hesitant to open the door if not downright terrified. Had he been clueless about the whole thing, his idiocy would have been more understandable. But he has seen the videos and has seen the entity he's expecting to find behind this very door yet that seems to be more of a motivation for him to approach than to retreat.
"See if we can fight it off somehow. If it happens to be invincible thanks to some mumbo jumpo ghostly powers or shit then we bail out." I looked at him with one raised eyebrow. Is that guy for real?
"You know what. Screw this. Open the door a crack and see what happens." I shrugged and let him do what he wanted and see how this madness would turn out.
I recorded my companion's hand turning the doorknob then pushed it open leaving only enough space for us to partially poke our heads through.
Any minute now, I thought. Any minute and that thing would emerge from behind that flipped table again, or standing at a corner, or worse, pop up to greet us from right behind the door we're standing next to in a 'surprise, motherfuckers!' stunt.
But the room I have never had the chance to explore thanks to that crazy encounter was surprisingly vacant encouraging us to further push the door open and step closer inside. I was quite on edge as I took a few more wary steps into the room. I even instinctively checked behind the door as the first thing I did but I was lightly pushed by Yozo.
"Nothing behind the door. Get a grip." He said amusedly.
"Never hurts to check." I mumbled as I raised my eyes to examine the room. Besides the table in the center, it was empty except for a disgusting sea of random junk and garbage covering the ground adding more noise to our steps. But other than that, it was totally empty. No entities. No ghosts. Nothing here to spook us.
Or, sadly, so it seemed…
I was feeling quite jumpy at this point and every muscle in my body would tense in apprehension totally expecting the creature to show its mug again. But I soon relaxed when I checked behind the flipped table only to find more strands of hair behind it where the freak was sitting last time. When I moved the flashlight somewhere else, I spotted some more hairs by the corner and some were hanging off the side of the table and that small broken chair. More were scattered about randomly on the cement floor among the piles of mud and branches and there were even some hanging from the cracks on the wall. Dammit, I even stepped on a hair strand without paying attention.
"Just how much hair does that bastard keep shitting out of his ass? That's gross as fuck!" I heard Yozo chuckling at my complaints. "I mean look at all that hair. Not even a sheep dog would leave all that behind!"
"Hehehehe!" Yozo's high pitched giggles somewhat echoed throughout the room as he was recording it with his back towards me. "Maybe it runs in the family!"
"Look! There is even hair hanging from the ceiling fan!" I pointed up with my phone. "How did it even get those up there?"
"Beats me, Noct. You're the ghost expert here." He said still smiling as he aimed his camera at where I was pointing.
"I sure as hell wouldn't want an entity like that in my house. Not just because it's creepy as hell and looks like a failed Batman cosplay but cuz I don't wanna trip on its hairs wherever I go! Not to mention that cleaning up behind it is gonna be a pain in the ass hole."
"Now look, man. If it's bothering you that much, we can go find that jinn of yours and give it a piece of your mind!" he was freely giggling and his deep voice would change in pitch from his attempts at trying not to laugh while talking.
"All I want to give that bitch is a fucking broom – huh?" we both flinched at the sound of something scrapping loudly across a hard surface. "You heard that?"
"Apparently ghosts don't take criticism too well!"
"Good to see you still find this whole thing funny." However, it isn't gonna be as haha worthy when things get serious. Didn't I imply that earlier?
"I think that chair was what caused the noise." Pointed Yozo next to me. The chair was laying on its side, covered in scratches and one of its legs was missing. It must have inched closer to me when I wasn't looking as I specifically remember it was by the corner and not next to me. Proving Zora's point.
"Yeah. I think you're right. It did move a bit closer." I agreed as I kept my eyes on the chair half expecting it to move again. "I think it even rotated a few degrees-" and then a glass object I haven't noticed earlier nor did I have the time to identify got thrown from amidst the pile of junk barely missing my head by an inch and smashed loudly against the opposite wall.
Me and Yozo didn't even flinch. We both were too stunned to react. All we could do was stare wide eyed aiming our devices at the glass shards shining under our flashlights.
We were quiet for a few seconds until Yozo decided to open his mouth: "My friend says he's sorry!"
"No, I didn't!" I barked. That's when the ceiling fan started swinging violently on top of us.
"He didn't mean what he said about the hairs!" he blabbered on as he began to chuckle.
"Yozo!"
"He even thinks they're pretty!"
"Shut up, man!" but I guess the ghost must have been offended by my remarks beyond any sort of compliment Yozora could dream up. As the small broken chair began to get dragged loudly in my direction. I quickly moved out the way but, to my absolute distress, it fucking began to follow me!
"Shit! Yozo! The chair is chasing me!" I shrieked as me and the chair began racing each other in circles around the room. And when I looked at Yozo to see how he's reacting to this – unbelievable! He was laughing and recording this little circus performance! Once he has had enough amusement at my expense, he grabbed me from the back of my shirt and hurried us out the room, quickly shutting the door just as the angry chair was thrown at us to hit the door instead. Damn, I could almost imagine that thing growling.
"I didn't know you were such a ghost ass kisser." I sneered after I caught my breath.
"Better than provoking it and dissing its hair!" he retorted not removing his grin for a second. Before I had the chance to get back at him with a comeback, we jumped at the loud violent banging on the door we just escaped through. It was so loud; we were forced to step back. We gawked in stunned silence aiming our flashlights to reveal the door shaking as if it was gonna fly off its hinges. It especially became concerning when the doorknob began rattling and turning on its own causing us to further step back, but it wasn't enough for the door to open. Finally, just as when it seemed that whatever entity behind the door was gonna break it down, the banging and rattling stopped leaving everything quiet again, with nothing but our worried breaths to break the silence. That is, until I found that lunatic reaching towards the knob again.
"You fucking idiot!" I snarled slapping his hand away emitting more hoho's and hehe's from him. Hasn't that clown had enough already?
Luckily, he retreated and we just stood there staring at the door as if expecting it to start shaking again. "Welp," sighed Yozo. "That should teach you to never insult a ghost's makeup."
"Cut it out already before I insult you." I grumbled pushing my shoulder against his as I passed, ignoring his giggles. I hadn't expected one of us to have such a grand time considering the situation we're in. Then again, it's better than the fear and stress I have been anticipating all along. If everything went better than expected and this whole trip turned into a comedy skit somehow then who am I to complain? Leaving the incident behind us, we proceeded with getting everything around us within the camera view of our devices.
I looked over at Zora and found him nudging a hair strand with his shoe. While I headed over to examine that old worn painting. I haven't bothered to check it the first time I was here but might as well take a look. Who knows? It could give me a clue about the previous residents. Or it could be just a random painting never meant to represent anyone.
However, I would never have known the painting could be this disturbing if I hadn't gotten closer. Some parts of its surface were torn off and the rest was covered in either dirt or scratches. But what was left of it was enough for me to distinguish what I was looking at. All I managed to discern was a dark foggy background against which stood a bunch of tall poles with human parts impaled on them. The first pole had a single head on it like a lollipop. The one next to it had three heads stacked on top of each other. There is even one in the background cutting through the back of a lone torso and another that had hands and feet impaled through it like shesh kebab. The one closest to the view had its peak torn away so I couldn't see what was at the top. But judging from the blood covering it all the way down meant that whatever was hanging up there mustn't have been any prettier. When I moved my phone slightly higher, it revealed a skeleton hanging from a noose at the top of the picture.
When I diverted my attention back to the heads, it was hard for me to make out their expressions. The visibility in this painting made me feel like I was looking at a heavily pixelated PS1 videogame and the dust wasn't helping at all. I had to focus my eyes to discern the barely visible faces with my phone flashlight aimed for a better view. But right at this moment, I began to sense something strange. When I fixated my eyes on the distorted heads, I felt like they began to shift and move. At first, I was positive I was seeing things but even my own imagination couldn't conjure up moving paintings. I stood there frozen in place unable to will myself to move as if the painting hypnotized me into staying somehow. I remained perfectly still until I felt my eyesight beginning to blur as the painting started to animate. I could have sworn I saw the hanged skeleton kicking and thrashing, and the limps in the background wiggling and twitching bizarrely in their place in my line of sight. But I was aiming my attention more on the heads as they turned around to face me. Then they started to melt and dissolve until they no longer became recognizable.
"Ngh." I finally managed to shut my eyes taking a deep breath through my nose and when I looked back up, the painting was back to its normal state again. Nothing was moving. The heads didn't look like they were wiped with a cloth. All is back to how it was just earlier.
What the hell did I just see?
I felt like I was in a trance when I saw that canvas moving like the paintings from Harry Potter. I couldn't look away or make any sort of movement. Literally all my senses shut down everything around me and focused on the heads as they were staring at me from inside the drawing. I could barely feel anything else and the whole situation was like a dream. When I finally snapped myself out of it, I was back to reality again.
Was any of this for real or not?
At least I got that recorded on camera. I have completely forgotten that I still held my phone in my hand. But I was sure I have been aiming my device at the painting this entire time so the footage should be my only answer when we get back.
When I turned around to check on Yozora, it took me a while to find him which had me alerted for a bit. Until I found him by the headless armor suit with the camera there to record it. the flashlight from his camera revealed thick sticky layers of dust covering the metallic surface of the suit. I let him go about his business as I headed over to the dining hall to check if there were any more changes. But the iron poker still had its sharp tip stuck to the table next to the fallen candle holder.
I wanted to test a theory so I yanked the poker from its position and laid it on the table. See if it moves again. Then I directed my attention to the fireplace which I refer to as the Dog Graveyard and examined it for any new clues. But besides the remains and the rat, there was nothing else.
I headed back out to see how Zora was holding up. But I didn't find him in the reception hall. I thought maybe he went to the kitchen and when I headed over there, he was nowhere to be found. Hopefully he didn't open the fridge. I proceeded past the kitchen to the next hallway and looked at the far end but still didn't find him.
Where could he be? We were just getting started and we already got separated. Surely, he can't have gone to the upper floor without me, can he?
"Zora?" I called. No answer. Shit. "Yozora?!" I called again. Louder this time with worry lacing my tune.
"Hey." I heard the muffled response from somewhere. "Where are you?"
"Over here!" I yelled back as I looked the other direction to notice a set of stairs leading to the ceiling.
"I see you." I heard my boyfriend's clear voice and relief washed over me when I saw him pop up from the large rectangular hole in the ceiling. But the relief instantly switched to surprise.
"There is an attic door?!" how come I didn't notice the string hanging from the ceiling? Guess I was too distracted by the previous terrors to notice or perhaps because I went in the opposite direction without bothering to check the corner over there. Or simply because I never thought about looking above me.
"Come on up here." he said from the top of the stairs as the light from his camera aimed at me. I followed his lead until we both were standing in the center of an empty square room. Besides the stained rusty iron bed, the terrible stench and that mannequin standing in the corner, nothing was too suspicious. There was also a wardrobe in the corner that Yozora slowly approached and from the way he just stood there that he was hesitant about opening it. Probably trying to avoid a repeat from the fridge situation.
I noticed the smell getting stronger as I stood next to him for support and patted his back to encourage him - to encourage us. We nodded to each other in reassurance and we each grabbed a handle on the double closet doors, both cameras aimed at the view upfront to record whatever it was we were about to reveal.
After the shit I've witnessed in the fridge, surely nothing can't be worse than that. Right?
Wrong!
The second we opened the closet and the hideous odor that greeted us made me get a decent idea about the contents without looking. We both huffed in disgust at the stench and when we stood to further examine what's inside, we spotted what seemed to be skins. Human skins.
"Oh goodness." groaned Yozora as he switched between eyeing what's inside through his camera screen and looking at them directly. "Ugh, this is sickening as hell." He averted his face in revolt as he took his mask from his pocket and wore it, me doing the same.
The lights aimed from our cameras made the scene look all the more grotesque and hideous, I couldn't take my eyes off of the explicit details. The creamy color of the skins contrasted with the crimson flesh on their other halves. A few patches were even covered in small cuts and scars. But what seriously unnerved me was the skin patch of a face. The face was empty where the eyes used to be and the lips were open revealing what's behind them. There was even some hair at the top of the forehead alongside the ears giving the skin a masklike appearance.
"Who were those people?" the rhetorical question that came from me will most likely stay unanswered.
"Beats me. Though I feel sorry for them. What a way to go." he tsk'd at such a terrible fate with which I had to agree.
"I gotta say this ghost has a weird sense of fashion." I remarked.
"Couldn't even bother with a couple jackets like normal people do!" Chuckled Yozo slightly.
"Now that's what I call 100% pure leather!" we giggled like a pair of potheads. Call us disrespectful but we needed to ease the tension somehow.
After we have had our fill of the gut-wrenching view, we closed the wardrobe to continue exploring. My companion began to descend the stairs and just as when I was about to follow him, I caught something in my peripherals.
The mannequin!
It moved!
The head swiftly and silently turned in my direction but I somehow got it on camera right at the screen corner. I was barely recovering from what we just saw in the closet then this had to happen!
I didn't want to be alone in the attic with that thing so I quickly went down the stairs then pushed them up to fold in on themselves sealing the hole in the ceiling. I hurried to catch up with Zora in the kitchen to tell him about what I just saw when I found him busy filming the smeared spot where the pigeon has been.
"Just where did that pigeon go?" I heard Yozo's muffled voice from behind his mask.
"And more importantly, who or what took it?" but do I even want to learn my own answer?
As if on cue, we heard footsteps coming from above causing us to automatically direct our cameras to the roof. I swallowed hard as the footsteps reminded me of last time when I felt them right next to me which was the end of the investigation for me. But instead of running away this time, we're heading right to the source of it. And as much as I didn't like the sound of that, we couldn't let fear control our actions again.
We both stood at the bottom of the staircase waiting for the footsteps to start again but they ceased at some point when we got closer.
"Isn't that where we saw the shadow figure on your video?" pointed Yozo with his head at the top of the stairs.
"We don't talk about that." I joked in a monotone voice.
"So ready to go up?" my breath hitched at the question. Simple as it sounded, the reason behind it held so many possibilities and none of them looked pleasant to say the least. There's still a good chance we're going to stumble across whatever was making that noise. What would we do then?
"Let's go." I mumbled as I began the first couple steps to the upper level. Might as well get it over with before fear kicks in once more and do the thinking for me.
There were two more sets of stairs on both sides of the landing meddled by a large stained blue window that caused the reflection from our devices to grow brighter the more we approached. I had to momentarily squint but my eyes snapped at something I spotted on the reflection and when I blinked rapidly, it was gone. I seriously thought for a moment that the shadow figure was facing me from the reflection. I wasn't sure if my mind was playing shitty pranks on me or if this was some part of a horrible reality. I was aiming my phone at the window this entire time anyway so might as well check out the recording when we get back home.
Home… oh how I miss it already. Just remembering it was all the motivation I needed to finish the job faster. We'll go through a quick tour upstairs then fuck off for good.
When I turned towards Yozo to see if he had noticed anything, he had his back already turned to me as he was ascending the stairs to the left so I took the ones to the right. Both stairs lead to a large hall where me and Yozo reunited in the middle and from there, our cameras were recording everything we could aim at. There was a wrecked table in the center of the room and above it, a chandelier hanging dangerously by a thin cord looking as if it will fall off if you look at it hard enough. Basically, every surface was covered in dirt and our shoes scrapped noisily on the floor leaving foot prints on the dust.
"Hopefully we don't find more organic remains here. It reeks." Yozora's muffled voice somewhat echoed in the wide area.
"Usually the stench implies the place is occupied by the jinn so keep your eyes open."
"Well, haven't we seen enough evidence of that already?"
"Not as bad as it would be when the real thing materializes in front of us." I retorted with the image of the shadow figure in my head and the thought that it could pop up to us at any given moment. It has become official that we're deep inside its territory. It could be watching us right now as we speak. Who knows what will it do to us?
I heard Yozo cough uncomfortably at my unsettling reply when we both turned sharply at the sound of something metallic hit the ground. We aimed our flashlights towards the source until the light circles were following a rusty iron vase rolling in our direction. Whilst Yozora was distracted by that thing, I aimed my attention on the way the vase came from. But all my flashlight revealed was a fractured wall with a small table against it. Could it be this was where the vase has been?
"Don't tell me this was the doing of a jinn, was it?"
"Well, it aien't no rocket science, Yozo. We're in a haunted house after all. What did you expect?"
"Guess it's too much to hope that it was just a coincidence." He said as he gave the fallen item a light kick.
"Come on. Those rooms over there won't explore themselves." I urged as I strode over to the nearest doorway. It was half open so I gave it a slight push revealing another toilet. It was similar in layout like the one downstairs, except filthier. I expected to find more remains, specifically human ones, but to my relief there was nothing but weird shit covering the inside of the sink and the bath tub. There was no mucky water in here so I managed to get a clear view of the grim covered bottom. Unlike the case with the one downstairs, there was nothing but garbage; Mud. Branches. Bags. Empty cans. You name it. No organic parts being used as plugs. Then my attention was averted to the toilet seat. The lid was on and I was curious enough to try and open it with my leg cuz it was just too gross to touch it with my hand. As I was lifting the lid up slowly, my imagination was a few steps ahead of me. Am I going to find a human head again? A dog's? Or any small dead animal? Or perhaps a severed limp or an organ? I slowly peaked inside to find nothing of the previously mentioned. Just a pile of junk stuffing the bottom. Nobody's hand or anything.
Just as I was about to express my relief, it turned into a jump of horror and I dashed out of the toilet.
"Noct! What's wrong?" questioned Yozora running over to me from the room he was just in.
"The mirror, Yozora! I saw something looking at me from the fucking mirror!" I whispered harshly.
"You sure?" aaaand there was the typical question. "I mean it was dark inside and…"
"A small black figure sitting in the corner can't have been my imagination, Yozo." I informed him impatiently. "Not to mention it was standing right in the flashlight reflection so I saw it clear as day!"
"Wanna go and check it again?" and he didn't wait for my answer and began to carefully walk to the toilet.
"You probably won't find it there again. You know how these things are quick to disappear." I said in a resigned tone but followed him anyway. I stood at the entrance letting him explore the entire small toilet and even checked the mirror twice but nothing happened.
Unbelievable. How long has that thing been watching me before I finally paid attention to it from the mirror? now imagine the heart attack I was surely about to get had I seen it directly in front of me and not through a reflection.
"Come on. Let's just continue." I huffed as I stepped away from the entrance.
"There's nothing th-" and the toilet door slammed in a horrifying echo trapping my boyfriend inside. I gasped and quickly ran to the door and violently jerked the doorknob in a panic.
"Yozora? Open the door!"
"It won't open, Noct!" I could hear his alarmed voice from behind the door as he attacked the doorknob as well. And after a few desperate attempts from our ends, it finally opened allowing Yozo to rush though.
"You okay?" I cupped his cheek lovingly, horror notable on his mismatched eyes.
"Yeah." He swallowed hard. "Yeah. I'm good." He was huffing beneath his mask causing the navy blue piece of cloth to move back and forth against his mouth. I quickly rushed to the toilet door and closed it for the sake of precaution. When I walked back to my shaken up lover, I saw he has managed to get it together.
"You didn't see anything inside, did you?" I asked him with concern because imagine the amount of trauma and terror you could feel if you got trapped with a creepy entity in a closed room and can't escape from it.
"No. didn't have the heart to look next to me actually." I let him keep talking as I caressed his hair for comfort. "I was focusing my entire view on the door. I don't know if whatever you saw showed up again with me while I was in there but I felt something touch my shoulder and… and grab my shirt and frankly? I didn't wanna know – I really didn't." he added the last part in a whisper. When I moved behind him to check his shirt, I saw that the olive green tanktop he had tucked underneath his pants was raised revealing a bit of his lower back. It was crumbled as if someone grabbed it and yanked it up.
And this someone was a jinn. And Yozora was trapped in a toilet with one.
I was beginning to question if he wanted to do this anymore. I'm not even sure about myself either. What's the point of subjecting myself, and my own loved one for that matter, to all that horror and stress when we shouldn't even be obligated to do so? We got ourselves into this mess and it wasn't even out of necessity but out of curiosity. And for what?
"Come on. I have been in that room earlier." He turned around before I had time to make my next decision, encouraging me to just carry on with the ordeal. What happened earlier was chilling but wasn't serious enough to make us quit. But here's the thing: should we leave now while things were still simple? Or are we digging ourselves a deeper hole than we could climb? Would this stubbornness be our own downfall?