Work Text:
You hit the side of the camera, fiddling with the buttons in an attempt to get it to work. What showed was a black screen broken occasionally by glitchy static, the footage you had just recorded corrupted.
"Come on—" You whisper, your tail curling around your body, heart beating loudly in your chest. The walls around you crackle in the wind, reminding you of exactly where you are. You look up, eyes glued to the plush chair slightly rotated in your direction, as if inviting you to sit in it. The only problem was the skeleton that got in your way.
"Em?" You call, your voice echoing through the broken hallway, long and stretched as far as your eyes could see. The floorboards creaked beneath you as you walked, the building you had once thought was a fun adventure quickly poisoned by the rot around you.
"Hey, where did you go?" You ask, shivering as the wind whistles through holes in the walls, clinging to your skin while you walked. You pull down the sleeves of your hoodie, shoving your hands in your pockets, hoping they would give you warmth.
They don't.
"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Evbo slapped you on the back, your body lurching forward from the force. You glare at your friend, letting out a frustrated huff as you smoothed your shirt down.
"You think recording ourselves in an abandoned house will be fun?" You asked, your tail fluffing in fear. The stars in your skin twinkle and pop, shouting your emotions wherever visible.
"Yeah! It'll be a great video." Evbo replied. "I saw the trend popping up on social media—"
"I told you to stop doing that." You interrupt. "Stop getting your ideas off of the internet."
"But that's how I'm going to make it big!" Evbo said, throwing his hands out to the side.
You sit beside him on the couch, so his arm whacks you in the face as he moved. You stumble, falling back onto the couch with a soft 'oof.' You glare at Evbo, who looks back at you with a sheepish smile.
"Sorry." He said. You rolled your eyes, your earrings jangling as you ears flicked in annoyance. "I just think we'll have something good on our hands. We don't have to stay for long!"
You pressed your lips together, nervously chewing at the bottom one while you think.
"Fine." You said. Evbo straightened his spine, his mouth opening as he takes in a deep breath. You raise a finger and gave him a stern look. "But only for two hours. Then we'll leave."
"Yes!" He tackled you, pulling you into a big hug. "Thank you! This is going to be the sickest video yet."
You laid in your bed and scrolled through your feed, watching video after video, each one saying the same thing.
Only cowards don't do this challenge.
The videos would all show an abandoned structure, either a house or farm, and the videographers would walk through like they were showing off a house tour. It was a dumb trend, but you were known to like dumb trends.
Besides, you weren't a coward, were you?
You closed out of your social media app, opening up a search engine and looking up the closest abandoned building. There was a house not too far from your apartment, said to have been abandoned for centuries, haunted by the ghosts of those that once lived there. You don't believe in ghosts.
You pulled up a map, typing in the address and getting the proper directions to the location. You roll out of bed and walked out to the common area, slightly hissing as you come out from the dark and into the proper daylight.
You spot your roommate, your friend, sitting on the couch. You walk over and sit down next to him.
"Hey! Got any plans tonight?" You asked. Your friend, Em, looks at you with a puzzled look on his face.
"Uh, no?" He replied, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"
"I want to go to an abandoned house." You said.
"No." You felt your heart drop, and your face droops into a pout.
The path is broken and chipped, stones cracked and covered in moss. You curse your fashion sense, hating that you only wear heels, even when you knew you were going to a place with uneven footing.
You push into the house, the doors creaking as you did, a tsunami of dust stirring to life as the wind rushed in past you.
You pull down your umbrella, shaking it dry before placing it against the wall. You decided it was best to leave it there, it would be easier to hold the camera, after all.
You turn the device on, the screen illuminating and blinding you without any warning. You hissed, rubbing your eyes before looking down at it again. You flip through settings, adjusting the brightness of the screen, raising the exposure, and making sure the mic was plugged in properly.
You pressed the record button and began to move through the house. The storm outside rumbled on, each crash of thunder shaking the floors you stood on. You stumbled forward, catching yourself on the stair railing as your fears hid. All you needed to do was record some footage for Evbo, and then he would do the rest.
"I don't want to go in there." Em said. He looked at the house before the pair, and you watched as lightning struck behind it.
You didn't want to, either.
"Oh come on, it's not that bad!" You said, nudging your friend's shoulder. He glared at you, tilting his umbrella towards you and trying to drench you in the torrential rain the two of you stood in. You sidestep his attempts, sticking your tongue out in defiance. "Just a quick in and out! It'll be fine."
"I don't want to." Em insisted, his ears flat against his skull. You pouted, the starting line echoing in your mind.
"You're a coward." You said. Em's eyes widened.
"What?"
"I said, you're a coward." You repeated, stomping your foot in the puddle that had begun pooling beneath you. "You're a coward for not going inside! It's just a house."
"I'm—" Em swallowed, glancing back at the terrifying building before you. "I'm not a coward."
"Then go inside the house." You demanded. Em pressed his lips together and nodded.
"Okay." He said. You watched as he walked up into the house, and ignored the growing fear in your gut.
You uncurl your body, standing from where you had hidden yourself. You approached the skeleton, watching the bugs as they scatter from their feast, noting the bits of flesh that still clung to the skeleton.
This was fresh.
You screamed.
You raced down the stairs, nearly tripping on the uneven carpet that ran along with you. You grabbed your umbrella, and pushed against the door as hard as you could.
You plugged the camera into the computer, clicking through the files that Em had gotten that night. Each file started normally, and each file ended the same. A few seconds recorded before they were distorted by a glitchy static. You punch your fist against the table, running a hand through your hair.
You tried everything you could. You searched up countless articles, watched several tutorials, and even put the footage through sketchy websites. Nothing worked. The footage was completely corrupted.
Not only had you lost your friend, but you had lost the only thing that was left of him.