Nothing But Bones

15: Bones and Rot

Elton rushes after her with Dingus at his side. Tiff's leap into action takes them into the large family room off the kitchen. Memory floods Elton in the light peeking through the boards; he remembers his brother and his friends leaving him here when he was much younger. Just a kid, really— maybe twelve, maybe younger. Their laughter haunts this house; he can remember the way it sounded when they got in the car and drove away, when he chased them down the driveway with tears streaming down his face.

They had only intended for it to be a harmless prank and came back to get him almost immediately after driving out of sight, but the fear of hearing the car drive away as he stands in this large room, like he's all alone again strikes him. He isn't that kid anymore, and he isn't alone, but there it is: the same old fear. His brother was mortified by how terrified Elton was and tried to make it up to him after-the-fact. He had long forgiven Paul, but he may have milked it a time or two.

Honestly, that made the two of them much closer than they probably ever would have been otherwise. His brother is his best friend now. Elton wouldn't have it any other way. (Well, he wishes his brother would let him come live in Vancouver with him, but he understands.)

The family room is largely unchanged from when Elton stood in it all those years ago. All manner of old furniture has been piled into this room, covered by large, dusty white sheets like the ghosts of moving in and moving out. The one thing that Elton can tell is different is the fact all the windows have been boarded up. In fact, now that he has a much better look at them as he follows Tiff to the entryway of the family room, he can see the boards are quite new. It's a great indication that someone has been here recently.

With zero hesitation, Tiff snaps her fingers as a signal for Kepler to follow her and scales the stairs two at a time. The beam of her flashlight marks her path, winding up curved steps to the second floor, lime UFO under-beams on dark steps and exposed railings.

Elton flags behind just a touch in the time allotted for taking notice of the new boards on the windows; he only started moving faster when he heard Tiff's feet scampering up the steps. Soon enough, he can see Kepler's long rat tail turn the corner onto a landing and up to the next floor. The crash comes again, but he thinks it's only louder now because both of them are on the same floor.

"Hey, slow down!" he hisses. "We don't want to rush into... whatever that is." Was that louder than intended?

Hand on the door the noise seems to be coming from, she glances at him over her shoulder, eyebrows raised. "That's the only way! This isn't a horror movie, Ellie, it's real life."

"I know! Exactly," He hisses at her as quietly as he could with her still able to hear.

"Then there's no reason to hesitate. It doesn't care about cinema."

"Just.. I don't know. My experiences in this sort of realm are looking for ghosts in old graveyards, a few EVPs, and this ding dong."

Dingus looks up to Elton and wags his tail.

She palms the door impatiently. "You're going to get more whether you like it or not."

"Fuck it. Open the door."

She didn't even need the go-ahead. She does it anyway.

The creaking door opens like a can of worms to a foul stench that makes Elton's face twist in disgust and Tiff's frown in familiarity. They know what it is in the same way most people do— instinct and experience. Death. Decay.

The source is obvious. There's a corpse standing in the middle of the room. A man's corpse. The flesh that's left on the bones is rotting and has dirt clinging to it, decomposition-green, putrid, and writhing with ripe white maggots, like the zombie has been freshly exhumed. Elton can't quite place the age of the man, but he can clearly see that he's dead.