Two hours have passed, and Gon was almost at the mountains peak. He was only a few steps away, and surprisingly— he still had a lot of energy left. It must have been the rush of adrenaline bundled up by his excitement.
"Here we are! Uhm... I think."
He took a quick look around, and the place looked absolutely nothing like the pictures. Matter of fact, he couldn't even see a single ruin in sight. He began to worry, did he come all this way for nothing? What a waste of fifty bucks. "Did that barista lie to me? No... he couldn't have." Gon sighed. Even if he couldn't spot any trace of old structure, he started exploring forward— deeper into the woods.
He was taken back by the calm atmosphere of the forest, he expected something a tad more... eerie.
Taking out his flashlight, he shined the device onto the path. It was still early in the afternoon, but he could barely see anything. Right... he must've forgot that there would be such thick fog in areas like this. He mumbled curses whilst he walked among the dead trees, trying to navigate his way through the mist. "I should've brought a better flashlight..."
He wandered around the mountain for a good thirty minutes before leaning onto a tree to rest. He wasn't able to find anything, did he go the wrong way? Or was the Zoldyck estate just not at the mountain peak at all?
He scoffed and took a sip from his water jug. The wind brushed against his skin, causing him to shiver. "Theres the eerie feeling I was looking for." He chuckled sarcastically. Storing the water jug in his coat, he set off to continue the search.
He was going further and further into the forest, so far to the point where people would wonder if they could ever make it back. The fog was clearing up along the way, which had him get his hopes up. But the universe definitely wasn't in his favor just how it was in the morning, because another large blob of fog covered the mountain once again.
"Goddamit... stupid advection."
Gon grumbled, rolling his eyes. He thought things couldn't get worse, but the flashlight in his hands started to flicker.
"Huh— shit! Not now!"
He smacked the flashlight to get it working properly, but to his dismay— the flashlight stopped working completely, and with that he was left with nothing but a horrible fog clogging his point of view.
"Fuck."
Great, now he couldn't see up far. What a lucky day, hm?
He aggressively shoved the flashlight in another pocket of his coat and continued walking, at least he could see whats in front of him. Not so far, yeah, but it's something...
Along the way, the wind became harsher, and Gon was beginning to lose hope. "Maybe I should go back... this was a waste of time." He mumbled, looking back at the path he took. He was about to turn around, but before he could do so— a huge gust of wind flew past him, nearly causing him to lose balance. "Jesus Christ! The weather up here is wild..."
He fixed himself up and lifted his head, picking a leaf out of his hair. When his vision finally recovered from the strong breeze, he immediately saw something that made his jaw drop.
"Holy cow... is that—?"
Yup, he was looking straight up at the Zoldyck Residence. He's been wandering around the estate all along. Though, there was one thing that made Gon doubt whether what he was seeing was real or not, the house... wasn't in ruin. It looked perfectly intact, as if someone has been living there. He blinked, "It's in such good shape for a house that was abandoned sixty three years ago..."
Gon gulped as he took a few steps forward, this didn't feel right... but despite the circumstances he still entered the place. A detective has to do what they have to do in order to fulfill their case, you know?
Now he was in the main hall, and the interior was absolutely beautiful. The roof was painted with ceiling murals, along with a long, glimmering chandelier hanging from the middle. There were spiral staircases on both his left and right, leading to the second floor. And what caught Gon off guard the most, was that the lights were all... on.
"Someone was definitely here, no doubt about it." He whispered to himself, clutching his briefcase tightly. He reached a hand into his pocket and took out the photos. He held one right in front of his face, glancing from the main hall in the photograph, to the one he was standing in— basically comparing them.
They were exactly the same, no difference whatsoever. "Odd... did I drink today?" He scoffed, lowering the photo from his view.
Hesitating, he approached the staircase on the right. He placed his hand on the railing and wiped it gently, no dust. He then approached the left, still the same result. "Man thats creepy."
Nobody moved into the house after it was abandoned, according to the files everyone was afraid of it. He contemplated the fact for some time before leaving it be, he had no time to ask himself questions no one could possibly answer. Sucking up his gut, he started to go up the stair case. Each step upward made him feel more and more regretful of that decision.
Finally, he was on the second floor. Looking around, he noticed three hallways. One large hallway upfront, which probably led to a dining area— or maybe some other large room like a personal library. Another was on the left, it wasn't as wide as the first, and its range was quite short. The walls on that hallway were full of windows, each in perfect shape. The last was on the right, it was the same as the other. Based on appearance, Gon went for the large hallway. "The bigger the better, they say..." He mumbled.
As he was walking through the hallway, he observed its appearance. It had paintings on the walls, and a small amount of bookshelves. There were couches right under windows, and the place was overall pretty dim compared to the main hall.
Then he noticed one huge painting residing on the wall. It was a painting of... the Zoldyck family, thats what he assumed.
"Damn... these people are pretty good looking."
He observed the painting even closer. He counted six people, and most of them had black hair. There were only two who had white, but the boy standing on the nearest right of what seemed to be his mother— interested Gon the most.
He was... beautiful. His blue eyes had more life than any of the rest, and Gon felt like they were staring right at him. Aside from that, he was the only one in the painting smiling, seems like he was the most cunning in the family. The more Gon stared, the more lovesick he felt. "Alright I should... get going." He coughed, looking away.
"But before I do so, I might as well take a picture of this thing as some lead for the case..." He sighed, taking out a camera from his briefcase. He took a few steps back and aimed the camera at the painting, snapping the photo.
"There we go... ah—"
He looked down at his camera, but what he saw on that screen wasn't what he saw in front of him. The painting in the picture was ripped and tattered, as if someone dug their hands into it. Not only that, but the wall the painting was on was in ruin. It looked like the painting was just hung on a large rock in the middle of the forrest.
"What have I got myself into..." Gon whispered, cracking the most uncomfortable smile ever. He picked up his briefcase and ran, yeah— he ran. Where? Forward. No he didn't go back, he went forward. He realized the further he went, the less lights there were. But he immediately stopped once he noticed a small source of light peeping out from the corner.
It looked like the light that would come from a small candle, lit by a singular match. He gulped, shaking as he pulled out his gun. Then, he slowly approached the light source, and when he turned the corner— he pointed the gun at... nothing. There was nothing there.
He let out a relieved sigh and put the gun down. But right when he thought it was safe, the light from the candle grew brighter and brighter, to the point where he became blinded— and the light sucked him in whole.
. . .
He awoke to the sound of whispering and galloping, he sat up and realized there was a small crowd of people surrounding him, all of them lathered with concern. One of the people lended Gon their hand, offering to help him up.
"Are you alright Sir?"
"Uhm... yeah, I am..."
"Phew, me and my folks thought you were a goner!"
"Aha... uh, sorry to ask but whats up with the costume? This isn't the 20s."
Gon laughed, taking the strangers hand and finally getting up from the floor. "Are you all dressing up...?" He asked, patting the dust off his coat. "...Sir, its 1924."
"What."
(1560 Words)
A/N: Why did it take me so long to finish this chapter... my mind kelt going blank after like every two paragraphs omg.
أنت تقرأ
Past is Perfect
عشوائيGon Freecss... People called him crazy for trying to solve a case that had been left unsolved since 1927. He was a professional detective that dedicated his life to his work, he was a workaholic to say the least. He always made sure his calculations...
