Chapter Text
Everything burned.
The car was hot, the heavy humid air didn’t help with the heat much. The sun’s rays were radiating through the mini van’s windows and slowly burning the leather covering the seats. The cemented highway was probably the worst place to be driving on when the Californian heat was burning anyone and anything.
Rodrick could feel a small drop of sweat trickling down from his sticky and damp hair to the back of his neck. His head laid down on the car’s left door as he tried to keep his eyes slightly opened, which was probably the only thing he could do with the amount of energy that wasn’t drained from the high temperature.
His sweat wasn’t the only thing poking at his patience. Unlike everyone else in the van, Manny, who just recently turned two years old, still had enough power to screech and cry about his discomfort. Susan, their pretty regular but stern mother, was actively trying to calm his little brother by swinging him around in her arms and whispering comforting but meaningless words like “We’ll be here soon.” or “I’ve got you.” in Manny’s ears.
Thankfully for Rodrick, Greg, his most annoying brother, had succumbed to the heat and had fallen asleep after his 30th “Are we there yet?”
Normally all these things wouldn’t even matter to Rodrick. Heck, he was normally the one to cause chaos during road trips. His old band mates used to call him “King of Commotion” each time he would get his hands on a drumstick. This wasn’t a normal road trip, it wasn’t a road trip at all. They were moving, moving away from their old house, their old memories, his old high school and his band. His mom said it was their family’s chance at fixing all their problems. Rodrick just saw it as more problems. Everybody knows that changing schools in the middle of the year is asking to be a social failure. Rodrick was ready to bet that nobody in this “prestigious” high school would start a band with him. What would they even call it? Loded Diper 2.0 ? Not to forget that their new house looked like the haunted houses he used to visit with his friends on Halloween night. It was huge and was surrounded by creepy fences. What were they trying to protect the house from? Werewolves?
He knew he was the only one in his family who thought of this as a bad idea. Knowing Greg, he probably thought of this as a way to gain even more popularity. Although Rodrick knew that, deep inside, Greg was pretty sad that he wouldn’t be able to talk to Rowley about all his problems anymore. As for Frank, their simplistic father, he couldn’t be happier. Having a bigger house meant a bigger space for his stupid war statues that he kept like a maniac. He still remembers that fateful day, back when Rodrick was only 11 years old, he had dared to go stroll around his father’s collection and accidentally made his legion of tiny men fall. Frank lectured him for a week about snooping around in other people’s things or whatever. Susan was the only one with selfless intentions for this new move. All she wanted was for the family to be back together like they were when Greg was only five years old. Does Rodrick think that moving in a spine-chilling house will bring his family together forever? No.
After calming down Manny and struggling to put him back in his baby seat, Susan sat back comfortably with a nice big smile on her face. She started tapping her hands on both her legs like an excited little kid ready to see Disney World for the first time. There was a moment of silence before Susan adjusted the car’s rear view mirror to have a good look at all three of her sons. Rodrick could see her big eyes covered by her thick glasses looking right at him. Then, she turned the mirror slightly to the right and her pupils followed as she stared at a newly awakened Greg who had staines of saliva right beside his mouth.
“Are my boys excited? We’ll be there in about ten minutes!” She exclaimed with a light voice. Rodrick looked out the window and realized that they weren’t on the highway anymore. It was more like a secluded neighborhood. Sure there were a lot of houses and they could even see people walking by but something felt off.
“Uh, yeah sure.” Greg mumbled. His brother always tried to act nonchalant about things. It probably made him feel like a little genius. Rodrick knew that his brother had a twenty point plan on “How to become popular” written in his dumb diary.
“I still don’t understand how this is supposed to change our lives for the best.” Rodrick murmured as he finally got his body to move again.
He straightened his back as his head now rested on the seat’s headrest. His dark brown eyes were still focused on the road, he was trying to spot the graveyard they were going to call home.
“Sometimes I wonder when you’ll start seeing the good side of things, Rodrick.” Susan answered, her smile had faded a little bit but she didn’t want to ruin the moment. She turned the mirror back at its original position and she turned around to look at her own window.
“Yeah, Rodriiick.” Greg said with a passive aggressive voice. If Rodrick had one wish in life it would probably be to be an only child. He couldn’t recall one thing this little moron hadn’t ruined for him. “Shut up, shithead.” The older brother answered Greg's joke. Rodrick leaned over to reach his brother’s head and shake it playfully.
As both brothers were attacking each other's heads, well, it was mostly Rodrick, the car slowed down and they felt the wheels turn drastically. They had arrived. This place was even worse than how Rodrick imagined it to be. Not only were there rusty fences surrounding the perimeter but vines and old plants were starting to grow on them like they were trying to escape. Rodrick would understand why. The house itself wasn’t aesthetically pleasing to see, it probably would’ve been easier on the eyes about 20 years earlier. At Least two windows were shattered and half the chimney was broken in pieces. Did he mention the vines growing on everything?
The manor was separated in two combined sections , there was the normal two story house built in with beige bricks and wood, and the second part which was a giant red brick tower that had a tiny circle window at its peak. It felt weird to stay in the van and just stare at it like it was dangerous. All of them were staring at it in silence.
“This house was built back in the early 1900’s. Can you believe it, Frank?” His mom spoke leaning her body on the car’s dashboard to get a closer look at their new home. Frank slowly approached his finger to the window button and gradually pressed it. He dragged his head out the window to sneak pictures of the house with his stupidly old camera. Since the day grandpa and grandma had given them their old stuff, his father had stayed stuck to this old junk of a camera or what he’d like to call it, “NIKON S3 BODY black original” which would probably end up on his will.
After taking his last pictures, Frank moved his camera downwards. A real good moment of silence followed. Were they all admiring this tragically abandoned building that would need weeks of renovation for it to properly function? Rodrick didn’t get it. Was this just a way for his parents to waste even more money?
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Frank suddenly opened the van’s door, putting both his feet out the door. This caught Greg off guard, even Rodrick noticed him spring up as the door was slammed back shut. Although Greg liked to exaggerate most of his actions, Rodrick felt somewhat strange about this.
As the family all got out, one by one, Greg quickly followed Frank to the trunk to get his suitcase and get the first pick on his bedroom. Susan unbuckled Manny from his seat and pointed every single detail about the house to him. Unlike his family, Rodrick wasn’t stoked about seeing their new home. Sure it was big and fancy but what else? His low enthusiasm level only led him outside the car and leaned on the van’s exterior with both his arms crossed. After all this travel, all Rodrick could do was stare at his home blankly, examining every window. (The ones that weren’t shattered)
One window…another window… a slightly tinted window…a bigger window… and wait, who was that?
For a split second Rodrick could see a shadow, a person, a boy with almost snow coloured hair. Rodrick had only noticed his hair, it was pretty difficult to remember his traits. What was some rando doing in their house? Oh probably some weirdo wannabe ghost hunter who was trying to get a rise out of them. After all, if they were gonna become the Addams family, Rodrick understood his interest.
“Hey dipshit, did you see that?” Rodrick tapped Greg’s head who was in the middle of untangling his five different bags each containing different equipment for all the sports Greg signed up for. He claimed the ladies loved an active man. Rodrick claimed he didn’t care.
“See what?” His little brother squinted his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows like he was looking for something. “Mom told me to notify her if you ever tried to mess with me, moron.” Greg said, looking back at him with a smug little smile on his face but with a side of confusion. Rodrick never knew how Greg ever made any friends at school. We’re all kids like this now? This made the older brother laugh as he shook his head from right to left. Greg only continued his way to the house’s main entrance. Why was he even bothering?
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Ding… Ding…
The complete family was standing in front of the doorway. Some were waiting impatiently and others were simply waiting. Susan told them about meeting the realtor before they could start their new lives here. Rodrick had seen her before, a middle aged woman with a modest taste in fashion but an awful taste in earrings.
Ding… Ding…
Right after the fourth ring, the door opened widely. Yeah it was definitely her, a sky blue suit that covered a flowery blouse with tacky matching earrings that had the shape of random blue flowers. Rodrick never remembered flower types, probably because it was too hard to differentiate all of them. All he saw now was a lady leaned on the entrance door smiling at them with the fakest smile he’d ever seen in his life
“Well you must be the Heffley family! Now, enter or else somebody might steal this beauty from you.” She said sweetly, opening the door widely to let the family in.
Rodrick doubted that anyone else would steal the “beauty” away from them. Nevertheless, his eyes followed his brother running as fast as he could towards the wooden staircase of the house with his suitcase in hand. Greg was probably going to take the largest room he’d see, so Rodrick had to deal with whatever was left. The older brother decided to keep things safe and started walking slowly in the house behind his mother and his father’s lead. Susan apparently didn’t think “keeping things safe” was a good idea as she let Manny roam free through the house. They all followed the realtor through the kitchen as they stopped to chat about whatever was so special about this place. Honestly, the house looked pretty good from the inside. Rodrick noticed that most things were already renovated and rebuilt like the kitchen itself. Woah, The house actually looked livable.
“Although this house has been renovated not so long ago, all you see through the corridors are well preserved decorations from the early 1920’s. Let’s just say the previous owners loved this place to bits.” The lady told them.
They all knew she wasn’t lying, the walls were decorated from bottom to top and there wasn’t one sprinkle of dust anywhere.
“We could see how much care was put in this house and we were pleasantly surprised to see the house was on the cheaper side.” Frank said, examining the kitchen’s quartz countertops. As for their eldest son, he was peeking right through the window that was framed right over the shiny silver sink. It was pretty hard to see anything through it since flower designs were engraved through the glass. Rodrick still wanted to figure out if the weirdo he’d seen hanging around their house earlier was still there.
“Oh. talking about the previous owners, I’m obligated to warn you that they died in this house, murder and suicide.” The realtor informed them. She said it so strangely like she was trying too hard to make it sound not strange. Rodrick stopped snooping through the glass and his whole body did a ninety degree turn. Great, they were officially in a haunted house. He saw his mother’s eyes had widened and her mouth was wide opened as she looked at the lady. Susan, trying to calm the situation down, turned her shocked face into a friendlier one.
“Well, I’m sure that’s not gonna be a problem- ”
As soon as his mother spoke, they all heard baby noises. Manny. Rodrick thought he might have gotten injured playing with the decoration. His youngest brother was a real terror, even Greg was terrified of him.
“Rodrick, would you mind helping your brother? While you’re there, go look around upstairs.” Frank told him. It was probably a good time to go check the rooms anyway. Rodrick had left Greg plenty of time to choose his room so it might as well be his turn.
“Hm… fiiiiine.” He answered, mimicking an annoyed voice just to see how the realtor lady would react. She would probably say something like “Teenagers… Am I right?” once he left the room. That was the funny part about it. Rodrick exited the dark brown kitchen, his legs leading his body towards the door frame and his arms leaned back. He made a quick turn left as he saw his baby brother, head turned towards a rugged door placed under the staircase. Was this the basement Susan mentioned? Rodrick walked closer to Manny and the basement’s door.
“What are you yelling at?” He whispered to his brother while taking him into his arms. As he shook him calmly, Rodrick felt something. He stared at the dark and unlit stairs that almost had this ominous touch to them. To be fair, the entire house had an “ominous touch” to it. Ugh, why did Rodrick even care? The basement was only going to be used for his dad’s weird hobby.
“C’mon let’s get you upstairs…”
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One step on the second floor and Rodrick already heard the sound of the wooden floor creaking. Well, this was going to be great. Greg was very likely writing his dumb thoughts in his not-so-journal diary. Rodrick bent down to release Manny out of his hold. At least this time he wasn’t going to scream at some random basement door for being too creepy.
“Now, please don’t roll down the stairs. Mom’s gonna kill me.” Still hunched back, he patted his brother’s head. All he got as an answer was a small giggle from Manny. With both his hands in his pants’ pockets, Rodrick made his way towards the four rooms of the house. As he was choosing which awfully repainted white door he was going to barge in first, he noticed a fifth door. A door that wasn’t directly placed in front of his eyes when he climbed the last stairs. He had to turn completely to the right to have a good look at it. It’s not like this house could get any creepier. This was most likely the worst thing to say when exploring a house that hosted the death of two humans. He kept going. Some kind of energy fueled his body to walk step by step in the direction of the bathroom.
He lightly pushed the white door that was already cracked open, Greg must’ve found it thinking it was a room. Inside, the flooring had changed and was now composed of black and white tiles instead of planks. There was pretty much everything a normal bathroom would have except, everything looked outdated, outdated bathtub, outdated shower curtains and an outdated sink. Ignoring the slightly rusted bathroom appliances, there was one thing that caught the teenager’s eye, the mirror. Sure it was small and its borders were on the verge of turning orange but the mirror’s dust stains almost formed a face. It was almost perfect, too perfect. He couldn’t help but get closer to it. This had to be a coincidence or maybe it wasn’t.
“WAHH!!!” He jumped when he felt someone trying to tackle him. Greg. Of course. Here Rodrick thought his brother’s number one mission was to stop being annoying. The eldest let out a tired sigh mixed with a small chuckle as the younger brother was still laughing endlessly. “Why are you so scared of this place? Scared you might find a girl to reject you again?” Greg said breathlessly after a good laugh. Rodrick remembered what Greg said about him notifying their mother if he’d ever do anything to him. The older brother pondered about it for a quick second. Whatever, the worst that could happen was him losing a couple “mom bucks”.
“Fuck off, dumbass!” He used the strength of both his hands to push his brother out his way. It didn’t move Greg very far. His little brother was able to bounce back and run towards him to try and hit him. Thankfully for the older sibling, he was granted height and Greg wasn’t. The force of his right arm colliding with Greg’s forehead stopped his brother from getting any closer. It was Rodrick’s turn to laugh hysterically as he watched his brother struggle. His gaze shifted to Greg’s feet and an idea struck him. With a sweep of his leg, his little brother was now face down on the floor whining like a little baby about a “broken nose”.
That’s when Rodrick saw him again. There, in the mirror’s reflection, the blonde boy from earlier. He didn’t look any older than Rodrick was. His skin was pale like the guy hadn’t had a glimpse of the sun for years. Contrasting his skin, his eyes were dark brown which made his pupils hard to distinguish. Although half his face was covered by his hair, his features were sharp, yet that’s what gave his face a softer appearance. He was wearing a striped wool vest that only consisted of green and black as its main colors and a long pair of baggy jeans.
This time Rodrick had a better look at him. This time he didn’t run away or disappear out of thin air. “ You know, if you’re trying to kill your brother, you should probably close the door.” The guy spoke with a low voice. A small grin appeared on his face when staring at Greg. On the other hand, Rodrick frowned as a wave of confusion engulfed him. Before he decided to speak, Rodrick turned his head around so they didn’t have to speak indirectly through the mirror. Bad idea. Once his gaze shifted to where the guy once was, he had vanished.
“W-wait! Who are you?”