PWYW Commission - A Haunting

    “This house is going to be it Jake, we’ll flip this one and everything will start getting so much better.” The gray fennic fox draped her arms around her fiancee. She sighed happily and nuzzled into his warm fur. The German Shepherd wrapped one arm around his mate and sucked in a deep breath. The scent of the old house filled his nostrils. It was going to take a lot of work.

    Sense the two had gotten together they had dreamed of flipping houses, now that Jake stepped down from his job they seen the opportunity to do what they had always wanted to do. “You bet baby. I can’t wait to get started.” He licked her head. The two entered the empty house. Much of it was falling apart and a lot needed updating, but they got it for a good price. Well, good enough for what it was. Almost too good. When they asked the realtor why it had been on the market for so long, the cat shifted and looked around before telling them it was just a strange house.

    Sun danced through the open windows as they aired out the stale place. Jake went right to work working on schismatics and getting supplies. He shuffled through the house and went down into the small basement. The floor wasn’t finished but he had all of that planned out. It needed a lot of work, but it would be worth it. A few loose boards on the floor caught his blue eyes. His ear flicked. “Well no sense in leaving these down here, they’ll have to go up anyway.” He smiled to himself as he went to pick up the boards. They were stuck fast to the floor. He grunted and trotted up the stairs. “Hey Trix, where is the hammer?”

    “I think it’s over there.” She pointed into a corner where a pile of tools were. “Why?” She turned her head, her massive ears focusing in on her lover.

    “There are some boards down in the basement that are stuck. I’m going to just haul them out.” He picked up what he was looking for and went right back downstairs. He returned down to the basement and slid the hammer under one of the boards, and like magic it lifted right up. He scratched his head, his fingers running through his dark brown fluff. “Strange.” He shrugged it off and pulled up the other boards and ran them up and out the stairs.

    “Everything okay babe?” The fox stood up and walked over to him. Her hands fell on his chest and she kissed him softly.

    “Yup. That’s all done, tomorrow I can get some more done. Want to watch Game of Bones?” There wasn’t a lot of things moved into the house while they worked but they weren’t about to give up their favorite T.V. series.

    “Of course!” Trixie bolted to the couch and flopped down. “I wonder who they’ll kill off in this episode.” The series was on the third season and half of the original characters were long sense gone. Some deaths were cool, like killing someone with liquid gold. Others ripped your heart out.

     The two settled down and ate dinner while they watched the show. Then retired to bed fairly early. The physical work of the house seemed to drain them. It was just cleaning but it seemed like the hours were dragging them down.

    Jake bolted upright mid dream. The house felt like it was shaking. He leap from the bed and raced down the stairs, almost tripping over himself half way down. He halted at the base of the stairs. His blue eyes went wide and he whimpered. The front door was wide open. Still locked, but open. He himself had shut and checked that before bed. How could this be? He pondered for a moment and rushed over to shut and relocked the door. He did a sweep of the house, checking the basement. No one had entered. He shrugged it off and drug himself back to bed.

    “Everything okay?” Trixie had woken up as Jake had rushed down the stairs.

    “The front door was open.” His words were hallow as he spoke them.

    “How the hell?”

    He rolled his shoulders. “No idea, but everything is fine. I’ll check the lock in the morning.” They both fell back asleep and dawn came sooner than either of them wished. They both woke up still tired, but it seemed like for no reason.

    Trixie had breakfast on the table when Jake came down. “Morning babe. You feeling okay?” She looked at her lover in the eyes. They were still blue, just not nearly as bright. Almost tinted. It hurt her heart.

    His voice was gruff and harsh. “I’m fine. I’m getting to work.”

    “Didn’t you want breakfast?”

    “No.” He grunted and walked off down to the basement.

    Trixie was worried, but she let him go. The hours went by and when more than half the day passed she decided to check on him and bring him something to eat. She put all of her love into the sandwich that she could. She went down to the basement. She dropped the plate and screamed. Before her was a horrific sight. The love of her life was sitting on the floor, covered in blood. A pile of bones lay before him. “Jake, are you alright?” She called from halfway down the stairs. He didn’t answer. She walked down the last few stairs and spoke louder. “Babe, are you okay?”

    His head turned without his neck moving. “Yes.” Was all that he said. His eyes were rolled back into his skull and his tail lay flat on the ground. He was not alright, and Trixie knew it. As her foot touched the unfinished floor a chill ran through her. This was bad. “What are you doing down here?” His voice was hallow as the words left.

    “I’m worried about you, I think we need to get out of the house.”

    “No!” He lunged at her. His hands around her neck. He wasn’t himself. That was clear. “You will never leave.” He growled at her.

    Trixie reached out and grabbed the closest thing to her. The old brick came crashing down on her partners head. It wouldn’t do any damage but it knocked him out. She gasped for breath and rushed back up the stairs. Her fingers dialed nine one one and as she punched in the numbers she raced from the house. It wasn’t long before the ambulance showed up. They took Jake to the ER.

    “You alright pup?” Her hand stroked his head as his eyes opened. They were bright and blue.

    “What happened?”

    “I hit you with a brick.” She explained what happened. He remembered none of it. “I’m going to call someone to cleanse the house.” The next morning a witch showed up. “Thank you for coming so soon.”

    The panther waved her hand. “It’s my pleasure. Give me an hour and everything will be fine.” Sure enough, within an hour she was done.  

    Trixie walked back into the house and it felt so different. It felt clean and bright. Jake came home and over the next few weeks everything went back to a normal house.