Haunted Chapter 1
Title: Haunted
Pairing: Sakumiya
Summary: When Sho’s family inherits an old, supposedly haunted mansion, Aiba suggests they ‘explore it’. Little did they realize they have no idea what they are in for…
[Prologue]
Authors note: First of all, i would like to thank everybody for their support! So i'm glad to announce that i will be continuing this (yay!) I hope this chapter won't be disappointing
Chapter 1:
“Flashlight! Somebody turn on their flashlight!”
Regardless of all the screaming and commotion, Sho found himself rooted to the spot, unable to move a muscle. The shadows. The lights. The sounds. Everything felt too surreal to him. What in the world just happened?
Thankfully, Ohno, the calm one of the group, manage to find the switch to his flashlight and a small beam of light shot across the room.
Sho gasped.
Hovering over Nino’s limp body was a cloud of grey. Something which resembled a thunder cloud, but much more sinister looking. In the time they took the react, the cloud above Nino managed to give them an annoyed hissed and faded in the blink of an eye.
As quickly as the candles blowing out, Aiba managed to light a few more despite his shaking hands, and everybody else had turned on their flashlight. It might have been because of his mother hen nature, or it might have been the whole situation, but either ways, Sho dashed up towards Nino and hugged the small figure tightly, wincing slightly at the cold skin he came into contact with.
“Lets…lets get out of here,” said Mr Sakurai, his voice shaky but firm.
They didn’t need to be told twice. The moment those words left Mr Sakurai’s lips, all five men were running out the door at the speed of light, Nino being carried by Sho, their belongings lay forgotten on the rotting floor.
Even though they were out of the mansion and its grounds, none of them felt the least bit relieved. Maybe it was because they were still within the area. Or maybe it was because they knew something existed inside that mansion. Something they had no clue of.
Remembering that he still had Nino on his back, Sho gently laid him across the back seat of his car, brushing away the stray bangs that covered Nino’s sweaty forehead. Sho felt his heard clenched as he saw how pale Nino looked, and not to mention how his skin was so cold it burned.
“What exactly happened?” demanded Jun, getting into the front seat while his father took the steering wheel. Jun’s question was left hanging in the air as Mr Sakurai steered the red Mercedes away from the mansion, a green Toyota tailing behind them.
What happened? Sho would like to know as well. What was the grey cloud? What caused the sudden change in temperature? What was up with that mansion?
Sho didn’t realize it, but his breathing was still ragged, even when they reached Jun’s apartment where they dropped him and Nino, who obviously shouldn’t be left alone in that state, off. After making sure that Nino safely tucked into Jun’s bed which he had kindly offered to let the younger man sleep in, Sho reluctantly left the two and went home with his father.
Sho flew down the agency’s corridor at the speed he didn’t know he was capable of when he spotted a familiar figure around the corner.
“Nino!” cried Sho, finally catching up with the younger man.
The said man, turned at the call of his name, “Sho-kun,” greeted Nino, a tired smile on his face, “thanks for carrying me out yesterday, after…” he trailed off, unsure of how to put it. Even though he was the guinea pig in Aiba’s ghost experiment, he couldn’t remember a thing that happened the night before, and without a recount from Jun, Nino wouldn’t even know that Sho saved him.
“Don’t mention it,” stuttered Sho, his face turning a slight shade of pink as he recalled Nino being pressed so closely to his back, “Are you feeling better?”
Nino nodded slowly, but somehow Sho knew that wasn’t true. He might not have seen the gamer the whole day, but from the whiteness of his face, the exhaustion in his voice and the dullness in his eyes, Sho could tell that Nino was far from fine. In fact, he looked as if he should have taken the day off instead.
“That’s good to hear,” lied Sho at last, not wanting to put the younger man in a spot by insisting he wasn’t fine.
“Sho…” began Nino, his voice surprisingly soft.
“Yes?”
“Can you accompany me back to the mansion?” he asked, eyes fixed on Sho in a way which made the blood in the older man’s face drain.
“Y-you want to go back there?!” cried Sho, “even after what happened!”
“We left our stuff there, my precious Nintendo is back there, and so is everybody else’s belongings,”
“There is no way I’m going back there,”
A small pout formed on Nino’s lips as he turned away, “fine, I’ll go myself,”
Sho didn’t know what to do as he saw Nino walking off. Should he admire Nino for his bravery? Or should he call the younger man ‘stupid’ for wanting to return to the terrifying mansion?
His brain told him to leave Nino alone, he was probably still woozy from what happened the day before, but his guts told him to chase after the smaller man as he’ll never forgive himself if anything happened to his friend.
Leaving a quick message on Aiba’s voicemail, Sho hurriedly chased after Nino who was just entering a taxi. The ride to the mansion was painfully short. The driver kept looking at them as though they were crazy, and the dark rain clouds that gathered in the sky didn’t help the situation at all.
Soon enough, but too soon for Sho’s liking, the pair was standing at the edge of the mansion’s ground. The taxi had long disappeared, the driver speeding away the moment they paid the fare.
As though it was a normal mansion they were entering, Nino pushed the gates open, Mr Sakurai having forgotten to lock it in their hurry to leave. Even with the meager amount of sunlight that managed to penetrate the thick grey clouds in the sky, the mansion looked no scarier than it did the day before. Sho felt Goosebumps crawling up and down his arms, as though someone he couldn’t see was scratching him with a jagged feather.
The living room looked exactly as it did when they left. The cobwebs were still hanging innocently here and there, the white sheets still resembled ghosts and the carpet still looked bloody. The so-called ‘ghost paper’ Aiba used the day before was still scattered around the room, along with the coins and the box he used to hold all his ‘props’.
As if unfazed by the spookiness of his surroundings, Nino went up to the pile of bags which stood out from the 18th century looking surroundings and took as many as his small frame could carry.
Being the gentleman that he is, Sho went to help get the bags despite his jellified legs and weak arms. It was when he reached the area where their bags were when Sho spotted something out of the ordinary - there were strange burn marks on what used to be a clean piece of white paper. With his trembling hands, Sho reached downwards and grabbed a few of the paper, thinking that the burn marks looked like words, writings, something that the ghost wanted to tell them.
“Sho,” began Nino, breaking the eerie silence, “What’s upstairs?”
Sho’s heart skipped a beat.
“W-why do you want to know?” stammered Sho, hastily stuffing the stack of papers into Aiba’ bag as his inner scaredy cat fully took over.
“I just wanted to have a look,” sulked Nino, looking like a child who had been refused candy. Just when Sho thought they could leave, Nino took a turn which led away from the main entrance and headed for the staircase. Like a little ghost, Nino seemed to have floated up the staircase, the three bags he was carrying didn’t even seem to weigh the small man down.
Sho stood where he was, jaws dropped at the sight in front of him. He was torn. Should he go after Nino? Should he leave?
Moving his legs, Sho decided he couldn’t leave the gamer alone at a time like this and hastily went up the staircase, sounding like a herd of buffaloes stampeding up the creaky steps.
At the top of the flight of stairs, Sho paused. Firstly because he didn’t know if Nino took a right turn or left. Secondly because he realized that the stairs made a terrible load of squeaking and creaking noises as he ascended.
As opposed to Nino’s silent climb.
His brain seemed to have shut down immediately as his grip on the bags loosened. Without thinking, Sho took a wild guess and ran down the corridor to his left. They had to get out. Out as soon as possible. As he made a corner, he caught a glimpse of the white jacket that Nino was wearing. Before a smile of relief could creep onto his face as he noticed that his friend was fine, Nino stepped into an empty room. The small figure turned around. Facing Sho, he smiled.
A stranger’s smile.
Halting in his tracks, Sho’s eyes widen to twice its usual size as he registered the foreign expression on the smaller man’s face. Ignoring the voice in his head telling him to turn back, Sho flew forward.
He was close. So close. Just a hair width away from entering the room, when the rotting door flew forward, right in his face, causing him to stumble backwards and land with a heavy thud on his back.
“Nino!” cried Sho, scrambling to his feet as he pounded on the door, “Nino, open up!”
He reached for the door knob, turning it frantically. His hands kept slipping against the surprisingly well polished knob, but Sho was determined to get to his friend. Pummeling against the old, decaying piece of wood which stood between him and Nino with all his might, Sho said a hasty prayer, begging that the door would give way.
It was as if someone had heard his calls, as the door swung open as mysteriously as it had slammed shut. However, the sight in front of him wasn’t something he neither expected nor wanted to see.
On the floor was Nino, his body limp but held up by invisible strings. Like a puppet skillfully manipulated by a phantom puppeteer.
“Sho-chan~” sang Nino, his voice so sweet and high pitched that it send shivers down Sho’s spine. This wasn’t his friend in front of him. This wasn’t his friend’s voice he was hearing. This wasn’t Nino. Yet somehow, it is.
The Nino before him got to his feet in a way that made Sho’s stomach churn. Too elegantly for a man, Nino rose, maintaining eye contact with Sho while doing so. A smirk formed on the smaller man’s face, “Sho-chan~” Nino called out again, his voice definitely a female’s.
Gracefully, Nino took a step closer to Sho. Sho took a step back. The smile on Nino’s face grew brighter as he took another step forward, causing Sho to retreat. The process continued in a painfully slow manner, until Sho was pressed up so close against the door and Nino only a few centimeters in front of him.
“Sho-chan~” cooed Nino, looking at Sho with playful eyes, making Sho turn his gaze so that he was looking anywhere, anywhere other than at Nino. His head titled to the right, Sho noticed that he was flat against the same door he had been pounding on minutes ago. The door had closed on its own again. The thought of it moving on its own made the hair on Sho’s neck stand on its end.
“Sho-chan~” said Nino softly, “Look at me,”
Sho seemed to have lost control over his own body as his head moved on its own to look at the figure which was supposed to be his friend.
“Die!” shrieked Nino, his hands flying up from his sides, grabbing Sho’s neck.