The house was mere meters away.. pulling up at the sidewalk I could see that nearly every window was shut, covered by curtains or something else. Although I had been there numerous times in the past few days.. The house today felt.. vacant. Empty, abandoned almost.. It's almost as if it were warning us that we didn't want to go inside, It felt very reminiscent of when we investigated the Gates manor.. Only this house shouldn't feel that way, this house is very much in use, albeit not at this instant, but it's not as if it had been left unattained for thirty years..
Ajax, Enid and I all got out of the car. Steadily one by one we made our way towards the house.. arriving at the door, it's almost as if you could hear three heartbeats, it was that eerily quiet, not eerie in a good way, eerie in a bad way.. swiftly and simply I knocked on the door twice. Impatiently I stood in the center of the doorway, waiting for whatever side of Vincent I'll experience to open the door. Except, well.. the person to open the door wasn't Vincent, actually, no one opened the door, but the door opened non the less. The door was already open? It wasn't locked, it wasn't shut properly at all? With a creek a very slight, steady creek the door ever so subtly opened? Maybe it was the wind? No.. It wasn't windy today, not in the slightest.
"Okay I don't like this at all.." Enid muttered, almost turning around and sprinting back to the car..
"It's okay Enid.. The front door lock was broken at the beginning of last semester, someone attempted to break in according to Xavier.." Ajax said before continuing..
"It's likely that Vincent hasn't had a change to change the door lock yet" He finished..
"Enough with the chatter, let's just go inside." I said, before pushing the door open just a little bit more, revealing the empty hallway I expected to see, every door was open? This wasn't anything like how it was previously. The last time I entered the house, every door was shut.. this is weird, too weird.
Everything felt off, the atmosphere felt bizarre, eerie in a not so good way.. there was a tense feeling, something making me pour with sweat, something making my stomach knot, wrap itself around my heart and lungs making it feel like I was suffocating, having a heart attack.. why was I so tense?
"I have a bad feeling about this.." I said, slowly creeping my way into the house before the couple clinging to one another followed close behind me..
"Wednesday I don't like this.." Enid mumbled from behind Ajax's arm..
"Yeah, Wednesday shouldn't we.. I dont know wait for sheriff Galpin? Come back later?.. Or something.." Ajax spoke, clearly very much so on edge..
As much as I agree with that statement, I didnt want there to be a possibility that Vincent was out doing something at this very moment, I wanted to confirm the fact that he was here. Hopefully I'd be able to keep an eye on him if I did that, I could sit here and wait, if anything suspicious happened, Sheriff Galpin is one call away.. since he was weary of Vincent, it's likely he'd believe me if i told him anything like that. Although, saying that it's likely that if i informed him of what happened, he'd arrive and end up facing a completely different personality.. Vincent wasn't stupid by any means. It's just like how Tyler exposed himself to me in the end, confessing everything.. If i can just get him to tell me, if I can get him to admit whatever it is that he has done. Then, it's over.
Suddenly, he appeared, from around the corner came a hand. Grasping onto the sidewall you could see just his fingers, as he then pulled himself forward, almost as if he had just risen from the ground. Staring off into the distance he walked into eyeshot, topless covered head to toe in fresh cuts and bruises, almost as if he'd just faught with a warewolf.. Wednesday, Ajax and Enid froze. Immediately they stopped dead in their tracks. Staring at the man whom was now staring at them even Wednesday gulped. It was if he was possessed. What side of him are we seeing right now? That was the question we needed answering the most..
Before anything could happen, his face softened, his eyes turned from a piercing gaze into a soft, concerned look..
"Ajax?" He murmured "Wednesday?" He continued.. "and you are?" He finished..
"W-what's going on here?" He spoke once again, staring at the three of us with a confused face..
"Why do you all look.. so scared?" He asked, reaching his hand out towards me.. in an instant I flinched, moving myself backwards slighly. To which his face turned into a look of distraught. His eyes were wide, wider than the likes of Wednesday's.. he looked down at himself, staring in horror at the scars covering his body head to toe.. it's as if he had no clue about what happened, or he chose to ignore it?
"I'm sorry, I have to.. get- get changed" he said before walking off, back the way he just entered the room..
"Uh.. take a seat. I'll be right there." he commanded, his voice echoed through the hallway, it was clear he was going upstairs to put a top on I assume.. whatever the case, this was.. weird.
"Let's listen.. I don't think that was an offer." Ajax mumbled, and we complied. We sat down, well, I sat in the chair, Enid and Ajax chose to lean against the side or back of the chair instead. We weren't waiting long.. just a few minutes later Vincent re entered the room, in a suit. The buisness personality. That's who we're starting with right?
He placed himself down on the chair. But before doing that he had poured himself a drink once again, very reminiscent of before. This time, no offer came our way. I think the buisness side of him is a lot more.. professional. Sitting down he immediately took a swig of the liquor he poured for himself, before looking at the three of us one by one. Although this side of him should have been the marketable, buisness professional.. something about that look, gave me chills.
"So. For you to have been here three times in less than a week, im guessing it's important?" He stated. Staring at me with dead eyes. He knew? He knew I'd been here more than once, he knew I'd stolen the phone? No he can't have known, that's impossible for him to know it was me? Right?.. I gulped before replying once more.
"To whom am I speaking to right this instant." I spoke confidently, or atleast I had confidence until I saw the look on his face, he was.. amused? He scoffed..
"You're acting as if you don't know. You're speaking to Vincent. Vincent Thorpe." He declared, still staring at me with that deadpanned look. Ajax mumbled something to Enid, just out of earshot so I couldn't hear, although I could hear as clear as day, the gulp that Enid projected.
"We know the truth Vincent. We know everything." I confidently announced, leaning forward in the chair.. I could see the visable confusion on Vincent's face before a sudden panic must have rushed over him. He began to breathe in an unstable manor, which was certainly concerning.. The look on his face softened again, softened from that angry, dead expression..
"T-there is no way, you know the truth.." he spoke between breaths, with a slight crack his voices deepened tone.. The family side? The more emotional father figure?
"No- no way. Fuck you better not be tricking me" he finished, tricking him? How would we be tricking him? I mean I am trying my very best to extract information out of him so I can get closer to the truth.. but this once again, just seems odd.
"Tricking you? No. We know the truth. We know everything" I lied to him. I lied to the poor desperate man at the other side of the table.. I could see a visable discomfort on his face, a visable feeling.. tears began to form in the corners of his eyes as he rapidly started looking around the room. Glancing to the clock to the left of him, watching every second pass as this had to have been the longest minute of his life..
"Y- you have to help me." He said, rubbing his nose on the sleeve of his jacket..
"We can help." Ajax spoke from behind me..
"We just need to know what it is you need." He finished, making Vincent's face almost wince..
"You.. you have to kill me." He muttered between breaths once more. "If- If you don't kill me when I'm like this, you'll never.. you'll never stop.. him." He finished, before the distressing look on his face seemingly disappeared into thin air.. just for a moment, to merely come back again.. but.. not the same..
"You'll never stop.. him." He spoke, seemingly in a different mannerism, trying his best to form and create the same emotion in his voice that he did merely moments ago.
"You mean.. you." I spoke confidently. Id caught him. Id done it.. Id caught out the act, the unreliability in that last sentence.. It wasn't the same personality, that slight look in his face made me realise that. He switched but tried to act as if he didn't, trying to outsmart me. Luckily I'm too good at telling emotions.. seeing as I've been playing Russian roulette with my dad all of my life. I know the secrets.. I know it well..
"Oh fuck.. you got me." He scoffed, with a sly grin forming on his face, making the corners of his mouth rise from behind the hand he had used to clean his eyes.. the voice was totally different now, a completely different one entirely. So much more menacing and disturbing.. Suddenly he arose. Making his way around the back of his own armchair he faced the wall behind..
"Phaheheha haha.." i could hear him snickering, muttering to himself manically..
"What is it you propose to do now then, Addams?" He asked, still staring at the wall, facing the polar opposite direction to the three of us.. speaking of the three of us, Ajax and Enid were petrified. Clearly they never expected him to be like this.. but they did know what they were getting themselves into..
"You should know.. you can't stop what's already happening Addams." He continued, spinning around and facing us once again.. with an ever so devious smirk on his face he merely stared into my soul before scoffing to himself again..
"Don't even answer. You should leave, before I.. lose my patience." He simply said. To which, it was best that we complied.. Although essentially it's a three against one here. Vincent wasn't an eighty year old man. He was middle aged, but still in the best shape he could ever be in, we stood no chance.. especially taking into account the possibility that those scars and cuts all over his body were self inflicted. Taking that into account, he was far too strong for them.. aside from him being a powerful seer.. he wasn't physically unfit either. We stood no chance.
He stood in the same position, watching us get ourselves together, stand up and make our way through the door.. seemingly without moving a muscle, only following us with his eyes until we reached Lerch in the car.. I finally released the breath I had been holding in since he first started laughing.. breathing out very heavily, Enid and Ajax both stared at me dumbfounded..
"Please tell me I wasn't the only one creeped the hell out back there" Enid muttered to herself, wiping the sweat from her forehead before glaring at me intently..
"Please for the love of god tell me you got all of that, Wednesday?" Ajax spoke, rubbing his forhead with both of his hands.. I lifted my hand up, removing a small device from my jacket pocket.. before I could even speak I pressed the play button on the small recorder.. instantly you could hear the manical laughter coming from a certain person.. I cut it short, pressing the stop button before uttering some words..
"Got it." I simply said, smiling ever so slightly, as Ajax and Enid sighed in relief as we drove off, not into the sunset instead into the dark abyss that followed this absolute chaotic mystery we have so stupidly ended up in.. but are so close to solving.
(We hit 2k reads!!!! I CANT THANK YOU ENOUGH! I love this, I love writing, thank you so much, I hope you loved this chapter, i can't lie this was one of my favourite written chapters ever. Thank you all again, thank you so much for the support, the votes, the love. Thank you all, I hope you all have an amazing day, thank you again! <3)