Home Sweet Home (mxm)

Chapter 4: Threat

(So I changed Salem's name to Caleb because he would not accept the different name. I didn't want to use a name I already had in a previous story but I'm not going to argue with him and try to change it again.) 

They had all gathered near the couch by the cold wall, but only the older man walked up to it. 

"This banshee has so much resentment. That's where the chill comes from, and also how its managed to remain in this world for so long," he said as he set down a large bag that he'd gone out to retrieve earlier. 

Taking a large hammer and chisel out, he began carefully tapping on a spot about chest-high. He stopped after a few moments, as if expecting the banshee to respond. Which, to Taylor's surprise, it did. 

"They don't usually like being disturbed, so naturally, it's not happy that there's someone trying to break through the wall on the other side." 

When there wasn't another sound from the banshee the man continued to work, taking almost no time at all to come in contact with a a length of concrete. 

I really wish things weren't coming together this way. 

The man worked on that wall for about thirty minutes before his hammer finally broke through the other side. He jumped back immediately afterward as the temperature in the room began to drop. A quiet sound came from the small opening and grew as time passed to be comparable to that of wind howling through a corridor. 

It smelled like dust and mildew, and as Taylor inched closer, he could just barely make out a blurry, blotched outline. 

"I'm... not sure if he's really there, or I'm seeing things," he said as Adon stepped up beside him to try and get a look. Neither of them dared to get closer than three feet. 

The older man chuckled and walked a bit closer, then pointed straight at the little hole he'd made. 

"Oh he's there, boys. He's just not quite sure of the situation, since I'm sure that he's been standing there, staring at that wall, for years. His form should reaffirm soon enough."

Taylor licked his lips and hesitantly stepped forward with Adon, and now Sasha, at his sides. When he saw faint, uneven motion behind the hole, he stepped a little closer, leaving the other two behind him. 

"Oh. Well, shit," he mumbled as the old man looked at him, a brow raised. 

Taylor took a step back and gave a nervous, uneasy chuckle. 

"Well, you were right about them being able to keep an item with them when they die."

The man took another glance through the hole, but quickly returned his attention to Taylor. 

"You saw what he has?" he and Sasha asked at the same time, excitement in both of their voices that Taylor definitely didn't share. 

"Yeah. He's got a metal baseball bat in his left hand." 

As if to confirm his words, a much-louder hitting sound echoed around the room as concrete dust and drywall bits rained to the floor by the hole. As the sound dissipated, another took over. 

A growl? 

It almost sounded like a scaled-down purr from an engine, but continuous and low. 

"He's warning us, but that's odd. They usually don't bother with that, unless..." 

Adon straightened from where he was trying to look through the hole again, at a safe distance, and replied, "unless what?"