𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 | e. ranpo

Dead Mice

"How the hell is he related to any of this?", you ask the cab driver. None of this was making sense to you. Your uncle had basically left you and your dad after your mom left the house. He wasn't a part of your life after that. So why was he suddenly hopping back in at the worst moment?

"Oh you shouldn't ask me questions. I won't answer them.", the cab driver nodded towards the house. "He asked me to bring you inside once you were ready. So in that case. Are you ready?"

You were probably never going to be ready, no matter how long you had to wait, but it didn't seem much like a choice at this point.

"If I say no do I get to go?", you ask, trying your shots, not ready for his answer, nor what was in the house.

"Either way you don't get to leave! If you willingly came in with me then that would be easy and great! But if you perhaps don't want to come willingly.." the cab driver paused, leaning closer to you. "Then that would be a different story.", he finished, pulling back, smiling as you started dragging yourself toward the house.

You walk up the porch and reach out for the door knob. You pause, realizing you didn't have your gloves on. If you turned the door knob, then the house would disappear, which could lead to three possibilities. One, it turns out for the better and it'll be easier to attack the cab driver and your uncle. Two, the house disappears but there are more people than just your uncle inside the house and you end up losing the fight. Or three, your ability just doesn't work. Weighing out the options fairly quickly, you put your hand on the doorknob.

"Shit.", you silently curse under your breath. The house didn't disappear.

"Ah well I did tell you no gifts right now! Maybe you took that in a less literal sense.", the cab driver smirked, opening the door and ushering you inside.

It was pretty dark as you walked in, there weren't any lights, and the only light that was coming through was from the dusty, Victorian style windows. You try to find an object of furniture, or something that you could test your ability on. Stretching out your hands in front of you probably wasn't for the best but you didn't really have another choice. Your hands graze something after making it about 20 steps from the door. But your feet also happened to graze something, sending you flying across the room.

"Oops I forgot that was there! Sorry about that!", the cab driver amusingly said. After a few moments the lights flickered on.  

"What the-", you almost gag at the sight. On the chair was a sagging sack filled with something that had a horrid smell. There was some liquid sagging under the bag, making a huge wet mark.

"Yeah forgot to clear out the mice, it's alright I'll do it later. Right this way!", the cab driver moved you away from the bag, not even twitching his nose at the smell.

"Why do you have dead mice in a bag?", you ask, the putrid smell still lingering in your nose.

"Well normally we put it around the house, but someone forgot to do so.", the cab driver replied with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Probably towards the person who forgot to do the seemingly insane task.

"What sane person would put dead mice around their house?", you frown, nothing seemingly adding up.

"Enough chit chatting more moving. I'm gonna get another arm cut off at this rate.", the cab driver grinned as you immediately started to go green at the thought. Did his gift mean he can regenerate?

You were led up winding staircases and long hallways that had the same disgusting smell that made you want to puke. It was like no one had ever done a harmless summer clean up in here. Or was it spring clean. Your head was swirling because of the smell. Maybe this was how they'll make it easier to attack you.

"Ah I know what your thinking but no that's not it. Remember that would cause us some headaches too.", the cab driver tutted, making you jump. Either he was like Ranpo and had amazing deduction skills, or his gift was very powerful. The fact that he also kept using plural pronouns, indicating there were multiple people, made your stomach churn.

And apparently "they" had normal senses too. At least normal enough to where they get headaches because of bad smells. If the smell wasn't to make their enemies weaker, then what was it? You're assuming they have a mafia sort of thing going on. This whole set up couldn't be for just you. No no they probably did this a lot. But that also led to another question. From what you remember about your uncle, what clues indicate that he would lead to doing something like this? Was it your father's death that led him to this? And what was making this situation even worst is that you're not even sure if it is your uncle. It could be someone with the same name! Setting that thought aside, you try and calm yourself down, staying alert on your surroundings.

The cab driver stopped at a door at the end of a hallway after another flight of stairs which left you out of breath.. He flung open the door and turned around and looked at you with a smile.

"Welcome, y/n, to your reawakened nightmare!"

a/n: ok first ok, TY U GUYS SM FOR 2K READS LIKE DANG YALL I DIDNT THINK WE'D GET HERE SO QUICKLY!! IM NOT EVEN A FEW CHAPTERS AWAY FROM FINISHING THIS BOOK!! ok and now the second thing, im sorry for the really sucky uploading times, and that the chapters im getting out are rly short. ive been trying to not burn myself out lately with school and stuff. but dont u guys worry!! school ends on the 9th, so ill be trying to make lengthy chapters. I love u all smmm, ty for all the wonderful comments!! see u next chapter!! ('▽'ʃ♡ƪ)