Deadly

“You know, they say your place is haunted, Lou,” My friend, Niall, said as my group of two other friends walked down the hallway of the high school we were attending. I’d been here a few months already and I did have to admit that the house did give me a bit of the creeps, but especially my room. There really wasn’t any avoiding it though, considering it was the only place I could be alone. Still, I never felt truly alone even there. Sometimes I’d get cold chills that almost felt like fingers trying to trace down my spine and my heart rate would quicken. I’d turn around only to see nothing.

“Oi, Niall. Cut the shit, would ya? Ghosts don’t exist,” Zayn said with a roll of brown eyes. He always seemed to be the logical one of us all. He didn’t believe in shit like ghosts and vampires and werewolves. He wouldn’t even indulge himself in the thought of it. He’d actually shunned me for like a week when I told him I had read Twilight when it first came out. He was just quite a character, but even despite his strong disbelief, he was one of the best friends I’ve ever had. He was so caring and kind and made sure to take care of his family, his mom and his sister especially. He worked a job at the coffee shop a little ways away after school nearly every day just so they could pay bills. He really was a great guy.

“Some weird things have happened in that house since I got there,” I admitted with a rather sheepish tone, “But it could be just that I’m paranoid or something. I mean, yeah, it wasn’t like this back in Doncaster, but it’s just a new place. Ghosts don’t exist and you’re just going to scare me more, Niall,” Zayn seems satisfied with my answer and gives a sort of nod. Liam’s the quiet one, so he doesn’t state his two cents into the conversation, but I kind of wanted him to. He was really close to Zayn though, so if he did say something wrong, Zayn might shun him and it always felt he was kind of dependent on Zayn for some reason.

“Do you know the story about the lad that was killed there?” Niall continued. He was always the one to try to tell us ghost stories and obviously got the silent treatment from Zayn a lot, but Niall was his own person and wouldn’t let his beliefs be controlled by his friends and I think that’s why we all stuck around him even though he sometimes scared the shit out of us with his little stories. I knew Zayn wouldn’t admit it, but some things, true or not, made you have to sleep with the lights on for a couple of nights and those were the kind of stories Niall was prone on telling us.

“I really don’t want to hear this, Niall. I live there for fucks sakes. I’d rather not be utterly terrified in my own home, you know?” But there was a part of me that was very much intrigued by the story. A boy who had been murdered in his own house. I could only imagine the reasons why someone would do such a thing and who would have done it? Considering it was in his own home, parents or siblings were likely and that was a painful thought all in itself. I didn’t even know who this boy was and I was already feeling bad for what happened to him.

“Don’t be such a pussy, Louis,” Niall jested, but I merely rolled my eyes as the one minute bell rang. I just sort of waved to them goodbye and strolled off to my class in hopes that arithmetic would get my mind off this mystery lad who had supposedly been killed in my house. It didn’t work, of course. I began to wonder what room it had happened in and what his name was and how long ago had it been?

The real estate agent hadn’t told my mum anything about it so it had to be a long time ago and no one else would have died from the supposed haunting if that was the case. It didn’t really help that I had study hall next before lunch and soon I had found myself sitting in front of a computer and looking up a whole bunch of history about this city back when it was just a small town in America nearly a hundred years ago. It was strange, because I wasn’t exactly familiar with American history, minus the drama between the colonies and the British. They barely taught us any of that nonsense back in Doncaster. I was just lucky that the private school I was currently attending was full of diversity and that not just Americans were here, otherwise I would have felt like a total outcast.

“Hey, Louis,” I jumped as a felt a body take a seat beside me and I quickly minimized the screen so that whoever it was wouldn’t see. I had just been getting something when it had happened too, so I couldn’t help but be a bit agitated. It was Marcel, I realized, as I turned my head to the side. He was one of the few really smart kids that were here on full scholarship instead of having to pay his way through it all. No one really liked his with his slicked back hair and thick rimmed glasses and not to mention the nasally voice. He was a pretty nice kid though, really smart, and had tutored me a few times to help me catch up on classes her in America. He’d always seemed so intrigued by me and what it was like back in Doncaster, but I had recalled him asking a few questions about the house I was living in as well and hadn’t thought much about it until now. Maybe he knew something about this place that I didn’t. I don’t know.

“Hey, Marcel,” I gave him a small smile and he gave me this wide grin as he breathed in heavily. It’d always seemed like he had this really creep infatuation with me, popping up at random times, much like right now, and trying his best to engage in conversation with me. I was always quite good at getting myself out of these situations though, but I couldn’t quite do the usual, walk away because I have to go somewhere line because I needed to find out what happened. My curiosity was absolutely killing me at this point.

“What are you up to?” I tried not to make my irritation known. I just didn’t want to explain to him what was going through my head. It was none of his business anyways. Still, I catch him squinting at the screen through the lens of his glasses, bright green eyes looking even bigger in them and I reached to cover the bottom of the page before he can see the title, but it appeared to be too late.

“You found out about him didn’t you?” Now that took me absolutely off guard, to be honest. I guessed that most people knew the story then, but Zayn and Liam hadn’t seemed familiar with it at all, or more like, they didn’t want to hear it. Was it that bad? I felt this sinking feeling in my chest as I took the mouse and pulled the page back up, because what was the point in hiding if Marcel already knew what I was trying to figure out.

“Sort of. I don’t know the full on story,” I admitted and Marcel’s eyes seem to grow wider as if in surprise that I don’t know. It only makes me more curious and a bit impatient, because there’s like a couple more paragraphs on the page and I’m not even sure if any of it was going to be relevant to what I was looking for. Marcel takes my hand off the mouse and clicks the page closed before standing to his feet. He gestured for me to follow and like the curious little puppy I was, I did so.

“So how do you know about him? Is this a common thing to know around here?” I couldn’t help but ask him as we walked down the empty hallway. I have so many questions for him and it’s kind of hard where to start. On top of that, I don’t even know where we are supposed to be going until he’s leading me into the men’s bathroom. The action kind of leaves me a tad bit nervous, an unsettling feeling boiling in my stomach.

“Most people don’t know the full story. My great grandmother was his sister and she told me his story before she passed, or what she knew. The rest I learned from Harry himself,” Marcel explained as he dropped his bag to the floor and opened it. This was getting pretty scary, worse than I think anything Niall might have told me. We could casts those out as fables but Marcel was saying that he had talked to the ghost in my house. How was that even possible?

“The house was empty for a few months before your family moved in. I would sneak onto the property and go into the room that he was killed. I’d started with cubes, you know? With letters that you roll, but that didn’t work. Harry found it much too frustrating to flip the blocks. He’s not very strong. He’s very sad.” Marcel explained as he pulled out a notebook with seemingly a bunch of notes on it, “He lost the love of his life at the mere age of nineteen. The boy had hung himself because he was gay. Harry was then murdered by some of the locals who were very homophobic at the time. It’s kind of funny actually, because the men who killed him, their families now are extremely liberal.” It’s hard to take it all in at that moment. This supposed ghost was gay and was killed for being so? I couldn’t comprehend such actions.

“Why’d you stop seeing him? Was it because we moved in?” It’s the only question I could manage to get out of my mouth at the moment and it felt like a really stupid one, but I wouldn’t take it back. I was extremely curious as I had been for the past few hours since Niall had mentioned him. There was just so much sorrow I had for him and I couldn’t stand it. I’d never fought my attraction to men. It was a natural thing and my parents didn’t seem to mind at all. They’d never yelled at me or called me any crude names. The only cruelty I had dealt with was students back in Doncaster.

“No.” Marcel’s answer shocked me once again, “He was a very sad soul and from the way he died, I couldn’t take the risk of continuing to talk to him. Most ghosts who don’t cross over and die in murder are malevolent spirits, but can act in ways much similar to say a psychopath,” Marcel pushes his glasses up his nose as he flipped through some pages of his notebook. “Harry showed signs of psychopathic tendencies, by per definition, of course. Mostly manipulation and twists in truth as far as I am aware. He sort of spoke of getting revenge and finally returning to his lover wherever he is. He shows a deep hatred for the flaws of others and himself. If you want to read the rest of the notes I made you can borrow them,” And then Marcel handed over the notebook to me and I looked at him stupidly, but made no effort to hand it back to him. Curiosity was the driving factor, but curiosity had also killed the cat.

“Thank you. I’ll return it when I’m done. I…I just want to know what I’m up against. I feel cold chills at random times as if someone was trying to touch me, you know? It…it unsettles me a tad and you’re a smart guy, so how can I not believe you?” Marcel gave me that big cheesy smile before zipping up his book bag and throwing it over his shoulders just as the bell rang. He saluted me before walking out of the bathroom and I couldn’t help but stand there for a few moments, running my fingers over the book. My shoulders sort of sagged before I reached back to put it in my backpack. I’d read it once I got home. Wouldn’t want Zayn or anyone else seeing it.

I made it to the cafeteria with a bit of a sigh. The day was nearly over and I was more than ready to go home for a change. I wanted to learn more about Harry and all the things Marcel had managed to observe about his character. How had he even contacted the ghost in the first place was the thing. He’d mentioned blocks with letters on it, but he had said that hadn’t worked. It wasn’t like I knew much about this whole talking to ghost thing anyways.

“Hello! Earth to Louis!” Niall had obviously been talking and I had been so lost in thought that I hadn’t heard a single word. The blond Irish lad looked genuinely upset at me for not listening, but I doubted he was saying anything remotely important about anything I currently cared about. Zayn and Liam were caught up in their own little quite discussion and Niall had this thing were he liked to have at least someone’s attention and me being the only candidate was kind of annoying.

“What do you want?” I replied dully and his bright blues squinted and his lips set into a scowl. Really, the things that were important to Niall Horan weren’t even remotely important to me, minus the whole boy being murdered in my house thing, but I wasn’t going to count that. I just rolled my eyes at his expression. He could be so childish sometimes, but then again, he was a little bit younger than me and I did have my moments when I was being the childish one. After all, there had been a countless number of pranks I had pulled on Niall alone. He just seemed to take them more easily than Zayn and pranking Liam was a no just because I know I’d feel absolutely bad about it in the end.

“Barbara and I shagged in the bathroom on the science hall last period. Can you believe it? She’s got the most banging body and -” My point was proven. Barbara was some chick that Niall found hot because on top of her attending school here, she worked as a bra and panty model. I’d always try to remind him that chances are that right at that moment there was at least one old man masturbating to her pictures and he’d say I’m just jealous.

“Spare me the details please. I’m not into that, remember?” It was like I had to remind Niall that I’m not into women constantly and he’d just laugh and say of course and go on about his business, only to have to be reminded again. I’m not sure if he did it on purpose or if he didn’t realize it, but it did kind of hurt my feelings from time to time. I wouldn’t admit to it though. At least he wasn’t calling me names like the other guys back in Doncaster had and that’s enough for me most days.

“I forget. I mean, I don’t even understand how I forget sometimes,” Niall said with a loud sigh, “I mean you’re like flamming,” And then I had to flick him off for that and he just kind of stuck his tongue out childishly at me. I have to say though, I don’t know what I would have done without him. He was always smiling and joking and laughing with me. He was closer to me than Zayn and Liam, but I didn’t really mind it. We were a group of friends who cared about each other at the end of the day and that was all that mattered to me.

The rest of the day flew by extremely fast, much to my surprised. Generally, when I became extremely impatient to get home, my days went slower, but today was not one of those days. I made it out to the parking lot only to see Marcel there, waiting for me. It was weird that he even knew which car was mine, to be honest, but I wasn’t going to say anything about it considering he was the one helping me figure out all this stuff about Harry and since he seemed to be the only one who had even gotten in contact with the boy since his death. Maybe it was a bit selfish of me since I didn’t really like the kid and 90 percent of his actions just made me want to throw myself off a building or something, but there was that 10 percent there. I just had to keep that 10 percent in mind and I totally wouldn’t flip my shit over him pretty much stalking me. It probably has to do with his infatuation with the house and research on his great uncle or whatever the relation would be. I hadn’t bothered to really think about it.

“I’d refrain from trying to contact him personally,” That’s the first thing Marcel said to me as he did his usual gesture of pushing up his glasses up his nose as it scrunched up just a tad as if he might sneeze or something. It was weird that he would say that to me after pretty much giving me all the information I needed…minus the way he actually managed to contact Harry. Maybe that was hidden somewhere in the pages though. How could I be so sure about it? I tried not to show any signs that I had been thinking about it as I unlock my car door with a click.

“Who said I wanted to talk to him? I’m just curious about the story like I said and want to know what I’m dealing with. You think he’s dangerous so-” My hand found the handle of the door as I pulled it open, but Marcel walked over to me, placing his hand on mine and closing the door again. There was this frown set on his features, one of worry that I couldn’t quite explain.

“I don’t think, Louis. I know,” Marcel surprised me yet again by pulling up the side of his blazer and revealing a large scar down the side of his torso. I blinked at it for a few moments before again it was covered with the cloth of his blazer. I looked back up at the boy, but he didn’t explain any further, just gave me a sort nod and began his walk over to his car as if nothing had happened. That boy was beyond strange and I most definitely wasn’t planning to adhere to his advice now. Sue me.

Notes