Work Text:
They were back. Why the heck were they back. It had only been a week and they were rolling up to another abandoned house that had been marked as forgotten by the surrounding people.
This one looked like it needed desperate repair, the roof was caved in, windows smashed, wood hanging off the sides of the walls, clinging on for dear life with nothing but a rusted, bent screw.
“You okay Nath?” Asked Alix, resting her palm on the shoulder of the boy.
“Yeah, yeah. Just hoping it doesn't somehow go worse than last time, you know our luck,” he tried to add light heartedly.
“No need to be pessimistic, we have the greatest ghost hunter ever with us,” she gestured towards the tallest one, who was carefully inspecting his notebook.
“So my boyfriend is now a professional?”
The red haired giggled a little, the Raven haired going pink in the face with adoration but also embarrassment.
“Dont worry, you're cute,” reassured Nathaniel.
Marc made a few flustered grumbles before grabbing a thermometer, flashlight and a glow stick and trudging towards the house.
“Wait!” Called Alix, pulling out her phone, “join a call so we can stay in contact, everyone has some form of headphones, right? The house looks big and in case we lose each other we can at least be able to talk easily.”
The other two nodded in agreement, connecting various Bluetooth devices and joining a vc together.
“Good, now we can go in,” she smiled.
The door creaked open, the frame barely hanging onto the hinges. Glass was smashed and scattered on the floor like pointed needles spilling out of a sewing kit. Piles of boxes, bottles, furniture and files were strewn around. Barely any space to be able to walk.
Carefully they headed in. It was cold. Dead cold.
Alix concluded she was going to find the rise box like they did at the last house, using her torch to guide her way up the stairs to the right.
Nath and Marc stayed on the ground floor. The artist's camera was strung around his neck, he wanted to bring it to document photos for their upcoming creative protect in school, wanting to do something different than his usual anatomy and people based drawings.
“Oh that's… Creepy,” the writer paused, looking into a room on the left.
“You both okay?” Asked the girl over the communication device.
“Yeah, there's just a couple of weird mannequins staring at us,” Marc responded.
“Awesome. I'm gonna look around upstairs, tell me if you find anything else down there! The breaker is on!”
Before carrying on, the artist took a quick photo with his camera of the haunted like room. The two boyfriends carried on walking through the maze of a house, skirting round the piles of debris, treading lightly over the glass and mirror fragments which coated the ground like blood in snow.
Carrying on with his love for creatives every so often Nath would pull out the photography device, clicking the button to highlight the deteriorated state that houses can fall into.
“Goodness it's freezing in here,” noted Nathaniel, as they walked into a room while rubbing his arms up and down.
“Yeah no kidding, look at this!”
Marc passed them the pocket thermometer which was highlighting the fact that the room was in the negative temperatures.
“Hah, fun.”
“You got something?” Once again the girl asked.
“Yeah! We think we found where the ghost is. Come to the kitchen!” Marc joyed.
They both noted that a few objects were being chucked around the room, plates which were already pretty damaged being smashed against the wall.
“Duck!” Yelled Nathaniel, seeing his friend enter the room, a spoon hurtling in her direction.
“Thanks,” she laughed, picking up the flashlight she accidentally dropped.
“Hey look!” Marc smiled, raising up his glow stick to the spoon, “finger prints again!”
The group stuck around the kitchen for a while, the artist taking photos of his friend and partner as well as the environment they were in, the skater posing for said pictures, being as dramatic as possible, and the writer actually trying to find out anything about the ghost.
“I'm gonna grab more things from the car,” Alix gestured, turning on the spot and heading out the room. “Tell me if you find anything else!”
“I'm gonna look around, don't do anything stupid,” giggled Nath, giving his partner a kiss on the cheek.
Marc sighed, now alone in the room. He brushed his hand over the kitchen counter, avoiding the debris and dust which was scattered over top, trying to see if he could see anything from the equipment on top.
Soon the lights started flickering and he heard static over his headphones.
“H-y wh- -d t-e fr-t -or s-m sh-”
The girl’s voice was distorted over the call.
“Alix?” The boy spoke, confused, turning around to go find her.
As he did so he saw a shadowy figure sprinting in his direction.
He screamed a shrill cry.
Nath attempted to talk over the communicator but the sound of Marc’s heartbeat racing as he stumbled backwards and the crackles of the mic drowned out the other's confusion.
He ducked around the island, trying to lose the spirit.
That didn't work. It kept pursuing at speed quicker than any person.
He pushed his way out the kitchen and into the open, diving and turning between each loose item which littered the uneven floor.
Onwards he ran, not knowing what else to do.
Soon he felt a hand grab him round the wrist and he was pulled backwards.
He tried to yell again.
A hand covered his mouth.
“Shhh” was heard. It was whispered into his ear.
Turning around with his limited vision he saw the familiar ginger hair of his partner.
Breathing a sigh of relief he moved the fingers of his boyfriend away from his mouth.
The footsteps of the paranormal entity slowed and sped up as it wandered around the house, hunting them down like mice in a cat's territory.
Marc fell back into Nathaniel, clutching onto his hand, the two hiding silently behind a stack of books and boxes.
Then. Quiet.
Just their rapid breaths.
“Are you two okay?!” Asked Alix over the phone, her shoes heard running through the house trying to find them.
“Just about,” Nath awkwardly laughed, pulling the two out from the shadows.
The girl ran over and gave them both a tight hug, directing them out the door and into the fresh air.
Marc was still trying to catch his breath. Thank goodness for his football practice, or else he wouldn't have been able to outrun the ghoul. Who knows what would've happened.
Nathaniel rested a light hand onto his shoulder, smiling up at him. The writer was safe now. He knew that.
“Let’s just head home, I think we're done for today,” the writer spoke rubbing his arm up and down.
“Good idea,” Alix reassured.