Chapter Text
Hugo and Varian were what some might call “roommates.” They hadn’t ended up in such position by choice, but the way the younger clung to the blond like moss on rock had many raising their eyebrows at the nature of their relationship. It all started the night they were placed in the same dorm.
Varian had become immediately interested in Hugo, the moment he found out his bunkmate was an underground paranormal investigator. Of course that was just a fishy side hustle Hugo had concocted to make some extra money. He was strapped for cash, as his part-time job at the crappiest burger joint in town only paid him biweekly. And if that weren’t enough, his hourly wages were utterly abysmal.
Varian being the snoopy underclassman he was, just happened to catch a glimpse of Hugo’s blog where he posted news about the latest cases he’d “solved.” It was all downhill from there.
All of a sudden, Varian was all over him, asking various questions about paranormal activity and where to find it. Hugo knew the guy had a few screws loose but this was a whole new level of insane.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Varian whispered, as if anyone else in the dorms was awake at the godawful hour of 2 am.
“You know why I’m always sneaking back into the dorms at the crack of dawn on our days off?”
“Cause you’re out getting smashed?”
“What? No! Alcohol tastes like nail polish remover,” Varian shuddered in discomfort.
“Anyway. I’m actually an urbexer.”
Hugo stared at Varian in bewilderment as if he’d just asked him to grow a second head.
“Urbex? Urban exploration? It’s when you explore abandoned buildings. Here,” Varian pulled out his phone and opened his YouTube channel, where he posted his exploration videos.
“Take a look? I-if you have time, of course. No pressure.”
Hugo didn’t know what Varian was getting at with this. It was as if the fact that they both investigated creepy-looking buildings made him think they were friends now.
Of course Varian would be interested in something like this. He had abnormal written all over him. From the way he wore all black but only on Sundays, to the obscure Victorian literature he always used as a framework for his essays that got a triple A plus every time. Let me digress. He may have been a genius but that didn’t stop him from being a total whackjob at the same time. Something Hugo would prefer not to get involved with.
He sighed, unable to get to sleep. Varian was still out doing whatever he did at the oddest hours of the night. Sometimes Hugo wondered if he was secretly a vampire. That would be kinda hot. Stupid. Hugo smacked himself in the face. Lack of sleep must have been getting to him.
Ah, what the hell…it’s not like anyone else was around to witness it. Hugo sneakily put his earbuds in and started to browse Varian’s YouTube channel. It wasn’t like he was actually interested. He was just restless and needed something boring to lull him to sleep.
That was the excuse Hugo used, but by the time he got up to take a piss the sun was starting to peek through his curtains. Shit. What time was it?! 5 am. Varian would definitely be home within the hour. And Hugo had just spent the past 6 binging half of his YouTube uploads. Tch. It wasn’t his fault. Varian unveiled his true self while filming his videos. He was so enthusiastic and enamored with those old musty dilapidated buildings. And for some reason Hugo couldn’t pull his eyes away. It was a side of Varian that Hugo had never seen before. And for some indiscernible reason he wanted to see more. It was like Varian had some sort of hypnotic pull on him. Just one more video he kept telling himself. Then one video turned into 10. Then 10 turned into 50. Hugo couldn’t control himself. It was absolutely ridiculous.
Varian was slowly sucking his soul out of his body, and Hugo, poor fool that he was, would have let him. It only took one accidental click to subscribe to Varian’s channel. But before he could even take it back, the door clicked open and Hugo nearly dropped his phone. He immediately became flustered and hid the phone under the covers so Varian wouldn’t catch a glimpse of what he’d been doing. He quickly rolled over and pretended to be asleep. His roommate would never know.
“Aw, Hugo. You left the light on all night,” Varian chuckled in amusement. “Must have been up all night copying the answers off my homework.”
Varian noticed that Hugo’s blankets were hanging off him halfway. He nosily overstepped the line Hugo’d drawn separating his side of the room from Varian’s, and wrapped the blankets tightly around Hugo to keep him snug. It was chilly out there in the midst of October.
Hugo nearly screamed when Varian trapped him under the blankets against his will. Only his mother was allowed to treat him with this level of embarrassment.
That man needed to be stopped. And Hugo had the perfect way to get rid of him. All he had to do was lure him out to an abandoned mansion in the middle of nowhere and leave him to get axed by a squatter with a knife. Then he could never ever invade Hugo’s personal space again.
Hugo spent the next few days researching spooky abandoned establishments across the country, when he stumbled upon something interesting. An old abandoned house that hadn’t been lived in for over 15 years. The photos told him all he needed to know. It looked to be the crime scene of some sort of huge mass murder incident. There was caution tape lining the entrance. A cheap tactic used to scare off any idiot stupid enough to break inside. Even other investigators were terrified to enter the place. It was perfect.
But before Hugo could even mention it, Varian was already circling him, intent on getting his way.
“Soooo, Hugo. I heard through the grapevine that you investigate haunted houses.”
“We’ve established that. Cut to the chase.”
“Annnd I was wondering if maaaybe you’d take on a job for me?”
Oh great. He couldn’t refuse now. Varian’s smug aura mocked him in more ways than one. Just for that, Hugo decided to be a bit of a dick.
“I don’t knooow. I may have to uhhh…check my schedule and get back to you on that.”
A dark aura spread suddenly over Varian’s cheerful demeanor.
“Oh, haha. That won’t be a problem. I have evidence of you cheating your way to the top of the class for half the semester, after all.”
“YOU WHAT?!”
Everything Hugo had was riding on getting a degree at this stupid college that he’d just barely gotten admitted to, as things stood.
Varian wasn’t just a creepy weirdo anymore. He was straight-up insane. Every time Hugo thought he’d seen this guy’s true colors, he was proven wrong in the most ludicrous way possible.
“Sooo, what’ll it be? You can help me and get paid a handsome sum of money…orrr I can notify our professor riiiight now with a tiny click of this button!” Varian giggled as if he’d said something harmless and cute, but only Hugo could see the monster underneath his ineffable charm.
Hugo cursed himself in defeat.
“Alright, sludgehead. I’ll take the stupid job for you. But I expect to be compensated tenfold and once you get what you want from me, you never ask me to participate in another insane escapade again. Deal?”
“I believe that can be arranged,” Varian nonchalantly responded, pulling out a briefcase filled with cash.
Hugo nearly fainted. This better be worth it. Now he understood how Varian could afford all those fancy lace-trimmed outfits he donned on the most unfitting of occasions.
Funnily enough, the place Varian wanted Hugo to investigate so badly just happened to be the same exact house he’d planned on leaving Varian to get murdered. Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad after all.
Varian had set aside a whole weekend just to drive out 3 hours into the countryside to explore a musty old abandoned building. He must have been getting something out of this. Not that Hugo understood what the fuck went on in that absolute screwball’s head. He probably just had no common sense and didn’t mind risking his life, if it meant seeing rotting antiques up close. All that mattered was that Hugo was getting paid.
But Varian never mentioned that the entire Brady Bunch would be coming along.
“Hugo, meet Nuru and Yong. My high school buddies.”
Hugo highly doubted that shrimp of a child had even graduated middle school.
“I skipped seven grades,” Yong boasted pridefully.
And Nuru made it clear she didn’t trust Hugo from the get-go.
“Oh no, I’m not letting Varian travel alone to the middle of the sticks with some hack paranormal investigator so he can get murdered with no evidence leading back to the true culprit.”
“Who is she, your mom?”
“Nah, she just worries too much.”
From where Hugo stood though, it seemed that no one else worried enough. All he had to do was survive one weekend with these nitwits.
After hours of driving through barren wasteland, Varian’s old beat up van skid off the road, nearly hurtling straight down a ravine. Varian being the crazy driver that he was, drove the car so quickly in reverse that he narrowly defied death by but a hair’s breadth of an instant, parking straight into a murky patch of wet tar.
“Alright, folks. Who wants to keep track of how many times we almost die tonight?”
“Very funny,” Nuru snarkily responded to Hugo’s unnecessary comment.
“You see that constellation there? Luminaria. She is pointing towards Canis Minor which means the goddess Celestia is on our side tonight.”
Hugo scoffed. That wasn’t a real constellation. She was totally pulling that crap out of her ass.
“May the stars guide us safely home from our destination,” Nuru finished, clutching what appeared to be prayer beads around her neck.
Oh great. Nuru was annoying but Hugo had hoped she’d at least have a clear head on her shoulders. Nope. Clearly he was the only sane person on this doomed road trip.
Varian froze at the sight of the eerie building he’d spent all week hyping up.
“I can’t believe it’s still here…” his voice shook slightly under his breath.
Varian got a wistful look on his face, taking in the eerie visage of the long-forgotten building. It looked as if it could swallow him whole, the moment he stepped inside it. Cobwebs clung tightly to the windows, illuminated only by the shadows of dead birds whose bodies hung grotesquely from the sill. The air was cold and foggy. One could hardly make out the scratchy tree branches that eerily beckoned him into their gnarled embrace.
“Hairstripe? Hello?” Hugo waved his hand in front of Varian hoping to snap him out of the weird trance he’d stepped into.
“Varian? Are you okay?” Yong gazed into the older boy’s eyes anxiously.
“Ahhh…sorry! I-I’m fine, hehe.”
“We can always turn back now, you know,” Nuru interjected.
“W-what? No! I-I’m fine guys, really. Come on, we can’t turn all the way around now that we’ve made it this far.”
Varian briefly glanced in Hugo’s direction, gauging his reaction to seeing the place up close. Hugo only wore his trademark impatient glower however, and Varian quickly turned away before anyone could notice the subtle glint of disappointment in his eyes.
The group walked inside the building and the doors shut loudly behind them. There was a small light emanating from the center of the room and the floor was completely sticky. It was as if someone had poured a vat of hot syrup all over the ground. As soon as they entered the living quarters, the light went out leaving them in complete darkness.
Hugo shrieked in terror when the room went dark, causing the other three to laugh at him.
“You’re telling me Mr. ‘paranormal investigator’ over here is afraid of the dark? That’s rich,” Nuru chimed in.
“Am not!” Hugo retaliated. “I just got a little startled, that’s all.”
“Is that why you’re clinging to Varian?” Yong pondered quizzically.
“What?! Who’s-I’m not clinging to that freak!”
Hugo quickly pushed Varian away from him.
Nuru had come prepared though, and handed everyone a small star-shaped lantern that she’d designed herself. They provided a faint light, just enough for the group to make out each other’s faces.
“Ooh!” Yong piped up, “Are we gonna tell scary stories?”
“Is that what we came here for? No! Let’s get a move on people!”
“Alright, gang. I have a map of the layout drawn right here, and I just texted it to the group chat.”
“Hey, wait. Where did you get a map? Isn’t this your first time coming here?”
“Of course! But as you all know, this location is a notorious hotbed of paranormal activity so there’s a guide going around online. You know, just in case anyone gets lost. Now it will be quicker if we split into groups and then meet up at the marked checkpoint later to discuss what we found.”
Hugo scoffed under his breath. What did he expect them to find anyway? The lost city of Atlantis?
“If anything serious happens we can page each other on these high tech walkie-talkies. I designed them myself.”
There he went bragging about his newest invention. Typical Varian. He knew damn well, they could use their cell phones to communicate, but when was Varian ever concerned with up-to-date anything?
“And remember, no souvenirs! This place isn’t a carnival. You can look at the items, but no taking anything. We are only here to observe and explore the natural decay of this once lively establishment.”
Ooo. So exciting. Hugo could feel himself falling asleep before Varian’s little speech was even over.
Varian assigned himself to Hugo, because of course he did, while Nuru and Yong were assigned to explore the opposite side of the house.
Varian readied his night vision camera and held a weird-looking scrapbook in his other hand, which contained a physical copy of the map he’d just texted to the group.
Hugo felt the sudden chill of the temperature lowering at a rapid pace. They came to an attic door covered in cobwebs. The dial on Hugo’s cheap homemade ghost detector began to spin like crazy.
“Well, goggles, it looks like my ghostometer is telling us there’s high activity in this general area. Guess we’d better check that out. Wouldn’t want to miss the chance to get live footage of the boogeyman.”
Hugo impatiently pummeled through the narrow doorway, dragging an intrigued Varian behind him.
As they entered the room, dust fell off the shelves. It was a very tight cramped room. Not the least bit comfortable. Old vintage dolls hung in rows and it almost felt as if the boys were being watched.
The room was incredibly eerie, but Varian’s whole face lit up like a child on Christmas.
“They’re beautiful,” Varian breathed out in enchantment. “The detail, the embroidery on these dresses, just breathtaking.”
Varian examined the dolls in great detail, spreading dust throughout the room as he went. He had to get every angle on camera as if he was taking some sort of creepy doll photo shoot.
In the center of the room, lay a busted up doll with a spring in its back. Varian didn’t understand why, but this particular doll filled him with a sense of longing and nostalgia. Hugo just thought it was creepy. One of its eyes was missing and where the pupil should have been, hung a clear glass ball. It was also incredibly dirty and probably hadn’t been washed for a century. It had gnarled red hair and a blue dress. Hugo couldn’t understand why the hell Varian was so enamored with the damn thing.
When Varian approached the doll, the spring started winding on its own and played a soothing melody. A melody that was comforting and familiar. He couldn’t just leave it there. Varian had to take the doll with him. It was almost as if he was being hypnotized.
Upon the start of the strange melody, Hugo felt a sick sensation rise in the pit of his stomach. It was as if he’d heard this tune somewhere before. But all it filled him with were feelings of contempt and despair. There was definitely something off about that doll.
Hugo slapped Varian’s hand as he tried to reach for the doll.
“Leave that filthy thing alone! It’s probably covered in asbestos.”
“Hugo, you-you don’t understand. She needs me. I-I can’t just leave her here all alone.”
“What the hell are you talking about, dumbass?! It’s a stupid rotting doll! Didn’t you just tell us not to take anything?!”
“She needs me, Hugo. Me. I’m the only one who can save her. Please, Hugo. I can’t leave without her!”
Varian was acting like he was possessed and Hugo was not having it. He’d been in plenty of so-called haunted houses before, but he’d never actually witnessed any substantial evidence of the supernatural. Either Varian was losing it or he was a damn good actor.
“Get ahold of yourself, Varian!” Hugo shook Varian, trying to snap him out of it, but Varian only wrestled him off and ran back to the doll.
When Hugo turned around, Varian’s eyes started to flicker with a blue flame and Hugo cornered him in a chokehold, knocking the disgusting doll across the opposite side of the room.
Varian was in a daze and Hugo grabbed him, shoving him through the doorway. They had to get out of there, now. As they exited, Hugo heard loud footsteps behind them and immediately slammed the door shut as best he could, before grabbing Varian’s hand and running.
At the end of the hall, they ran into Nuru.
“Hey, what are you doing back here?!”
“I-I don’t know how I got here. I must have passed out for a second and lost Yong. It’s strange. When I woke up I was in a bed. Then the room went up in flames and when I opened my eyes again, I was back here.”
Varian was hanging off Hugo’s shoulder.
“Is he okay? You better not let anything happen to him.”
“Relax I just busted my ass getting him away from this creepy doll.”
Nuru sighed. “I should go find Yong. It’ll be all my fault if anything happens to him.”
“We’ll search for him together.”
Hugo was already having a rough night, but he didn’t have the energy to argue right now and things would get done quicker if they worked together.
As they exited the hallway and entered an unfamiliar room, a small trail of bloody footprints followed slowly behind them.