When Uni had stepped off the bus into the quaint little neighbourhood, he'd been enthusiastic, excited even. A quiet little town where he could buckle down, and focus on his online courses. It was beyond perfect.
The rent for the large house was so low, he had to do a double take when he saw the add for it. He messaged the landlord- or landlady, and was astounded to find that it wasn't in fact a typo. She had said something about superstition in the community or whatever, but Uni jumped at the offer right away.
It was a bright and sunny day, and he was feeling good.
He stopped and asked someone for directions, and they looked at him like he was mad. The landlord must not have been kidding about the superstition around here.
However, finding his way to the house wasn't all that difficult. It was the largest one in probably a ten mile radius. Large gnarling trees curled around it, keeping most of it cut off from view, but once he got to the front he got the full sight.
He pulled out the ad and compared the picture to the real view. He again looked at the nice clean looking house in the photo, and back up at the overgrown mess of a building.
Dull purple paint peeled off the ancient wood, revealing several coats of other colours underneath. The windows were so dirty they were practically opaque, and the architecture was an absolute mess. It looked as though someone had piled several small houses of different design on top of each other, nailed it all together, and called it a day.
"Well," He huffed to himself, observing the growing vines that had overtaken an entire wall. "She's a bit of a fixer upper, but that's all right!"
Determined to keep his optimism intact, he marched up to the the front door, only to have his foot sink right through the front steps.
He paused a second. "I suppose I'll have to patch that up, won't I?" He sighed.
Treading a little more lightly this time, he carefully climbed the rest of the stairs and approached the front door.
At least the front door was relatively intact. It looked old, but sturdy, the only thing in this place he'd seen so far that had been built to last. He fit the ancient key the landlady had given to him into the lock, and twisted.
It didn't budge. He tried again, with more effort but it remained unfazed by his efforts. He twisted with both hands, which he just managed to hurt himself by doing so. He cursed under his breath as he waved the pain out of his wrist.
"Stupid door," he muttered. "Just- open!"
His foot connected with the door, and it swung open at an alarming speed. There was a loud bang that echoed throughout the house as the door hit the wall, making Uni wince a bit.
"Oh. I guess it was unlocked."
After prying the key out of the door, he continued inside. He let the backpack slide off his shoulder as he reached around for his phone. He pulled it out and turned on the flashlight, light flooding the dark and dusty halls.
The house was furnished to his surprise. The moving guys weren't bringing that much to the house, but he had expected the interior to be empty. Then again, he highly doubted anyone had been in the house in eons.
The floorboards creaked in the most awful way as he made his way down the dark hall. He almost jumped out of his skin when his light flashed across a mirror, and he laughed nervously to himself.
"Just lil' ole me." He sighed, trying to calm himself down. Why was he so nervous? It was just an empty old house.
Something skittered behind him, and he whipped around, any sense of calm evaporating instantly.
"Hello?" He called, trying to keep his voice from trembling. "Is- Is anyone there?"
He heard a muffled noise come from a room just down the hall, and his jaw tightened.
Quiet as he could, he slowly made his way towards the doorway, and peeked into it.
It appeared to be some kind of living room. His light shined across bookshelves, old floral couches, and a mantel that sat above a fire place. His light trailed down to the carpeted floor, where something had fallen off the mantel.
It was a snow globe. It slowly rolled to a stop on the floor in front of him, and Uni got a terrible feeling.
He didn't feel alone. He felt the burning stare of eyes into his back, but he couldn't unfreeze himself to turn around and check. He flinched as somewhere in the house, floorboards creaked.
Slowly, very slowly, he began to turn...
Uni screamed as a shrill sound blasted in the silence, fumbling for something, a weapon, anything-
That's when he realized the sound was coming from his hand. Or what was in his hand.
His phone was ringing.
He let out a wheeze of relief, glancing up at the doorway to find it empty as it had been before. He took a deep breath, and then answered the phone.
"Yes?"
"Er- you're Uni right?" A gentle voice on the other end asked, a lot of clunking and background noise behind it.
"Yeah, that's me." He replied, his nerves settling a little bit more.
"Right... This is the moving company, my partner took a wrong turn and-"
"I'm sooorrrryyyy!" Another soft voice interrupted. "Please don't be mad, Paulina!"
"Be quiet, honey." The first voice replied slowly. "So anyway, you won't be getting your stuff for a couple of days."
"What!?" Uni exclaimed, and then sighed in frustration. "Look, did the landlady- landlord say anything about the place having the previous owner's furniture?"
"...Previous owner's furniture?" The voice echoed.
"Yeah, this place is fully furnished for some reason. It's kind of... creepy." He replied.
"Oh? Oh... yeah, moving companies have tried taking that junk out, but they always chicken out. Something about endangering employees?"
"Wh.... what?"
"I wouldn't worry about it. Anyways, we'll be there in about... three to five business days, and-"
"Wait, hold on-!"
"See you soooon!"
Click.
...What had he gotten himself into?
Thankfully, Uni had packed most of his bare essentials in his carry on bag that he'd brought with him. He had enough cash to last him for food, at least he hoped he did. He had some Pjs, a toothbrush, his phone charger... he'd be okay to camp out in this house for a little while.
The old wood of the house creaked again and he shuddered. It was probably just animals living in the walls. He could call an exterminator when he got the money.
His light caught the glass of the snow globe still sitting on the floor, so he bent over and picked it up. It wasn't covered in a layer of dust like the rest of the house, and even felt... wet when he picked it up. As if it had just been dumped in a tub of cold water.
He flipped in over to look at the bottom, and saw the faded name 'ASHLIE' scribbled on the surface in black sharpie. Something was very unnerving about it, but for his own sanity, Uni shoved the snow globe into his hoodie's pocket and left the room to go explore some more.
He'd been nervous about climbing the stairs to the second floor, but they looked sturdier than the flimsy front steps. Carved from a chocolatey dark wood, that was now covered in cobwebs and dust. Man he'd really have to clean this place up if he was going to be living here.
The creaks of the old stairs were loud, but they were sound enough to climb to the second floor.
The second floor wasn't too much different from the first, though he didn't dare enter any of the rooms, just scan down the dark and dusty hallways. The third floor was much more quaint, and he actually mustered up the courage to check all the rooms. Sure there were only four, but that was besides the point.
He knew there was some kind of fourth floor, or attic, but he decided he'd deal with that another time.
The four rooms on the third floor were really most of what he needed to function, and he hardly saw himself ever needing to visit any of the other floors.
There was a small bedroom at the end of the hall, that looked to be a guest room. But, it was the perfect amount of space for him. There was already a bed there, as it was semi furnished, but it was covered in dust, so he just set up a bedroll on the floor beside it.
There was a washroom and laundry room, which both had running water to his surprise. It looked pretty clean, so he assumed out of all the things the landlady kept working was the water and the electricity. It was also odd there was a laundry room on the third floor, but this entire house looked as though it was built by a madman, so he really didn't question it all that much.
The last room was a bit more odd. He could've sworn it had been locked the first time he passed it on his way to the other rooms to drop off his things, but when he jiggled it again on his way back, it swung open easily.
He flicked the light switch, and the room came into view. The room was filled wall to wall with shelves of trinkets. There was a collection of strange looking bottles on one shelf, a case of antique silverware on another, and a bunch of other ancient looking artifacts.
"Someone sure was a hoarder," he mumbled to himself.
He scanned the crammed shelves, and an empty space caught his eye. There was a space for something there, and a circle in the dust, as if something had been taken from there recently.
He eyed it for a moment, wondering why anyone would want to take any of this junk with them. Then, he pulled the snow globe out of his pocket. The bottom of the snow globe was a perfect fit for the space, so he placed it down.
It definitely looked like it belonged here, and he almost felt like he knew that it was supposed to go there. I was just right.
"What were you doing all the way downstairs?" He huffed, and then he realized he was talking to a snow globe. He left the odd room, closing the door behind him.
The sun was hanging low in the sky behind the foggy glass of the bedroom's window. Exhausted from the day, Uni plopped down onto his bedroll and pulled the sketchbook from his bag. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep anytime soon, so he'd take the time to be at least a little productive.