Chapter Text
Ever since the sale had gone through, Andrew had felt like something was off.
Now, standing in front of the huge house, the foreboding sensation increased. It was basically a mansion, big enough to have enough rooms for all nine of them. Some of them had been studies or lounges, but Wymack had spent a good few months fixing the place up for them while their practices led to nowhere. As far as Andrew had been told, two living rooms or lounges had been smashed through to make one huge den. Which, considering he didn’t really want to be in the same room with the Other Lot, was going to make playing video games a chore. There was also a basement and an attic that Wymack hadn’t really done anything with. Apparently, he hadn’t even gone in them because, ‘what do you lot need with that much space?’
And they got all of that for the cheap, cheap price of twenty-five thousand dollars, paid for through a combination of the college, Wymack, Allison, and Matt’s mom.
Andrew narrowed his eyes at the front of it, a real white-picket-fence type place, if not for how huge the estate was. He took a drag from his cigarette and let his eyes linger on the smoke for a moment. His ‘teammates’ moved around him, dragging suitcases or hefting boxes. Aaron flicked him a black look as he made his way in, struggling under his burden of his own bag as well as one of Andrew’s bags.
A month or so before this, the Foxes’ Athletes’ House had had a fire. No-one knew how, but the fire investigators had told them it was likely faulty wiring that had been overtaxed. But Andrew wasn’t so sure they’d done a proper investigation. Baltimore was pretty close to the Ravens’ hang-out, after all. Still, they had been lucky to get this house.
Or unlucky, if the feeling in Andrew’s bones was any indication.
“Andrew!” Nicky whined. “This one’s heavy.”
Turning, Andrew gave Nicky a blank look and stared at the box of his textbooks and video games. He knew that it was about the same weight as the rest of his bags, so Nicky was clearly trying to get him to help. Huffing smoke out of his nose, Andrew dropped the butt and stamped on it before grabbing the box from Nicky’s hands and easily hefted it to his shoulder. Nicky’s smile and thanks were ignored as Andrew spun on his heel and stalked up to the door.
As soon as he stepped over the threshold, a shiver ran down Andrew’s spine. It was a strange sense of dread, made worse by not knowing why he felt like that. He had felt it before, of course, when he was a child and he huddled under the covers, waiting. That, at least, had become familiar; this was utterly unfamiliar and it unnerved him enough that he had to step away from Nicky.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the feeling was gone.
Interesting, he thought. Then Nicky passed him by and Andrew put it from his mind. He had to find a room with a door that locked to dump his stuff in. There had to be one in the massive house.
The inside of it was as impressive and, frankly, nauseating as the outside. Beyond the front door was a wide space which was meant to be a foyer or hallway. On Andrew’s right, there was an archway into the huge den space they now had for socialising, an unfortunate thing to have in his opinion. Glancing through the door showed Andrew a cluster of chairs and beanbags surrounding a fairly sizable TV. Bookcases lined the walls, unfilled and forlorn. There were doors on the left of the hall, too. One of them led to a large enough kitchen for several people to be in it at once and even contained two stoves and ovens. The other must have been the dining room that Andrew had heard Dan going on about. Directly in front of Andrew, though, was a wide staircase that curved upwards and around to the landing. There would only be a railing between Andrew and the floor below and he stared at it for a moment, unsure if he liked the fact that he would be able to feel within the company of the others.
Matt stood at the top of the stairs. “Hey, guys!” he said, gesturing at Andrew and Nicky to follow him. “We’ve all already picked out rooms and the rest of them are for you to choose from. Coach has put locks on all the doors, the keys are in them, and there’s a few bathrooms, too.”
Andrew started up the stairs. Of course Wymack had added locks to the door. In that case, it didn’t really matter which room he had, though one with a window seat would be good.
Behind him, Nicky followed him up the stairs. He was chatting over Andrew’s head at Matt about decorating. Andrew heard Nicky try to entice him into conversation but he ignored him. There was only so much of his cousin’s chatter that he could take, and he’d just spent a car ride with him.
Just as they reached the top, Aaron appeared. He glanced at Andrew and Nicky and made his way past them. Kevin also appeared around the corner, seemingly fascinated by the house itself. That made Andrew raise an eyebrow - was this house secretly something to do with Exy?
Instead, it seemed like Kevin’s other passion - history - was rearing its annoying head. “This place must be pretty old,” he said as Andrew and the others approached. “And, even if it’s not, there’s a lot of antiques in the hall so we have to be careful.”
Now, that was very interesting. “Whoever owned this before us left all their stuff?” Andrew said.
Kevin’s expression of wonder dissolved into a frown. “Yeah… It makes no sense. And, if there’s stuff like this around, there’s probably more things in the attic-”
Apart from Andrew, the rest gathered on the landing all jumped at a sudden bang. It sounded like a door slamming. Andrew looked between their surprised and confused faces before stalking down the hall in the direction of the sound. Turning the corner, all he saw were rows of closed doors - save for one, halfway down it. That one was open just a sliver and Andrew had the impression of a child peering out at him, despite there being nothing of the sort.
Narrowing his eyes at it, Andrew moved closer. He paused outside of the room and set the box on a little, decorative table that shook from the contact. Just as he reached out to the handle, there was a commotion behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Kevin, Matt and Nicky all peering around the corner. He gave them a baleful look.
“Is it safe?” Nicky asked. “Is the house falling apart?”
Rolling his eyes, Andrew turned back to the door and pushed it open. The room beyond was empty save for a flat-pack bed from Ikea that was propped against the wall beside the window and its seat opposite the door. Light flickered over the navy carpet as the sun tried to reach through the branches of a tree outside. A desk had either been in the room since before they bought the house or had been built by Wymack before he gave up on furnishing the room. Childish wallpaper was on three of the walls: dark and light blue stripes with a line of teddy bears and toy soldiers. To Andrew’s right was a built in closet that took up the entirety of the wall. One of the doors had been pushed slightly open so Andrew made his way over.
He stood in front of it and peered into the dimness. Unable to see anything, he reached out, eyes narrowed. For some reason, it seemed to take an age for Andrew to grip the edge of the door. Before he could open it, there was a clatter behind him and he quickly looked over his shoulder.
Nicky stood in the doorway, nervously hanging onto one of Andrew’s bags. “Andrew? Is there something in there?”
Without answering, Andrew turned back to the closet and slid the door open. The wooden door clattered as it folded in on itself. There was nothing within it save for a rail to hang things on and plastic boxes that still had the Ikea stickers on them. He stared at it for a moment, then turned to Nicky, brow raised.
“Huh,” said Nicky, peering around the room. “Maybe the door isn’t straight?” he suggested. “But, hey, this must’ve been the kid’s room!”
“What kid?” asked Andrew, sharply.
“Uh, I don’t know,” Nicky replied, blinking owlishly. “I just figured there was a kid at one point.” He nodded at the wallpaper.”
“Right,” said Andrew, looking around.
“Anyway, is this the room you want? It’s, like, right in the middle of the two bathrooms so you’ll probably be last in all the time, unless you’re up earlier than us. And this side of the house has more sunlight.” Nicky paused for breath and peered at the window. “Though the tree sort of blocks it. Wonder why they put the kid in this room? That’s the most obvious escape route when they wanted to sneak out at night.”
“Because every eight year old wants to sneak out at night,” said Andrew, dryly.
Nicky paused and blinked at him. “Oh. Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, if you want this room, we can redecorate. Strip off the wallpaper, paint it black…” Nicky turned a grin on Andrew, clearly referencing Andrew’s clothing choices.
Andrew levelled a look at him. “Give me that and get out,” he ordered.
“Ah. Okay. You don’t need to be so mean about it!”
Thankfully, Nicky dropped the bags and backed out of the room. Once he was gone, Andrew looked around the room. It was as good a place as any to sleep - when he could, anyway. His eyes roamed over the empty closet and landed on the closed one. He paused for a moment; whatever had caused the door to slam like that couldn’t be in there, could it? For a moment, Andrew remained still with his indecision. Give in to his curiosity or shove it away? In the end, he stepped over to it and grabbed hold of the handle. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
There was nothing there.
Huffing an annoyed breath, Andrew rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. He paused when he noticed that there was something in the closet. It was small and tucked into the corner, its colours faded. Andrew frowned at it and bent to pick it up. As he closed his fingers around it, a sudden chill made him shiver. Jolting upright, he spun to take in the room, convinced that someone was watching him. But there was no-one there so he looked down at the thing in his hand.
A children’s toy, a little figurine, lay sadly in Andrew’s hand. It had a helmet and a green jersey with the number 1 on it in faded black. Only just visible was a little shamrock which sat snug on the toy’s chest. Across its body it held a racquet - an Exy racquet. With Andrew’s memory, he was able to dredge up the smudged face that should have been there. This was Kayleigh Day, Kevin’s mother. Whoever had lived here was an Exy fan. Andrew snorted; it was as if he couldn’t escape the game, no matter what happened.
Briefly, he wondered how the estate agent, Wymack and anyone else in this house could have missed it. Then he shrugged the thoughts away and placed the figurine on the desk. A reminder, he supposed, of someone he would never know.
Andrew might have given more thought to the figurine if certain events hadn’t happened later that night.
Since it was their first time in the new house, Dan decided that they should do a team bonding movie night. “And it’ll let us get a chance to test the TV,” she had added at dinner, grinning widely.
“Pass,” Andrew said.
Dan sighed and folded her arms, frowning at him. “Come on, Andrew. This sort of thing doesn’t happen every day.”
“Yes. It’s suspicious.”
“Maybe it’s fate,” Renee suggested with a serene smile.
“Bullshit,” said Seth. “No such thing,” he added when Allison shot him a black look.
“Maybe it’s luck,” Matt suggested, holding up his hands as if to ward off a fight.
“Whatever,” Andrew said, trying to dismiss the stupid conversation. He stood from the table, intent on finding himself some ice cream.
“Andrew,” said Renee, stopping him in his tracks. He glanced down at her. “If you spend some time with us, you can choose the movie we’re going to watch.”
“What?!” Allison exclaimed. “No! It should be put to a vote.”
Since Andrew didn’t believe in repeating himself, he gestured with his empty plate at Renee before he left the dining room. Everything was relatively normal on his walk down the hall, but it all changed when he walked into the kitchen. For some reason, the temperature dropped dramatically when Andrew stepped inside; it felt more like he was in a freezer than the place where Nicky and Matt had been cooking for everyone. (There was going to be a rota, apparently. Andrew wondered how they were going to try to force him to participate.)
Brow furrowed, Andrew set down the plate and went in search of the thermostat which, apparently, was a fancy one situated in the cupboard under the stairs. It also housed the old computers and stuff which connected to the security cameras. Since there was currently no need for them, Wymack had decided not to attempt to figure them out. Andrew had found that odd when Dan had mentioned it at dinner; shouldn’t the estate agent or whoever had lived in this house beforehand updated it at some point?
He opened the cupboard door before he could get too stuck on that train of thought. Inside, the computers and screens were dark. It was also larger than any other cupboard under the stairs that Andrew had ever seen. Glancing around, he noticed that there were some lights set into the wall and, squinting at it in the dim light, he realised that there were gauges above each one. Assuming that it was the thermostats, Andrew glanced around for a light switch and found none. In fact, when he glanced up, he spotted the real problem - there was no bulb.
Rolling his eyes, Andrew stepped into the cupboard and left the door as wide as possible to let in enough light. A shiver ran down his spine but he forcibly ignored it. Memories threatened to resurface, but Andrew took another step until he was in front of the tiny gauges. He squinted at them. As far as he could see, all of the gauges were at the same temperature, around 70⁰F. Each of the gauges had little plaques with words on them, though most of them were null and void. However, there was still one that said ‘Kitchen’ - and it was also at 70⁰F.
So why was the kitchen so cold?
Dread crept up on him and Andrew tried to shrug it off. Maybe someone had left a window open. Though, he knew as soon as he thought it that that wasn’t right. Instead, his mind jumped to another scenario. If someone were to deliberately make the room cold, then the first place anyone would go to would be the cupboard. And…
Slowly, Andrew turned and stared at the door, waiting for it to slam shut, maybe due their intruder from earlier, if that had been what had happened. Maybe the house had secret passageways and that was how they had disappeared in his new room. But, as he watched the rectangle of light, nothing happened. There was just a strangely heavy silence, almost expectant.
Since nothing was happening, Andrew sighed at how stupid he was being and took the couple of steps necessary to get past the door. Just as he reached the doorway, he winced as his cousin’s loud voice called out for him. He sighed again and stepped out, leaving the door open for the moment - if the kitchen was still freezing, he would have to go back to try to sort it out.
When he turned towards the kitchen, Nicky was there. “What were you doing?” Nicky demanded. “I thought you’d come to get ice cream or something.”
“I did-” Andrew began - and the door behind him slammed shut.
Nicky jumped and yelped in surprise. Andrew tensed and turned to frown at the door. Nothing seemed to have changed from a few minutes ago, but he crossed to it and yanked it open. Once more, there was nothing inside bar the old computers and the thermostat. After he glowered at the empty space for a moment, Andrew slammed the door shut and stomped away, brushing past Nicky.
“Um, maybe the whole house is on a hill and…” Nicky trailed off when Andrew flicked an unimpressed look at him over his shoulder. Grimacing, Nicky ducked his head, grumbling to himself.
Andrew made his way to the kitchen and stepped inside. Nicky followed like a lost puppy but Andrew ignored him. This time, the kitchen was at a decent temperature. With narrowed eyes, Andrew scanned the room. There was nothing out of place- No, there was one thing.
The plate that Andrew had placed beside one of the sinks had disappeared. Andrew walked over to where it should have been and spotted it inside the sink. Not only that, whoever had put it in there had left it to soak. He stared at it. If what seemed to be happening - not that he believed it - was actually happening, then their apparent fellow lodger was rather conscientious. Then again, this could be explained.
“Did you do this?” Andrew demanded of Nicky, turning to stare impassively at him.
Blinking, Nicky shook his head. “No? Didn’t you?”
Turning back to the sink, Andrew stared at the plate. Then he heard movement from further into the house as the others drifted away from the dining room, and Andrew decided to put it from his mind. He turned on his heel and stalked to the freezer. His ice cream was waiting for him and he plucked it from its place before he escaped the post-dinner congregation in the kitchen.
Apparently, since Andrew hadn’t said no, they were all having a movie night. Aaron didn’t seem pleased, but Andrew decided that wasn’t his problem, especially since Aaron was never usually happy in his presence. On the other end of the spectrum, Nicky was ecstatic, chattering away and getting on everybody’s nerves. Andrew ignored him as he ate more ice cream and glared Kevin into silence when he tried to lecture Andrew on junk food.
“What’re we going to watch?” Nicky asked, excitedly.
Before anyone could speak, Renee turned to Andrew where he was slumped in a beanbag. “Andrew? What would you like to watch?”
“Wait,” said Allison, pushing herself up off Seth's shoulder to stare at Renee in betrayal. “You were being serious about letting Andrew pick?”
“Well,” said Matt, reasonably. “We always have movie nights. So we all pick movies all the time.” He gestured at his lot who were on one side of the TV. “And I’m not sure I want to know what Kevin or Nicky will pick.”
“And you just don’t care about me,” Aaron muttered.
Matt visibly winced. “Well, uh…”
“We do care about you,” Dan protested. “Of course we do. We’re a team.”
Andrew snorted. “Of course. A team .”
Dan frowned at him. “Look-” she began.
“Wait!” Matt exclaimed, grinning widely. “Why doesn’t Andrew pick the genre and Aaron pick the movie?”
“What if I want to pick something we don’t have?” Aaron grumbled. Clearly he was just trying to be difficult now. Andrew fought the urge to roll his eyes.
“I got us a subscription to that new app, along with Netflix and Disney Plus,” Allison explained, gesturing to the set-up under the TV. “It should have most movies on it.”
“Then, I think Matt’s idea sounds good,” said Renee, calmly. “What sort of movie would you like to watch?” She looked between Andrew and Aaron, who were as far away from each other as was possible while Aaron kept within Andrew’s protective circle.
Andrew looked around the room and at all their curious faces. He had no doubt that they thought that he was about to give them some grand insight into the inner workings of his mind. Instead, he thought for a moment, trying to think of the worst possible genre for them to watch in this new house. His mouth twitched as he settled on one. “Horror,” he declared and stuck a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.
“What?!” screeched Nicky. “No! We can’t watch a horror here ! Right now! I’ll never get any sleep.”
“The doors do slam an awful lot,” Dan conceded, looking up at the ceiling as if she could see them.
“So?” said Aaron. “Ghosts aren’t real. It’s just a movie.”
Kevin leaned forward on his armchair. “Are there horror Exy movies?”
“Oh, right, ’cause anything like that is going to be any good,” Seth retorted, rolling his eyes. “Don’t be wusses. Put one on so I don’t need to listen to these assholes anymore.”
“No-one asked you, Seth,” Nicky said with an airy quality to his voice. “We get to choose, not you.”
“Well, get on with it, then!” Seth snapped, glowering at Nicky.
Aaron, who had been on his phone, barely glanced up when he spoke. “The Conjuring.”
“Noo!” whined Nicky. “Don’t encourage him, Aaron!”
“That’s what I want,” Aaron replied, glowering at Nicky.
“Okay, okay!” Nicky raised his hands in surrender. “Can we even get it, tho-?”
“Yup,” said Allison, the remote in her hand and an app loading on the games console. “I’m sure it’s on this.”
“Urgh,” said Nicky. “I need a cushion.” Renee kindly handed him one and, after Nicky had taken it and he had smiled gratefully at her, he muttered, “And Erik.”
“A horror movie will be fun,” said Dan, snuggling into Matt’s side. She turned her head slightly to smile at him and Matt wrapped his arms more tightly around her. Both of them smiled and they kissed, quick and chaste. Andrew fought not to roll his eyes and to remain blank-faced at the sight. Dan pulled back and said, cheerfully, “It’ll be great snuggling time.”
“Urgh!” Nicky repeated. “That’s okay if you’ve got the people to snuggle with right here. Oh, I’m going to have to call Erik after this…”
“Great,” muttered Aaron, voice laden with sarcasm.
“Anyway!” said Allison, cutting across their grumblings. “It’s ready. Everyone shut up.”
And so they started the movie. Andrew ignored the chatter that ebbed and flowed as the others discussed the story and whether they would move into a house that was so isolated. He thought that was ironic, considering where they were. Then again, they were still in Baltimore and not in the middle of nowhere, so he supposed they had some sort of a point.
Everything was normal for a while. Nicky repeatedly made aborted attempts to clutch at Andrew from his own beanbag. Kevin tried to point out historical inaccuracies. Aaron texted his not-a-girlfriend every so often. Allison cackled at something stupid the others were discussing. Matt and Dan snuggled. Renee didn’t flinch at anything on the screen. Andrew ate the sweet popcorn, wondering if it was time to get some more ice cream.
And then the characters went down to the basement and things changed. Almost as soon as the characters opened the door, the lights flickered. Everyone stilled and glanced around. Matt grimaced but was the first to suggest an explanation.
“Maybe we should get Wymack to check the wiring?” he said.
“Right-” Dan began.
The TV flickered. When it came up with an image again, the characters were opening the door to the basement once more. Allison frowned and grabbed the remote. “What the-?” she began before the room was plunged into darkness.
Nicky screeched, his hand grabbing at Andrew’s beanbag. Dan and Allison squealed. A light appeared from Renee’s part of the room as she used her phone to make a torch. As soon as there was some light, everything stopped. Andrew could hear Nicky’s harsh breathing.
“What the fuck?” breathed Matt.
“Shit,” said Seth, sounding a little strained. Andrew wondered if Allison was squeezing the life out of him. “This better not be a sign or I’m fucking outta here.”
“What should we do?” Nicky asked, sounding flustered and upset.
“I can go check the fuses,” Matt suggested. There was movement and rustling - and the lights came back on. The TV and games console came back on as well, though there was a fizzing noise, a pop and the smell of burning plastic. “Shit!” Matt exclaimed, and jolted towards it. With a harsh yank, Matt pulled it from the socket and the fizzling died out. For a moment, the image of the basement door from the film flickered on the screen before it went black.
“Jesus! What the fuck was that?” Seth demanded.
There was silence in answer. Then, as if there was some unknown signal, everyone started moving and talking at once. All the guys shifted so they could take a closer look at the ruined games console. Meanwhile, Dan and Allison clutched at each other. Renee handed over their drinks in an attempt to soothe them. Since their movie night seemed to be ruined, Andrew grabbed the bowl of popcorn and stood, ready to have time to himself in his new room.
As he made his way to the doorway, he heard Allison complaining. “This is ridiculous! That thing was new. Someone is going to pay for this - it could have started a fire.”
“We don’t really know who’s to blame - or if it’s anyone’s fault at all,” Matt pointed out, checking on the TV, presumably for burn marks.
Just as Andrew stepped through the door, he heard movement and his name. He ignored it and made his way to the kitchen. If someone came after him, he would need the ice cream as well as the popcorn. That was how Dan caught him in the hall before he headed upstairs.
“You don’t need to leave,” she said when he looked at her. “We can find something to watch on TV or use another console.”
“No,” said Andrew, brushing past her.
“Come on, Andrew,” Dan called after him, sounding exasperated. Good. It would disabuse the idea of them being friends . “Don’t do this again this year. Please .”
Andrew stopped at the utterance of the hated word. He turned his head slightly to give her a hard look. “You know how I feel about that word,” he said, voice low. Dan grimaced and, convinced she would say no more about it, he left.
Moving through the house alone after what had happened was a bit unsettling. He tried to ignore it, annoyed that this place could make him feel . But it was hard to do so as his mind worked. The house had been cheaper than it should have been. There were too many things left behind, as if something stopped the estate agent or bank from removing them. Doors slammed shut too easily. The kitchen had been cold. And the flickering lights and TV…
Still, though he felt uneasy in the place, there were probably a myriad of reasons for what they were experiencing. This place was evidently old. Things probably didn’t work too well in it anymore. And, if the estate agent had had it for long enough, someone might be losing money by keeping the price too high. The possessions, though… Andrew couldn’t think of a reason that anyone would leave their things behind like that, especially when they inevitably heard of the college athletes moving in.
Shaking his head at his interest, he quelled it as he reached his room. Allison had set up a router and they had Wi-Fi. He would watch something inane as he ate his treats in his half-unpacked room. It wouldn’t tire him out enough to beat the insomnia from moving to a new place - he would be waking up at every slight noise of the settling house - but it would give him something to do.
Andrew precariously balanced the bowl of popcorn on the ice cream tub so he could unlock his door and shoved the door open with only a little difficulty He kicked it shut behind him and turned to put the bowl and tub onto the desk while he locked it behind him. Just as he set them down, he froze. The figurine had been sitting on it before he had left for dinner; now, it was gone, vanished into thin air. Andrew clenched his jaw.
Someone must have been in his room.
Reaching into his pocket, Andrew fully intended on calling Wymack and demanding to know how many keys he had cut for the room doors. While Andrew could pick the locks, the others likely couldn’t, so his things should have been safe. He spun on his heel as he tapped on his phone; the others had been frightened at the strange happenings in the living area, but they were going to be even more frightened when he stormed down to confront them about this, to discover who had managed to surprise him.
However, he stopped when he spotted what was on the back of his door. There was a message waiting for him in large red letters. Having just been watching part of a horror movie, his first thought was that it must be blood. Then he realised that it looked more like it had been done by a crayon or lipstick. Whoever had written it had made it take up a majority of the door at Andrew’s eye level, the letters huge. The handwriting was a scrawl so he dismissed the girls - he had seen their looping, curling, matter-of-fact writing before. Everyone else, though… Any one of them could have done this, but the best bet was Seth. Andrew scowled at the message. If this was a prank, he was not impressed. If it was something else…
His face returned to his usual blankness as he eyed the word written there, wondering what this could mean, wondering if there was more to the house than he thought.
R U N