Work Text:
My childhood friend and I enjoy exploring abandoned houses. I’ve called him Chili Pepper since forever, because he enjoys sneaking spicy things into my food. However, we have in common our love for exploring abandoned houses. He enjoys the thrill of a spooky moment, but I was born with the ability to sense spirits. This normally manifests through the senses depending on what was important to the spirit. For example, the air around an undead beekeeper may smell like a sweet honey and have a slight sound of buzzing.
Today, at school, Chili found a new place to explore. He said there had been sightings of the doctor that lives on the edge of town sneaking into it at night. This got people thinking about what he could be hiding. A failed experiment? A cultivation site for rare medicine? Either way, we decided to investigate as soon as possible.
I grab my flashlight, notebook, and camera. I hop on my old bike in the chilly night to meet him at the old house. The doctor was out of town on an errand, so we shouldn’t bump into him.
“Hey! Are you ready to go in?” Chili shouts at me as he waves from a few feet away. He’s wearing a dark sweatshirt and has a small backpack with various supplies we might need. When I get to the front of the house, I can feel the air biting at my skin.
“Very ready,” I reply. I nearly live for meeting spirits, and this house had a bad feeling about it. The cool air, despite being in the middle of spring, was a good sign that one was nearby. I jump off my bike and lean it against a fence surrounding the garden in front. The house was of average size, but the red paint was chipping off the brick and the old wooden door was covered in moss and vines. I turn on the flashlight and open the front door with ease. My friend is close behind.
Instantly as I walk into the house, the air chills further. I shiver despite being dressed for the cold, but my friend looks at the walls, disinterested.
“Can you feel anything different?” Chili asks, tapping on the old wooden floor.
“It’s really cold in here,” I say.
He says, “Really? I’m nice and warm.” I can see his eyes twinkle before he excitedly rushes ahead, towards an old door down the hall, exclaiming, “Something must be here!”
“Hey, don’t run!-“ I yell, but he stops short, all excitement sapped out immediately. Chili stands weirdly still, staring straight ahead.
“Something just ran past,” he states, his voice shivering as he slowly starts to step back. Alarmed, I rush past him through a door into a room with a couch and a small table. There’s two massive bookshelves with books that have been deteriorating for a long time. I look around wildly, searching for the figure that could’ve moved. However, everything in the room is perfectly still. The space has a blanket over the couch with a small pillow leaning against the arm rest. The red blanket looks too new for this abandoned house. Maybe the doctor was using this place as a hideout? But the doctor has a house that no one disturbs him in. He doesn’t get many visitors.
My quick search turns empty, so I look to the doorway to the next room. From around the corner, a pair of small purple eyes looks at the both of us. They seem startled and turn away from the doorway, disappearing.
Not following my own warnings, I run into the next room. Those unnatural purple eyes could be a spirit! My friend follows close behind, chasing after me.
“Um, stop right there!” A small, soft voice shouts. Holding up an old frying pan, a small girl with a blue hat stood to the left of the door, hidden as we run in. “I’m… not afraid to use this,” the small voice determinedly says. The air around the girl is frigid. The little girl has very long yet very dry light violet hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her skin is a near-white blue. She has a few small yellow papers on her clothes and one on her hat with writing that I don’t understand. I recognize them, however, as sigils of undead life.
“Hold on, we’re not here to hurt you,” I quickly say.
“You’re… not?” She says, lowering the pan. She pulls out a small grey notebook from a pocket and rifles through it. Suddenly, she stops on a page and looks back at the two of us. “But you… aren’t the doctor.”
“Huh?” I say, confused. “Of course we aren’t. But who are you?” I take a small step forward in this old kitchen-like room, and my friend stands up straight, uneasiness apparent on his face.
“The doctor calls me,” she rifles through her book again, “Qiqi. But it’s not… very nice to trespass,” the little girl says, frowning.
“This is supposed to be an abandoned house,” Chili says from behind me, peering over my shoulder. “What’s that notebook that you keep going through?”
“It’s for.. all of my memories.” Qiqi explains how horrible her memory is. She easily forgets people and her goals. Sometimes, the doctor will ask her to grab something from another room, but unless she writes it down, she’ll get lost and forget her objective. Qiqi also explains how the doctor keeps her alive through the undead sigils that cover her clothing. I never knew that he may have been using a magic to cure his patients.
“Please… keep this all a secret… okay?” Qiqi says.
“We promise,” I say to her, with a smile. “We’ll just leave you be.”
“Come back… another time… to say hi!“
Walking, we get out of the house, Chili and I begin to chat. From beside me, he says, “So why do you think Qiqi is tied to that house?”
I place my hand on my chin and reply, “That house has been deserted for years. Maybe she is related to the family that left it behind?”
My friend looks to the side and says, “Hm… but there’s also that doctor… Why is he helping her?” He thinks out loud.
“We’ll just have to find out through our supernatural detective skills!” I say, determined.
Chili turns to me, smiling, and says, “Of course!”