#and the thrid one | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

youngstarfishphilosopher · 2 months ago

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New tarot card: This time of Addison. So you know what that means, New Reverse hauntings chapter! So here's chapter two of Reverse Hauntings!

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It was a rather humid summer night in New Orleans, Louisiana. Standing alone in a bar was a young man named William Gracey, who was in his twenties at the time. He was dressed rather nicely: pretty brown eyes filled with warmth, short black hair, and a mustache on his face.

He stood there, drink in hand. He hadn't bothered to take a sip of it yet. In all honesty, he was rather lost in thought at the moment.

What was he thinking about?

It didn't matter anymore once a woman's voice echoed through his mind and interrupted his thoughts.

" Excuse Me! Oh, sorry, Excuse Me!"

Looking to the right of him at the bar, he saw a beautiful woman trying to get the bartender's attention. However, it didn't appear to be working because of the large group gathered in front of her.

" Excuse me!' The woman called out once again. " Sorry, can I please . . . have a . . ."

Gracey couldn't help but feel bad for the poor woman. Walking up to her, he gently tapped her shoulder.

"Miss?" Upon hearing his voice, the woman turned around. The sight of her face made William a bit flustered. He wasn’t the best at starting a conversation; he thought the woman would have just ignored him or something like that. "I-I, uh, here. You can have mine."

" But then you wouldn't have any." The woman responded. " I couldn't possibly do that."

" No. Please, take it." William insisted, handing the small glass of alcohol in front of him. "I wasn't planning on drinking it anyway. Not in the mood really."

" Oh, alright then." The woman smiled at him as she took the drink from his hand. " Thank you, Mr…”

" Gracey," William introduced himself. He held out his hand for the woman to shake. " William Gracey."

" Elenore," Elenore responded as she shook William's hand. " Now. Tell me, Mr.Gracey. You wouldn't happen to be here with anyone tonight perhaps, would you?"

" Oh, uh, yes actually," William said, rubbing his neck. Was she flirting with him? " I'm here with a few colleagues of mine. They all wanted to go grab drinks so I decided to tag along."

"I see," Elanore says, stepping a bit closer. " And what exactly is it that you do for work Mr.Gracey?"

"Please, just call me William,” Gracey continued. “And to answer your question, I’m actually an Astrophysicist.”

“Astrophysicist. . .” Elenore pondered. “ Huh. You know from the looks of you, I never would have guessed that.”

“Really? What did you think I worked as?” William asked, rather curious.

Elenore took a good moment to look the man up and down thoroughly. This gave William a small spike of anxiety, but it immediately went away as she opened her lips. “ To be completely honest, you look like the type of person to be a history teacher.”

“ History Teacher?” William chuckled. “Why a history teacher specifically?”

“ Oh, I don’t know. Just the first thing that popped into my head.” Her smile widened as she stepped back a bit. “Okay. Now do me!”

“ Guess your job?”

“ Yeah, “ Elenore told him. “To be honest I doubt you’ll get it. It’s not the most normal job out there.”

“Uh, alright then.” William thought for a moment. “ Let’s see now . . . are you an accountant?”

“Nope,” Elenore shook her head, ”Try again.”

“Cashire?”

“Nope,” Elenore giggled. “ I told you it wasn’t the most normal job out there.”

“ Uhhh . . . Scuba . . . diver?”

Elenore shook her head as she took a sip of the drink William had given her..

“Alright, I give up.” He told her. “What is it?”

“I,” Elenore told him, “ Do ghost tours.”

“ Ghost tours,” William repeated. “You’re right. I never would have guessed that.”

“ Yes well,” Elenore “ Lots of supposed haunted houses around these parts, as well as a bunch of tourists who want to see them makes for some rather good money. Plus, I have a rather high fascination with the supposed paranormal.”

“ That makes sense,” William spoke. Suddenly he gained a small spark of confidence. “ Maybe, I could go on one of your tours sometime. I've never been on a ghost tour before, I don't think.”

“ H,. Why yes, that would be quite lovely.” Elenore agreed with warmth. “ I can even give you a discount. You know, as a ‘thank you’ for the drink.”

“ You really don’t need to-”

“Please.” She interrupted, “I insist”

“ Alright . . .”

Suddenly the sound of someone knocking on a door caught his attention. And he woke up.

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William let out a groan as he shifted awake; trying his best not to cry as he slowly sat up in his bed. He was still in the same outfit he had worn yesterday: A dress shirt, tie, and sweater vest with a nice pair of khaki pants. On his left wrist was a gold watch.

Oh, William thought in a tired daze. He rubbed his face with his hand; Did I fall asleep in my clothes again? I really need to stop doing that.

His hair was a mess from a nasty case of bedhead. And though his eyes were still filled with warmth, there was also this unwavering sadness that resonated within them. Another knock on his door signaled to him that he should probably get up and move.

Quickly composing himself, William rolled out of bed and walked over to the door. Upon opening it, he found the familiar face of mrs. Constance Hatchaway who held a letter in her hands.

“Hello Gracey,” Se spoke. Her eyes lingered on the messy, tired man in slight concern. “ Is this a bad time?”

“ No . . . No,” William responded. “It’s fine.”

“ Alright then. May I come in?” Constance asked him.

“ Oh yeah,” William responded. Stepping out of the way. “Please, come on in. What brings you here this morning if you don’t mind me asking?”

“ I’m glad you asked,” Constance said, stepping inside her friend’s home. “But first of all, how have you been?”

“ I’ve been fine really,” William lied through his teeth. He rubbed his face a bit once again. “Honestly I’m just rather tired. Had a long day at work yesterday.”

“ I see . . .”

“ Anyways, what did you come here to talk about again?” William asked, reeling them back into the original conversation.

“ Ah yes, A man by the name of Addison me to give you this,” Constance told him. She handed him the letter from her hands.” He and his son just moved into a new house and the kid is convinced the place is haunted.”

William looked down at the small letter now in his hands. It was a bland, white letter that only had his name on it and nothing else.

“ I might or might not have told them about that camera of yours at some point.” The nun continued. “ The one that could see ghosts? He was hoping you’d be willing to possibly drive up there and take a few photos to put the kid’s mind at ease. Their home is only about an hour's drive from here”

“ What?” William asked. He averted his gaze from the letter “Look, Constance, as much as I would love to help, I really can’t. I’ve got a job to do and, and all my tours are booked for this week-”

“ He’s willing to pay.” Constance interrupted. “ Twenty-five thousand dollars.”

They both stood there in silence for a moment.

“ Constance I . . .”

“ Look, all I’m saying is: Think about it. I know for a fact you hate your job now. You practically drink yourself stupid every other night and walk out mumbling about how you want to quit.” Constance interrupted once again. William looked at her wide-eyed at the realization that Constance had seen him like that- most likely multiple times.

Constance had now made her way back to his front door. “ This could be a good opportunity for you to make some good money for yourself. Plus, you get to help a person in need right? Win-win.”

“ Wait, where are you going?” William asked rather confused. She had just arrived and now she was leaving?

“ I’ve done my part as far as I can tell,” Constance answered him. “ So my job here is done. Have a good day Gracey.”

Then she left; closing the door behind her and leaving Mr.William Gracey alone to think on the offer he had just been given. Twenty-five thousand dollars. Now that was far too much money for someone in his situation to blatantly ignore without a second thought.

Also, Constance wasn’t exactly wrong, he did hate his job. And he wanted to quit, truly he did, but to do that- to throw in the towel- would be the equivalent of throwing away something his wife had loved and worked for. He couldn’t do that, not to her.

Later that night, he sat on his bed with the letter firmly in his grasp. Looking down at the letter for what felt like the longest time, he let out a breath as he hesitantly opened it.

Opening the envelope, he pulled out a small slip of paper which addressed him directly as well as basically repeated everything Constance had filled him in on so far. His eyes widened, however, he saw the last name of the man who was requesting his services: Addison Crump.

Addison Crump? As in Billionaire Crump? The guy that sold his company and no one had heard from in months; not the press, nobody? That man?

No. No it simply had to be some other man. The world is big after all and there has to be at least a few people with that name. But then again, it would make even more sense if it was; twenty-five-thousand dollars is a lot of money to give to a person just to drive up an hour and snap a few photos. But to someone like Crup, it would barely make a dent in his wealth. Either that, or the job would be something much more than he bargained for. . . Maybe it would be for the best then that it really was Addison Crump.

He re-read the contents of the letter once again. The very end of the letter read: “If you agree to this arrangement, then please come to the address provided below on Wednesday, September 4th, at 9:15 pm.

Sincerely,

Addison Crump”

“ Wednesday, ” William mumbled to himself. “Wait. That’s tomorrow isn’t it?”

Sure enough it was. He didn;t have much time to come to a decision on the matter. Thankfully though, his mind had already been sufficiently made up.

The next morning William Gracey could be found scavenging through some of the cardboard boxes which could be found scattered around his home. He knew for a fact the camera was in the home somewhere,but it had been so long now since he had last seen it; almost three years now to be exact. As he shifted through the second box next to him, he stopped for a moment when he came across a framed photo.

Lifting the photo out of the box, he gently held it in his hands; it was a photo of him and Eleanor. A photo that had been taken back in their earlier days before anything had happened to cause him misery. Back when they were peaceful, happy, blissfully unaware . . .

William’s hands began to tremble and his eyes began to swell with water which threatened to spill out. He immediately flipped the photo around and placed it to the side of him. He then let out a sniffle. Whipping the tears from his eyes, he took a few moments to compose himself before continuing.

He reached back into the cardboard box; there were some older books from his law college years he hadn’t read in a good long while. Picking a few of them up and shifting some of them to the side, he found what he was looking for- the camera. William had first created it when he and Elenore had been dating; it was a creation he had been chastised for by both higher ups in his field of work and fellow co-workers.

William picked up the camera. It felt vaguely familiar yet also foreign in his hands.Pressing the power button on the top of the machinery, it was evident that the camera needed a new set of batteries.

Sticking some new batteries into the camera, he first made sure the camera worked. Taking a quick photo the camera flashed and the photo appeared seconds later.

He left his home at 7: 57 pm.

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William Gracey arrived at the mansion at exactly 9:08 pm. And before he stepped out of the car; even before he drove through the home's black gates, he felt a heavy weight of anxiety pressing into his chest. The feeling was unbearable; an overwhelming sensation of paranoia and helplessness seeping into his heart.

He hurriedly walked up the front steps of the mansion in an attempt to avoid anything that might be after him. But that was silly. This feeling he had was silly.

Knocking on one of the Mansion’s great doors, he heard the sounds of footsteps from getting closer. The sound of a man’s voice called from inside. It was a deep voice; a bit rough and angry “ Coming!”

As the door opened , the cold, purple light of the manor showed through as William, soon to be known as simply ‘Gracey’, found himself face to face with the infamous Addison Crump.

Even with his messier appearance than he usually dawned,Mr.Crump was still a relatively pretty man; many people thought as such that he was pretty, even despite his older age. His face was pleasant to the eye, but his expression was a mixture of tired and irritated; That was nothing new. But in those icy blue eyes that stared into Gracey’s own, Gracey could not help but notice the gleam of sadness that hid itself deep beneath those lovely irises.

“ I’m guessing you're Gracey, yes?” Addison asked. His words snapped Gracey out of the man’s gaze.

“ O-oh. Yes, that’s right.” Gracey spoke. He held his hand out for the other man to shake. “ William Gracey, at your service.”

Addison stepped out of the house and onto the front porch. He closed the door behind him as he stepped out and firmly shook Gracey’s hand. “ Addison Crump. But I'm guessing since you read my letter you already knew that.”

Wow his grip is strong, William thought as he mentally winced from the pressure that latched onto his hand; he could probably pop my hand clean off my wrist if he wanted to. “ Yes sir, that is correct. You wrote to me about that ghost problem of yours if I remember correctly.”

“ Yes that, well” Addison said. I’m going to be straight with you. This place is . . . unnerving to put it lightly. What’s about to happen once you go inside, well it will probably change your life forever. So I just need to make sure that you’re positive you're willing to do this.”

Gracey looked at Addison with a mixed feeling of pity and disbelief. It was self-evident that the mansion was strange and horrid, and he couldn’t imagine what living in something so hauntingly beautiful yet decrepit could possibly do to someone’s mental state. But . . . surely Mr.Crump doesn't really believe this place was haunted like his son did, did he?

Gracey gave Addison a Half-hearted smile. “ Of course. No need to worry about me now, I can handle a couple ‘ghosts’. ”

“ Heh. You say that now . . .” Addison mumbled under his breath. He let out a sigh. Opening the door, Addison stepped out of the way, holding it open for Gracey to walk through. “Well then, if you’re really sure, come on in.”

There was an unknown shift as Gracey took his first steps inside. Unbeknownst to the man, the strange darkness of the manor had now latched itself onto him. As he looked around, the sound of Addison shutting the door behind him.

“ No turning back now.” Addison ominously spoke to Gracey as he passed by him. Gracey quickly caught up to Addison as they now walked side by side down the hallway.

The two of them eventually stopped in front of the doorway which led into the living room Addison and his son had been staying in. Above the door frame were two small portraits of a black man and a black woman; they were both wearing clothes that resemble attire from the late 1800s to very early 1900s time period.

“ Who are they?” Gracey asked, looking up at them.

“ Don’t know. I asked around though.” Addison blatantly stated. Then his face grimaced. “ There are a lot of . . . Colorful. . . theories about this place. None of which are really all that pleasant.”

“And it’s just the two of you here?”

“ Well yes,” Addison said, his voice then getting a little lower. “After the kid’s mother-”

Just then, a small boy- Addison’s son stepped out of the tent, a book in his hands. Upon seeing the two adults he froze. He had brown hair and big brown eyes; the best way Gracey could describe him is that the boy resembled the appearance of a sad puppy dog.

“ Oh, yes. Gracey, this is my son: Alistair.” Addison suddenly interrupted his own sentence.

“ Hello there.” Gracey gave the boy a smile and waved. “ Nice to meet you.”

Alistiar didn't say anything and just gave him a small wave back. I guess the kid isn’t much of a talker.

“ Anyways, we should probably go do that thing now.” Addison suggested. He looked down to Gracey’s camera which was on a lanyard around the dark-haired man’s neck. “ Are you sure that thing works?”

“ Last time I checked yes.” Gracey stated.

“ Alright.” Addison turned his attention to his son. “ You wanna come and show Mr.Gracey what you saw?”

Alistair shook his head. He then said something Gracey couldn’t fully understand, but it was clear it meant ‘no’ in some regard. “Nem köszönöm. . .”

Addison let out a sigh. He turned his gaze back towards Gracey, “Alright then, guess I can just show you myself.”

Addison then started walking back down the hallway, jerking his head to the side; signaling Gracey to follow him. And Gracey did so.

“ Sorry about him by the way.” Addison spoke once angain. “ He’s not really a fan of meeting strangers. He just needs some time to warm up to ya.”

“ I see.” That last comment Addison made completely went over his head.

“ Anyways . . . Let’s go take photos in the dining room first. It’s right over -” Addison stopped in his tracks as the two of them stepped into the dinning room. All the chairs around the table were knocked over. Addison walked over and began to put them back in their proper places as Gracey stood there. “Oh come on, I just moved all of these back!”

“ Can you just . . .” Addison began to ask.

“ Oh yeah, sure.“ Gracey immediately answered. Picking up his camera, he snapped a few photos. There was nothing.

They traveled through different sections of the manor: the suit of armor, the head statues, he even showed the man the steps down to the basement though they didn’t go in there. And everything they saw, the photos never picked up anything. They then traveled to a splitting section of the hallway that went in three directions, and Addison once again spoke first.

“ Sometimes, I get a pain on my left side whenever I walk through this specific hallway” Addison told him. “So, just be careful when you get over there. . . .”

Carefully, Gracey did as he was told and snapped a few photos down the left hallway. Addison looked at him a bit stunned as nothing happened. “ Well it kinda only happens after midnight. Well, that’s all I needed to show you so I guess we're done here. This way please.”

Getting back to the living room, Addison gives Gracey the slip with the money in it.

“ Sorry that I couldn’t help you more with any of this . . .” Gracey apologies. Addison shakes his head.

“ No, it’s alright. But thank you.”

“ Well hey,” Gracey continues, trying to show some optimism. “ At least now you know for sure your home isn’t haunted right?”

“ Yes . . .” Addison responds. “ I believe we are done here then. You are free to go now Mr.Gracey.”

“ Alright then.”

As Addison walked William Gracey to the door and saw him off Alistiar suddenly appeared behind him. “ How long do you think it will take before he comes crawling back dad?”

Addison looked down at his son, then back out to the front yard where Gracey’s car could be seen driving off. “Eh, I’ll give it five hours: Max.”

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At 2:00pm that same night, Alistair could be found sound asleep in his tent as Addison read a book on the couch next to him. Suddenly, a rather urgent knocking could be heard coming from the front door; echoing through the halls. And though Alistiar stirred a bit from the noise, he remained asleep.

Quickly getting up, Addison headed over to the door, Already bracing for who it was, he opened the door to find a rather distressed William Gracey.

“ Ah, Mr,Gracey.” Addison says with a dull tone. “ Back again I see.”

“ S-something followed me home.” Gracey blurted out. “ A . . A ghost on a horse! It followed me home and-”

“Come on in,” Addison replied, not giving a response to his comment. “ Let's get you some sheets,yeah?”

“ Hey!” Gracey called back as he chased after the man who was being way too nonchalant about the situation. “I said, " Something FOLLOWED ME HOME!”

Addison suddenly snapped around, Grabbing him by the collar. This shut Gracey up rather well.

“ I'm gonna need you to stop yelling!” Addison quietly snapped through his teeth. “My son is asleep!”

Seeing the look of fear on Gracey’s face, Addison took a deep breath and composed himself. Slowly, he let go of Gracey’s collar. He continued in a hushed voice “ When we first moved here, I tried to leave: Got out as soon as we could. I mean, do you really think I was gonna keep my son in a HAUNTED house?!”

Gracey spoke in a quieter time now as well “ No But-”

“ No! Of course not!” Addison continued. “ But it didn’t matter where we went because the ghost wouldn’t leave us alone! Hotel after hotel, We tried everything! But these ghosts, and I’m guessing there are a lot of them . . . they’re like bed bugs: pests: no matter what you do you can never get rid of them!”

“ Well It would have been nice to have a warning of some sort!” Gracey retorted. “ You know, if you had told me that I could never go home again!”

“ I warned you! I did!’ Addison spat back. “ You told me you were good! You said you were sure! You walked through that door so don’t try to pin this on me! I gave you a clear way out and you didn’t take it!”

Both men stood there silent for a moment before Addison let out an annoyed grumble. He rubbed his hand over his face for a moment before putting it down. “ Now come on, you look tired.It’s been a rough day for all of us.”

As Addison began to walk away, Gracey suddenly blurted out . . .

“ The camera works!”

Addison stopped in his tracks, quickly turning around “ What?”

“ The camera, Crump. It works.” Gracey repeated and Addison walked back up to him.” I-I took a photo and . . “

Turning his camera back on, he lifted up to Addiosn who looked at the photo wide-eyed. There in an orange blurr of pixels was the clear silhouette of a man riding a horse. “ The picture of that man in the hallway. I think it's him.”

Oh this.

This was definitely a game changer.

#haunted mansion 2023 #alistair crump #disneys haunted mansion #alternate universe #william gracey #addison crump #reverse au #reverse hauntings #second chapter done #now onto the thrid one #yay!

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