#edit: ok my sibling got the wifi password at least | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rivertellsstories · 6 years

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The case of the demons den #1

Look, Tumblr won’t show my fics and I’m stubborn as fuck. We’re retrying this shit.

Words: 2424

Editing: nope

Ships: eventual Javid, eventual Spromeo, eventual Newsbians, eventual JoJoButtons

Things you should know: Buttons, Smalls and Sniper are girls, JoJo is nonbinary, Race, Romeo, Jack and Smalls are adopted siblings. There are horror elements in this fic.

Chapter 1: Nonbelievers shall experience the mighty cross of JoJo. Or the holy water gun.

As soon as Medda tries to enter her living room, she knows that something is up. Jack, her oldest, tries to hide something behind him by standing in the doorway and blocking her view. That boy should know better by now. From behind him, she hears someone, she's 99% sure that it's Finch, swear and knowing that the boy usually has a slingshot with him, that's not a good sign. Her second kid, Race, is also uncharacteristically quiet and by now Medda is sure that they fucked up more than usual. Sighing deeply, she gestures at Jack to move out of her way. "Let me see what you kids have done now."

"Really boys?" Medda asks as she looks at the absolute train wreck that is supposed to be her living room. She isn't sure how an innocent movie night dissolved into...this. With her hands on her hips, she gives the room a once over and feels a headache coming up. About twenty kids give her mixtures of guilty and rueful looks and Specs steps forward, probably ready to apologize but she waves him off.

"No. I don't even want to hear it. This time, you all have gone too far. That" ,she points at a mountain of glass, "was a closet. I suppose the ceramics inside of it haven't survived either?" None of them look her in the eyes, but she sees Sniper and Finch exchange meaningful looks and she knows enough. "All of you, clean up this mess. And please find another place for your weekly movie night, because this was the last straw."

"Oh my god", Romeo chokes out and he sounds like he might start crying any minute. "We've disappointed her. Like, actually disappointed her." While making soothing noises, Specs rubs his back. "It's gonna be a-ok Romeo. She'll turn around eventually, like my mom does!" Romeo sniffles. "Specs, you don't have a mom." Specs shrugs in return. "Damn man, I was just trying to be supportive. No need to come for me like that."

Race rolls his eyes at the interaction and claps his hands loudly. "Okay, people! Let's clean this mess up and go to sleep." They split up the work and go to sleep afterwards.

The following Monday, they are all crammed at one table in the cafeteria, talking and screeching through each other until Blink climbs unto the table and screams for a solid minute with his arms spread. "Have I established my dominance yet? Yes? Alright folks, the most wonderful person in the world wanted to ask something." He climbs from the table and sets himself down next to Mush, who presses a kiss to his forehead. "Thanks babe."

"Gross", Henry comments and Blink violently kicks his shin underneath the table. As Henry rubs his shin with a pained expression on his face, he says: "You have too much anger for somebody so small." Immediately Blink shoots up and lunges at Henry but Mush drags him back by the collar of his jacket before he can seriously harm him. With a furious looking Blink entrapped in a hug, Mush starts to talk.

"Where are we going to hold our weekly movie night now that Medda kicked us out? And monthly karaoke night? I can't survive without monthly karaoke night." Blinks scoffs. "Yes you can. I'll make you." Mush smiles. "How do you always manage to make sweet sentences sound so menacing?"

"Shut it, lovebirds and let's focus on the question", Tommy Boy says and snaps his fingers, gathering everyone's attention. "What are we gonna do?" Henry shoots up. "We could build a treehouse!" As the enthusiasm in the group grows, Crutchie coughs pointedly and taps Henry on the shoulder with his crutch. "I hope one of you knows how to make an elevator, because otherwise I'll have to fly into your treehouse."

"Sorry Crutchie, that was dumb of me." Crutchie flippantly waves it off. "It's alright, just keep it in mind for the next time."

"What if we used the demon's den?" Albert speaks up and all of them stare at him in disbelief. JoJo gets up from their seat, walks over to Albert and smacks him on the forehead with their rosary (their moms had given it to them and JoJo always carried it with them). "Albert, that's the most stupid fucking idea ever. Someone actually died in that house."

"I don't know guys", Race comments and his face shows that he's on board with Albert's idea. "I've heard that water and electricity are still useable in that house. The WiFi is probably still up too. How awesome would that be? Nobody ever goes there, so we could leave snacks and stuff there without anyone stealing it."

"It's the demon's den! Have you two gone totally insane?" Race and Albert look at each other and Elmer shakes his head. "Look, I'm in for most of the shit you pull. Stealing the principal's diary? Cool. Putting Mean Girls quotes on the bathroom walls? Totally fetch. Going into the demon's den after everything I've heard from my older sisters and mom? No way in hell, my dudes."

Jack watches as arguments get thrown around until he finds a solution. "What if some of us went to check the place out first? If it's haunted, I doubt all of us will die. If it's not, then we have a neat new meeting place."

After some prodding, Jack finally has a team of people that's willing to go with him. Race and Albert, naturally. Mike and Ike are coming along too and from the mischievous smirks on their faces, he suspects that they are going to pull a few tricks. Not a thing he's looking forward to, but the bigger the group, the better. Out of curiosity, Specs will go too and Romeo volunteers shortly after him. Tommy Boy wants to know if he's able to beat up ghosts, so he will come too.

The people who want absolutely nothing to do with it are Elmer, Buttons and Mush. Blink decides to stay with Mush. "He's going to fret all evening. I'm staying behind to keep him calm." Crutchie wants to go but decides against it. "I won't be able to run, should it be needed." Henry, Finch and surprisingly, JoJo are the last people who will also explore the house. "If there really is a demon, at least one of us will know what to do", JoJo sighs. Smalls and Sniper want to join too, but Jack chooses to leave the two fourteen year old girls at home. Smalls protests loudly, but Jack tells her that she has the special mission of distracting Medda. He does not tell her that Medda would kill him, should he get his little sister injured.

On a Saturday morning, the eleven of them gather in front of the demon's den. From outside, the house looks completely innocent. It has white walls, lovely blue windows and even a garden with a willow tree. The only slightly worrying thing about the house, is the fact that's it more around five miles away from its nearest neighbour and surrounded by a pond and the woods begin near the garden. For the people who aren't aware of its reputation, the house and its surroundings would paint an enchanting picture.

"We're going to split into smaller groups, that way we'll cover more ground on higher tempo", Jack announces. "Tommy Boy, you're with me. The rest of the pairs are the following: Race-Albert, the twins, Romeo-Specs and JoJo, Finch and Henry, you're a trio."

Henry grins. "Nice, I've always wanted-" Before he can finish his sentence, JoJo whacks him with a decently sized cross. "Begone thot!" they scream and Jack watches bemused. "Let's go, Ralbert can go check the attic, the twins get the garden, Spromeo gets the first floor, JoFinchRy (that's awful Jack. Shut it, JoFinchRy) will explore the ground floor and you and me." He gives Tommy Boy a shaky smile and gets an unimpressed raised brow in return. "We're going sightseeing in the basement."

"Wanna bet that I'll get there first?" Albert shouldn't take the bet, because he knows damn well that Race is way faster than him. "Is that a challenge I hear, you thin twink?" "Does it sound like a challenge, grainy ginger?" Before Albert can answer, Race sprints up the stairs. Albert follows as fast as he can, but still manages to lose sight of Race.

Romeo is scanning the hallway, eyes wide and shaking slightly. "Are you okay?" Specs asks and Romeo frantically turns around as though he forgot that Specs was there too. "I'm fine! Totally cool! It's all cool, cool, cool, cool,..." There is no way, that Romeo feels as peachy as he badly pretends to be. "Hey, want to hold hands?" Romeo squints suspiciously at him. "Why? I'm not scared!" Inwardly, Specs sighs. "I am." He keeps his face perfectly straight and reaches out with a trembling hand. Instantly, Romeo clutches his arm. "Of course! If it makes you feel less scared, sure!"

The truth is, Specs doesn't even know how Romeo manages to be scared. The sun is out and the interior is actually quite cosy. He likes the blue-white theme that the house has going on and his hands aren't trembling because he's scared, but because he had to bike the furthest and also forgot his scarf. He's cold, but Romeo pressed closely against him helps.

The first thing Finch does when entering the house, is checking if the WiFi really still works like Race had claimed. "Holy shit!" he exclaims and within a second, JoJo has a...water gun? in their hands. "JoJo, what the fuck is that?" Expertly, they twirl the water gun between their fingers. "I got inspired by Buzzfeed Unsolved. This is baby is filled with holy water!" Henry, who heard everything, snorts. "Good job JoJo. By the way, what were you screaming for Finch?" With a gleeful expression on his face, he shows Henry and JoJo his phone. "Race was right. There is WiFi here! You don't even need a password!" JoJo gets their phone out too. "Would you look at that. Sweet." They peer into the living room the three of them are standing in. "I don't see anything concerning here. You guys want to watch John Mulaney with me?" "Fuck yeah."

Jack regrets everything. Well, not everything, but everything that led to him standing in the badly illuminated basement of a supposedly haunted house. As he suppressed a whine, Tommy Boy sighed. "Wanna pull a Spromeo?" Jack shoots him a confused look and Tommy Boy offers him his hand with a groan. "Wanna hold hands, you stupid dipshit?" Without hesitation, Jack gives in. "Yes, please. What do you mean by pulling a Spromeo?" Tommy Boy looks at the ceiling, as though he can see Romeo and Specs right through it. "How much do you wanna bet that they're holding hands right now?" Jack kind of doubts that Specs would try anything like that with his little bro (strangers usually don't believe him and Romeo when they say that they're siblings. It's as though people have never heard of a little thing called adoption), but Tommy Boy seems really sure of himself, so Jack shrugs. "Eh, who cares. We've got a basement to explore."

"Race?" Albert calls out as he reaches the attic. "Please tell me you're here." When he gets no answer, he throws open the first door in sight. From the doorway he can see that this had been a place to stow away junk that had no place anywhere else. He finds a watering can, a duster and a coat rack, but no Racetrack.

The second door leads to a small bathroom. Race isn't here either, but the sight of a bar of soap balancing on the edge of the sink, makes him strangely uncomfortable. He spots a basket with bath toys next to the bath, one rubber duck lays on its side next to the basket. Unable to stand the distressing atmosphere any longer, he exits the bathroom.

In the last room, he finds Race. The boy has a notebook in his hands and he's biting his lip. "Take a look at this", he says and his voice quivers. Silently, Albert accepts the notebook what upon further inspection, turns out to be a diary. The page that Race had been looking at, contained the last entry. The date scribbled in the corner was around two years ago. The whole page is covered with the same sentence over and over again. More than a hundred times, in a desperate scrawl, it says: 'I'm scared'. With wide eyes he stares at Race, who hands him another paper. 'Help me' it says. 'I don't know what to do. It's coming, it's coming, someone, anyone, please HELP ME' The last words are written so harshly that the paper is torn in some places. Dizzily, Albert sets himself down on the windowsill and peers outside, trying to calm his mind. He spots the willow beside the lake and he notices Mike and Ike next to the lake as well. Ike and Mike, who's squatting, turn around and as Albert raises his hand to wave at them, he catches the exact moment that Mike tumbles backwards into the water.

"Why do we have to check the garden of all things?" Ike complains and Mike grins at his twin brother. "You know damn well why. It's a shame that we can't scare any of them from here." Ike smirks in return. "We could go inside. Follow them because we're just so worried about them, you know?" Mike nods enthusiastically until he remembers a tiny detail.

"What if we scare JoJo and get hit with that massive cross of theirs? I don't want to risk lethal injuries, man." After considering that thought for a minute, Ike agrees. "Yeah, I'd hate to explain that one to mom. Hey ma! Our friend pummelled us with a cross during ghost hunting!"

Giggling, they walk toward the lake and Mike kneels down beside it. "Would you look at this water! It looks unnaturally clean. I bet you could swim in it without getting any weird diseases." Concerned, Ike looks down. "Please don't try that." "Spoilsport."

"Oh look, it's Albert", Ike informs Mike whileturning around and both of them wave at their ginger friend. "I wonder-" A scream interrupts Ike and he watches in horror as Mike plunges into the lake.

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