A Fetish for the Finite (8/14)
Title: A Fetish for the Finite
Author: thefabrosevest
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Brendon/Ryan
POV: 1st, Brendon’s
Summary: Brendon’s aunt dies and he gets her old house, uninvited visitors included.
Disclaimer: Fake!
Author’s Notes: The idea came while watching ‘The Woman In Black’. It's very gloomy and stuff.
Here are a few pictures of the places.
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
3rd POV for now
When Brendon leaves, Ryan watches him from the music room window till he can’t see him anymore. Even then, he stays there, staring at the way that would lead into freedom.
“You’ll be able to go with him.” A voice behind him says and Ryan doesn’t turn around.
“How do you know, Patrick?” he asks, sounding sad.
Patrick sighs and Ryan finally turns around.
“Where’s Pete?” he asks.
“Give him a break. He was here way too long already. Be glad that I’m here to keep you company.”
“Okay, I’m sorry.”
In the next moment they’re in the living room and Ryan starts the fire without even touching it. Then he sits down on the couch, curled around himself.
“You do know that the fire isn’t actually keeping you warm, don’t you?” Patrick asks.
“Yes, but it calms me a bit.” Ryan says and keeps staring at the fire.
Patrick sighs and sits down on the other couch.
“Let me tell you something, kid. Pete said that we shouldn’t tell you, but fuck him.”
Ryan raises his gaze and looks over at Patrick, remaining silent.
“You are not the first one who got murdered in here.”
“Really? There’s one little thing that you forget about all of this. I’m still the only one wandering around here all the time.”
“That’s because she isn’t here anymore.”
Ryan freezes, staring at the other ghost.
“So it is possible to get out of here?” he asks then and Patricks nods with a small smile.
“Even more then that.”
“My god, tell me already!”
“Alright. There was a girl in here, way before you moved in here. I think she got murdered by her boyfriend at the age of 16. She was like you, alone all the time, just with Pete and me to keep her company sometimes. One day, some guy appeared. He was 17 and was already living alone. He was bored and decided to come here to explore a bit. They met and she let him think that she was alive. Blah blah blah. He visited on a daily basis after that and soon, they kissed and stuff. He wanted her to come with him and … well, you know the problem with that. She told him that she didn’t want to come with him and after that, he didn’t visit for a week. When he did come back, he was crying and asked why she didn’t want to come. Then, she told him everything. He decided to get her out of the house. Seeing the time, there weren’t that many possibilities in doing research. He stayed in here for a few days straight and searched through the house. He found an old book about ghosts from one of the people who had lived in here. Long story short, the book told about a possibility to get her out of here, and even more. To give her the life back that was taken away from her. Are you still with me?”
Ryan stares at Patrick with wide eyes.
“D-does that mean she- ” he starts but stops and looks down to think.
“Yes, Ryan. He did some kind of spell or ritual or whatever. Point is, that after that, she was alive again. Pete and I saw everything.”
Ryan looks around with wild eyes, his mind racing.
“Pete didn’t want to tell you that, because he said that you would get your hopes up or something. But we saw that it’s possible, and I mean, it was practically the same situation. Why shouldn’t it work?”
“I don’t know if I want to be alive again.” Ryan whispers then out of sudden.
“What? Are you an idiot?”
“Life hurts.”
“And being a ghost doesn’t?”
“Not so bad, no.”
“I knew that you were weird, but not like that. Pete and I would give everything to be alive again. You have that possibility and you don’t want to use it? Not even for Brendon?”
“Shut up!” Ryan yells and jumps off the couch.
The fire blows out in a sudden rush of air.
“What if he gets me out of here and then he doesn’t want me anymore? What am I going to do then?”
“You really have some trust-issues, you know. Why should he leave you?”
“Because everyone did! My friends, my mother, everyone!”
“Could you please just forget what happened? I know that everyone left you when you were alive and that you were left with your abusive father, but this is a new start, Ryan. This will be different.”
Tears start to form in Ryan’s eyes and when the first one rolls down his cheek, he whips it away quickly.
“This house drives you crazy.” Patrick says and Ryan sits down again.
“Already happened.”
*
Brendon’s POV again
“Alright, he won’t tell me what happened. You try it.” Jon says when he walks inside.
Taylor looks up and watches Jon as he stomps up the stairs.
“Uhm, what happened?” she asks and turns to look at me from her place behind the counter.
“Like he said, I didn’t tell him anything.” I say and shrug my shoulders.
“Okay … why?”
“Do you have a computer?” I ask then and she just looks at me, considering.
“Of course”
“Can I use it?”
“Why?”
“I have to do some research.”
“I repeat … why?”
“I repeat … can I use it?”
She stares at me for a while and then sighs.
“Yes, follow me.”
We walk up the stairs and along the hall. Taylor stops in front of the last one and opens it. It reveals another staircase. We climb it and she unlocks a door and steps aside to let me in.
“So that’s where you and your father live?” I ask.
“Yes”
I’m in an apartment and it looks really nice and big and just not like the rest of the hotel.
“The last room on the left, that’s the office and there’s our computer. Don’t take too long, my father might want to use it soon.” She explains and leaves again.
I stand there for a second and then I walk through the apartment, looking into every room quickly, before I arrive at the last door. I open it carefully and it reveals a small room with a desk and a few bookshelves. I walk in and sit down in front of the computer, which is placed on the desk.
I turn it on and open the internet to start my research.
I start off with typing ghosts into Google, but it only shows me some ghost videos. Then I try real ghosts and get the same. I try a few more tags and soon, I don’t know what to try anymore. I didn’t think that it would be so difficult. I sit there and stare at the screen when I heard someone walk into the apartment. I hear footsteps walk towards the office and then the door opens and Taylor’s dad is standing there.
“Hello Brendon, Taylor told me that you would be here.” He says with a warm smile.
“It’s okay, I was about to leave anyway.” I tell him and get up.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” he asks and walks over to take my place in front of the computer.
“Not really, but it’s not a problem.” I say with a smile, but inside I’m going crazy.
“Oh okay, if you need anything, make sure to tell Taylor or me, alright?”
“Yes, sir” I say and leave the room.
The whole way down to my room, a voice in my head is yelling at me that I failed, that I’m going to break my promise.
“Fuck” I murmur to myself when I’m in my room, the door locked behind me.
I don’t know what to do. I sit down on my bed and think. What am I going to do now?
Just when I’m about to pull my hair out, there’s a knock on the door and I startle.
“Yes?” I ask loudly.
“Brendon, let me in.” the voice says and confusion comes over me because that’s Taylor’s dad.
I get up and unlock the door. He walks in immediately and closes the door again.
“I saw what you were searching for, you’re not the smartest when it comes to technology, huh?” he asks, but he’s smiling.
“Uhm”
“I already knew that you visited the house again, I’m not stupid.”
“I’m sorry, I know you told me not to.” I say and look down, feeling like a small child out of sudden.
He sighs and watches me for a moment.
“So you know what’s going on?”
“Yes … you too?”
“Yes, I know more then you would imagine.”
I raise my eyebrows and stare at him.
“Come on, I’ll make us some tea and then we can talk.” He says and walks over to the door again.
I swallow and then I walk after him.
*
We are sitting in the kitchen of their apartment. Taylor is still working in the restaurant or whatever it is and Jon seems to be in his room. A cup of tea sits in front of me and I look down at it.
“Uhm, I’m really sorry that I didn’t listen to you Mr- ”
“Call me Michael, please.” He says with a smile and sits down across from me.
“Okay” I murmur and take a sip of my tea.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” he asks and I put the cup down again. “Maybe I can help you.”
“Uhm … okay. There’s a boy in that house. At first I thought that he was living there, but today I found out that he is … dead.” I say and look over at Michael.
He looks slightly confused and maybe even a bit scared.
“You saw him?” he asks slowly and I nod. “That means he- ”
“… was murdered. I know.” I finish
“You know?”
“Yes, he told me pretty much everything.”
“Alright, and what did you hope to find information about?”
“I promised him to get him out of there.”
He looks at me, considering.
“Define that.” He says then, eye narrowed.
“What?”
“What do you mean when you say that you want to get him out of there?”
“Well, he’s bound to the house and I hoped that I could find a way to free him.”
“So you’re just talking about freeing his ghost?”
“I guess …”
He’s thinking again, looking over at me from time to time and then he seems to make a decision.
“Alright, I’ll tell you a story.” He starts, leaning forward.
“Okay” I say, a bit confused.
“When I was 17, I was in the same situation as you. I wanted to explore the island and prove that there’s nothing about the house. In the house, I met a girl and after a while I fell in love with her. When I wanted her to come with me, she didn’t want to and after a while of ignoring, she explained everything to me. I wanted to free her, but not just that, I didn’t want to let her go. So I searched the house, every room and every corner till I found a book. It was about ghosts and I read the whole thing. And do you want to know what I found?”
I nodded in shock.
“I found a ritual that would make her alive again.”
“A-alive? You mean … with a beating heart and all that stuff. Really alive?”
“Yes”
“Did it work?”
“Yes, it did.”
“And then she could leave the island?”
“Yes, of course. I took her with me and she thanked me everyday and 14 years after that, Taylor was born.”
“Where is she now?”
“She’s dead, car accident.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
I stare down at the table and my mind starts to wander.
What if I could bring Ryan back to life? He would be able to leave the island and come with me. He wouldn’t have to leave. I wouldn’t be alone anymore.
“Let me guess what you’re thinking right now. You think about bringing this boy back to life.” Michael says.
I look up and nod quickly.
“Alright, I’ll help you, but there are a few things you should know.”
I stare at him and wait for him to continue.
“Every ghost is beautiful, has something that draws you to him. They have some kind of aura that works on humans. I don’t know why that is, but that’s just how they are. I’m sure you already noticed that.”
I think for a moment and then I nod.
“His eyes” I whisper and Michael nods.
“When you get him back to life, the only thing that will change is that his heart will beat again. The special aura will stay.”
“Okay”
“What I’m trying to say is that people will stare at him, hit on him, stuff like that. I went through that and I had enough fights with guys who were hitting on my girl. It’s not fun.”
“I don’t care about that, I just want Ryan.”
I watch him seriously and then a smile spreads over his face.
“That’s what I wanted to hear, but I’m not finished yet. Do you know how long Ryan has been dead now?” he asks and I think for a moment and then shake my head. “Hm, alright. You know, it’s hard for them to be alive again after being dead for so long. They’re not used to all of it, to those feelings. Of course, ghosts feel too, but it’s different for them.”
I nod and he looks at me with a small smile.
“You really want to do this?” he asks.
“Yes” I answer straight away.
“Alright” he gets up and disappears into another room and when he comes back, he’s holding an old-looking book.
He places it on the table and sits down again.
“Listen carefully”
I nod and then he starts to explain.
Chapter 9