Thump. Thump. Thump.
William pushed himself off of the door, suddenly glad there was no key to unlock it.
There was no time for rational thought. He backed away, refusing to take his eyes from the door, all whilst the footsteps grew louder and louder and louder–
It stopped just as suddenly as the crying had.
Just when William thought it was over, a horrid, bone-quaking slamming began. The unseen force smashed itself into the other side of door, shaking it in the frame. Dust rained down from the ceiling, coating the scene in a faint shimmering of snow. William erupted in a scream that rivalled the sound before him. Whatever was with him seemed fuelled by his fear. The more William shook and screamed, the harder the banging became. Louder. So terrible that the entire wall shook, wood splitting before William’s eyes.
“Ed – Edward!” William shouted as he threw himself down the stairs, two at a time.
The noise from the attic stopped as soon as the name came out of his mouth. But he didn’t stop running. William leapt downstairs, landing on the second-floor landing before spinning back around. As he did, looking up to the attic floor, he saw it.
A figure of shadow looked over the banister. William missed his footing on the step, burning fire erupting across his twisted ankle. Then the shadow-figure, the manor, all blurred as he began to fall.
William’s initial reaction was to clutch his head with his arms, protecting him from the fall. Pain ruptured his side, his back and legs. He held his breath, waiting for it to end. It seemed to go on forever until the side of his body cracked into the wall, stopping his descent.
Hands clasped his shoulders, firm and real. And yet William still couldn’t open his eyes. He wouldn’t. It took a moment for the ringing in his ears to calm enough to notice that someone was calling his name.
“Will, I’m here.”
For the briefest of moments, William could’ve tricked himself into believing that it was Archie who spoke to him. Only Archie ever called him Will, not that it was a ground-breaking nickname, but still, it had been something special between them. But when the adrenaline settled, allowing room for the pain to rear its ugly head, William cracked open a single eye and found Edward kneeling before him.
Wide hazel eyes set with worry, mouth pursed white with tension. A single brown curl of his hair had fallen over his creased forehead. No matter how much of a stranger Edward still was, William found himself clawing at his chest, doing everything in his power to eliminate the space between them.
William opened his mouth to speak but a rasped exhale was the only noise he could make.
“This is becoming a habit of ours, isn’t it?” Edward said, his voice reverberating against the side of William’s face.
William shivered against the very real, very warm hand that brushed the back of his head. Everything about the contact offered him comfort, even if his ankle screeched in blinding-hot agony. “I think I’ve broken something. Argh.”
“That was one award winning fall. What happened?”
William swallowed hard, catching the bile which crept up the back of his throat. How could he possibly explain what he’d just experienced? The crying, the banging, the figure. The last time it had happened he’d been half asleep. But William had never been more awake. Alert. He knew what he’d seen and couldn’t deny it.
Not anymore.
“Someone…isup… there.”
Edward didn’t hear him, perhaps from the horror coating each word, or the muffled words as William spoke them into Edward’s embrace.
“Say that again… slowly this time.”
So, William did. He took a deep inhale, filling his lungs whilst simultaneously being glad he hadn’t punctured his lungs with a broken rib or something. Without removing his face from Edward’s chest, refusing to open his eyes or acknowledge his twisted ankle. Nothing mattered to him except getting the truth of his experience out on the table for even the watching shadows to acknowledge. And most certainly, the shadows were watching, listening.
“I wanted to unlock the attic. This is my house, and I wasn’t going to be scared of something so… childish.”
“You should’ve waited for me–”
“My home, Edward. Not anyone else’s. Justmine.”
His full lips set into a harsh line. “Got it. How did you go from opening a door, to falling down a set of stairs then?”
“I heard movement. Like a screeching of something heavy being dragged. I thought you’d come back in the manor, but it was coming from inside the attic, Edward. Inside. Then… there was crying. A soft cry like someone was trying everything in their power to do it quietly. Like they didn’t want to be heard. But I did. I interrupted them–” Even saying it aloud made William bristle with discomfort because it acknowledged that what he’d heard was real.
“Keep going,” Edward encouraged, not once stopping the soothing circles his hand made on William’s back. “I’m listening, and I’m not judging you either.”
That was exactly what William needed to hear to continue. “It was like they… or whatever it was, were trying to break down the door, so I ran. I was going down the stairs when I saw something on the attic landing, looking down at me. I mean, I felt it. That’s when I fell.” William drew back enough to peer up at Edward through long lashes soaked with tears. “I won’t blame you if you think I’m crazy.”
