you're my haunted house [magdan AU]

1. the casual business of unpacking.

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The smell of sea and forestry was strong and unchanging, even inside of the train.

The train itself was vacant, compared to the hours earlier. Most had left in the other stops, hurrying out with their luggage and bags, like they were trapped in the sullen train and making a run for it. Unlike all of those other passengers, however, we were certainly not in a rush. In fact, this train, this town, was almost our safe space, where we could be far away...

From him. 

Well not only him, but just all of those people in general. We were better off far away from there.

The bleak windows were fogged up, it was expected to rain later that night. I turned to my right. Emily, my sister, was there, fast asleep next to me, unaware of the change in climate. We went from unbearably hot summer days in the city to bleary dark humid forests full of pine, with an ocean nearby. Her head was leaning against the window, and I wasn't exactly in the mood to scold her for it. 

I had needed to be careful. Even though the train was mostly desolate, there were still a couple people on board. From a young age, I had always been taught to be on the lookout, and to never bring my guard down, no matter what. It was core part of me, a principal perhaps and, and it was what had been keeping me and Emily safe that entire time. Despite that, I felt myself staring off into space. I just hoped the silence would be loud enough to make all of the nervous and irrational thoughts inside my head thin out, and grant me if even just one moment of peace.

The train ran a long bumpy track before it came to a halt. It had finally made it's way to our destination. I tapped Emily's shoulder firmly, as she wouldn't wake up from a normal small tap. Her eyes cracked open slowly.

"We're here already, Magnus?" she yawned, taking grasp of the bag under the seat.

"Yep, let's get going" I replied, standing up and grabbing my own bag, cursing at myself mentally for dropping my scarf, and finally making our exit off the train and onto the platform.

We walked for 2 miles, all the way to our new home. Large white trucks passed by us in a flash, carrying tall stocky life that turned our carbon dioxide into oxygen away from their homes and into the mills. Lumbering was a bit of a thing there, along with fishing, and other nature-y stuff that I didn't understand much about.

Our new home was a small, cabin like structure, fitting for the type of environment we were in. We didn't have to pay for the house, it belonged to my grandma, who died a couple months back. I made a small mental note to visit her grave in the cemetery later, since she was so graciously giving us this house for free. I wished that she'd had actually made an effort to talk with us when she was still here, and alive.

We had set foot inside, and dropped our bags to the ground. I couldn't lie, it seemed cozy, yet I felt somewhat distant looking at all the furniture and walls, like there was something missing. That missing would be my grandma, but we were here to fill in the space. There were three bedrooms, the main two upstairs and the other one on ground level. The living room and kitchen looked slightly dated, since this was a granny house, but I was surprised to see that there wasn't a basement, I thought there would be some kind of creepy element to this house.

Emily and I took the upstairs bedrooms, she got the smaller purple one and I got the beige colored one. I was so gonna paint it black. In the meantime, I went over to Emily's room. "Do you like it?" I asked, casually taking a seat on the bed. 

"Yeah, It's not as bad as I though! But uh, you might wanna not sit on that. I think there's spiders or mites on there." she replied, looking slightly horrified at what I was doing. 

As soon as she said that, I sprang right up and brushed off my pants. 

"Whoops. I didn't think of that. We should do laundry then, huh?" I said embarrassed, hurriedly taking off the covers from her bed. 

"Mmm, that would be a good idea." she replied.

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We soon put all the covers and sheets back onto the beds. We took a small break after that, knowing that we would have to unpack and clean all the other stuff upstairs. I needed to start looking for jobs around here, even though we had the house, we needed to pay for food and other necessities. I didn't even wanna think about school honestly, I could already imagine how it was gonna go. Being an outcast was actually pretty tough work, and I didn't think this small town was the most welcoming to guys like me. I just hoped that everything would work out.

After our small break, we went straight to work on unpacking and cleaning. It was tiring, even for me, and especially for Emily. We ate delivery pizza that night, which this town was also apparently known for, albeit quite discreetly, based on some discussion on a random blog I had read weeks earlier. We made sure to leave some pizza leftover for the next day, and called it a night. I debated going into her room and sleeping with her, just in case. I knew that in theory, this place, this home,  was safer than where we were before, but it didn't take away how creepy it was. I wasn't even sure how my grandma had lived here, all alone. I let my mind ruminate, my insomnia at it's peak. Suddenly, I saw a faint light turn on outside from my window in the corner of my eye, and a situation arise that would change everything, forever, and ever.

I could barely see him in the dim light.

He was sitting there, on the patchy old grass.

In front of our new home. 

Brown hair, with red streak on his right, blade in hand. Lamp next to him. 

Tears streaming down. 

As if the gods knew that this was a truly tragic moment, they unleashed a ravel of rain, freeing the clouds of the water they had been holding onto.

This was a dire situation.

I had to help him. 

Now.

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a/n: hahah that's a wrap for now! i hope you enjoyed the first episode, because it only get's better (or worse) from here ;) i've never written anything like this, so i hope it's not too bad :] i wrote 1000+ on this one, which will be the average length of each chapter. let me know your thoughts! have a good day ^_^ 

-xoxo, cleo <3