Expensive Mistakes

The Gospel on Giving Up

The room was very dark— almost impossible to see in.

It was small. There was one bed and no other furniture. A door loomed on the opposite wall.

A black substance dripped from the ceiling and collected in a pool in the corner of the room. There was a larger puddle everyday.

The room was familiar. Not the familiar of it seeming like somewhere else you know, the familiar of seeing it often. Familiar as one's home would be familiar. But this place certainly wasn't home. Nor was it cozy like one.

The room was very dark— not dark like the night, though it was that too, but dark like an old graveyard is dark. Dark like a demon is dark. The evil kind of dark. The kind of dark one fears they will never wake up from.

Though nothing obvious had died in the room, it stank like death. A stench so embedded within the room that years of washing would never remove it. Even when the black substance had long flooded the room, the sickening stench would remain.

Had the stench been pleasant, it may have been comforting, for it too was familiar.

More than anything, the room was claustrophobic. Not like how a box just large enough for one to fit in without room to spare would be claustrophobic, but like an unwelcoming room whose walls seem to close in on you from every angle is claustrophobic.

In fact, that is just how the room was. The walls felt as if they got closer with every minute that passed, though in actuality they didn't move because this isn't StarWars.

The door creaked open.

Light from behind it was blocked out by a tall figure standing in the doorway.

This figure was also familiar. The worst kind of familiar. Familiar the way that common horror movie tropes are familiar. The familiar of knowing the horrible events that follow.

The figure ducked as it stepped through the door, for it was taller than the door itself.

Three glowing blue eyes were all that illuminated the room after the door was closed behind the figure.

It smiled a wide, sadistic grin, revealing a maw full of razor-sharp teeth with what may have been saliva but also may have been blood dripping from them.

Long, raven hair billowed behind the figure, making their form seem later than it was.

"I've been waiting for you," the figure purred in a low, threatening tone.

The figure released long, black tendrils that searched the room.

They wrapped around their prey.

They were encompassing.

They were suffocating.

They were...

Tobias Schneien sat bolt upright in his bed.

Strands of black hair fell in front of his ice-blue eyes which were wild with fear. They dilated as he took in his surroundings, and his heart rate slowed as he realized he was in his room.

He pulled a notebook out from the crack between his bed and the wall and wrote quickly, the details of his dream still fresh in his mind.

He breathed in deeply to steady his nerves before standing from his bed and walking out of his room.

His hand grazed the wall, searching for the light switch. The lights flicked on, illuminating the living room of the small apartment.

He'd moved out of the church by the time he was eighteen and enrolled in college the year after that. He couldn't stand living in the church with his parents and twenty-three siblings. He wasn't close to many of them and only returned to the church for holidays. His brother Mattias was the only one who visited him.

Tobi was a minimalist and his apartment reflected that. It was bare with limited furniture and decorations. It was very different from the large church which was exactly what he wanted.

Though he didn't like people much, Tobi found the contact with the rest of society comforting. Now if he was closed off, it was his choice and not one of his father's rules.

His phone illuminated with a notification across the room. Tobi made his way over to it and checked the notification. It was a text from Mattias: "Will you be staying at the church for Christmas?"

"I promised I would return for holidays, so yes," Tobi replied.

"Great! See you then!"

It was December 22nd. Two days until he had to return to the place he so longed to forget.

All of the gifts were prepared.

Now to prepare to face my father, Tobi thought. He shook his head to clear it and continued to the bathroom to shower.

He undressed with his back to the mirror, not wanting to catch any glimpse of the large, cross-shaped scar that covered his back from years of punishment.

The dark room lines with crucifixes flashed across Tobi's mind, leading to darker thoughts of slaps and beatings he'd endured. Anger built up inside of him as he thought of how his father had never beaten any of his siblings that way.

You're twenty-two now, Tobi told himself. He can't do that to you anymore.

He distracted his mind with more trivial thoughts as he finished his shower. Occasionally, though, much to his dismay, his thoughts would wander back to the church and how much he would've liked to see it burn. Angrily, he yanked out a few strands of raven-black hair.

"Stop thinking about there," he growled to himself, then scoffed, "Easier said than done with Christmas Eve just two days away. What if I pretended to get sick and didn't go?"

He mused this idea over for a while, considering the pros and cons.

It seemed like a rather good idea.

Who would be able to say he wasn't really sick?

Just wait a day and then call to apologize for not being able to make it because he was ill. He could just mail the gifts.

Of course, he wouldn't be able to make a habit of getting sick on holidays, but once every few years would be alright.

What could go wrong with this plan? Nothing could go wrong with this plan.

He had a bad feeling about going to the church this Christmas anyways

A/N

Hi! Kat here! I noticed that there weren't nearly enough Ghost Eyes fanfics, so I set out to fix that using prompts my friend and I found on Pinterest. I can't promise frequent updates on this because it's difficult for me to find time to post, but I will update as much as I can. My friend and I decided that the song "Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)" by Fall Out Boy was a very fitting song for this ship, hence the title. Each chapter title is a lyric from a FOB song. This story, as you've probably noticed, is an AU in which the paranormal events that happen in the comic are just dreams of Tobias's. If for some reason you haven't read Ghost Eyes, please do! You can find it on WebToons and Tappas. It's very good.