[ solo ] fearful (nathaniel)

[kuropeco]

[ ROOM 1 - 1 / 18 ]


Nathaniel did not like haunted houses, per say; but he did enjoy exploring - and he did enjoy, sort of, on a more subjective level, things that were inexplicable in either a scientific kind of way or mysterious and confusing in another kind of way.

In short: he enjoyed learning about magical things.

The haunted house, to Nathaniel's knowledge, wasn't necessarily magical, but it was odd, which only secured the need to check it out and see what it was. He went alone, not because he felt somehow brave for doing so, but simply because he didn't want to bother anyone.

Besides, it was just a haunted house. Nothing really terrible could go wrong.

(Maybe if he kept telling himself that, he'd actually believe it.)

The first room was not a room. It was a hallway, long and thin and empty, except for the stretching black of Nathaniel's shadow as he stepped cautiously over the threshold. He glanced first to one wall, then the next, frowning at the peculiar lack of windows; the flashing lights set his nerves a little fraying.

Something - a wide brimmed witch's hat sitting on the table - twitched. Nathaniel gave it a suspicious look, reached out, and flipped it quickly and efficiently away, wondering if maybe he should go about this a little differently than just - swatting at things.

There was a puppy. And a kitten.

It took approximately ten entire minutes for Nathaniel to drag himself away from them.  

[kuropeco]

[ ROOM 2 - 7 / 18 ]


The second room was more of a room than the first. A place clearly meant for dining, with a long, dusty table and stiff, wax figures seated around it, some in mid-gesture, some leaning forward, others reclining back. They were eerily, creepily human-esque, frozen in time, the dull, fizzing flicker of a television wavering in and out from the corner.

Nathaniel wished he could have brought the puppy and the kitten with him.

He edged carefully around the table and its silent occupants, wincing a little as his sleeve brushed against the back of someone's head. On instinct, he almost murmured a sorry, said politely, "Pardon me, ma'am," and then wondered why he had said anything at all in the first place to a bunch of wax dummies.

Maybe he was more on edge than he thought.

There was a door just up ahead, on the opposite wall than from his entrance. Nathaniel quietly shuffled towards it, and something black wavered behind up, stretching up and up, twisting, curling across the wall, reaching tendriled, narrowed fingers reaching spikily out towards him -

Nathaniel wrenched open the door and scampered through it.  

[kuropeco]

[ ROOM 3 - 10 / 18 ]


There were ghosts.

Well, Nathaniel thought, as he eyed them warily, hands twisting awkwardly together, it could be worse. It could be that thing that tried to eat me back in the Court. It could be that double of Alexander Thorne's that wanted to strangle me after he said all those nasty things about me.

It could be Donald Trump.

He gave each of the ghosts a polite, vague sort of nod, trying to keep himself as calm as possible as he headed across the room. It felt a little intrusive, as though he was stepping into a party he hadn't been invited to. A smile was plastered across Nathaniel's face as he stepped past the beer pong players, dodged the loungers, and gave the leering one at the door a suspicious look.

"I'm not your type," he said, with as much dignity as he could muster, which probably wasn't much; but, well, he tried, and it was the thought that counted, after all.

On the other side of the door, there was a clown.

Nathaniel did not like clowns.

The clown stared at him. Nathaniel stared back.

This stare off continued for approximately eight point sixteen seconds before Nathaniel said, "Well, thank you for bein' here, I really should be goin' now, thank you kindly, sir," and all but ran away before the clown could try and suffocate him with a balloon animal or something.  

[kuropeco]

[ ROOM 4 - 14 / 18 ]


It was a garden and Nathaniel had to remind himself more than once that a garden in a haunted house was probably not the safest thing to explore - especially not with all of the fog that kept ghosting everywhere around him wherever he walked.

He tried waving his arms to clear some of it so that he could see the plants and flowers and shrubbery better, but this was a fruitless attempt; it simply refused not to be dispelled by any means, which was hugely disappointing to a gardener and plant lover.

Nathaniel tried to inch silently past the skeletons, but the creak of bones made him jump a foot in the air. He caught the direction they were pointing, cleared his throat, and said politely, "Thank you kindly" as he tried to keep going.

There was something caught in the corner of his eye: a scarecrow, Nathaniel learned, squinting through the rolling fog. He took another breath, skittered sideways, and then ran as fast as he could towards the arched doorway the skeletons had indicated.

He really, really hoped there wasn't much left to explore.  

[kuropeco]

[ ROOM 5 - 17 / 18 ]


It was so dark that it almost felt claustrophobic; but the music pounding in Nathaniel's ears at least gave him leeway to understand that maybe he wasn't entirely alone. Or maybe that was a bad thing, since he could hear the babble of voices, of laughter, of people shifting and moving, and couldn't feel anything at all.

It was creepy and a little disoriented. Nathaniel had no idea if he was even going in the right direction at all, but as his feet took him forward again, a siren above him wailed, color splashing the walls. Cheering voices echoed all around him, filling his senses, and just up ahead a door was set into the wall, illuminated by the flashing lights.

Nathaniel hastened towards it, stretching out his hand, quite ready to leave this place and -

Something grabbed him. It was the clown again.

"Go," said Nathaniel, "away."

Then he dragged open the door and stumbled through.

He was - mercifully, beautifully, back outside. Nathaniel gulped in great gusts of air, gave a shout of surprise as someone - or something - whispered into his ear - and then it was gone again. He was alone, the cool breeze rifling through his hair.

Nathaniel dragged fingers down the side of his face, inhaled sharply, and decided he would maybe sleep with the lights on tonight.


[ WORD COUNT: 1,076 ]