The colors slowly blended into white. James' vision ticked into a cycle of images.
-- A pumpkin patch filled with jack-o-lanterns under a black sky.
-- A field of wheat bobbing their seed heads as if listening to a jolly tune.
-- A pale girl in a bunny mask holding a paper lantern with no flame.
-- A spoked star hung on a string turning slowly in the sky.
Each image cycled in his mind like a slide reel gaining speed. A wave of nausea hit James as his stomach lurched causing the settled warmth to flow upwards into his mouth ending the slide show.
Vwah! A splatter of pale bile and acid fell from his lips onto the dirt.
"Aww nasty… Are you good?" Gasper stared at him shielding Hazel from the vomit.
James spent the next few seconds coughing and grasping at his knees.
Hiss! Ptoey! He swiped at the corner of his lips with his wrist.
He spat a few more times trying to clear the taste from his mouth, followed by a sickly gurgle.
Gasper and Hazel watched on in silence.
"Did no-one else see that?" James regained some composure.
"See what?" Gasper replied
"No?" Hazel followed.
James stared at the two hoping to see a hint of a liar under their expression, but the most he could see was disgust at the steaming bits between his feet.
'Did I? Was that? What? ' James tried to ponder on the images that seemed to be slowly seeping out of his memory but any attempts at contemplation were met with a wave of nausea.
He quickly shuffled away from the area and leaned up against something. The roof of his mouth still bitter. Hazel and Gasper were saying things to him but he was lost in his own head.
'Could It be dehydration? A hallucination? Memories? No I have never seen those things before. They were completely new to me and the feeling they gave me, it was a strange nausea'
James twitched as his brain misfired while contemplating.
Silence…
"You okay man?" Gasper looked towards him with concern. James finally descended from his inner world and his vision cleared.
It was strange, there were these moments where it felt like he was in a certain zone. When daydreaming, his vision would turn off and he would disappear into his own head cannon, or when he would focus on something visual his sense of sound would diminish.
James finally cued into what Gasper had said.
James stared back his brows furrowed. "Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"
James turned away from the two remembering why he was alone.
"James-" Hazel called out. She was hoping to mediate the situation. This was not the first time the duo had left James to his own devices to a less than pleasant outcome.
James held out his his pointer finger indicating for her to stop.
He rested his hands on his knees again. "Hold up…I think i'm drunk... or at least I don't feel good."
Huff…Huff…James winced. He felt a throbbing at the base of his skull and like static a voice permeated through his mind.
~One by one the wicker men come. Two by two they're of you. Three by three we light them with glee. Four by four we open the door~
"Did you guys hear that?"
They both stared at him. Gasper had a concerned look on his face. Hazel came over to him and rested her hands on his shoulder.
Hazel looked at James and couldn't help but sigh internally. 'I wish Gasper would stop being his friend. He's so self-destructive like an angry little boy'
" Are you okay?" Hazel asked.
Gasper quickly hoisted James up and straightened up his clothes before patting his chest a few times and smiling. "Hey. It's getting late. Maybe it's time we call it a day?"
Hazel shot a glance at Gasper. "No, tonight's our last night before you head back home. Its only around eight."
Hazel turned to James. "You can last until ten right?"
James wasn't stupid. He grasped Hazel's intentions quickly but he was more concerned with what he heard. 'One by what? Two by who? Sigh- I need to sober up'
James shifted his weight off Gasper and glanced at Hazel before pointing towards the house.
"Are you guys being serious about not hearing anything? Nothing at all? Alright, do me a favor look at that sign and tell me nothing weird happens?" James hissed through his teeth.
They both nodded confused and wary of his state of mind but glanced at the rotting sign anyway.
Nothing. Both Hazel and Gasper stared at the sign for a few seconds each managing to make out the words Halloween before looking back at James.
James' gaze was firm, this made Gasper question himself. They grew up together and Gasper was able to easily tell that whatever James saw was real to him.
Gasper, unsure and wanting to resolve this quickly gave a suggestion. "I mean, how about we check it out. I mean it's probably our last time out together, might as well have something to remember today."
Hazel seeing that her and Gasper would spend more time together agreed. "Yeah , should be fun." Hazel patted her biceps. "I've seen scarier things at the Sanctuary."
James feeling the headache from the intoxication fails to hear the spirits of his ancestors speaking to him. The only thing driving his mind now was curiosity and hope. 'Could it be something supernatural? Could the house be haunted? If it is does that mean ghosts are real?'
James unknowingly felt a strange fire lit under his chest, as if there was something bigger out there. Somewhere he could escape himself.
The three slowly made their way to the house until they were at the stoop.
The exterior of the home seemed to be poorly maintained. The steps were wet rotting in the cold and rainy season. The cellulose fibers of the wood seem to have become flaccid as the structure itself seemed to visibly sag towards its center. The dark brown oak used to build the home had shades and tinges of moss and mold making it even less apealing to venture into. However, James was not deterred.
'Mmm' They all said in unison clearly averse to the texture of the structure.
James took the first step his soles sinking into the wood. 'Oh- this is... Okay... "
His headache groaned to a halt as he stared at his soiled shoes. 'Sigh, I did not pay one hundred dollars for these. Yes. It is okay'
"Sigh" He continued up the steps. Other than his initial aversion no complex thoughts were created in his mind, it seemed as though all higher thinking and reasoning was diluted only a vague sensation of unease and attraction stuck.
There was scratched carvings that were into the wood of the door. The first lines of writing seemed to be scraped off. The only visible or legible phrase was 'Hail the Smiling moon'
"Hail the smiling moon?" Hazel asked. "As in the moon from soul eater?"
Gasper tilted his head in thought. " Maybe the moon from Majora's mask?"
James replied. "That moon isn't smiling though? Or at least If it is its not doing it out of joy"
Gasper chuckled. "How do you know the moon their referring to is a happy one?"
James ignored the question as he felt his center of gravity shift slightly.
James shifted his weight and muttered, "Is it just me, or does this house feel like its breathing?"
"Breathing?" Hazel stopped short. "You're intoxicated. Your equilibrium is probably off. Quit being dramatic"
"Are you sure you're okay?" Gasper's voice was firmer now. He couldn't help but wonder. 'Did I do something? Should I stop this here?'
Gasper glanced over at Hazel. 'No she wouldn't be happy. But James doesn't seem to be doing too well... What should I do?'
But James wasn't trying to be dramatic. He felt it. The subtle rise and fall beneath his shoes, like the house was exhaling. The wood swelled in slow, arrhythmic pulses, and a brief stumble into Jasper's shoulder made his unease tangible and also brought Gasper back to reality.
Hazel, suddenly uncertain, focused on her feet. She felt it too. 'Huh? Why do I feel like i'm floating?'
One second... two... three...
Creak.
"Should we-" Gasper muttered, uneasy.
The floor shifted beneath her feet and through a narrow crack between the warped boards, she saw the unmistakable ripple of fascia--living tissue. Muscular. Wet. Faces were stuffed beneath it, the all seemed to be singing with skinned teeth, Mabel lurched as she heard one of the faces speak to her.
~Come, Come, Come, Come along now, I'll bring you to a place of wonder free of boredom~
"AHHHH!" she shrieked, spinning around--only to find a door where there hadn't been one before.
Hazel's pupils dilated. 'No. That's not right. We were just on the porch? '
She turned, but they were inside now. Gasper and James were already staring at the door as if it had grown there.
"Huh?" James was the first to make a sound. 'Were we not outside?'
Gasper quickly reacted and Shimmied the lock. "Huh? It's locked?"
Gasper's brows furrowed. 'I did not drink anything. So I shouldn't be impaired. How? I blinked and we were now inside.'
"When did we step inside?" James asked, the question more to himself than anyone else.
"I don't know," Hazel replied, her voice thin. 'What was that in the floor? It looked so...'
Huck. Hazel felt a similar warm fluid fill her mouth. She looked over at Gasper and her eyes dilated as she quickly swallowed. Pretending as if nothing happened. 'That wasn't real. Maybe There's some fungus or hallucinogen in the air. That's probably what got James and now I have it'
"James, when the fuc* did we step inside?" Gasper turned to James, humanly forgetting that James asked the same question in hopes he had an answer.
Gasper gripped onto his best friend's shoulder, his other hand gesturing toward the sealed door. 'There has to be some physics trick to this right?'
James stared at Gasper. His expression confused and his brown pupils were wildly dilated. 'I've never seen him like this'
Seeing James' blank stare. Gasper tried the door again.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
No movement. Not a creak, not a shift of air. It was like pushing against a foundation wall.
James meanwhile, scanned the room.
He never knew the taste of damp oak until now. It was mossy and bitter with notes of metal and mold clinging to the back of his tongue.
Every step groaned beneath him, the warped floorboards bending like bruised skin.
'We didn't step inside. But we're inside. 'He repeated in his mind hoping to gain something. 'Does that mean this house was really haunted. Does that mean there's more to this than I can see?'
He continued his investigation.
He reached out and touched the walls they felt solid but the fabric coating them was aged. In the far corners, spiders spun their webs, undisturbed.
Nauseating yellow lights buzzed above bathing the group in a dim light.
James licked his teeth and swallowed, trying to wash down the sour build-up on his tongue from earlier.
'It could be an illusion. Maybe we passed through a false facade of glass panels and mirrors? A trick of light?'
Finding a way to rationalize this James couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment. 'Hmm maybe it's not supernatural.'
The hallway extended ahead it was a hollow quiet. If a place devoid of ambient sound could be even more empty that's the feeling this hallway gave. An vast emptiness that could not exist.
It should've been easy to dismiss. But even in the nothing the air carried a deep pressure, like being watched from the bottom of a well.
James had sat alone in observatories before, watched the edges of gas giants flicker on polished lenses and even then, he hadn't felt this exposed, this vast and unknowing feeling gave him a subtle anxiety his human mind couldn't console.
The phrase 'bathing in ignorance' came to his mind. A reminder that for every question answered 4 more are revealed.
James thoughts drifted as he began to trail behind. 'There are too many coincidences.'
His mind whirred as he began to piece together a puzzle.
Black cat, Halloween , unidentifiable smells, Voices . They all had a larger relation. It was then it clicked to him. "It's Halloween."
Hearing James Gasper and Hazel turned around.
Hazel remained silent but she still pondered on his words. 'Halloween? What does that, oh wait today is Halloween. That's what the fair is in town for. But what does that have to do with anything.'
James looked towards Gasper with an expecting look. "Do you remember the origin of Halloween?"
Gasper thought for a few seconds. "Isn't it a pagan holiday where people dressed up to ward off evil spirits."
James nodded. "Yes, but there something more important. Halloween isn't the 31st its the 1st of November and the night leading up to it is when the veil between worlds thins."
Hazel couldn't help but chime in "So what does that have to do with the creepy house and the voices?"
Voices the two Echoed. James and Gasper looked at Hazel. Hazel stared back with a uneasy expression. She avoided Gasper's gaze.
James quickly asked forgetting about what he was saying. "Voices? You heard voices?"
Hazel bit her lip and nodded. "What did they sound like, was it a woman singing about numbers and I think wax and bodies? '
Hazel shook her head. "No. it said Come along now, I'll bring to a place of wonder free of boredom. It sounded ambiguous I couldn't tell if there was a gender. "
James thought out loud " Could that place be where the spirits are from?"
Gasper stepped closer to Hazel and stared into her eyes. The two stared at each other in silence. Gasper opened his arms and held her.
"It's okay. I'm scared too. We'll get out of this, everything will be okay. I'm here." Gasper spoke and even he was unsure if he was telling himself or Hazel.
James continued to speculate internally not caring about the couple. He didn't feel afraid the excitement had just returned. He could be on the precipice of something amazing, a new world. 'Halloween was from 2000 years ago. It had a different name though.'
'Strange smells. Black cat. Voices. Stronger connection to the spirit world. Hmm' Thoughts began to rapidly form in James mind.
'Could it be that this house is a node of some kind? Like a connecting point?'
It was then James noticed something. The hallway continued. It was too long. Far too long for the outside of the building they'd seen.
"This house can't be more than twenty-two hundred square feet, right?" James questioned as if grasping something crucial
Gasper frowned. "We've been walking for at least seven minutes but your right there's no end."
"Maybe it's a winding hall," James suggested, trying to bring forth an opposing argument to his current theory in an attempt to disprove it through collaborative thought.
Mabel who had regained some light shook her head at this statement." The floor is too straight, if there's a slight curve and we've been walking for a few minutes the front door should not be visible"
James nodded. He did not think of using angles and the visibility of the door to confirm their movement. ' Hazel's always been good at puzzles.
They walked a bit more. Discussing what was happening and its connection to halloween, but there was mostly rehashing of their inner thoughts to bring everyone up to speed.
The theory they had reluctantly accepted for the moment was that this building was somehow connected to the veil and acted as a sort of boundary between the two worlds.
Then--a door.
"Finally," Gasper exhaled. "A way out."