Chapter Text
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
— Charles Baudelaire
“Go. Away.”
Obviously, it looked like Mikey was talking to himself, but by now, it was the millionth time he’s seen this guy. In the corner of his eye, he’s always there, deformed misty figure lingering near him. He's just standing there... menacingly. It had been around almost a week that they’ve stayed in the paramour mansion, and for the few number of days that they’ve stayed here, Mikey has seen all things unexplainable. To make matters worse, no matter how much he tries to bring up – according to the guys, “The Exorcist type shit”, they always deny seeing anything of the sort and hit Mikey with the 30th “You’re crazy” of the day. But Mikey has seen their faces. He knows they see it too. Alright, maybe its just him seeing the shadow people and hearing whispering. But he knows damn well they’ve all seen the doors opening by themselves, they’ve heard the knocking and scratching of the walls, and they’ve seen the books shuffle off the shelves.
With a heavy sigh, Mikey turned in his bed to face the wall, pulling the sheets up further, because ever since childhood, that action was a tell-tale message to any monster under your bed to back off. Why? Why did he ever agree with his brother to stay here? He recalled 2 months ago version Mikey grinning ear to ear when he heard that they would get to be staying at a marvelous grand estate with fancy furniture and was listed as “totally not haunted” on the website. Mikey mentally smacked past Mikey against the face. Mikey shivered under the thick sheets in the freezing winter, but yet there were beads of sweat forming at his temple. Furrowing his brows in unease, he clutched the blanket closer to his face. After 5 solid seconds of squeezing his eyes shut in the sauna of the blanket, he blinked his eyes open to stare at the wall in front of him. This was not helping. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up in protest as the still air around him got impossibly colder, almost as if the shadow man was perched there like a scarecrow, breathing against his ear. He felt a set of eyes gazing into his soul behind him, lingering, perhaps waiting, for the perfect time to-
Shooting up from his bed, Mikey scanned the room that stretched out before him. He saw no sign of shadow man whatsoever. Oh, fuck no. He tore himself from the duvet to expose the rest of his body to the chilling air, shivering aggressively. He quickly waddled himself to Gerard’s room like a penguin, glancing behind his back every now and then towards the desolate dark corners where anything could be lurking. When he got to Gerard’s room he knocked continuously in rapid succession, hearing a drowsy groan behind the wood, until the door flung open.
Gerard stood awkwardly in the doorway, eyes still shut as if he was trying to sleep while upright. His hair was oddly angled to one side and his face was creased assumingly by the pillow he smushed his face against. Although still 99% asleep, he had an obvious expression of perplexation and annoyance on his face that matched his awful hunchback posture.
“Whaat thsa fuck? Mikey, it’s like… 3am,” Gerard whisper-yelled, eyebrows furrowing a surprising amount for someone still majorly asleep.
“He’s back,” murmured Mikey, which ended up sounding more ominous than he meant for it to be.
“He’s- whuuuhuh-who’s back, Mikey?” slurred Gerard, scrunching his already shut eyes in confusion, accompanied by a hippopotamus looking yawn.
“The fucking-” Mikey peaked behind him when he heard a knock echo off the walls. “The fucking shadow guy- did you hear that?” His eyes scanned the eerie dark hallway ahead of him, coughing slightly in the dust particles floating about.
“Yaaaaaawwnn, Mikey-” Gerard tugged at Mikey’s hair playfully and grabbed his wrist to pull him into his room. “Whatever, fine. If you think your room is haunted you can sleep in mine tonight. But seriously, don’t worry about all the noises dude, like Frank said, it’s probably a raccoon in the walls. C’mon.”
Mikey let his brother lead him to the opposite side of the bed while Gerard plopped down next to him with a boing against the mattress, snoring almost immediately. He hesitated before he tucked himself in, surveying the musty room carefully anything could possess him. Whatever that shadow guy was, it seemed it only liked to be alone with Mikey, so for now, he can sleep soundly with his brother beside him. Yeah, it's probably a raccoon in the walls.
***
When Mikey woke up, Gerard was already sitting up in bed next to him, but chest heaving and drenched in sweat.
“Hey- Gee, you good?”
Gerard turned towards Mikey, revealing his moist face along with his ruffled hair and blood-shot eyes. “Yeah, yeah… just- another one of those… nightmares.” His skin was that of a corpse in the morgue and he heaved heavily as if he just ran a mile.
“Jesus fuck, are you sure they’re just nightmares? What is this- the second time this has happened?” Mikey sat up properly now, scooching closer to investigate Gerard’s face.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Gerard swatted away Mikey’s hand inching closer to his face. “I probably just need, like, melatonin gummies or something..” He heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed at his tired eyes. It almost looked like stage makeup even, faint red circles In a ring on the skin around his eyes.
“It was worse this time,” said Gerard, breaking the silence of silent breathing and shuffling of bedsheets. “It’s not like one of those vivid, bizarre dreams that stick with you when you wake up, it’s like these- these terrors,” he paused to take in a breath, “and I don’t see anything, but I just feel it, y’know? Like, this time, I think I was... getting choked...?” Gerard rubbed soothingly at his neck while he spoke, Adam's apple bobbing slightly as he swallowed.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry, seriously,” Gerard broke off into a heartfelt smile at the sight of Mikey’s petrified face staring back at him. “Welp, let’s get to work, yeah?”
“Huh? Oh- yeah. yeah.”