Haunted
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…
Author's note: Hi everybody! I'm new to the community and this is my first fic, so if it's bad please forgive me. This is un-betaed. Comments and critiques are welcome. Please tell me if i should continue this. Thank you :)
Prologue:
The Thursday evening came as a lackluster end to what was a freezing and wet December day. The sun had disappeared for days and the air was frosty and foggy. Ask for Sakurai Sho’s opinion, he would have declared that it was the perfect day to stay indoors, snuggle in a huge arm chair by the fireplace with a newspaper and a mug of hot chocolate.
Sadly, nobody always gets things their way, so there he stood, drowned in his warmest winter coat, an open umbrella in his leather gloved hand, not so patiently waiting in front of a rusty iron gate for his father to finish with the exchange of greetings by a pale, dull lantern.
There was little light around them, both cars on the dusty road having turned their headlights off, but there was enough for Sho to take note of his surroundings. Poorly maintained roads, potholes every few meters or so, dying leafless trees lined the sides, and all shadowed by the ancient mansion.
He stared at the iron gates, trying to picture what it was like centuries ago, when the gates could have been polished, the bushes trimmed and the walls painted. It might have been a stunning beauty then, but definitely not tonight.
Sho turned away with a shudder, the sight of the mansion creeping him out.
“It’s an impressive mansion your family inherited,” whispered Nino, eyeing the building with envy and a hint of fear.
Sho could only nod in return, his cheeks too frozen from the cold to even smile at his friend. Nino gave him a wry smile as they went forward to join the rest of the group.
“Thank you for coming tonight,” Sho heard his father say to the group of youngsters.
“No problem!” cried Aiba, the bubble of energy of the group, “We all wanted to see the place for ourselves, right guys?” The rest of them could only give an insincere hum of agreement.
“So, is this place really haunted?” asked Aiba excitedly as he watched Sakurai Shun unlocking the iron gates with much difficulty. Mr Sakurai nodded.
“Then why don’t you sell it?” came a sleepy voice. All heads turned to Ohno, the group’s ‘fishing leader’. The small man rarely spoke, let alone voice out his opinions, so when the melodious but rare voice was heard, everybody just had to turn their heads.
“We tried, but no one was interested. The villagers believe that there is a malevolent spirit haunting the place,” explained Mr Sakurai, leading the five boys into the grounds, “I thought if we could prove that this place isn’t haunted, someone might buy it,”
The six men entered the mansion itself and Sho felt as if he couldn’t breathe. It was darker inside, so much darker. If it weren’t for the flashlights they had brought in with them, it would have been complete darkness.
“Isn’t there any power?” asked Jun nervously. His expression was calm but his quivering hand gave him away.
“The power station cut off the supply since there hasn’t been anyone living here,” answered Mr Sakurai, turning a door knob and ushering the other men in. Sho found himself in what looked like a normal living room, with extra spider webs and white cloth covering each piece of furniture.
“Thanks again for helping,” mumbled Mr Sakurai, more to himself than to the rest of them.
“No problem!” replied Aiba, sounding surprisingly cheerful despite the eerie atmosphere, “I always wanted to experiment with ghosts,” With that said, Aiba started pulling things out of his bag pack - candles, white paper, incense, silver coins, other stuff that made Sho roll his eyes.
“MatsuJun,” called Aiba, motioning for the youngest of the group to come closer, “close all the doors and place a lighted candle in front of it, and Ohno help me fill this glass with water,”
Sho raised an eyebrow, wondering what the tallest male was doing. Seeing the apprehension in Sho’s expression, Nino scooted closer and whispered, “it helps detect where the ghost it, so says Aiba,”
Turning away from all the nonsensical items, Sho went back to the centre of the room, silently thanking heavens that no one was drawing on the floor with chalk. Yet. To him, there was no scientific evidence that could prove all the stuff that they were doing was going to help them detect the ghost, that is if it even exists in the first place. And just when he thought things couldn’t get any weirder, Aiba took five coins and went round the room, examining spots. His level of nervousness rose with each coin that Aiba placed on the ground.
“The coins are supposed to make us invisible to the ghost,” explained Nino, giving Sho the same explanation Aiba had given him a while ago. Sho nodded dumbly. A glint caught his eye and he looked at Nino’s right hand which was holding another set of five coins. Before he could answer, Nino seemed to have read his mind and answered, “I’ll be baiting the ghosts,”
Soon enough, everybody was gathered back in the centre of the room, except for Nino who was at the corner with four coins around him and one still in his hand. From what Sho could guess, the younger man had to keep his ‘circle of coins’ open until the last possible moment.
“What now?” asked Mr Sakurai, looking paler than usual.
“We’re about to start. If the ghost is as malevolent as you said, it will be easy to detect,” explained Aiba. Everybody else nodded dumbly. Sho stole a glance at Nino who was waiting for Aiba’s signal. Somehow, the smaller man seemed so calm despite his situation. Then again, the whole set up seemed pretty ridiculous to begin with. Since ghosts didn’t exist, everything was nothing but ridiculous, so Nino should be fine. He hoped.
Aiba gave the group a bright smile, one that seemed to calm the nerves of everybody in the room. As expected from the group’s bubble of positive energy. As he requested everybody to turn off their flashlights, Sho could not help but feel tensed.
In the blink on an eye, the room was cast in total darkness. Not a sound could be heard. The pouring rain and howling wind was shut out by the ancient walls. Here, there was only blackness and musty air. Sho felt as if his lungs were on fire as he could barely breathe in the tensed room. He could barely make out Jun’s perm in front of him, and that made him wonder how Nino was doing at the other side of the room.
He could hear the rustling of paper as Aiba prepared to set his ‘ghost paper’ on fire. Sho felt the tip of his fingers turn numb, but he couldn’t control them. He wanted to take in a huge gulp of air, but his lungs wouldn’t listen. He wanted to voice out how ridiculous the whole thing was, but his mouth betrayed him. He wanted to do something, anything, just so he knew he was still alive. But he didn’t.
With a swoosh sound, Aiba’s ‘ghost paper’ was lit and it turned into ashes within seconds. Temperatures seemed to have dropped dramatically since they entered, and Sho wondered if his face had turned as blue as the melting candle wax.
Suddenly, there was a flicker of light. A clink of glasses. A whiff of rotten meat. And all of a sudden, there were shadows on the walls, dancing, twirling, spinning, waltzing around in a gleeful disarray. The windows flashed white, the chairs shifted, the red carpet soaked with blood, the portrait on the wall smiled, and a small gasp.
Sho saw Aiba tensed, clearly not expecting any of that to happen.
A gust of sharp, icy wind flew through the room, the candles extinguishing instantaneously. Sho swore he heard glass shatter, wood splinter, metal creak, but above it all, he heard a loud thud.
The thud of a body falling to the ground.
“What’s going on?” cried Jun, his voice showing his panicked state.
“Flashlight! Somebody turn on their flashlight!” screamed Aiba above all the racket.
Sho’s stomach clenched as he realized what his subconsciousness had been telling him all along. Something was wrong.
Dreadfully,
Dreadfully,
Wrong.
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…
Author's note: Hi everybody! I'm new to the community and this is my first fic, so if it's bad please forgive me. This is un-betaed. Comments and critiques are welcome. Please tell me if i should continue this. Thank you :)
Prologue:
The Thursday evening came as a lackluster end to what was a freezing and wet December day. The sun had disappeared for days and the air was frosty and foggy. Ask for Sakurai Sho’s opinion, he would have declared that it was the perfect day to stay indoors, snuggle in a huge arm chair by the fireplace with a newspaper and a mug of hot chocolate.
Sadly, nobody always gets things their way, so there he stood, drowned in his warmest winter coat, an open umbrella in his leather gloved hand, not so patiently waiting in front of a rusty iron gate for his father to finish with the exchange of greetings by a pale, dull lantern.
There was little light around them, both cars on the dusty road having turned their headlights off, but there was enough for Sho to take note of his surroundings. Poorly maintained roads, potholes every few meters or so, dying leafless trees lined the sides, and all shadowed by the ancient mansion.
He stared at the iron gates, trying to picture what it was like centuries ago, when the gates could have been polished, the bushes trimmed and the walls painted. It might have been a stunning beauty then, but definitely not tonight.
Sho turned away with a shudder, the sight of the mansion creeping him out.
“It’s an impressive mansion your family inherited,” whispered Nino, eyeing the building with envy and a hint of fear.
Sho could only nod in return, his cheeks too frozen from the cold to even smile at his friend. Nino gave him a wry smile as they went forward to join the rest of the group.
“Thank you for coming tonight,” Sho heard his father say to the group of youngsters.
“No problem!” cried Aiba, the bubble of energy of the group, “We all wanted to see the place for ourselves, right guys?” The rest of them could only give an insincere hum of agreement.
“So, is this place really haunted?” asked Aiba excitedly as he watched Sakurai Shun unlocking the iron gates with much difficulty. Mr Sakurai nodded.
“Then why don’t you sell it?” came a sleepy voice. All heads turned to Ohno, the group’s ‘fishing leader’. The small man rarely spoke, let alone voice out his opinions, so when the melodious but rare voice was heard, everybody just had to turn their heads.
“We tried, but no one was interested. The villagers believe that there is a malevolent spirit haunting the place,” explained Mr Sakurai, leading the five boys into the grounds, “I thought if we could prove that this place isn’t haunted, someone might buy it,”
The six men entered the mansion itself and Sho felt as if he couldn’t breathe. It was darker inside, so much darker. If it weren’t for the flashlights they had brought in with them, it would have been complete darkness.
“Isn’t there any power?” asked Jun nervously. His expression was calm but his quivering hand gave him away.
“The power station cut off the supply since there hasn’t been anyone living here,” answered Mr Sakurai, turning a door knob and ushering the other men in. Sho found himself in what looked like a normal living room, with extra spider webs and white cloth covering each piece of furniture.
“Thanks again for helping,” mumbled Mr Sakurai, more to himself than to the rest of them.
“No problem!” replied Aiba, sounding surprisingly cheerful despite the eerie atmosphere, “I always wanted to experiment with ghosts,” With that said, Aiba started pulling things out of his bag pack - candles, white paper, incense, silver coins, other stuff that made Sho roll his eyes.
“MatsuJun,” called Aiba, motioning for the youngest of the group to come closer, “close all the doors and place a lighted candle in front of it, and Ohno help me fill this glass with water,”
Sho raised an eyebrow, wondering what the tallest male was doing. Seeing the apprehension in Sho’s expression, Nino scooted closer and whispered, “it helps detect where the ghost it, so says Aiba,”
Turning away from all the nonsensical items, Sho went back to the centre of the room, silently thanking heavens that no one was drawing on the floor with chalk. Yet. To him, there was no scientific evidence that could prove all the stuff that they were doing was going to help them detect the ghost, that is if it even exists in the first place. And just when he thought things couldn’t get any weirder, Aiba took five coins and went round the room, examining spots. His level of nervousness rose with each coin that Aiba placed on the ground.
“The coins are supposed to make us invisible to the ghost,” explained Nino, giving Sho the same explanation Aiba had given him a while ago. Sho nodded dumbly. A glint caught his eye and he looked at Nino’s right hand which was holding another set of five coins. Before he could answer, Nino seemed to have read his mind and answered, “I’ll be baiting the ghosts,”
Soon enough, everybody was gathered back in the centre of the room, except for Nino who was at the corner with four coins around him and one still in his hand. From what Sho could guess, the younger man had to keep his ‘circle of coins’ open until the last possible moment.
“What now?” asked Mr Sakurai, looking paler than usual.
“We’re about to start. If the ghost is as malevolent as you said, it will be easy to detect,” explained Aiba. Everybody else nodded dumbly. Sho stole a glance at Nino who was waiting for Aiba’s signal. Somehow, the smaller man seemed so calm despite his situation. Then again, the whole set up seemed pretty ridiculous to begin with. Since ghosts didn’t exist, everything was nothing but ridiculous, so Nino should be fine. He hoped.
Aiba gave the group a bright smile, one that seemed to calm the nerves of everybody in the room. As expected from the group’s bubble of positive energy. As he requested everybody to turn off their flashlights, Sho could not help but feel tensed.
In the blink on an eye, the room was cast in total darkness. Not a sound could be heard. The pouring rain and howling wind was shut out by the ancient walls. Here, there was only blackness and musty air. Sho felt as if his lungs were on fire as he could barely breathe in the tensed room. He could barely make out Jun’s perm in front of him, and that made him wonder how Nino was doing at the other side of the room.
He could hear the rustling of paper as Aiba prepared to set his ‘ghost paper’ on fire. Sho felt the tip of his fingers turn numb, but he couldn’t control them. He wanted to take in a huge gulp of air, but his lungs wouldn’t listen. He wanted to voice out how ridiculous the whole thing was, but his mouth betrayed him. He wanted to do something, anything, just so he knew he was still alive. But he didn’t.
With a swoosh sound, Aiba’s ‘ghost paper’ was lit and it turned into ashes within seconds. Temperatures seemed to have dropped dramatically since they entered, and Sho wondered if his face had turned as blue as the melting candle wax.
Suddenly, there was a flicker of light. A clink of glasses. A whiff of rotten meat. And all of a sudden, there were shadows on the walls, dancing, twirling, spinning, waltzing around in a gleeful disarray. The windows flashed white, the chairs shifted, the red carpet soaked with blood, the portrait on the wall smiled, and a small gasp.
Sho saw Aiba tensed, clearly not expecting any of that to happen.
A gust of sharp, icy wind flew through the room, the candles extinguishing instantaneously. Sho swore he heard glass shatter, wood splinter, metal creak, but above it all, he heard a loud thud.
The thud of a body falling to the ground.
“What’s going on?” cried Jun, his voice showing his panicked state.
“Flashlight! Somebody turn on their flashlight!” screamed Aiba above all the racket.
Sho’s stomach clenched as he realized what his subconsciousness had been telling him all along. Something was wrong.
Dreadfully,
Dreadfully,
Wrong.