Note: You can play the video above to set the atmosphere ;)
You observed the dark house from the window of Esther's car. It was a cute house, but obviously old, and the darkness of the night didn't precisely help to make it look more friendly, neither the -probably iron- bars that covered the windows of the first floor.
You held back a distressed sigh. You had hoped the house had only one floor, but it seemed to have two.
The neighborhood looked nice and peaceful, though. You doubted you found an intruder in the house, and after seeing the place, Law was more relaxed too. The house seemed safe.
"Take this." Esther's voice made you turn your attention back to the inside of the car.
You stared with a frown at the two flashlights she was handing you.
Your eyes returned to her when you realized what that meant, as Law, who was in the back seat next to you, took one of the flashlights, unimpressed. "There's no light in the house?" you protested, disgruntled.
"There's no electricity," Esther specified. "Nobody lives here, and my neighbor used to visit in the morning. It was a waste of money," she added at your reproachful look.
You took the object and sent Law a doubtful look. "If you've changed your mind we can return," he said.
"No, let's go." You still thought it could be fun, and were curious about the house.
The three of you exited Esther's car and neared the door of the house. When Esther opened it, you turned on your flashlights and illuminated the ample entrance.
All of a sudden, you didn't want to be there. You wanted to be in your cozy, well-lighted and lively apartment. But Law's warm palm touched your lower back, and the reminder of his presence calmed you again, although you were still scared, and it was a little annoying to see you were the only one.
Law's hand caught yours, then, and he pulled you behind him and walked in front of Esther, wanting to be the first one to go in, just in case. You heard Esther closing the door before she stepped to your side.
You looked at the surrounding darkness with a small sigh. "Do you feel that?" you quietly asked, a little nervous. You were starting to believe your best friend's neighbor was telling the truth.
"Feel what?" Esther said, not bothering to lower her voice. Her loud tone made you cringe a bit, but there was no actual reason to whisper, so you said nothing.
"The air feels thick, and kind of heavy. I feel it too," Law affirmed, turning a moment to look at you. He was sure you felt it even more than him, given your sensitiveness. He didn't believe in ghosts, but if something was there, he had no doubt you would be the first, and maybe only, to feel it.
Esther shrugged carelessly. She felt just normal. "This house is closed most of the time, it's natural that the air feels saturated," she brushed it off.
Law hummed, half accepting, half agreeing. What he felt was different though, but he couldn't be a hundred percent sure it wasn't auto-suggestion and, most of all, he didn't want to scare you.
Esther walked past him with some impatience, crossing an open door that led to a big, and a little dusty, living room.
You entered with Law holding you close, and observed the place, moving the light of your flashlight all over it. The light of the moon entered through some gaps in the lowered blinds, so it wasn't completely dark, even without the flashlights.
You liked it. It had a beautiful fireplace, and the old furniture was simple yet charming.
Feeling more confident, you left Law's side, who stayed behind, standing in disinterest a few steps away from the door, and approached your friend, who was inspecting a tall, thin bookcase, only a few, damaged books left on it. You also could see an old picture and a pretty figure of a ceramic elephant with the trunk broken.
As you walked towards the bookcase, the tip of your foot met with an object on the floor, making it slide and softly bump at the bottom of the bookcase.
Hearing the sound, Esther pointed at the object with her flashlight at the same time you did.
It was another picture.
You picked it up, a smile forming on your lips when you saw it was a family photo. The father, the mother, a young boy, a little girl, and a toddler smiled at the invisible photographer. It was cute.
"Is your neighbor in this picture?" you asked Esther.
She looked at it and pointed at the little girl. "She must be this child."
You observed the picture in silence for a while. Pictures were awesome. They were able to capture the past, just as it was, for everyone to see. They guarded a piece of present, something nobody can grasp, before it became past.
DONG!
The loud sound startled you and Esther, and you realized there was a chiming clock over the fireplace, next to you.
Your hand went to your chest as the bells kept sounding. Ten o'clock. "God damn it!" you whispered when it stopped, your heart crazily pounding in your chest. "I forgot batteries exist."
"It scared me too," Esther admitted with a nervous laugh.
You turned to Law with a sheepish smile, lighting his chest, but froze when you saw the door behind him. "Law, have you closed the door?"
He calmly turned to look at it, then looked at you. "Yeah. Cold air was entering from somewhere in the hall."
You let out a soft sigh of relief. You hadn't heard him closing it and it made you a little paranoid. But you had nothing to worry about. It was just a house. The ambient may feel a bit strange, but you could just be imagining it... Although Law could feel it too... But it was just a house. Nothing would happen. Nothing ever happened.
Law approached you and wrapped his arm around you, keeping you close.
"Are you scared?" you joked with a tiny, nervous giggle.
He smirked. "Are you?"
"Of course I am."
He chuckled softly at your adorable honesty, and you felt his hand tightening gently around your shoulders. His piercing eyes scanned the whole room before he gestured with his head towards a wall. "There's a door there."
Esther was the first one to walk to it and open it to enter the next room, which turned out to be the kitchen. A big kitchen. An ample countertop with a squared 'U' shape and the cupboards beneath and over it occupied the left half, while on the right half there was a big table with chairs, windows covering the walls on that half. However, the blinds were completely lowered, and the entire room was pitch black, much more than the living room.
Law walked to the fridge, which was half open, taking you with him, and inspected the inside in bored curiosity. As expected, it was empty.
"Anything in there?" Esther asked, still not bothering to lower her voice and peeking over your shoulder from behind you.
You turned your head to look at her and reply, but at that moment, she moved away, and your eyes landed on the door frame that led back to the living room. And you could swear a shadow, darker than darkness, crossed it from left to right.
It happened fast, you knew you could have imagined it, but it didn't matter. It happened so suddenly that you couldn't react, but it was enough for you to notice the shadow was solid.
You kept staring at the door frame, your eyes wide open, your body tense, and your breath caught in your throat, waiting for it to happen again and prove you right or wrong.
Law had been commenting something with Esther and didn't realize of your change until a few seconds later. He noticed you staring at the door frame, and gently moved to look at it too. "What's wrong, sunshine?" he softly asked, pulling you closer and leaning to you, making sure Esther stayed close too.
Esther turned her attention to you as well, curious and a little worried.
It took you a bit to reply. In all honesty, you were afraid of talking or making any sound, because you didn't want whatever could be there to hear you. As if the shadow would return and enter the kitchen to attack you if it heard you.
"I think I've seen something," you whispered.
Esther peeked through the door frame too, her curiosity growing, but not really scared.
However, Law took it more seriously. He fixed his eyes on the small portion of the living room he could see through the door frame and pricked up his ears to make sure he could hear any noise. "What have you seen? A person?" he questioned very silently.
"I don't know..." you responded. "It was a shadow, a tall shadow. I maybe imagined it, but..." you didn't know how to finish the sentence.
"Alright." Law straightened, his eyes fixed on the door frame for some more seconds before he quickly checked around the kitchen with his lantern.
He had a few possibilities in mind.
First, you had seen a shadow, but it was just that, a shadow created by some light from the outside.
Second, you imagined it. He knew you were nervous and scared and it would have been natural for you to imagine something.
Third, and the one he was more concerned about, there was an intruder in the house. You had said it was a tall shadow, so there was definitely not an animal. It was strange that you hadn't heard anything, given the eerie silence in the house (that house felt like it was too silent, for some reason), and the bars placed on the window made it more difficult to get in, but he wasn't going to discard it.
Making sure the kitchen was actually empty, and the only way to access to it was the door you entered through, he reached for the knife and removed the cover before pulling it out of the pocket and approaching the door to carefully peek at the living room.
He found nobody.
Having noticed two more doors, he gave a step back and carefully closed the kitchen's door.
"What-?" You started.
"Shh," Law softly requested, bringing his index finger to his lips to empathize the gesture, even though you barely saw him in the deep darkness of the room. He neared you and Esther to explain his intentions. "Nobody was in the living room, but I want to check there's nobody in the rest of house. You're going to stay here," he whispered, his eyes on the dark door. "I'll look in the whole floor, and once I've made sure nobody is here, neither near the stairs, I'll come here to take you to the door, and we'll leave. I think we've explored enough."
Esther rolled her eyes. "Nobody is here," she stated before you could protest.
"I'm not going to run the risk," Law sternly retorted. Better safe than sorry, plus he didn't think you would keep enjoying the visit after having seeing something strange, whether it was real or not.
The problem was he couldn't see anything you could use to protect yourselves in the worst case. Maybe in the cupboards, but he didn't want to make any noise. If the supposed intruder had walked so near the kitchen they should know you were there, but it was better to be discreet.
After telling you to keep a close eye on the door and notice him if you detected any move or sound, he walked to the gas stove and squatted down in front of the cupboard next to it.
He managed to open it silently. Empty. He also opened the oven. Empty.
He sighed quietly. Probably, everything was empty...
He remembered having seen a poker with a sharp end on the floor, right in front of the fireplace so, standing up and walking to you, he grabbed your hand to put the knife he brought from home in it. "There's a poker in the living room, I'll take it," he said. "If you hear any noise, run to the front door and escape. Then, you call the police, but first escape and go somewhere safe," he ordered.
Esther rolled her eyes again. "You're so dramatic."
"How is a poker going to help?" you asked in concern.
He smirked darkly. "It's pointy. I can aim at the eyes, for example." Part of him wanted to find someone to have some fun. "I'll be right back."
"No, Law..." you protested with a soft, high-pitched tone. You didn't know if there was someone in the house, but you didn't care. You didn't want him to leave you. And you didn't want to have to leave without him.
"This is a cakewalk, I'll be back in no time," he winked at you and exited the kitchen before you could say anything else, making sure the poker was still there as soon as he opened the door.
During you don't know how many long minutes, you were left in the absolute darkness, except for the beams of light coming from your flashlights.
"If something happens to him it'll be your fault," you fearfully mumbled, clinging to the knife and getting closer to your friend. You considered giving it to her, as you didn't think yourself capable of using it.
"Why my fault?" she asked a little angered, quietly too but still louder than you. Her body instinctively moved closer to yours as well, though.
"This was your idea!" you harshly whispered, locking your arm with hers.
"There's nobody here!" she retorted using your same tone and raising her free hand to grab your wrist to get even closer to you.
You frowned in the dark, glaring at the door's knob, where your flashlights were pointing.
After some tense time, the door opened, startling the both of you, but thankfully it was just Law. He looked pretty scary holding that sharp poker, though. The shadows on his face mixed with the makeup and made him hard to recognize in the darkness.
"Come on," he ordered, signaling you to leave the kitchen with a fast gesture of his head. When you passed next to him, he took the knife with his free hand.
Esther didn't want to leave yet, but she knew you were scared and didn't want to make you suffer. This was supposed to be fun, and even though she thought you were overreacting, she didn't want to push you. Besides... She was getting scared too.
You quickly approached the door that led to the hall, and Esther opened it.
Law walked behind you, and when Esther opened the front door, you turned to make sure he was following you, and saw him staring at the door you just left behind. But he soon squatted down with a quick movement to leave the poker on the floor, and went out of the house, closing the door behind him.
You had to wait for Esther to lock the door before getting in the car.
As soon as you were in it, you engulfed Law in a tight grip, and he held you with a soft smile, at the time Esther let out a long whistle. "What an adventure! That was cool, wasn't it?" she asked, grinning at you from the driver's seat.
"Start the car. We're too close to that creepy house," you demanded before burying your face in Law's neck.
Esther snickered. "Yeah, I agree."
"You're crazy," you mumbled, talking to Law this time, your lips pressed against his neck. You didn't care about your makeup.
You felt it vibrating when he chuckled, and you loved the feeling, as well as the sound. "For walking alone in an empty house?"
"You didn't know if it was," you replied. You separated from him then, still holding him. "You found nobody, then?"
"No, it probably was the light of a car passing by or something like that," he soothed you as Esther started the car. "The belt, sunshine."
You completely released him to put on the belt, and he did the same before placing the knife back in his pocket with the cover on.
"I told you there was nobody else," Esther intervened. "My neighbor told me about the shadow you saw."
"What!?" you exclaimed in shock before looking at Law with fear in your eyes.
Law returned your gaze with an eyebrow risen in curiosity and mild surprise. His arms welcomed you when you pressed yourself close to him again.
Esther smiled. "What you hear. She told me it's one of the most common appearances. She saw it more than once when she was a child. She went to the kitchen at night to drink some water, and when she turned around to return to her room, she saw it. Her father, her sister, her son and even one of her grandchildren saw it once too," she related. "I think she told me her son saw it more than once as well..." There was a brief pause. "I didn't believe her, but I admit is too much of a coincidence that you saw the same."
"Why didn't you tell us? I thought Law was in danger!" you scolded her.
Law smiled inwardly when you voiced your concern. Obviously, had someone been in the house, the three of you would have been in danger, but your main concern had been him. And he knew you weren't worried about Esther and yourself because you knew he would protect you. You were certain he would never let anything happen to you. It was heartwarming to see how much you trusted him, and how much you cared.
"You were freaking out already, telling you that you most likely saw an actual ghost wasn't going to help," Esther answered. "She also told me it was usual to see that shadow on the second floor, standing near the stairs," she continued relating. "She told me some saw it from the bottom of the stairs, and others saw it from their bedrooms, through the open door. She saw it from her bedroom, and she thinks it was the same as the one of the kitchen because it was tall, like you said." Her lips curved into a grin. "Seriously, this makes me doubt about my skepticism," she chuckled.
You looked at Law in horrified shock. Did you really see a ghost!? What if it followed you home!!?
Law caressed your hair soothingly.
"It so cool!" Esther exclaimed excitedly. "I really didn't buy it, but you saw it too! I wonder what explanation could this have..."
"Now that we're coming clean," Law intervened, his voice calm, "I didn't close the living room's door."
Silence filled the car.
Esther looked at him in the rear-view mirror for a moment before looking back at the road, and you slowly turned to him with bewildered eyes.
"You're kidding," you blurted out.
His lips curved a little. You looked so cute... "I'm not, and I have no idea how that door closed. I heard, neither felt anything, and I was standing very near to it. I told you I closed it to not frighten you because I was sure there was an explanation for it, but after thinking about it, I have no idea," he confessed. In fact, he had believed someone might be in the house, and that's why he took so seriously when you said to see a shadow.
There was no air, as he had claimed to make an excuse, and he had thought maybe the door wasn't properly leveled and it closed on its own when nothing was holding it. But he had paid attention to it before leaving the house, and it didn't move a single millimeter after Esther opened it. Besides, if that had been the case, it should have been closed when you arrived, which it wasn't.
"I suppose it closed on its own. It happens to some doors, I need a wedge in my bedroom's door to keep it from closing," Esther suggested.
"I suppose." Law decided to leave it there, even though he knew that's not what happened. But again, he didn't want to scare you. That he couldn't think of a logical explanation didn't mean there wasn't one. Even assuming it had been a ghost or something like that, it changed nothing to believe it. He preferred you not to worry about such a triviality.
And that's why he didn't tell you what he saw when he went to check if there was someone in the house. Because he saw something. He made sure to have a weapon in his hands until the very last moment and to stay behind you to protect you because he wasn't sure if it was true there was nobody in the house.
When he had inspected the hall and returned to the living room, he noticed a nook on the wall he hadn't seen before. When he got near it, he realized it was where the stairs should be. And they should because they weren't. They probably were very old, and the owner removed it, maybe planning to build new ones before selling the house. Obviously, without stairs, there was no way to reach the second floor, but he still looked up, and saw it.
A shadow. It was pitch black in that spot, his flashlight was pointing to the floor and he couldn't see his own hand holding the poker. But, even though he couldn't see his hand, he could see a shadow darker than darkness itself, upstairs. Motionless, like standing, as Esther had described it. Tall, like you had said.
He didn't know if there was an actual intruder that somehow got to the second floor. Or if he mistook it with some random object. Or if it was an optical illusion or the print of his flashlight in his eyes. But he saw it.
He didn't believe in ghosts, but weird stuff actually happened in that place.