Funny how a simple action, or lack thereof, changes everything... mind the warnings and Happy Halloween~
Chapter Warnings: Character death, blood (and marrow), violence, swearing
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"Goth!"
Palette shoved Goth to the ground; the flashlight slipped from the smaller's hand, creating a strobe effect against the walls of the foyer as it rattled against the floorboards. No one had time to react to the rough treatment as a rain of knives flew down the hallway, sinking themselves into the taller skeleton's torso, arms, and legs as well as the locked door behind him. He let out a choked gurgle and coughed violently, spraying marrow across the front of his beige scarf as his balance wavered.
Lotus screamed as Rurik glanced between the staggering skeleton and the hallway, exclaiming, "What the hell?!"
Goth ignoring them, scrambling to his knees as Palette collapsed against the door, painting it with bright red vertical streaks as they slid down. "No... please no...," the hooded monster pleaded, crawling toward his companion as his eye light darted frantically across the multitude of knives littering their jacket and pants; dismayed that there were too many injuries to even begin applying pressure, he broke down crying, "I'm so sorry, I should have-"
"It's okay...," Palette whispered, trying to smile through pain-induced tears as he tiredly laid his hand on Goth's, "I'm just ha- *cough*... happy you're... not hurt... p... please... run..." Before the smaller could respond, his sockets fluttered and fell shut as his body went limp.
"Palette? Palette!" Goth screamed, vigorously tapping the taller's cheek to rouse them with no success, "Please wake up!" He pulled the unconscious body carefully into a hug, oblivious to the marrow staining his clothes as tears streamed down his face and he wailed in misery.
"We're all going to die...," Lotus mumbled, clutching his flashlight to his chest and leaning heavily into the wall behind him as it began flickering again.
"Shut up!" Rurik snarled, grasping his skull, "We'll be fine! I just need a minute to think-"
Lotus rounded on him with a panicked expression, "There's nothing to think about! We're trapped with an Oni who's only becoming more active the longer we're stuck here and she's already killed Palette!"
"He's not dead ye-!"
The crying in the background was abruptly replaced by a harsh gagging noise, catching the pair's attention; an emaciated woman with flat, stringy black hair barely brushing her shoulders, a light brown spaghetti strap dress splattered with bloodstains, and an angry red laceration winding up her left arm stood with her back to them while lifting Goth into the air. The skeleton was struggling for all he was worth, clutching at his throat and gasping desperately as the bones in his neck creaked.
"H....he... lp...," Goth choked out, his eye light shifting towards the pair as fresh tears glimmered in the flashing lights. Rurik's expression hardened as he grabbed Lotus' hand, dashing past the ghost down the hallway as the captive skeleton's desperate plea followed them, "Pleeeaaaaah-"
*SNAP*
Lotus choked on a gasp, covering their mouth as Rurik reached for the patio door; he wanted to rage when it proved just as useless as the other exit. Backtracking into the hallway, he rushed them through the dining room to the garage door only to find it locked as well. Picking up one of the chairs and swinging it at the nearby window, the wood splintered as the shards harmlessly rebounded off the unmarked glass; throwing down the broken legs, he screamed, "What the hell is this place?!"
"We left him...," Lotus clutched his skull with a haunted look, "... he begged us for help, and we abandoned him..."
"What were we supposed to do, punch the damn ghost?!" the taller snapped, elbowing the window in pique, "he was a goner the moment he got snatched; now would you-"
A guttural croaking noise stopped Rurik in his mental tracks and Lotus let out a pitiful squeak as he brought the flashlight up to the doorway. The unsteady light traveled up bare legs shuffling toward them, past the filthy brown dress swaying erratically, past ligature marks crisscrossing along the neck in uncomfortably deep patterns matching the left arm, past a bloody smile that would have made a piranha envious, to milky white eyes caked in partially dried blood... along with the knives from earlier, still coated in Palette's marrow, surrounding her.
Lotus shrieked as the knives shot forward and Rurik dragged him to the floor; the hysterical skeleton latched onto his savior, pressing into their side as dozens of thuds filled the room and marrow flecked across the pair crouched in the corner while he cried, "Go awaaaay! Leave us alooone!"
The room went still; only the sound of Lotus gasping around heavy sobs remained as Rurik glanced toward the doorway... it was empty. Taking a steadying breath and working the dryness from his mouth, he whispered to the smaller, "Hey, she's gone... I think she's done."
"D... done...? It's over...?" Lotus shakily sat up, pulling from Rurik's arms to sweep the flashlight's flickering beam around the empty room.
Rurik let out a sigh of relief when the silence stretched, "Yeah... let's run before that crazy bitch comes back."
Lotus warily pushed against the wall to stand; his flashlight then drifted over a pair of grimy feet standing next to them. Sightless eyes stared them down as the smaller shot up into the air with a strangled cry, "N... no, please! Rurik!"
Rurik lurched forward, reaching out as he roared, "Let go of-!"
His hand snatched at empty air as Lotus went flying toward the doorway at breakneck speed. Rurik scrambled to his feet in a blind panic as the smaller passed through the hallway and into the kitchen, their screams trailing after them, "NononononononoNONONOSTO-"
*CRACK*
Rurik made it through the kitchen doorway just in time to watch Lotus collide with the far wall, shattering the back of their skull on impact and sending bloody bone fragments skittering across the tile floor. The stunned monster stumbled forward as what was left of his companion crumpled to the floor. He dropped to his knees in front of the body as marrow began to trickle down the smaller's vacant face and pool around their skull; a faucet squeaked on somewhere nearby.
"No...," Rurik breathed, reaching out to gingerly touch Lotus' disfigured hand as pieces began to fleck off into dust. He fought the tears that wanted to come, slamming his fist into the floor as he howled, "Stars dammit... why?! What the hell did he ever do to you?!" With the spirit box abandoned upstairs, only silence answered him as a strained sob slipped through, "...dammit... he didn't deserve this...it's all my fault...!" He suddenly grunted, shuddering violently around ragged gasps. "Wh... what... what's h... happening...? Aaaagh!" he yelled, clawing at his skull and knocking his hat onto the floor before staggering to his feet and into the adjacent wall, "Ghhh... getout..." His body hunched over, struggling against an unseen force, "ngh... no... ghhh... GET OUT...!"
All at once, Rurik sharply gasped and went still, his arms falling to his sides and his skull lolling forward like a puppet with its strings cut. Slowly and mechanically, he swayed in place and shuffled away from Lotus' dusting remains over to the nearby sink where the faucet was running with sockets void of their usual starry eye lights; his fingers occasionally twitched at his sides, but there were no signs of sentience otherwise.
Reaching the filled sink, the skeleton bent forward and submerged his skull under the water. Almost immediately, his body began thrashing as a muffled gurgling noise filled the room. His hands scrabbled for purchase against the sink as his legs kicked out wildly; murky brown water sloshed over the edges of the sink, but his skull never rose above the water even as the Oni appeared beside him, watching apathetically as Rurik frantically tried to save himself. Twenty seconds in, his body began to visibly slow; his fingers sluggishly scraped against the marble countertops in some vain hope of finding an object to help him and his lower body began sagging. At thirty-five seconds, his hands stilled; at forty-five, his skull finally rose out of the water as his lifeless body ragdolled to the floor with a wet thud.
Dirty water began to spill over the counter, the patter against the tile sounding like rainfall as the Oni disappeared from view moments later.
---
Reaper stopped the video, knowing from his first viewing that the rest of the footage was nothing more than creaks and groans from the house until the headset batteries had finally run out. Leaning against the wall of the group's abandoned truck, the skeleton lamented the loss, "Ya should've asked for help, kiddo; I would've made time..."
So he said, but the ghost had simply been too aggressive for the conventional methods the kids were taught to work and she kept transitioning back into attack mode too quickly for them to recover; even after scrutinizing the footage, he couldn't say for sure that he would have been able to get them all out without any casualties if he had been there... but the what-if still ate at him regardless.
The problem now was what to do with the leftover contract; the group had collected all the evidence necessary to identify the ghost, but it felt wrong to turn in their work and receive the reward meant for them. At the same time, he knew sleeping on the information would only lead to more unsuspecting investigators and thrill-seekers meeting their end at the hands of an experienced Oni. There was also the very real possibility of the kids becoming malevolent entities as well; their deaths were violent enough that the trauma might have left an imprint on their souls, chaining them to this plane and preventing them from passing on safely.
If that was the case, he couldn't walk away and leave them to suffer.
Deciding he would turn over the evidence and donate the reward money to the exorcists that successfully cleansed the house, he closed out of the feed on the computer to open the folder containing pictures from the photo camera; he had to admit Palette had gotten some good photos, especially of the Oni, but Reaper was far more interested in the first picture. Clicking on the image file, he stared at the loading photo of the four young ghost hunters posed in front of the house. Goth's smiling face stared back at him as he pulled out a USB and copied the image onto it.
He wanted to remember the intelligent and happy skeleton his son was rather than reflect on the grief and terror of Goth's final moments that would likely haunt his nightmares for many nights to come.
Saving the information, ejecting the drive, and shutting down the computer, he hopped out of the back of the truck and stared at the accursed house. He debated telling his brother of Lotus' fate, idly wondering if the surly skeleton would even care; eventually, he settled on calling them along with Dream to break the news once he had a chance to settle himself.
As he turned away from the house and rounded the vehicle, he whispered, "Rest easy kiddo; I'll finish what you started." The trees rustled gently in the wind as Reaper opened the truck door... he supposed it was wishful thinking that he believed it was a sign from his son.
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Word Count: 1,895