The Holiday from Hell

[scotch_egg]

Who: Alec, Anthony, Ellie and Fell
What: Going on a house sitting holiday to terrifying jolly old England.
When: 09/20-09/30
Where: Across the Pond.



Alec squinted at the house as it rose on the horizon. He was tired and jet lagged from the plane. Tired and sore from the long ride over bumpy roads in a small cab, crowded against one window by Ellie who was smushed in the middle with Anthony on the other side. Fell, being the guest, took up the front seat and was probably cramping Anthony's legs all to pieces with how much room he left which Alec felt strangely justified in.

Anyway, that house held memories, both good and bad and, mostly terrifying, but he was oddly looking forward to it. After all, everything was a little bit frightening until you knew its secrets.


---
Info on Abaddon House and the environs

Comments

[scotch_egg]

"Then you won't know." A slow easy smile. "Don't tell me you're still afraid of ghosts, Anty." He won't add that Anthony has a teddy bear now to cling to because it's best to stay away from that mental image.

[serpentinthegarden]

A very brave teddy bear that was actually excited about staying in a haunted house. He was surprisingly terrible for an angel!

"I'm not..."

He protested in the exact same way he used to as a small kid, complete with the brave little pout.

"I just don't think you should be messing with anything that might actually work. I wouldn't know what to do with a zombie."

[scotch_egg]

He wanted to tease him further but he never could resist his baby cousin for long. Anyway, who knew? It might actually work given everything.

"Fine, I won't. For your peace of mind. But you know one day I'm not going to give in to you and then where will you be?"

[serpentinthegarden]

"That doesn't bear thinking about."

His smirk was electric as he snuggled into Alec's shoulder just happy to have this time together even if they were in a spooky run down old wreck of a place. It had the unfortunate effect of making one feel quite nostalgic.

"This was always a great place for hide and seek. And... I didn't mind getting to spend the summer with you. Even if you were a bastard with the ghost stories."

[scotch_egg]

Cocky bastard. He deserved all the ghost stories and more. He wrapped an arm around Anthony's shoulders and rested his cheek against that ginger hair. Honestly, he was glad that oblivion was the only thing that was waiting because he would miss this too much anyway, quiet moments, stolen moments, nostalgia.

"I didn't mind it either. Even if you are a giant pain in the arse." And even though he had always in so many ways wanted to be like his younger cousin, or at least be seen like him, someone rough but accepted, more or less for who he was. Hell, his own father preferred it. But he'd loved Anthony too even without wanting to because there was something so eager and vulnerable about him that deserved protecting.

"And they're not stories. They're histories. Legends." A pause. "I've heard a new one from the cabbie before he left. Want to hear it?" That was a trick question as he was going to be told anyway.

[serpentinthegarden]

Much like that old run down sofa of his Alec could be surprisingly comfortable to snuggle up against. He was just getting cozy, stifling a yawn as the gentle pattering of the rain bounced off the window pane... then Alec had to go and say something that made him frizz from head to toe like a frightened cat.

"You asshole! He never told you any story! That guy was too busy trying to decide which ponies to bet on."

[scotch_egg]

"You're right. It was more of a warning really. Local superstition and what not to do under any circumstances." A pause. "But that's probably not interesting to you."

[serpentinthegarden]

"It not interesting to me, at all!"

Which was said with a huff as his head snuggled back against that boney shoulder and silence fell as if he were going to sleep. It was a silence that never was going to last too long...

"What was the warning?"

[scotch_egg]

He let silence fall for a moment, then began in a soft voice.

"Not too long ago, a young couple came up from the South. They stayed at Bloom Cottage, you know the one right at the end of the village with the ivy in the front? Have you seen it?"

[serpentinthegarden]

"The one with that horrible lopsided birdhouse? Goooh... I've often wondered what sort of person could tolerate that lopsided birdhouse."

It did not fall in line with Anthony's sense of garden fashion.

"Wha, nothing happened up there did it?"

[scotch_egg]

Probably not, honestly.

"Aye, that's the one. As for what happened, ah, no one knows-- One day they went to bed happy as you please, the next--" he dips his voice. "They found the husband, or what was left of him, in the bedroom. The new bride? They never did find her. Some say that she killed him and ran. Some say someone snuck in through the night and was surprised. Some say something else happened that no one dares to speak...

But the story I heard is that the bride is still out there, wandering the moors, eyes gone, covered in trailing ivy. They say never go to out in the moors at night in the rain because she is there waiting. She doesn't announce her presence... doesn't make a sound, just creeps up very quietly-- and grabs." At the last word he gripped the back of Anthony's neck hard.

[serpentinthegarden]

At least he didn't scream, but what he did do was hardly dignified. Anthony flew from the bed, nearly tripping on the quilt, and was out of the room flying back up the stairs before he called back in a angry distant voice.

"You bastard!"

[scotch_egg]

He laughed. Laughed so hard he couldn't even sit up properly and it was frankly dangerous but he couldn't stop.

"I'm sorry," he wheezed it through tears, knowing it couldn't be heard. "It's just so easy!"

[serpentinthegarden]

He wasn't going back down there. Alec could hang out down there with his laughter and his spooks, Anthony was heading to bed... maybe not to sleep but there could be a blanket to hide under. This wasn't the sort of house one could easily sleep in.

It was nice to hear him laugh again though... It felt like too long since he had heard that laugh.