Chapter 6

Back downstairs, Freed took out of his coat pockets of what appeared to be two cans of spray paint, the kind graffiti artists use, shaking them.

"Lucy, let's get this show on the road," Freed said. He headed upstairs as Lucy followed him. "I'll be quite honest, this house is rather boring. Whoever designed this house obviously had no potential entertainment here."

Gray glared at Freed and mumbled, "Oh, we'll entertain you, alright. Entertain you to death."

Grabbing Juvia's hand, they both walked down the hallway. As both Freed and Lucy proceeded down the hallway upstairs, he turned around the corner where Gray and Juvia were, something catching his attention. If he didn't know for a second, he could have sworn he saw movement and then it disappeared. Just seeing that perplexed Freed.

"Is something wrong?" Lucy asked.

Freed answered. "I could have sworn I saw something. It was probably my imagination."

They go into a room and Lucy starts to spray paint something on the wall. It says, "mauve."

Freed smiled. "Impressive, Lucy. You've read my mind."

Lucy opened her mouth with shock and smiled, "I did. That's what you were thinking."

"Indeed," Freed said. "I love clients who can read my mind. I don't think people realize how strong a connection there is between interior design and the supernatural."

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I did read your book… uh, what was it called… 'The Haunted Tapestries of Walford'".

"Which also means you have good taste as much as I do," Freed told her. "You don't know how many clients I've had to go through that have failed to impress me with their own sense of style."

Turning around the corner of the room, they approached a closet they opened up. Freed turns on the light and appearing before them was Juvia, who was there hanging by a rope on her neck and she just ripped her face off and her eyes popped out.

Lucy and Freed stare aghast.

"Oh, my god!" Lucy said with shock.

Freed just merely scoffed. "We just have to pray that the other closets are bigger than this one." Pushing Juvia's hanged body (unable to see it), he peered into the closet and pulled out what appeared to be wedding outfits, originally belonging to the Fullbuster's. "You know, I'm beginning to suspect these people had no sense of fashion when they got married. I mean, look at this."

Lucy merely scoffed at the wedding outfits. "Talk about being old fashioned. Sure, you'd probably look good in it, if you were Ozzie and Harriet."

Juvia began to fume at the remark Lucy just made. "What did she say?! I'm going to kill her for that!"

Putting the wedding clothes back in the closet as they proceeded into the house, Freed asked, "What happened to the people that used to live here?"

"They died," Lucy replied. "As to how they died, it's not like it really matters."

Walking through the bathroom, both Lucy and Freed were disgusted by how the bathroom looked. It just looked too ordinary for them.

"Honestly, how did these people tolerate something like this," Freed complained. "I mean, look at this bathroom. It's like walking through an indoor outhouse."

"I'll bet anything the wife must have had the aesthetic instincts of Betty Crocker," Lucy said.

Opening the door to the bathroom, they came into another room. It appeared to be an ordinary bedroom.

Pondering a bit, Lucy replied, "Let's see… this could be Wendy's room. Freed, what style do you think would suit this room?"

"Well, I've known you and your family for quite a while, so I would suggest a Viridian style," Freed suggested. "The blue-green color definitely suits her. Your daughter's favorite colors, as I recall."

"Of course," Lucy figured. "After all, she does prefer a dark room."

They both marked the room with spray paint, spelling the word viridian, which they knew would be Wendy's room.

Once they were done, they opened the door to the next room. What they came upon is what appeared to be a study room, with a front desk and full of books. What they did not notice in the room was the gruesome sight.

Gray's lifeless body laid on the floor with Juvia, holding a knife with a deranged look on her face, the knife covered in blood and holding the head of her husband, Gray. Freed and Lucy did not take notice of this and were only merely looking at the study room.

"Ugh!" Freed said, disgusted by how the study room looked. "Who designed this? L.L. Bean."

Before they could go inside, someone appeared out of nowhere and shouted, "NO!"

Lucy and Freed were caught by surprise. It was none other than Natsu, who was blocking them from entering the room.

"Natsu, give me a heart attack, why don't you!" Lucy told him.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Give you a heart attack? You're going to give me a heart attack. I know what you two are planning and I'm not going to let you get away with it. You're going to ruin this house and give it a weird Buckingham style makeover."

Both Gray and Juvia realized that no one could see them at all.

Holding her husband's decapitated head, Gray spoke and said, "This isn't working at, Juvia. They can't see or hear us."

Lucy sighed out of frustration. "Is that what you're worried about, Natsu. You know as well as I do, I need to have my own style to it. And besides, you're the one who bought this house without telling me. I've already decided I'm not going to be mad at you about it. So, I've decided I will live with you in this old rundown house.

"However, if you refuse to let me design this house in my own style, I will seriously unleash my wrath on you. Is that what you want?" Lucy's eyes opened wide and an ominous aura surrounded her that scared Natsu, making him shake with fear. He knew better than to upset Natsu and knew she was scary when she got mad.

Trying to keep his cool, Natsu replied, "You know, on second thought, maybe the house could use a little remodeling. But let's work something out. You do what you need to do with the other rooms and leave this study area alone. I kind of like how old fashioned it is. Deal?"

Lucy smiled, okay with that suggestion. "Deal."

Juvia glared at Lucy once more. "By the time I'm through with that hussy, I'm going to subject her to complete humiliation."

Finding themselves back in the main hallway of the house, Lucy said to Freed, "I cannot convey to you the extent to which this house bore me."

Freed looked around the house scientifically and replied, "Well, once you cover up the wallpaper, knock down a few walls, alter the traffic patterns, and perhaps… think about an inground pool… this place might be liveable. By the way, what do you suppose is on the third floor?"

"Attic space," Lucy told him.

The attic caught Freed's interest. "Let's see, perhaps we could turn that into a media room."

They head upstairs to the attic.

"The hell they are!" Gray shouted, with his head still decapitated. "My attic is not going to be remodeled." Even without his head, Gray's body reacted and headed towards the attic where Lucy and Freed were headed.

Gray's body ran as fast as it could and bypassed Lucy and Freed. Right when Gray's body ran past them, Freed felt a rumbling sensation. To him, it felt as though someone was moving and could have sworn something barely touched him on the side of his coat.

A bit perplexed, he looked at Lucy with confusion and asked, "Did you feel something?"

"You mean the cool wind," Lucy answered.

"Not exactly," said Freed, suspecting there was something going on in this house. He was still suspicious from earlier and knew he saw or felt movement in this house. Freed couldn't exactly say it unless he knew for sure.

Gray's headless corpse slams the door shut, turns the key on the lock to make sure neither Lucy or Freed could get in. Neither Lucy or Freed didn't notice the door shut until the last minute. They didn't make anything of it and assumed an open window from the wind shut the door closed.

Proceeding up the stairs, Freed turned the knob and realized the door was locked. Looking at Lucy, he asked, "Do you have the key to this?"

Lucy shook her head. "Maybe Natsu does."

Before they could go back downstairs, Freed remained even more suspicious and said, "I have a feeling there's something very interesting behind this door."

"Probably the world's largest Reader's Digest collection," Lucy joked. "C'mon, Freed. We'll worry about the attic later. Let's go have some cake and wine. This whole day is making me tired."

Back in the study room, Natsu decided to use this time to relax. He took out a car magazine, admiring all the fast automobiles that caught his interest. Natsu remained oblivious that Gray and Juvia were still in the room, unable to see them like Lucy and Freed.

Gray's headless corpse came back to the study room, took his head back from Juvia and reattached himself. "Whew! That was close!"

Becoming more upset as all of this went on, Juvia voiced herself out loud to her husband. "Dear, I don't think I can stand any of this much more! What's the point of being a ghost if we can't scare these people to death! I mean look!" She made wild gestures to Natsu, who didn't even notice as he read his magazine.

Knowing how stressed out his wife was becoming, Gray replied, "Look, Juvia, just calm down."

"I can't stay calm!" Juvia yelled. "In fact, I'd rather be out of this house than stand one more minute with these people!"

Juvia ran out of the study room. Gray realized Juvia wanted out of this house and knew that was not the best option. She was unaware of what was really outside (at least when you're a ghost).