Henry Townshend is a ghost magnet (room_302) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-08 19:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, chloe saunders, henry townshend |
Who: Team Monster Movie (Henry and Chloe)
What: A little trip to the Otherworld via a certain Hole in Henry's bathroom
When: Earlier this evening
Where: Henry's Apartment - The Otherworld
Rating/Warnings Somewhat low - nightmare landscape and ghosts
Status: Complete!
Going through the Hole a second time was not the best idea Henry had ever had in his life. If Revy knew what he was planning on doing, she probably would have blown a gasket, threatened him bodily harm and/or tied him up to keep an eye on him.
The more Henry thought about it, though, the more it became clear to him that he needed to go through the Hole again. Sharon’s prophecy had greatly disturbed him. He needed to find out more about the Receiver of Wisdom and what that meant for him. His Dreams weren’t providing him with any answers. He had been receiving some clues in the form of notes scrawled on red bits of paper shoved under his apartment door. Someone was aware that he was in there, but every time he looked through the door’s peephole, he saw nothing and no one. Just Eileen, his neighbor. Occasionally she went by sweeping the hallway. Sometimes, however, she was just standing there staring at his door curiously. Henry pounded on the door and shouted to her, but she never did seem to hear him.
The red notes he received were informative, but they never mentioned the Receiver of Wisdom. Henry felt his only hope of finding anything out was to go through the Hole here. It had been put there for a reason, hadn’t it? Henry had to hope that that reason was something other than releasing terror into this world.
Chloe said she would go with him and Henry was eternally grateful for that. He had gotten used to going through his Dreams alone, but that did not mean he particularly wanted to do this on his own. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. But Chloe was tough. She had to have been to survive her own dreams. So he armed her with the ax the Dreams had gifted him and himself with the gun. Then hand-in-hand they ventured through the Hole in his bathroom.
There was a stark difference between her dreams and Henry’s dreams. Hers weren’t that bad, but she knew it would probably be coming in her own. But the focus was Henry’s dreams and she had to make sure that he was alright and wasn’t going alone into that creepy Hole in his bathroom. It wasn’t normal for her to be handling an ax, but she was willing to put aside her lack of fighting ability and try to help Henry. It had taken a bit of convincing and by that she meant that she kept him in the bedroom for a bit longer and made him promise to buy her ice cream afterwards. She was pretty easy to convince when it came to Henry and she just really hoped that things would turn out alright and there would be no visits to the ER after this.
Hand squeezed his as they stepped through and she held her breath not knowing what to expect. His dreamscape was much more horror movie fodder than hers was and she was honestly a little frightened to see what they ran into. Ghosts weren’t normal to her just yet and she would probably do a lot of jumping as they wandered around, but she hoped that he wouldn’t judge her for that. Now the main importance was making sure they stayed alive and didn’t get hurt. She would do anything to keep Henry alive.
Henry held onto Chloe’s hand as they crawled through the Hole. It was actually more of a tunnel than it was an actual hole. The tunnel twisted and turned until finally the two of them reached the end. Rather than crawling out of the hole, however, they just...appeared laying down on what appeared to be a rooftop. The sky above them was pitch black. There weren’t even stars out. The air felt chilled, but not necessarily cold, and stagnant. There was no movement whatsoever. Despite how still the air was around them, there was noise. The best way Henry had thought to describe it the first time he heard it was barking, but by a monkey instead of a dog.
Henry pushed himself up and quickly helped Chloe to her feet as well. “We need to move,” he said, looking around carefully, hoping the source of the noise wasn’t too close to them.
It was a little unnerving to just appear on a rooftop. It was probably a good thing that they were laying down and Chloe couldn’t immediately see how high they up - it would most likely lead to vertigo. A shiver from the air ran down her spine and she was turning her head around to try and see what was going on around them, but then there was that awful barking noise. Her forehead scrunched as she tried to figure out what it was before Henry got to his feet.
She followed suit when she heard that sense of urgency in his voice and once up she dusted herself off. “What is that?” It wasn’t a good thing when he was speaking like that and she could sense that whatever the noise source was it wasn’t something friendly.
“They’re called gum-heads,” Henry answered. He had Chloe’s hand again and he was leading her away from the screeching and barking. “They’re the monsters of this world. When one is about there are usually more.” And he would rather avoid having to fight any if he could help it. They weren’t especially tough, but damn, their bites hurt like hell. He kept hold of Chloe’s hand tightly in his left, and drew his gun from the holster with his right.
The two of them had appeared on the roof of what Henry recognized as the Hotel South Ashfield. The back of the hotel’s large neon red sign could be seen at the far edge of the roof. This was the same place Henry had found himself when he’d come here in his Dreams for the first time. He looked up wearily, half expecting to see Richard Braintree tumble off the roof of the building next to them and was relieved when nothing happened.
Henry glanced around to get his bearings. With all the nearby buildings practically butted up against each other with surface streets reduced to nothing more than claustrophobic alleyways, it was easy to get turned around and lost here. Henry had spent an entire Dream aimlessly wandering around trying to figure out where the hell he was supposed to go all the while getting randomly attacked by gum-heads who delighted in biting his arms and stealing the melee weapon he was wielding at the time. It had been a delightful experience.
“The shopping district is this way,” he said as he made his way towards a door at the far end of the roof. “We’ll start there.”
“Gum-heads,” the word tasted odd in her mouth and she didn’t even want to try and picture something in her head because she had nothing to go off of, but it wouldn’t be pleasant. Were they human? Or some kind of creature? It reminded her of a monkey with that awful screeching and the fact that these things travelled in packs was not good. They needed to keep away from them as long as possible because Henry’s expression meant they were serious business.
Hand squeezed Henry’s lightly as they continued to walk. Her eyes were taking in the desolate landscape and she couldn’t help but feel like she was on some kind of movie set. This wasn’t truly real to her and she knew that was because it was part of a dreamscape, but it was still unnerving. She was expecting things to come jumping out at them and potentially start this fight that she was scared of. Derek would probably pitch a fit if he saw her carrying around an axe and itching to hurt anyone that tried to hurt herself or Henry.
“Whatever you say,” the agreement to go where he wanted was easy. He knew where they were going and she was just along for the ride, “Okay, so tell me again what we’re hoping to accomplish while we’re in here.” Her voice was low as if something would happen if she spoke too loudly and interrupted this world.
“I’m hoping to find out more about this 21 Sacraments thing Sharon the Ghost was talking about,” Henry said. “Not to mention what I’m supposed to do as the Receiver of Wisdom and if I can avoid… you know...dying.” He hadn’t talked very much with Chloe about it, but Henry had known someone who had actually woken up from her Dreams dead. Had it not been for the quick actions of her then-fiance and their friend, she may have stayed that way. Henry had only heard about that one case, but the possibility that the Dreams could potentially kill a Dreamer was still there and it was scary to even think about, much less discuss.
“I’d also like to know what the purpose is behind these dreams,” he went on as the two of them made their way to what appeared to be ground level. “They don’t make any sense and I’ve always felt as though I was being...guided towards something. I want to know what that is. What purpose I’m serving.”
That all made sense. Coming into the Hole would allow him to go into his Dreamscape without actually closing his eyes. There could be things going on in here that he wouldn’t be able to witness from his dreams. “Not dying is very key,” Chloe pointed out, cutting her eyes to him in a mock glare, and smirked. She would do anything to make sure that Henry didn’t die - granted she would still be able to interact with him as a ghost, but alive was preferable. The fact that people could die from the Dreams wasn’t known to her yet and it was probably wise to not let her know about that.
“Okay, so we’re on a fact finding type mission. Let’s stay safe while we’re here. If I react to anything that you can’t see please let me know. It could be a ghost and I want to make sure of that before I actually start trying to talk to it or anything else like that,” Chloe needed Henry to guide her while here because this was the first time that she was going to attempt to go somewhere unknown and actively use her powers. It was going to be a learning experience for both of them.
“I’ll see it if it’s a ghost,” Henry said. He’d seen Sharon when she had made her little visit to his apartment and he had a sneaking suspicions that even if she hadn’t been summoned out of his Dreams, he would have still seen her. He couldn’t talk to ghosts the way Chloe could. He couldn’t summon them to him, either, or send them on their way or banish them. All he seemed good for in that regard was act as ghost bait, as they seemed to delight in sticking their hands into his torso and make him feel lethargic and sick to his stomach.
So far, as they made their way down from the hotel roof, however, they seemed to be ghost free, at least for the moment. “I don’t think there are any ghosts in this area,” Henry said. “I don’t remember seeing anything other than the gum-heads here. There will be ghosts in the shopping district.” A lot of them, in fact. One had even chased Henry up a fire-escape that seemed to go on forever. He paused and looked at Chloe. “Promise me that if it gets to be too much, you’ll tell me and I’ll find us an exit hole back.”
The inside of the hotel didn’t really look much like a hotel. It didn’t look anything like a hotel, actually. It was as grimey and spartan looking as the outside. A few walls were made of wire mesh instead of wood or drywall. The walls that were solid looked old and ill cared for, the paint having faded and taken on a rusty brown color. The floor was completely bare. There were no doors indicating guest rooms, either. One got the idea that this was simply a way to get from the roof to other parts of the world. Henry was leading them to what appeared to be a freight elevator.
“Oh shit, you’re totally right. I’m sorry!” Chloe couldn’t help but blush. She had been having repeat dreams where only she could see the ghosts and apparently her brain had decided to forget that her boyfriend could see ghosts as well, “Okay, then if I’m talking to someone and you’re not hearing a reply then let me know.” At least that part was easy to figure out. She was trying to get used to people being able to handle what she can see, but not able to do much about it aside from offering her potential advice. She hadn’t truly interacted with anyone else that could banish and summon like she could.
“I promise,” Being in a situation with an over-abundance of ghosts was going to be draining to her and she wasn’t sure how well she could handle it. Everything had just been a singular ghost, so it would be a learning experience. She wasn’t stupid enough to think she could handle it and not give herself an out. Henry was a sweet boy and she knew that he would do anything in his power to protect her and the same went for her in regards to him. He had her back and she wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize themselves.
The “hotel” was fairly barren and Chloe realized that it truly felt like something straight out of a horror movie. There was nothing here and that made it so easy for someone to come after there. Nowhere to run and nothing to use for a weapon - they would be easy pickings in this situation. When she realized that they were heading towards an elevator she couldn’t help but frown, “We’re going to die in that elevator, ya know. This feels like a C-list SyFy horror movie right now.”
It was a little weird for Henry, walking around in the Other World while wide-awake. He could make the decisions and observations his Dream Self wouldn’t, or couldn’t. He also didn’t feel quite as trapt either knowing that when he went back to his apartment, he could leave whenever he wanted to.
“I know how it looks,” Henry said as they reached the elevator and he pulled up the door. “But it’s actually pretty sturdy” And to be honest, it did look like it was something taken directly out of a Saw movie. The car was really nothing more than a moving platform enclosed by wire mesh on all sides. There was not much to see outside the mesh, however. Just darkness and more metal wire mesh on all sides like some kind of strange maze. “And...unfortunately, there isn’t another way down from up here.”
The moment he said it was actually pretty sturdy she shot him a skeptical look. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe him it was more so that she didn’t believe it could be anything other than a death trap. But she had to get over those nerves, there was no room for anything like that, so with a deep breath she followed Henry onto the elevator, “How you can handle this as your dream I have no idea. You’ve gained a lot of respect from me because this much is already creeping me out.”
Was it weird to want to kiss your boyfriend in a horror movie? Because she felt bad for all the bullshit he had to go through with these dreams. Her hand slipped into his, squeezing it, and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. First rule of horror movies was not to get frisky or else you would probably die.
Henry raised his brows at her. This coming from a person who dreamed about a corrupt twisted organization out to kill her kind and with people attempting to stab her in the back every time she turned around. At least the creatures in Henry’s Dreams were forthcoming about what they wanted to do. The monsters looked like monsters and their intentions, for the most part, were clear. It just went to show that horror came in many forms.
As the two of them rode down the elevator, past caged rooms and floors, it occurred to Henry that this was starting to seem normal for him. He hadn’t really thought about how creepy or horrifying it may have seemed to Chloe once she saw it for herself. Yes, he had expected her to be creeped, but he hadn’t realized just how creepy this place was. He had been freaked out when he’d first started dreaming, and the continued deaths bothered him considerably. But roaming around in these lonely rundown places all by himself? It didn’t seem to bother him anymore. He wondered if he should be worried about that.
He felt Chloe squeeze his hand and turned his head just as she kissed his cheek. The gestures made him feel a little better about the entire situation. This was his life, for better or for worse, and he was being proactive about it for a change. He wasn’t going to be the guy just wandering aimlessly from one world to the next as though being lead around by the nose. “Thanks for coming with me,” Henry smiled at Chloe.
The elevator came to a stop at the ground floor, or what Henry had always assumed to be the ground floor. It was hard to tell when the elevator didn’t exactly stop anywhere else. The two of them emerged in what appeared to be a narrow alley. They had only gone a few steps with a deep unearthly moaning could be heard coming around the elevator towards them.
A nod was given when he gave her his thanks. She wasn’t going to leave him alone, so she didn’t really think she needed to thanked for what was happening. There wasn’t much else to talk about as they came to a stop and Chloe was doing her best to keep her eyes and ears open to potential threats that could be roaming around the area. The narrow alley was a little discerning and it only became worse when she heard that moaning. Her lips turned into a thin line and pressed together tightly as she grabbed Henry’s hand a little tighter and tugged him along.
Running wasn’t out of the question just yet, but she didn’t want to tempt fate by trying to run away from something. They moved a little faster than just a lesiurely stroll and suddenly came out upon a shopping district. Henry had mentioned it to her, but Chloe hadn’t been prepared for the ghost town that greeted them and she drew in a sharp breath of surprise. And then a ghost manifest out of the wall and despite seeing them in her dreams it still took her by surprise.
“FUCK,” she yelled aloud as she tugged on Henry’s arm as she tried to move away from the ghost. At last she hoped it was a ghost because she didn’t want to know what weird things could come out of a wall.
The deserted state of the shopping district was normal, at least for Henry. He would have been bothered if they had come upon it and found it bustling with people. That would have been strange. Again, he hadn’t really taken into account how it would affect Chloe, so when she sucked in that sharp breath, he looked back at her quickly, brows furrowed together.
He became aware of the ghost coming out of the wall behind him just as Chloe yelled and pulled on his arm. Henry staggered along with her, casting a glance backwards to see a figure literally push itself from the structure as though it were giving birth to the apparition. Henry recognized the ghost. Well, sort of recognized it. He didn’t know the ghost’s name or why it was a ghost and lurking around the place, but he had seen it before in his Dreams as he had wandered aimlessly around the Building World, lost and confused.
The ghost was male. Nearly all the ghosts in his Dreams were male. It was dressed in tattered clothing, stained in large patchy areas with some kind of dark substance Henry had always assumed to be blood. After it came through the wall, it hovered a good foot above the ground, head bent as though it were either asleep, or hefting some kind of great weight on fatigued shoulders. It didn’t do anything for a moment except hover in place. Then, either due to Chloe’s powers or Henry’s presence, it became aware of the two of them, even as they tried to go back the way they had come.
The ghost’s head lolled around unnaturally on it’s neck, as though it weighed too much. It lolled to one side and then the other, before tilting towards them. The rest of its body soon followed suit as the ghost started to drift its way towards them, slowly at first, and moaning an otherworldly and disembodied moan.
It was that moan Henry hated the most. It sounded both haunting and hungry at once, as if the ghost was hurting. He could feel it just as well as hear it. “Jesus,” Henry swore under his breath. He had put himself between Chloe and the ghost on instinct, despite knowing full well Chloe was a necromancer and dealing with ghosts was what she did. “Back this way…” he said, herding Chloe back down the alley away from the shopping district.
Some day it would probably become common place for Chloe to encounter a ghost of any kind, but this was only the second time in this life that she had encountered one, so she was only slightly ashamed of her reaction. It had been a bit of overkill, but this was an unknown area with an unknown presence. At least Henry didn’t think she was too out there for doing that because he seemed to try to and put himself between her and the ghost, but she was side-stepping him just a little to really get a look at the ghost.
A head shake was the response to his comment about going back the other way. There was something about the ghost that was fascinating her. He seemed in pain and that damn moaning didn’t happen in her own dreams. He was unnatural looking and a lot more creepy than anything she had seen aside from the zombies that she had raised. The last ghost from Henry’s dreams had given them some information, so she decided to try again. “Who are you?” her voice was strong despite how she actually felt and she reached out to grab Henry’s hand.
The ghost didn’t respond to Chloe at first. It continued coming towards them. Its arms hanging limply from its shoulders. It didn’t seem to hear Chloe as it came towards them. Slowly at first and then as it got closer it became faster, reaching out towards Henry before stopping. It kept its arm out stretched, but didn’t move forward. It raised its head slowly to look slightly in Chloe’s direction as though it hadn’t expected to be spoken to, much less understand the words being said.
The ghost looked at Chloe carefully. It’s eyes were pupiless orbs and it was unclear if it could even see. Its face was twisted in a permanent grimace and its head tilted from one side to the other. ”Jimmy.” The voice clearly belonged to the ghost, although its mouth did not move and the voice seemed to come from all around them instead of a single source.
Henry heard nothing. The silence was worse for him than the moaning itself. He glanced apprehensively between Chloe and the ghost. He wasn’t sure if the ghost had answered her, but it had stopped moving towards them. That was new. The ghosts had never stopped pursuing him before. Chloe had gotten it to stop. That in itself was amazing. He wanted to ask her what the ghost was saying, what it wanted, but he didn’t dare interrupt.
Translating was something Chloe knew she would have to do, but her attention was focused on this creepy dead man in front of her. It was just so odd to actually be interacting with a ghost that wasn’t from her Dreams. Something about Henry’s ghosts were way worse - probably because they looked far more gruesome up close. It was also incredibly hard to read the situation since the ghost’s appearance didn’t really seem to change nor be more alive. The permanent neck tilt was giving her a phantom pain in her neck.
“Hello there, Jimmy. Can I ask you why you’re following us?” maybe being polite would work out for them, Chloe was a little skeptical, but might as well start out that way first then get angry. Although she wasn’t quite sure if the ghosts in Henry’s world were a little more corporeal than hers because that meant they could be in real danger of getting hurt if they did upset this ghost. But right in this moment Chloe wanted answers and she glanced over at Henry to see if the name rang any bells.
Henry shook his head slowly. He didn’t know any Jimmy’s. At least not in the Dream World. So far there had been a Cynthia, a Jasper, an Andrew and a Richard...no Jimmy. Henry frowned a little and looked at the ghost. There had to be a reason why he was here. There had to be a reason why all of them: Henry, Cynthia, Jasper, Andrew and Richard, had been falling through worlds. Were they all going to end up like poor Jimmy here? Doomed to haunt this nightmarish landscape?
Jimmy was still looking at Chloe with his dead orb-like eyes, as if he didn’t quite know what to make of her. In response to her question, he tilted his head towards Henry. The hand of his still outstretched hand pointed at the still living man.
Henry frowned. That wasn’t much of an answer, but at least it was an answer even he could understand. “Were you murdered, Jimmy?” He asked. “Do you want me - us - to do something about it?”
”Walter,” came the response, a breeze like whisper to Chloe’s ears, ”Sullivan.”
The whisper of an answer sent a shot of ice down Chloe’s spine and she couldn’t help but shiver. It was incredibly creepy. Once her wits came back she turned towards Henry, “Walter Sullivan. Do you know that name? I’m thinking that’s who killed him.” She glanced back over at Jimmy in front of her and frowned. There was a part of her that wanted to send him on and release him from this situation, but she had no idea if it was possible in Henry’s dream world.
Would it cause something to happen? Would the release of one spirit cause some sort of chain reaction that would end badly for Henry? It wasn’t something that she was willing to risk right now, but she wanted to make sure to tell Henry about the possibility after they left. If things turned out alright she could come back and make things different inside of here. However, speaking about it with a ghost nearby wasn’t wise since she was afraid every ghost in this world would want the same thing.
“Walter,” Henry repeated. His brows knitted together tightly. “That’s what Andrew DeSalvo called that little kid in the Water Prison.” He said thoughtfully, “The same little kid I saw in the Forest World and here in the Building World.” He looked up at Jimmy Ghost critically then to Chloe said. “I met a little kid called Walter in the different worlds. I talked to him once. There’s no way he killed anyone. He was looking for his mother.”
Still, now that Henry was thinking about it, the little boy - Walter - had been the only other person he had meet in the Other Worlds who hadn’t met some kind of grisly end. On the one hand, Henry had been grateful for that. Walter was just a little kid an and as grisly as all the deaths had been, they would have been so much more so if the victim had been a small boy.
He hadn’t been the only other person Henry had come across in these worlds. Henry sucked in a breath. There had also been that man with the gun. The one who had chased him around the outside of the Water Prison. The one Henry had assumed had been responsible for locking up Andrew DeSalvo. The one who had carried off the Little Boy Walter.
“I don’t understand,” Henry shook his head, “If the little boy is Walter, who’s the man I keep seeing?”
None of this made much sense since it wasn’t her own dreams that she was living. Henry had so much going on that it was hard to keep track of it all. Watching him trying to figure this out was hard and she wished that she had all the answers for him, but none of the pieces were coming together and she stood there quietly watching him. A small frown appeared when the little boy named Walter was mentioned and the mention of a creepy man and how they couldn’t be the same, “Are you sure they’re not the same? The boy could just be a figment of some kind of time flashing backward? I’ve seen things like that with ghosts before.”
If the boy was named Walter and the killer was named Walter Chloe was not going to rule out that they weren’t the same person. Maybe Henry was travelling back in time and didn’t know it. That would be the only explanation if the two of them could exist.
Henry frowned thoughtfully. “It’s possible,” he agreed after some thought. “That makes about as much sense as anything else that goes on.” He felt a bit better having a name to go with instead of some mysterious nameless entity. Giving it a name made it real. Besides, when it came to ghosts, Chloe was the expert. Henry smiled at his girlfriend, “Actually that’s the first thing that has made any kind of sense since these Dreams started.”
Jimmy was still watching them, his attention still more focused on Chloe than Henry, although his arm still remained outstretched and pointing in Henry’s direction. It almost appeared as though the arm was immune to fatigue or the effects of gravity. He also seemed to be hovering a little closer to Chloe now as well. He wasn’t coming at her the way he had come after them before. Rather he seemed to be almost drifting towards her, as if her presence had some kind of physical pull on him.
Henry wasn’t sure how much he liked that. Jimmy wasn’t a threat at the moment, but that could change at any given time. Henry pulled Chloe a little closer to him. “Maybe we should keep going,” he suggested, eyeing Jimmy wearily.
Jimmy was coming towards her, ever so slowly, but it was enough that both she and Henry seemed to notice. It was a little unnerving to have that kind of draw for ghosts, but it was something she had to deal with. It must be part of the supercharging that the Edison group did to her. Something about her was just going to become a beacon to the ghosts - it was almost like being back in the basement as a child in her dreams. All the ghosts came out to play and didn’t want to let her go.
“I think that would be a good idea,” she wasn’t sure what else to do with Jimmy so she just turned away from him, holding onto Henry’s hand, and started to walk with a purpose. They needed to get away from him before he potentially became violent and followed them. She wasn’t sure what his temperament was when he was alive, but they needed to test anything, “Where are we going now?”
Henry skirted them around Floating Jimmy and started towards the shopping district. He cast a weary look over his shoulder. Jimmy was still hovering where they left him. His arm had lowered to his side finally and even though his body hadn’t turned, his head was lolled to the side to watch them as they left. It was fucking creepy as shit and Henry did not like the feeling he was getting from the deceased man. Clearly death had claimed a lot of Jimmy’s cognisance, but apparently there was still enough reason within him to realize that there was something special about both Chloe and Henry.
They could leave him for now, but Henry had a feeling Jimmy would appear again. He always did. Henry suppressed a shudder and held on to Chloe’s hand just a little tighter. “There are a bunch of shops up here,” he said. “And a bar. I think the bar has an exit hole. We should probably make sure we know where that is before we venture too much further.”
It was completely unnerving to watch him just float there. She half expected him to come chasing after them because that’s what ghosts tended to do that in her dreams. Just seeing him there sent a shiver down her spine and she turned her head forward to try and focus on getting out of here and not on stupid Jimmy. When Henry explained that they were near an exit hole she felt a little more reassured that they could make it out of here without much incident, “Oh perfect. I love that the bar has an exit hole. Is the alcohol safe to drink or not?”
“I...actually never tried to drink the alcohol,” Henry said realizing that he hadn’t even thought about testing the bar’s booze until that very moment. “I don’t think I trust it, though. I don’t trust anything in this place.”
Henry navigated them through the shops and to the bar. Unlik the hotel, which had been straight out of a surrealist horror movie, the shops themselves seemed to be in better condition. They at least looked like shops. They were a little rundown, but more because they appeared to be abandoned than any kind of supernatural influence. The weirdest thing about them was that to get to one shop, you had to go through another rather than just walk the street outside. The sporting goods shop they came to first had sporting equipment on it’s shelves, and oddly enough all over it’s floors, as if someone had gone through the aisle with their arms spread open and had knocked everything off.
The pet store they entered next, had all manner of pet supplies and several empty cages where pets at one point or another had been kept on display. Henry had thought out of all the abandoned stores, the bar, even the hotel, the pet store void of any actual pets had been the creepiest. He held on to Chloe just a little bit tighter as they made their way through the shop to the back exit. Beyond the exit was a small alley and then the bar.
They had just about reached the exit when a second ghost appeared. Jimmy’s ghost had come out of the wall, but this ghost seemingly had come out of nowhere. It’s moans were deeper, angrier, almost as if it were yelling. It came straight for the pair much more quickly than Jimmy had. It’s face twisted into a permanent grimace of anger and rage. It had both of it’s arms outstretched, reaching for Henry.
Completely understandable to not trust the booze in this place, but it was worth asking. The nicest thing his dreams could do for him would to give him something that he could drink while he was trying to fight for his life. The shops were not what she expected at all and it seemed like a snapshot of a previous era because there was truly nothing in there that was of use anymore. Her eyes couldn’t look away from the fading items and she was thankful that the pet store didn’t have any pets.
Her nerves were on edge and she was waiting for the moment that something would pop out and chase them down with a cleaver in its hands. Thankfully there were no cleavers in sight, but Jimmy had decided to appear out of nowhere and had a look of anger on his face. A scream escaped Chloe’s mouth as she grabbed at Henry to try and move him out of the way. She could sense that Jimmy was going for Henry and Chloe wasn’t going to allow that if at all possible.
The ghost did not want to be put off again. It needed the energy and straight for Henry this time. There was no beating around the bush or stopping to speak to strange girls it had not seen before, no matter how strange or fascinating they may be. It quickly caught up with the retreating pair and plunged it’s hands into Henry’s back.
It didn’t hurt, thankfully, and there was no blood or gore. Henry had always been a little thankful for that much at least. What it did do, however, was slow Henry down considerably. His vision turned watery and his head started to throb. Confusion set in for a moment, and Henry wasn’t sure where he was, or which way he was going.
Oh hell no. Ghosts were not going to put their hands in her boyfriend’s chest. That was not allowed on her watch and she let out a yell of annoyance. She couldn’t do anything to help Henry because honestly the ghost wasn’t going to be that corporeal so she closed her eyes and fully concentrated on Jimmy. She felt that spark of spirit and attached onto it, it was hers now, and she opened her eyes, “Let him go or I will banish you immediately.” She would push his spirit into the Otherworld and make him disappear and then she and Henry would get out of here without fighting anything else.
Jimmy’s ghost was drawn to the Receiver of Wisdom as though he were some kind of beacon in the shade’s dark existence in this horrific twisted world. However, this girl, whoever she was, was unlike anything Jimmy or his ghost had ever experienced before. Ghosts of the Otherworld were not exceptionally powerful - there were monsters here Henry had yet to encounter that were much, much worse - and once the necromancer had control, Jimmy could do nothing but obey her command.
Henry felt the ghost retract it’s hands out of his back and suddenly it was as though he could breath again. His head was still aching, but the constant throb in time to his heart had subsided. He blinked a couple of times, confused and uncertain. He looked first at Chloe, then over at the ghost just hovering. Then, back to Chloe. Ok. No lie...that was pretty hot.
Using her powers to do things to Ghosts wasn’t high on her list because she didn’t think most ghosts deserved that, but if they were going to piss her off then she would make them go away. She could also drag them back up into a body and control them if she wanted to, but that wasn’t something she had mastered yet. Jimmy was smart enough apparently to not test her and she watched as he removed himself from Henry and backed off.
Once that was done she rushed forward to grab Henry and make sure he was okay. Hands held onto his arms as she looked up at him with a panicked expression, “Are you okay? We need to get out of here. I don’t want to deal with that anymore.” A part of her wanted to kiss him because she was thankful that nothing more had happened to him, but she wanted to get the hell out of this place now more than ever.
“I’m alright,” Henry assured her as Chloe quickly examined him. “I’m not hurt. Just…” he took a deep breath, “just a little drained.” His knees buckled and instinctively he latched onto Chloe’s arms to steady himself until the weakness passed.
“Sorry,” he mumbled once he had his feet on firmer ground under him. He looked wearily over his shoulder in time to see Jimmy fade into the wall behind him. He had no more interest in dealing with the strange girl and her powers. Henry caught his breath and shook his head again. “Yeah, we need to get out of here.”
He let Chloe’s arms go and took her hand. He hurried out of the pet store towards the bar and where he knew an exit hole would be.
“Don’t apologize, you didn’t ask for him to do that to you,” she was so thankful that she had been smart enough to come over to him and help hold him up. She had no idea what happened to Henry when ghosts did that to him, but she knew now. It wasn’t something she wanted to see happen to him again and she steeled herself to never allowing a ghost to get that close to him again.
With a squeeze to his hand Chloe followed him as they rushed through the rest of the town and finally made it to that bar. She wasn’t sure where the exit hole would be, so she continued to follow Henry’s lead, “When we get out of here I’m grabbing a bottle of whiskey and we’re going to have a couple stiff drinks. Let’s go home.” Hopefully they wouldn’t have to come back here anytime soon.
Henry was definitely looking forward to being back in his apartment again. It was one thing to Dream about this place, to have memories of it waft about in his head, it was another thing altogether to actually be here. However, now that he had been, Henry was more convinced than ever that it was his responsibility to guard the Hole to the Otherworld to be sure that no one else stumbled into this place.
At least they had learned something, as small as it was. Henry now had a name: Walter Sullivan.
He lead Chloe to the bar, through it and out the back. In the alleyway was a large hole a lot like the hole in Henry’s bathroom, complete with a red circle containing what appeared to be runes surrounding it. Henry carefully crawled inside and lead Chloe along with him. A beat later the two of them were in Henry’s bedroom on his bed as if waking from a deep sleep.
As it it usually did, it took a moment for Henry to grasp his bearings. He had no idea how he ended up back in his bedroom when the Hole itself was in his bathroom, but he supposed as far as the mystery went, that was the least strangest piece. He quickly checked to see if Chloe was there with him and hopefully not stuck somewhere in between worlds. “Chloe?”
It was a little disconcerting to go through a hole in a wall and then suddenly appearing on the bed in Henry’s apartment. Her head was spinning just a little bit as she turned her head to see Henry sitting next to her and she let out a sigh of relief, she would not cry. There was no reason to cry except for relief and she leaned over to loop her arms around his neck and held onto him, “Thank god we’re back here. Let’s not do that again anytime soon, okay? I think we should just stay here in bed for a while with some alcohol.” That was what she planned to do as she gave him a quick kiss and bounded off to get the whiskey and some glasses. She was going to fully focus on Henry for the time being and forget about what happened in the hole until the next day.