#jq spookathon 2023 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fairymermaid7 · 1 year ago

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This is a story by @mythicalea, @jessbahia , Chrissy and myself for the JQ Spookathon 2023.

Enjoy!!

Dead Time Darlings

October 1st

Y/n was busily unpacking in her new room, she knew if there was one spot in her house she wanted settled as soon as possible it was her room.

She was focused on hanging up her clothes in the closet when she heard what she thought were footsteps in the hallway. She froze in her spot and looked towards the hallway.

She slowly walked towards the door and opened it to look in the hallway. As she poked her head into the hallway a few books she had just put on her dresser shelf flew to the floor.

“What the heck?” She said to herself softly.

October 3rd

“I’m telling you, it’s just getting weirder!” Y/N spoke into the phone as she wiped down her counters in the kitchen. “Maybe that’s why my aunt left me this house…it was her way of fucking with me one more time.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “No, my aunt is not haunting me” she laughed lightly as she heard a shifting upstairs. “I’ll call you back” she hung up the phone quickly.

She grabbed a bat and slowly walked up the stairs. She cleared the house and took a deep breath.

“I know you’re messing with me, why?” She asked out loud, standing in the hallway.

She heard footsteps walk behind her and she slowly turned to see nothing. She felt a chill hit the back of her neck as she froze in her spot.

October 7th

“Alright” she said, emptying the contents of a plastic shopping bag onto the kitchen counter. “I know you’re here. For some reason, you want me to know you’re here, I’m going to make it real easy on you.”

She took the multiple packs of alphabet magnets and started opening them, putting all the letters on the fridge.

“We’ll start with an easy one” she said, throwing away the packaging. “Who are you?”

She watched the magnets on the fridge carefully before turning away.

“You take your time” she said out loud before going to the laundry room to grab her laundry.

She walked the laundry back through the kitchen before the magnets caught her eye. She put the laundry basket on the counter and walked to the fridge, never taking her eyes off of it.

She ran her fingers over the new word formed on the fridge as a smile broke out on her face.

“Nice to meet you Arthur.”

October 11th

Y/N yawned as she walked into the kitchen. She giggled a little when she read the fridge.

“Good morning to you too Arthur” she smiled.

After having a long, rough night, she turned to put on a pot of coffee. When she turned back around, another smile formed on her face.

“Beautiful” she read the word off the fridge. “Thank you Arthur, such a gentleman.”

October 12th

Y/N rubbed her eyes as she sat up in her bed. She checked her phone, reading the 3:04am across her screen and groaned to herself.

She pulled herself out of bed and expected the noise of someone walking around to stop. To her surprise, the sound didn’t stop but only got louder as she approached the room she had deemed her library.

She paused for a moment before pulling the door open. A man she had never seen before was pacing around in the room. She gasped and grabbed for a lamp that hadn’t been set up yet to use as a weapon.

“Who are you?” She asked towards the man.

“Me?” The man stopped pacing and looked directly at Y/N.

“Yes you!”

“You can see me? You can hear me?” It was only now Y/N realized the accent.

“Of course I can, what kind of question is that? Now answer me! Who the hell are you?!” She rose her voice.

“I’m Arthur” he explained, giving a calming motion with his hands.

“That’s…not possible” Y/N said quietly, dropping the defensive pose and letting the lamp hang in her hand at her sides.

“It shouldn’t be” Arthur said quietly “you shouldn’t be able to hear me…or see me.”

“…but I can see you, and I can hear you…how?”

Arthur looked at her like a lightbulb had gone off in his head.

“Dead time.”

“What?”

“Look” Arthur felt his front pocket with his hand, as Y/N followed the motion with her eyes. She couldn’t help but admire the beautiful fingers that took a pocket watch out, before mentally slapping herself.

You're having a paranormal encounter with a spirit, you don’t even know if you’re dreaming, get it together! she thought before Arthur interrupted her thoughts.

“See?” he said, showing her the watch.

“Yeah, I know what time it is, that’s not the..wait” she finally realized what he was talking about. She stared at him, thinking, her face a mixture of surprise and fear. She started stepping backwards instinctively, however knowing he wasn’t there to hurt her.

Arthur reached out to touch her forearm, right at the time when the sound of a thunder burst through the quiet night. She jumped a bit and screamed, making Arthur scream too.

“Okay, this is not happening” she closed her eyes shut and opened them again, “I’m surely dreaming”.

“You are not dreaming” Arthur approached her a little more, but she didn’t back off this time. He reached out again, but his fingers went right through her arm. She looked down at it and right back up at him, turning pale.

“Please do not be scared..” Arthur’s voice broke a little.

“I..” she started, but never finished the sentence. Instead, she turned around and left the library, quickly walking towards her bedroom as she murmured.

“This is not happening, you’re dreaming, it’s not, it’s not real, wake up idiot…” she kept talking to herself as she reached her bed and took off the sweater she had worn over her nightgown when she’d got out of bed. She heard footsteps approaching and her heartbeat got louder into her ears as the storm got louder outside, and, seconds later, her door sprung open.

“Please just listen to me, I am not-” Arthur stormed into the room, only to turn around terrified when he gave her one look.

“My God, I am so sorry, where are my manners? I am terribly sorry I didn’t know you would be naked…” he kept murmuring, his back turned on her.

Yn furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at her quite dressed self before feeling her cheeks blush a little at his shyness.

“You…it’s alright, you can turn around” she said softly and he turned around slowly, only to squeal again “you’re still naked!”

Yn put her sweater back on and cleared her throat. “It’s fine now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah I’m sure.”

Arthur turned around softly again, his cheeks a deep shade of red that made her melt a little inside.

“Right, I…” he started, straightening his jacket, “I just wanted to tell you…you don’t have to be afraid. I am a very friendly spirit.”

“Spirit..? But how..how can this be..?”

“You already knew something was going on.”

“I did but…”

“I have lived here my whole life…and…and after, as a matter of fact, I…I am harmless…I have been so lonely…and then you arrived, and you seemed so happy and,friendly, and I would not have done anything but something inside me told me to try and communicate with you…And then you brought those strange letters which can move around on that big white cupboard in the kitchen, which, if I may add, is so cold on the inside, and I…”

“You got into the fridge??”

“I..” Arthur blushed again, looking at his hands “I was curious. What is that thing anyway?”

“Wait, just, hold on a second” y/n finally sat down on the bed, rubbing her face softly. “Come here” she motioned for him to approach “you can sit down.”

“A gentleman never sits on a lady’s bed miss” Arthur said formally. “In fact, I should have never spent so much time in your bedroom either. Perhaps I should-”

“Okay, let’s go to the library then” she stood up and he opened the door for her, smiling softly at her. She tried to ignore the shivering feeling his eyes gave her, and walked first through the hallway as she kept talking.

“I really want to know everything about you Arthur. I don’t know if I believe in such things but..” she reached the library entrance and turned around to look at him. Nothing. He was gone.

“A..Arthur?” she looked around at the hallway and then inside the library, No sign of him. She stood there for some seconds, trying to hear something, anything, apart from the thunder and heavy rain outside. And she did.

Seconds later, she heard the magnetic letters move around on the fridge. She walked fast towards the kitchen, surprising herself at how eager she was to see his message. Because she knew it was him.

"dead time over" the message read. She waited patiently to see if he’d write anything else.

"tomorrow same time" she whispered the message and couldn’t help but smile.

“I’ll be waiting.”

October 13th

“So we figured out I can see you, I can hear you but I can’t touch you and you can’t touch me” Y/N explained as she wrote in her notebook.

“Are you taking notes?” Arthur looked at her curiously.

“Just trying to keep everything straight, this is my first spirit relationship” she giggled.

“Relationship?” Arthur swallowed hard.

“You know what I mean” she rolled her eyes. “I want to keep everything straight, you know like what I’ve already taught you.”

“Like that” Arthur pointed to her phone.

“Right, and the fact that girls wear a lot less clothes now and it’s completely acceptable” she giggled as Arthur's face filled with a shade of pink.

She turned the page and started writing again.

“What are you writing now?” Arthur tried to peek at the page.

“I’m making a list of what makes you blush” Y/N giggled as she kept writing and watched Arthur’s face go even more crimson.

October 17th

“Arthur?” Y/N said softly as she walked into the library. “Arthur are you here?”

She started getting worried that she lost the ability to see Arthur in dead time. She felt herself grow sad and her heart clenched.

She started thinking about how she shouldn’t be feeling the way she was when she heard him speak.

“You look gorgeous as always” his deep voice put a smile on her face.

“I was starting to think you weren’t coming” she said softly.

“And miss this? This time with you? Never” he smiled widely, his eyes sparkling.

“I uh…I had an idea” she turned her head trying to hide her blush. “For our dead time date”

“Continue” Arthur smirked at the mention of the word date.

“I thought I could read to you for a little” she smiled. “You know since we’re in the library”

“I like that idea, but please anything but Fifty Shades Of Gray” he spoke quickly with wide eyes.

“Wait, how do you know what Fifty Shades Of Gray is?” She asked confused.

“I got bored the other day, it looked like it would be about the struggles in the world and wow was I wrong” he sat in thought.

“Just…next time ask before you start reading a book if you want to know what it’s really about” she laughed, grabbing a book off the shelf.

“Noted, I did find something interesting though” he explained, moving to the book shelf.

“In Fifty Shades Of Gray?” She joked with a smirk.

“No” Arthur said nervously, his hands shaking as he flipped through a book. “Here” he held the book out to her.

She took the book from his hands and started reading.

“The one night of the year where the barrier between the living and the dead can be broken” she looked up at Arthur. “Arthur this is genius, how did you find this?”

“It was next to…that other book. Keep reading” he motioned to the book.

She read silently before looking up at him with wide excited eyes.

“Do you think it’s true?” She asked hopeful.

“No clue” he shrugged.

“If it’s true that means you can stay in this…timeline? Universe? Whatever they call it for good, we just have to figure out what’s…”

“What’s keeping me here? I’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time, sweetheart” he said softly.

“Well, if this is right, we have until Halloween. In Halloween the barrier can be broken. What do you think that means?”

October 20th

Y/N woke up to her alarm buzzing on her side table. She turned off the alarm and started going through a few books.

She lost herself reading into her topic before she heard his voice.

“Thought you were standing me up, love” Arthur joked, sitting on her bed.

“Sorry, I just got caught up reading about Halloween and that barrier. I went to the library and got all these books since the internet gave too many different versions and no clear answer” she looked up at him and smiled.

“What?” He asked nervously.

“You’re sitting on my bed”

“So I am” he smiled, motioning to the books. “Have you found anything out?”

“From what I can tell, Halloween will be like dead time for twenty-four hours but like…dead time amped up.”

“You lost me sweetheart.”

“The twenty-four hours of Halloween I won’t just be able to see and hear you, I think I’ll be able to touch you and you can touch me too”

“For a whole twenty-four hours?” Arthur asked in awe.

“If I read this right. I think I also found more on the topic of keeping you here…you know if you’d want to” she trailed her words off nervously.

She hadn’t quite been able to admit to herself that she wanted him to stay, to stay with her specifically, so she didn’t know how to explain to him how much she wanted him to stay with her.

“Stay here? With you?” He asked quietly.

“Well…yeah. If you wanted.”

“I’d love nothing more” he finally whispered, making a slight smile crawl onto her face.

“Me too.”

October 22nd

“Sweetheart” Y/N woke up to the sound of Arthur’s voice.

“Babe, my alarm hasn’t gone off yet” she sleepily turned over in her bed.

Arthur smiled to himself at the pet name.

“It’s 3:20 am, love” Arthur said softly.

“What?” She sat up. “My alarm didn’t go off, I’m sorry honey.”

“Shh, shh, go ahead and sleep, I can wait till tomorrow.”

“No no” she rubbed her eyes. “I’m not wasting any time I get to be with you” she stretched.

Arthur smiled lovingly at her, he knew. Living, dead, any universe, any timeline, any dimension, she was it for him.

October 25th

Y/N walked into the kitchen and smiled when she read the fridge.

“Good morning Arthur” she grabbed the heart magnet that she had added to the fridge and placed it next to the words he left her on the fridge before taking a picture of the message that read ‘good morning beautiful love’.

She turned and made her coffee, hearing the magnets move on the fridge. She turned around to read the message.

“Have a surprise for you tonight” she read out loud with a twinkle in her eye. “Can’t wait sweetheart.”

October 26th

“There she is, my dead time darling” Arthur chuckled as he sat on her bed.

“My handsome dead time prince” she smiled back, putting her phone down.

“It’s never been more torturous that I can’t touch you, love” he said, throwing himself on the bed.

She giggled watching him.

“So, what’s the surprise babe?” She straightened up and sat curiously.

“Oh yeah” he reached into his pocket and placed a ring on the bed in front of her. “I made that for you.”

“You did?” She said with a soft voice and wonder in her eyes. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s just paper, love. But I wanted to give you something and I read in a book where a guy gave a girl a ring to show how he cared about her” he shrugged.

“I love it” she smiled and slipped the ring on her finger. “Thank you honey.”

“Of course. Anything for you” he grinned.

“You’re right you know” she whispered.

“About?” He looked up at her with question.

“It’s never been more torturous that I can’t touch you."

A wide smile adorned Arthur’s face.

October 28th

“I figured it out” Y/N excitedly said, walking into the kitchen and putting a book on the table. “I went to a book store and got a specialty book. It says that the reason why spirits get stuck in the sort of limbo you’re in is because something is unfulfilled. You’re missing something that’s keeping you from crossing over or becoming whole in a sense again…does that make sense?” She looked towards the magnets on the fridge.

‘Yes’ the magnets on the fridge read.

“Do you know what you need to be…complete?” She said out loud and waited for the magnets to move again.

‘No clue’ the magnets showed.

“Well I have to work so I’ll try to think about it and you have all day to see if anything pops into your mind” she said out loud.

‘Later beautiful’ the magnets moved to make out.

“Can’t wait for our dead time date, handsome” she smiled and grabbed her coffee.

October 29th

“You looked so gorgeous today” Arthur smiled sitting on Y/N’s bed as she sat on her phone.

“You look handsome as ever,” she grinned. “Did you figure anything out?”

“I could only think of one thing” he shrugged, looking away.

“Well what is it?” She looked at him curiously.

“Don’t make me say it Y/N” he said softly.

“Please? Anything to help figure out how to get you to stay here” she almost pleaded with him.

“You” he said quietly, not bringing his eyes to her.

“Oh” she whispered. “Aren’t you just the cutest puppy ever?” She beamed as her eyes threatened to fill with tears.

He tilted his head at her confused, almost with a hurt expression.

“What?”

“No, no it’s a good thing, it’s a good thing honey. It means you’re adorable like…really adorable” her last words were spoken lightly.

October 30th

“Tomorrow is the day” Arthur happily said as he walked into Y/N’s room.

“Yep, less than twenty four hours” she said a bit deflated.

“What’s wrong, gorgeous girl? Are you not excited?” Arthur asked concerned.

“I’m really excited…I’m just scared” she said smally.

“Scared?” Arthur tilted his head in question.

“Of what comes after” she took a deep breath. “What if I can figure out how to get you to stay?”

“Then we try again next year,” Arthur shrugged.

“You can wait until next year?” She looked up at him with wide eyes.

“I’ve waited my whole life for you, what’s another year?” Arthur grinned.

A small smile widened on Y/N’s face. She knew she would wait forever for him if that’s what it took. He was her person.

October 31st- 12.01 am

Arthur approached the bed slowly, sitting next to y/n who was still asleep. He extended his hand, eager to find out if it was true. And it was.

He was finally able to touch her. He slowly caressed her cheek with the back of his finger, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as y/n slowly moved in her sleep.

“My love..” he whispered softly, as she shifted more under the covers. His hand didn’t leave her cheek as she opened her eyes and looked straight up at him.

“Arthur…?” she sat up on the bed looking at his watery eyes.

“It’s true” he said with a trembling voice as she took his hands in hers. “Can you feel it?”

Y/n didn’t reply, she just kissed his palm and then reached over and gave him the warmest and most loving hug he had ever experienced.

Many minutes later, they broke the hug, both teary eyed and smiling.

“It’s amazing” he smiled, kissing her hands.

“It is..” her voice broke again, and she sighed.

“Don’t think about it my love” he said, reading her thoughts, “we’ll figure it out. I promise” he brought his fingers to her chin to have her look at him again, and approached her a little more.

Looking deep into his eyes and feeling her heart beating fast, in sync with his own, she approached a bit more. Arthur smiled lightly for a second before their lips touched ever so softly, and seconds later his hand rested on her cheek as he deepened the kiss and his other hand caressed her hair, and she reluctantly put her own on his chest.

October 31st - Day

Y/N took her coffee to her room, looking for Arthur or any sign of him the whole way. She sighed, putting her coffee on her dresser and changing. She looked in the mirror, tilting her head wondering if her outfit looked alright for the day.

“Absolutely beautiful” Arthur spoke as he wrapped his arms around her from behind with a wide smile.

“Thank you Arthur, always a gentleman” she smiled resting her hands on his arms.

“I can touch you, this is wonderful” Arthur sighed.

“I can feel you, actually feel you. I love Halloween” she smiled widely as she watched them both in the mirror.

“I hope you’re ready for an amazing day sweetheart” Arthur smiles at her in the mirror.

“Amazing and stressful…we have to figure out how to keep you here. That book was not helpful” she said sadly.

“Don’t stress beautiful, we’ll figure it out” Arthur comforted, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

They spent the day mostly touching and holding each other, cuddling into each other’s arms and talking about how they’ll manage to keep Arthur in y/n’s dimension.

“I’m sure it has to do with you… you’re what i’m missing to be complete..but I have no idea how we have to do it, like..do we have to say a spell or something? Or is it just the..uh..what we feel? Because I’m feeling really complete already..” Arthur said, going over the book for the millionth time while they were seated on the living room sofa.

“I don’t know” y/n whispered, absent-mindedly caressing the paper ring on her finger. She took a look at the big clock on the wall, sighing. Time was relentlessly running out, and she hated that sting on her chest when thinking the day was going to be over soon.

“Okay” Arthur closed the book and placed it on the coffee table, “let’s leave it alone for a little. Maybe it’s already happened..maybe our..our connection, our feelings have already done the job. Forget it for a minute and come here” he opened his arms and she shoved herself in them, closing her eyes.

“Here, let’s read something else for a change” he said, “wait here."

He came back seconds later, holding another book. LOVE POEMS of Frederick Douglas Harper the title read.

“I never saw that in the library before” yn said as Arthur sat back next to her and she went through the book.

“I’ve been reading it” Arthur said “mostly after our dead time dates. Come back here” he opened his arms again and she made herself comfortable, resting her head on his lap as he randomly chose a page.

“Let’s see what we got…oh, that’s a great one.”

His soft deep voice filled the room as he read for her, she had closed her eyes and it felt as if they were the only people in the world, he held the book with one hand and caressed her hair with the other and she thought there was nothing else that she could ask for; she had everything, right there.

THE RIGHT TIME, THE RIGHT WAY

I needed someone—

I needed someone special;

My eyes lay upon your face—

In anticipation but doubt;

I was so touched by the softness of your eyes,

The grace of your stance,

The peacefulness of your temperament;

Your presence responded to my need and wish;

You came to me,

At the right time;

You came to me,

In the right way.

She slowly wiped her eyes, hoping he wouldn’t notice. But he did.

“My love?”

“I’m okay” she lifted herself off his lap and saw his eyes were watery too. They sat there, looking into each other’s eyes, not talking for many minutes. She caressed his cheek and he smiled softly to her, and without a word she leaned on his shoulder and he opened the book again.

He read and read to her for hours, until the clock struck 11 times, making them both lift their heads to look at it, and then each other.

One more hour.

October 31st - 11:50 PM

“I can’t do this” Y/N said softly as she laid in Arthur’s arms.

“Yes you can darling” Arthur comforted rubbing her head gently.

“How? How am I supposed to just be fine with the fact that I might have less than ten minutes with you?”

“We’ll always have dead time,” Arthur whispered.

He was trying to convince himself more than her that things would work out if nothing they did that day helped him stay permanently with her.

“I guess that’s an upside but…” she sat up and faced him. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you turned my life upside down in the best way possible. I can’t believe I was scared of you at first…you’re my comfort person.”

“Oh sweetheart” he took both of her hands in his and pulled her to him. “I can’t believe, out of all people in the world to own this house, you walked into my life. You, who woke up every night for an hour in the middle of the night just to spend time with me. Who figured out a way for us to talk when it wasn’t dead time…you breathed life into my dying soul my love.”

“Arthur” she breathed, fighting the tears welling in her eyes. “How can I do this? How can I be without you? Especially now?”

“Listen my love” he pulled her into his lap and held her tightly. “I know we might not have long left, but I need you to know, while I can still hold you, that I existed for many years after I existed my years on earth…but I never truly lived until the moment I saw you.”

“I’ll live out the rest of my days only being able to see you for an hour in the middle of the night and feel you once a year because I don’t want anyone else. I love you” she looked up at him.

“I love you too, you have no idea how much” he rushed out before pressing his lips to hers in a fierce kiss.

She clutched to him the second they pulled away and she sobbed into his chest.

“Please don’t leave me” she begged, gripping him tighter.

“I’m trying my love, I’d never leave you if it was my choice” he rubbed her hair comfortingly.

“I can’t lose you, Arthur” she sobbed.

“I can’t lose you either sweetheart, we’ll never let that happen” he whispered to her. “I’m going to be right here with you for the last-“ he paused as he looked at the clock.

“What?” She asked concerned as she noticed his pause.

“It’s 12:04 AM” he said softly as if he couldn’t believe it.

“It is?” She jumped up from his lap. “It’s after midnight? It worked?!” She turned to Arthur.

“Something we did today worked…I wonder what it was” he said in thought.

“I don’t care what it was” she kissed him sweetly. “I still have you and that’s all that matters.”

“I meant it, every word. I love you and I’m never leaving you darling” he slowly kissed her forehead.

“I’m so scared to even sleep in case this is all a dream” she sighed.

“It’s not a dream, this is the most real that anything has ever been for me” he smiled at her lovingly. “Get some sleep love.”

“Only if you’re sleeping with me” she returned the smile with a small giggle.

“I thought that was a given” he chuckled half tackling her to lay down on the bed.

November 1st

She woke up, stretching in her bed before stopping in her tracks. Her heart rate picked up when she searched the bed and realized she was alone.

“Arthur?” She called out, her heart twisting a little more when she didn’t get a reply.

“No, no, no, this can’t be happening” she said to herself as she searched every room, coming up empty.

She thought for a moment and remembered the magnets on the fridge, if nothing else she would at least know he’s still there in some way. She ran to the kitchen and froze when she saw the sight in front of her.

Arthur stood at the stove with a wide smile on his face.

“Good morning my love, did you sleep well?” He made his way to her and kissed her quickly.

“Arthur, you scared me. I woke up and you were gone” she pouted.

“I’m sorry, I wanted to make you breakfast. Never too soon to start spoiling the love of my…lives” he chuckled. She giggled and shook her head at him. “I told you, you’re stuck with me now” he rubbed her arms gently.

“I’m a lucky girl” she smiled up at him in awe. “Now we just have to get you acquainted with the world the way it is today.”

“Piece of cake” Arthur smiled.

#jq spookathon 2023 #joseph quinn #arthur havisham #joe quinn #fanfic #fanfiction

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foundtherightwords · 1 year ago

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Come, You Spirits

Pairing: Ralph (Timewasters) x OFC (Thu from "All Our Yesterdays")

Summary: Stuck in the past (again) and bored during the Ghost Festival, Ralph and Thu decide to check out the most haunted building in Hanoi, with unexpected consequences.

Warnings: none, just a brief mention of a murder and some general spooky stuff.

Word count: 4.6k

A/N: This is both my submission for the JQ Spookathon (yes, I've decided to participate after all! Thank you to @palomahasenteredthechat for hosting and all the mods!) and a soft continuation of my Ralph fic, "All Our Yesterdays" (if you haven't read it, that's OK. I tried to make this a standalone.) I've never written horror before, so here's something on the silly side instead. Plus, out of all of Joe's characters (other than Eddie), I feel that Ralph is most suited to a spooky story, and when Ralph is concerned, everything takes a silly turn for me.

As with "All Our Yesterdays", this is based on an actual urban legend of Hanoi and the location is real (see the photo at the end). The title is a quote from "Macbeth" too.

"You want to do what?" Thu asked, thinking she'd misheard Ralph over the flapping of the bamboo fan she was using to dry her hair. There was a power cut, and she was already sweating despite having just showered.

"Check out that haunted building you told me about," Ralph repeated.

Right, so she hadn't misheard him then. "OK... why?"

Ralph shrugged. "It's something to do," he said. "We've eaten at every possible street vendor in the Old Quarter, we've seen every sight there is to see—I know you take pride in Hanoi being traditional, but when it hasn't changed much since sixty years ago, there's not much left to do."

"That still doesn't explain why you want to see a haunted house."

"Isn't it the Ghost Festival today? Shouldn't we do something to celebrate?"

"Our Ghost Festival is not Halloween!"

"You said it was the day all the souls are released from the Underworld to visit Earth. That sounds like Halloween to me."

"Yeah, but we're supposed to be avoiding spirits, not searching for them!"

"Ah, that's no fun," Ralph sighed. He picked up a paper with a listless hand and threw it down again.

"And anyway, we did go to the mausoleum to see Uncle Ho's mummified body," Thu pointed out. "That wasn't macabre enough for you?" The trip to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, a rite of passage for every school kid in Hanoi, had been less of a success than Thu had expected. Ralph had treated it less like a curious relic of Vietnam's past and more like a carnival sideshow.

"No," now he said. "It was just... weird. It's not even real!"

"Oh, like you'd know!"

"You seriously believe that they can preserve a body that well?"

"Why not? The Soviets did it with Lenin."

"Have you seen that one?"

"... No."

"Well, I bet that's not real either."

Thu could tell they were in for another pointless bickering session, which had been happening with increasing frequency lately. Time traveling tends to do that to you, especially when it is as unpredictable as time traveling with Homeless Pete. No matter how in love you are with one another, it can be stressful when you keep ending up in different times throughout history, without warning. And this particular period hit a little close to home—in 1991 Hanoi, with her birth just six years away, Thu ran the risk of running into her parents and experiencing her own version of Back to the Future. She and Ralph had managed to find a place to stay on the other side of town, away from her parents' university, but the strain was getting to her.

Thu knew she should be thankful they had landed in peacetime—if it had been close to either of the wars, the suspicion on Ralph would make it impossible for them to stay. And they had managed to avoid the worst of the 1980s economic crisis as well—she still remembered too clearly her parents' half-humorous, half-painful stories about standing in line for hours to get their meager rations, the mortal fear of losing one's ration book, the stress of hoarding any product you could get your hands on. At least all of that was behind them now. But on a night like this, it was hard to feel grateful. The August air was muggy, the power was out for the third time that week, and the smoke from the burning of joss paper for the Ghost Festival only made the heat more unbearable. No wonder Ralph was feeling restless.

Still, she wished she hadn't told Ralph about that haunted building. They lived just down the road and had come across it while trudging around searching for Homeless Pete, who had disappeared yet again. Built in the Eastern Bloc style, all gray concrete and sharp corners, it squatted on an intersection like some scowling monstrosity, already exuding an air of inhospitality and menace despite being newly constructed.

"That's going to be the most famous haunted building in Hanoi," Thu said without thinking, pointing at it.

"Going to? What happens?" Ralph asked curiously.

Thu told him about how the building was meant to be the new Bulgarian Embassy, but was never put to use for some reason and was left empty over the next thirty years. "And in Vietnam, whenever a house is abandoned, it is said to be haunted," she said. "They say it was built on top of a cemetery or a hospital morgue, and people often hear strange noises or crying inside. The usual urban legend stuff. And then there was the murder—"

"What murder?" Ralph's eyes opened wide with fascination.

"Some woman stabbed her lover in his car right outside the back gate. In the early 2000s, I think. They say his ghost still lingers around."

"Wizard!"

Thu didn't share Ralph's enthusiasm. She didn't really believe in ghosts, but like most Vietnamese people, she had a healthy respect for the supernatural and avoided it when she could. Ralph had no such hang-ups, apparently. And now he wanted to check out the place! On Ghost Festival of all night!

"It's not really haunted, you know," she said, hoping to dissuade him. "Those stories are just made up by junkies and criminals, so they have a place to hang out."

"But you said those rumors only started after the building was abandoned," Ralph pointed out, and Thu silently cursed his memory. "So why was it abandoned in the first place?"

"It's probably just due to some bureaucratic crap."

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Let me get this straight," she said, rubbing her eyes. "We're stuck thirty years in the past with no IDs, and you want to sneak into an embassy to see if it's haunted, all because you're bored?"

"Yes," Ralph said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"No. We are not doing that."

"Please?" He was practically pouting and batting his eyelashes at her, like freaking Betty Boop.

"Stop making that face. You know I can't resist that face."

"It's history!"

Thu sighed. Their apartment was cramped, and the fried fish that the family next door was having for dinner did not smell so great. Perhaps some fresh air would do them good. This was a time when you could still get fresh air simply by walking outside, without having to worry about pollution or traffic, so she might as well take advantage of it.

"Sometimes I do worry about your sense of self-preservation, you know," she said, getting up to find her shoes.

"Come on, that's what you love about me." Ralph grinned and gave her a kiss as she passed him.

***

They walked. Usually, during a power cut like this, they would meet plenty of people and families with kids all along the street, trying to cool down in the night air. That night, however, the street was deserted. The only person they saw was a scrawny student trying to read a book under a street lamp. Clearly, the night of the Ghost Festival was no time to be outside. And even if anyone had ventured out, the stifling, humid air would offer little relief. They really needed some rain soon.

"I'm afraid this isn't the vibe you're looking for," Thu said. "It's too hot to be spooky."

"That helps though." Ralph, always determined to make the best of every situation, pointed at the fat full moon shining languidly over the darkened street.

Just a few minutes later, they reached the embassy building. The place was surrounded by a tall iron fence, sharp points piercing the moonlit sky. The wan light of the street lamps gave the concrete blocks a blotchy, moldy look, and when combined with the scraggly bushes around its courtyard and the leftover building material, the building looked old, ruined, abandoned even before it was inhabited. A giant banyan tree by the main entrance spread its twisted branches over the flat rooftop, its roots hanging down like a curtain, dark leaves rustling menacingly although there wasn't a breath of wind.

The sight of that tree gave Thu pause.

"What's wrong?" Ralph asked.

"They should have done something about that tree," she said slowly.

"Why?"

"A banyan tree, especially one this ancient, is usually home to spirits and ghosts," Thu explained, "but cutting it down will anger the spirits, so people often set up some sort of a shrine or an altar on the tree for them. There's no shrine here. Not even some rice and salt for the lonely spirits." She dug in her bag and found a packet of puffed rice, one of many she'd bought earlier that day as offerings for the Ghost Festival, and scattered the grains over the tree root. To do it right, there should be some incense as well, but she was sure the spirits would find the rice just fine.

Ralph gave her a sidelong glance. "I thought you didn't believe in ghosts."

"I don't."

"Then are you trying to frighten me?"

A corner of Thu's mouth lifted up. "Is it working?"

"Not a chance." Ralph walked around the back. "Come on."

The back was more of the same, sinister walkways leading deeper into the building, eerie shadows that seemed to appear just out of the corner of one's eyes, furniture piled up waiting to be moved in, creating all sorts of odd shapes. An empty swimming pool gleamed pale under the moonlight.

"OK, we've checked it out," Thu said. "There is no ghost or spirit to be found here. Are you happy now?"

There was no answer. She looked around, but Ralph was no longer by her side. He was at the back gate, unwinding the chain holding the gate shut. There was no lock. Shit.

"Ralph, stop! Come back here!" she called, trying to keep her voice low, but it was too late. He had slipped through the gate and disappeared into the murky depth of the building.

Shit, shit, shit. Ralph had always been game for anything, and he was right to say it was what she loved most about him—his endless passion, his ever-present optimism. But she was sure that, having spent time in an Indochinese prison, he would be more careful about putting himself at risk of getting arrested again.

Well, there was nothing to it. She slipped through the gate after him. If the lack of a lock was anything to judge by, the place was not very well guarded, being newly built and not yet inhabited. They may be lucky and not get discovered.

She caught up with Ralph, who was strolling down the covered walkway that connected the two wings of the building, looking for all the world like he was taking his constitutional along the Thames, despite his modern-day clothes. Apparently, one can take the boy out of London but cannot take London out of the boy.

"Get out of here before you get us into trouble!" she hissed.

"Relax," Ralph said. "There's nobody here."

"And there's no ghost either," Thu said, with more conviction than she actually felt.

It wasn't simply the fear of getting arrested that made Thu jumpy. She hated to admit it, but being in this building, knowing its history—or rather, future—made her hair stand on end. She didn't believe in ghosts, she told herself. But something about those cold, gray concrete walls, those dark, tunnel-like corridors, and the sheer emptiness of it felt like there was a razor pressed to the back of her neck, making her want to stand with her back against a solid wall. She fought the urge to take Ralph's hand.

"So you have time-traveled, yet you don't believe in ghosts?" Ralph said.

"That's different," Thu muttered.

"How?"

They were now inside the main hall. The building must have its own generator—there was a naked light bulb on the ceiling, shedding its yellow light over a reception desk of cheap plywood and a floor that still hadn't been completely cleared of sand and mortar. They climbed the staircase leading to the first floor, where another bare bulb swung from the ceiling, bringing more shadows than light.

"Time travel is—is—science," Thu said lamely.

"Is that so? How does it work then?"

"It works by—by—I don't know, some wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff!"

Ralph looked blank. "What?"

Thu bit back a teasing smile. "You're probably the only Brit alive that doesn't know Doctor Who. If—when we get back to the present, we really need to sit down and watch it."

"To be fair, I was born ninety years ago—"

A heavy, drawn-out sigh echoed down the corridor, cutting him off. It was ringing clear, as though the person was standing right by them.

Ralph gripped Thu's wrist. "Did you hear that?"

"Oh, for Heaven's sake!" She shook Ralph's hand free and strode forward with long, decisive steps. "It's probably just the wind or something—"

She rounded a corner, and her heart stopped.

A figure wavered in the gloom at the end of the corridor.

Then the figure moved into the light, and Thu realized it was much, much worse than a ghost.

It was a middle-aged man, dressed like a security guard, wearing the green pith helmet of the Vietnamese army, with a baton in his hand and a startled expression on his face.

"Excuse me!" he exclaimed in Vietnamese. "Who the hell are you?"

Thu didn't know where she found the clarity of mind to stick out an arm and block Ralph, who was still hidden from view behind the corner. But block him she did, and she could hear him duck into an empty room, much to her relief.

"This is private property! It belongs to the government of Bulgaria!" the guard shouted, limping toward her. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?!"

"I'm so sorry, sir," Thu said, running up to the guard to prevent him from going further down the corridor and discovering Ralph. She decided the best course was to tell the truth—or a version of the truth anyway. "The gate was open, and I—my friends and I heard that the place is haunted, and they dared me to go inside..."

"Haunted?" The guard frowned. He had the yellow teeth and yellow fingertips of a chain smoker, and, as he got close enough to her, the breath to match as well. "I've worked here since they started constructing, never heard of no haunting."

"It's just what people say—isn't this place built on an old temple? Or was it a cemetery—"

The guard narrowed his eyes at her. "Aren't you a bit old to get up to such shenanigans?" he asked.

Thu was ready to get offended, but then she remembered that thirty years in the past, someone in her mid-twenties could very well be married and having kids already—her own parents were. "You're absolutely right, sir," she said. "I'm so sorry. I'm leaving now."

She turned to leave, but the guard put his baton up. "Hold on," he said. "Let me see your ID."

Thu's heart dropped. "I—I don't have it with me."

"Where do you live?"

"Just... down the street."

"Right, I'll go with you to get your ID then."

"No!" she exclaimed. Realizing she would not be helping her case by panicking, she tried to soften her voice. "Please. You'll get me in trouble with my parents. Please, sir. I haven't done anything. I just walked around—"

Her plea fell on deaf ears. The guard grabbed Thu's arm with vice-like fingers. "So you just admitted to trespassing. Come with me."

"Hey, you can't do this!" She tried to pull away, but his hold was too strong, despite his limp. "Do you even have the authority to detain me?"

"Ooh, like to use fancy words, don't we?" The guard's craggy face took on a harsh, unyielding look. "You're right. This is a police matter. I'm only detaining you until I can fetch them." Ignoring her protests, he dragged her down the corridor and threw her into a room at the very end. "And for your information, young lady, my authority is absolute here!" he said, before snapping shut the padlock at the door with a cruel click.

"Shit!" Thu said out loud. How could she have been so stupid? She should have dragged Ralph bodily out of here—no, she shouldn't have let him through the gate—no, she should never have agreed to come here in the first place!

When she first time-traveled, she had lived for six months in 1929 without any ID whatsoever, but things in 1991 were very different, and with the police getting involved, how was she going to explain herself? She could only pray that Ralph was smart enough to get out while the guard was preoccupied. She may be able to come up with some crazy story to the police to explain her lack of ID, but explaining the presence of a young Englishman who was actually born in 1904 was too much for her. She could see the headlines—"Mad Woman Claims to Come from the Future". "Mad Foreigner Claims to Come from the Past". Or worse, there would be no headlines at all. They would just get thrown into jail or a mental hospital and forgotten.

Thu looked over her jail cell, trying to figure out what to do. She was in a bathroom, lit by a bare light bulb as the rest of the building. The door was of sturdy wood, and the only window was a tiny square high up on the wall. Even if somehow she managed to wriggle through it, it was still a two-floor drop to the ground. No wind came through that window, and the room was boiling. Sticky sweat poured down her back.

A shadow passed by and stopped just outside the room, blocking out the narrow strip of light underneath the door. It was gone in an instant, followed by several more, rather like a group of children crowding each other to peer into a room. Thu pressed her ears to the door but heard nothing, no footsteps or even a rustling of clothes.

"Hello?" she whispered in Vietnamese. Receiving no answer, she switched to English. "Ralph? That you?" Still no answer, but there came that long, heavy sigh again, and the light went out.

The sweat on Thu's back turned to ice. She staggered away from the door, heart hammering, spine crawling, until she hit the wall with her back. The solid wall made her feel slightly better, though the tiles chilled her. She missed Ralph's warm arms.

She sat down on the toilet, trying to gather her wits. Some shadows, a noise, and a power cut were nothing to be so shaken up about. It was just Ralph's overactive imagination and those damned stories getting to her, that was all...

BANG!

She nearly jumped out of her skin, before realizing it was just a window on the ground floor. Probably just the wind. She took a deep breath—

BANG! BANG! BANG!

This time they came right above her, one after another, sounding too fast and uniformed to be caused by the wind. A quick glance out the window told her that the night was as still and muggy as ever.

The guard's voice came from somewhere in the bowels of the building, "Who goes there?" Thu heard a high, clear giggle, but it could be her imagination, or it could simply be from a kid playing in the street outside. This was followed by a long moment of silence, then a scream—more like a yelp, thin and far away, then silence again, ringing in her ears, endless, unbearable.

The silence was broken by running footsteps outside the corridor. Her heart in her throat, Thu cast wildly about for a weapon. She settled for the heavy porcelain cover of the toilet's water tank, though what good it would do against a ghost, she had no idea. But then again, ghosts wouldn't have footsteps, would they?

"Thu?" came Ralph's familiar voice, and the band squeezing her heart loosened, almost making her drop the cover on her foot. She scrambled to the door.

"Ralph! What happened?"

"The guard fell into the pool."

Shit. "What did you do?!"

"I didn't do anything!"

This was no time for more bickering. "He must have the keys on him," she told Ralph. "Find them and get me out of here!"

"OK. Hang on."

His footsteps receded. After what must be the longest five minutes of her life, he came back, the door was opened, and the next thing she knew, Ralph was pulling her into his arms. "Are you all right?" he asked. "I'm sorry, this was all my fault—"

Thu was so relieved she wasn't even angry with him anymore. After all, she had followed him into the building of her own volition.

"No time for apologies. Let's just get the hell out of here," she said.

Grabbing each other's hand, they ran down the corridor, down the stairs, and toward the back gate. As they passed the empty swimming pool, Thu glimpsed the dark shape of the guard lying in a heap at the bottom.

"Is he dead?" she asked, horrified.

"No. Just knocked out, I think," Ralph said. Seeing Thu slow down, he paused as well. "What are you thinking?"

Thu weighed the bunch of keys in her hand. "I have an idea," she said, motioning for Ralph to climb down into the pool with her.

They put the keys back into the guard's pocket and carried him into the bathroom where he'd locked Thu up. This way, Thu reasoned, when he woke up, the confusion would be enough to throw doubt over his story, and they would be off the hook.

"Are you still angry with me?" Ralph said as they made their way back to the apartment. "I won't do anything like that ever again, I promise."

"You better keep that promise," she grumbled, but when he tentatively reached for her hand, she didn't push him away.

***

For a few days afterward, Thu avoided going past the embassy, just in case the guard still remembered her face. One evening, she and Ralph were going to dinner when they found their path was taking them past the building again. There was a great bustle as workers went in and out, carrying furniture and cleaning up the leftover building material. Seeing a woman struggling with a heavy chair, Thu came over to help.

"Are the Bulgarians finally moving in?" she asked in Vietnamese.

"No," the woman replied shortly. "They're moving out."

It was then that Thu noticed the furniture was being loaded on carts and taken away. Did this have anything to do with their misadventure the other night?

"Why?" she asked the woman.

"No one wants to work here," the woman said. "The locals say it's haunted."

Startled, Thu looked back at Ralph, whose eyes were open so wide they threatened to pop out of his face. He hadn't learned much Vietnamese, but he had certainly caught the word "haunted" and understood what it meant. Có ma. Inhabited by ghosts.

"What happened?" Thu asked the woman, trying to sound casually interested.

The woman cast a look around, before dropping her voice. "On Ghost Festival, a security guard was working there alone. He said some woman showed up, telling him the place is haunted. He thought she was a trespasser and locked her up to wait for the police. Did everything by the book, right? Only she vanished! And the guard found himself locked up instead! What do you make of that?"

Thankfully, Thu didn't have to answer that, because another worker was calling to the woman irritably, "Hey, move it! Some of us want to get out of here before it gets dark, you know!"

As the woman scurried back to her work, Thu gave Ralph a brief summary of what the woman had told her.

"I guess we were the ones that started that whole haunted rumor," she said ruefully.

"Well, at least now we know why it was abandoned," Ralph replied, cheerful as ever.

Thu shook her head at him, half exasperated, half affectionate. She should really stop letting him draw her into these harebrained adventures, but it was hard to say no to those puppy eyes.

"So tell me," she said, slipping her arm through Ralph's as they continued on their way, "what did you do to that poor security guard, exactly? How did you know where the breaker was?"

"The what?"

"The electricity. You turned it off to scare the guard, didn't you?"

"I thought that was another power cut?"

She slowed her steps, puzzled. "But you did slam the shutters, right?"

"Yes, the one on the ground floor. I thought it might make a good diversion."

"And the ones on the second floor too."

"No, I didn't go on the second floor."

"But I clearly heard three slams, right above me."

"I heard those too. I thought that was you!"

Did he think she was that gullible? "Come on, Ralph. You're messing with me."

"You're messing with me! How could I have gotten from the ground floor to the second floor so quickly?"

"Right, and next you're going to tell me you didn't make the guard fall into the pool either."

"I told you I didn't! He was already there when I found him!"

Thu finally stopped and looked straight at Ralph. "What are you saying?"

"I am telling you the truth," Ralph said slowly. "All I did was slam the shutters to draw the guard away. Then I hid. I didn't see anything. I only heard giggling and panting, and the guard's scream. When I found him, he was unconscious in the pool."

They stared at each other, neither uttering a word, minds running wild with all sorts of possibilities, while a strange, oppressive feeling—not quite fear, but a vague unease—clutched at their hearts. Thu could feel the razor on the nape of her neck again. As one, she and Ralph turned to look at the building. The workers had finished and left, and the building was deserted once more, looming gray and silent in the last rays of the sun.

"Perhaps the ghosts were helping us because you gave them some puffed rice," eventually Ralph said.

"I don't believe in ghosts," Thu snapped.

"Maybe you should," Ralph said. "They believe in you."

Thu looked over her shoulder again. It could be her imagination, or it could be a trick of the dying light, but the banyan tree looked like it was winking at them.

Definitely her imagination. Maybe.

"Don't say things like that," she said, trying to shake off the crawling sensation on her back. "It sounds so creepy!"

"Sorry."

She glared at Ralph. His eyes were full of earnest concern, with no hint of the twinkle he usually had when he was teasing her.

"You're lucky you're cute, you know that?" she said.

Face brightening up, he grinned back at her. "I know."

For all her bravado, Thu's grip on Ralph's hand was tighter than usual as they walked home in the gathering dusk. Then again, perhaps that was what he was aiming for, the cheeky tosser.

#ralph penbury #ralph timewasters #ralph x ofc #all our yesterdays #joseph quinn #joseph quinn fic #jq spookathon 2023

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songforeddiemunson · 1 year ago

Text

Infestation, Oppression, Possession - Eddie Munson x Reader

Summary: You warn Eddie about playing with a Ouija board, too bad he doesn’t listen.

Note: As a horror movie junkie, my personal favorites are the possession ones (esp The Conjuring, where the title of this comes from) so here’s a little Halloween horror starring Eddie

Warnings: playing with ouija board, possession, general spookiness because tis the season

Words: 2.7k

“Please promise me that you won’t play with it,” you beg your boyfriend. “They’re dangerous.”

Eddie chuckles and shakes his head. “Babe, it’s just a piece of wood with some paint on it. How could it be dangerous?”

You eye the Ouija board sitting on his bed, the planchette inconspicuously resting on top of it. There are no shortage of horror stories and cautionary tales warning people away from playing with such a dangerous game. You’ve spent the better part of the last hour relating these worries to Eddie, who seems to think nothing of them at all–or about the fact that he bought it to begin with. It doesn’t seem to matter how much the whole thing bothers you.

“You never know who or what you’re communicating with,” you tell Eddie. “You could be opening a portal for something evil.” “So, you think a demon is going to decide to come here to little ol’ Hawkins? And will want to possess me? I’m flattered.” Eddie raises his eyebrows and lets out a small chuckle. A groan slips from your lips as you rub your hands over your face in aggravation.

“Just…please,” you beg as you stand up from where you’re perched on Eddie’s amp. “For me? Just throw it out.”

“Sweetheart,” Eddie says as he takes a few steps over to you. He places his hands on your shoulders and presses a soft kiss to your forehead. “Relax, okay? I’ll be careful.”

“Can’t you just–”

“Baby,” Eddie interrupts you. “Go to work, okay? I promise I’ll put it away.”

“You should throw it away,” you say sternly. “Or burn it. You’d have fun doing that, I know.”

Eddie chuckles and presses another kiss to your head. He slips his arms around you and tugs you against his chest. “Come on, sweetheart. It’s okay. Just go to work and try and forget all about it, yeah?”

“Yeah,” you mumble, pulling out of his arms. “Serving greasy burgers to angry truckers is really going to take a load off my mind.”

Calloused fingers gently grip your chin and tilt your head up. Soft but chapped lips press against your own and you close your eyes as you lean into the kiss.

“I love you,” Eddie whispers against your mouth.

“I love you, too.”

“Everything is going to be fine,” Eddie assures you. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Bright and early with two coffees.”

“Make sure you don’t drink half of mine before you get to my house this time,” you say as you swipe one of your boyfriend’s hoodies from where it’s sprawled across his desk.

“No promises,” Eddie tells you as you slip the sweatshirt on over your head.

You press one last kiss to his lips, avoiding looking at the devil board on his bed, before heading out to work.

Eddie huffs a laugh to himself once you’ve left. He’s surprised that you’re so worried about the Ouija board. Usually, you’re so cool and collected, always logical and tactful in your way of thinking. It’s not like you to believe in some silly superstition. Maybe it’s just getting too close to Halloween, Eddie thinks as he picks up the board and planchette. Corroded Coffin should be by in about twenty minutes for a songwriting session, but first, Eddie thinks, perhaps the guys will have some fun and try to scare one another.

The next night, Eddie’s lounging on his bed, guitar perched on his lap as he strums a few new chords that the band came up with last night. His amp is on since Wayne isn’t home, turned down just enough so the neighbors won’t complain. Fingers glide over the strings as Eddie plays around with the sounds of a possible new song. A beautiful melody flows to meet Eddie’s ears, but the moment he lets his eyes slip closed to lose himself in the music, the amp cuts out.

The sudden silence has Eddie sitting up and frowning at the amp in confusion. Gently setting his sweetheart down on the bed, he leans over to fiddle with the controls on the amp. It’s still turned on, all the dials are set just as they should be, so why did it go quiet? Eddie pushes himself off the bed to make sure the plug hasn’t come loose. A deeper frown etches on Eddie’s forehead as he sees the plug snugly in place in the outlet.

“Stupid old trailer,” Eddie grumbles as he gets down on his knees. “God damn electric problems.”

The outlet above the one the amp is plugged into has Eddie’s lamp connected to it–the same lamp that’s currently on and shining brightly next to his bed. Yanking both cords from the wall, Eddie tries putting the lamp’s plug into the bottom outlet, just to make sure that’s what isn’t working. The moment the prongs snap into the wall though, the light illuminates his dark room again.

“What the fuck,” Eddie mutters under his breath. He switches the lamp back to the top outlet and puts the amp back into the bottom one. “This amp is new, what the hell? Stupid piece of–”

Earsplitting feedback abruptly rings out through the amp, causing Eddie to fall back on his ass and cover his ears. Heart beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings, Eddie stares at the amp with wide eyes. The racket only lasts five seconds, but it’s enough to freak Eddie out.

“O-Okay…” Eddie says as he pushes himself back to his feet. The room is quiet once again. The lamp is on, his guitar is still nestled against his pillow, and the amp sits there inconspicuously on the stained carpet.

“Jesus, this place is a shithole,” Eddie says, trying to convince himself it’s just some faulty wiring in his old home. He sits back down on his bed and the moment he grips the neck of his sweetheart, the bleating sound of the phone ringing in the hallway has him jumping out of his skin. Once his mind registers what the new noise is, Eddie laughs at himself as he sets his guitar back down and heads toward the phone. “You’re a wuss, Munson. Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, keep your pants on. Hello?”

“Hey, Eddie,” your cheerful voice greets through the phone.

“Hi, babe. Hmm, I take back what I just said then.”

“What?” you ask.

“I told whoever was on the phone to keep their pants on as I walked down the hall. I take that back now.” You can practically hear the smirk on your boyfriend’s face.

“Who said I’m even wearing any?” you tease.

“I’m listening.”

The mystery of the faulty sound equipment quickly fades from Eddie’s head.

Eddie huffs as he uses a flashlight to look through the pantry. The damn lights in the trailer are flickering like crazy and it’s driving Eddie up the wall. At first, he’d thought it was just the lights in his room, but it seemed to follow him down the hall and into the living room as well.

Searching for something to eat, the aggravation only hits a new high when the flashlight in Eddie’s hands also starts flickering.

“Okay, what the actual fuck?” Eddie demands. He bangs the flashlight against his palm and the beam becomes steady once more. “Thank you.”

As if the lights heard his pleasure, they all turn off at once–even the flashlight.

“Are you shitting me?” Eddie shouts. The darkness comes on so quickly that Eddie’s eyes take their sweet time adjusting. He bangs his head on a cabinet as he shuffles out of the kitchen. Like someone flipped a switch, the lights come on all at once–even ones that weren’t turned on before. The sudden brightness burns Eddie’s eyes, and he drops the flashlight to cover them. Slowly, the lights fade back to their usual strength and Eddie is able to open his eyes without pain. He blinks them a few times, still getting them to adjust to the brightness when the front door opens and Wayne steps inside.

The older man shrugs out of his jacket and hangs it on a hook near the door. He eyes Eddie where he stands, eyes watering from how sensitive they are right now.

“What’s with you, boy?” Wayne asks.

“Did you pay the electric bill?” Eddie asks in return, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

“‘Course I did. Why?”

“Because these damn lights are going crazy,” Eddie says, flinging one hand in the direction of the nearest lamp. “Just wait, they’ve been flickering for an hour now.”

Wayne stands near the door with his hands on his hips, looking around the room at the different lights that are on. Eddie squares his jaw when not even one little flicker occurs.

“Smoke a little too much tonight?” Wayne asks with a chuckle as he walks past his nephew and into the kitchen.

“I didn’t even…ugh, never mind.”

“You want a grilled cheese?” Wayne asks, opening the fridge.

“Sure. Thanks.” Eddie plops down on the couch and stares at the ceiling. The lights had been going crazy–right?

“Did you sleep at all last night?” you ask Eddie at lunch.

Dull brown eyes slide over to you, dark bag eyes beneath them puffy and prevalent, and seem as if they look right through you.

“A little,” Eddie says with a shrug.

“Dude, you look like shit,” Gareth says.

The Dungeon Master raises his hand to flip off his friend while he lowers his head down to the lunch table. He felt like shit too, but he wouldn’t give his friends the satisfaction of knowing that.

Over the next few days, Eddie only looks worse and worse. His face begins to look drawn, his skin a sickly shade of greenish gray. His clothes are more unkempt and wrinkled than normal, appearing as if he’d slept in them the night before. Every morning on the way to school you’d try to get out the knots that had accumulated in your boyfriend’s hair during the night. There hadn’t been a time when his hair had been this much of a pain before. Eventually, you just slip your red scrunchie from your wrist and tie his hair into a ponytail at the base of his neck.

“Are we getting pizza tonight?” you ask as Eddie parks his van in the Hawkins High parking lot.

“Babe, I’m not even going to Hellfire tonight,” he tells you, all emotion zapped from his voice.

“You’re not going to Hellfire?” you ask in shock.

“No,” Eddie grumbles as he pulls the keys from the ignition.

“Why don’t you just go home, baby?” you suggest as you reach over and move a few loose strands of hair out of his face.

“Maybe.” Eddie gives a half-hearted shrug and shoves the van door open and slides out. Frown still pinched on your face, you follow him out and stick by his side as long as you can until you have to go to your separate first periods.

Your phone rings as you’re buttoning your jeans the next morning, and you hop over to pick it up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sweetheart.” There’s no energy in Eddie’s voice, the sound raspy and gravelly. “I can’t take you to school today. Not getting out of bed.”

“Aww, baby,” you coo. “I’m going to come over and take care of you. I’ll be there in twenty.”

“No,” Eddie responds. “You’ve got a test today, go to school.”

“Can’t hear you. I’m coming over. Bye.” You hang up before he can protest again; because you know he will. Eddie’s hoodie from the other week is still hanging over the chair in your room so you toss it on before heading out the door to your car.

Eddie looks as shitty as he sounded when you get to his place. He’s sprawled out in bed, the covers tucked up under his chin and his eyes half-lidded as he tries to focus on you. You sigh as you sit down on the edge of his bed. When you reach up and move some hair off of his forehead you feel that his skin is surprisingly cool against your fingertips. You’d expected heat there–most likely a fever raging inside of his body.

“Are you cold?” you ask. Eddie nods, seeming like he hardly has the energy for even that. “I’ll get you another blanket.”

The room feels chilly to you as well, but not enough to warrant two heavy blankets being piled atop of you. Something is definitely going on inside of his body. As you open Eddie’s closet to grab another blanket, your eyes land on the Ouija board sitting on top of a pile of dirty clothes. The room suddenly feels hot as your temper flares. Anger builds up in your chest and your nostrils flare as you snatch up a blanket. Spinning around to face Eddie again, you stomp over to him.

“What the hell, Eddie? Why is the Ouija board still here?” you demand.

Eddie groans and turns his head to bury it in his pillow.

“Talk quieter, please,” he begs.

“Answer. Me.” Despite your anger, you’re not heartless. You lower your volume as you shake out the blanket and lay it across your boyfriend’s body. “Did you play with it?”

The guilty look that crosses his face gives you his answer before he opens his mouth to croak out, “Yes.”

“Eddie,” you whine, running your hands over your hair. “What if that’s what’s wrong?” You gesture to him lying down on his bed, lethargic and exhausted.

“Stop,” Eddie groans, squeezing his eyes closed. “M’just getting sick. Or worn down.”

“But you don’t know–”

“Babe, calm down,” Eddie begs, trying to inject as much fervor into his voice as he can. “It’s not from some dumb game. That’s ridiculous.”

The only reason you bite your tongue is because he looks so miserable bundled up in the middle of his bed. Deciding to let it go for now, you sit down next to his head and card your fingers through his curls.

“Can I get you anything?” you ask him softly.

“Just you,” Eddie answers, mustering up a small smile to give you.

As you lean down to press another kiss to his forehead, you swear he feels even colder than he did a few minutes ago.

Eddie still isn’t back to himself the next week. In fact, he says he feels worse. You weren’t able to take the whole time off from school or work, but any moment that wasn’t spent somewhere you were obligated to be, you were at his side. He refused to go to the doctor and even Wayne couldn’t get him to go. It seems the shittier Eddie feels the more stubborn he is.

On Thursday, you don’t have work, so you head to Eddie’s place straight from school. He hasn’t been able to answer the door since he’s been staying in bed most of the time, so you just let yourself inside as usual.

“I’m here, Eddie,” you call out, not too loud though, in case he’s asleep. Your sneakers join the small pile of shoes near the front door, and you pad down the hallway to your boyfriend’s room. Confusion furrows your brow when you don’t see him in his bed. A glance behind you confirms that he’s not in the bathroom, so where else could he be? You take a few steps into his room and spot Eddie standing near the closet, his back to you. His back is straight as a rod and his stained Marlboro shirt and blue plaid pajama pants hang loose on his thin frame, even thinner from lack of food lately.

Cautiously, you take a few steps in his direction. The hair on the back of your neck is raised but you’re not sure why. It’s just your boyfriend.

“Eddie?” you ask timidly. “Are you okay? What are you doing out of bed? Eddie?”

A few heavy silent moments hang in the air. Then with a sudden sickening cracking sound, Eddie’s head snaps towards you. With a gasp, you take a step back. His eyes are entirely black. No trace of the dark brown that you love so much or the white that should be there. Pure black, darker than night. A sinister, toothy smile slides onto the mouth you’ve kissed so many times before. Your body trembles from the inside out as you stare in horror at whatever you’re witnessing in front of you. Eddie’s mouth opens, but the growling voice that comes out does not belong to him.

“Eddie isn’t here anymore.”

#eddie munson fic #fic rec #jq spookathon 2023 #holy fuckballs

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