saw some things on the other side [61K, Larry, M]
Louis can vaguely hear the grandfather clock chime downstairs, signalling the start of the ghost hour, and a shiver runs up his spine as he pushes the door open.
Part of him expects it to be jammed like before, but instead it swings open easily, and for a moment Louis’ eyes struggle to adjust to the darkness. Holding up his phone with shaky hands, he shines the flashlight over the furniture in the room, the curtains that in the daylight had looked so vibrant.
They look tattered now, hanging limply from the rod. The wooden armoire and the bed are ornate and beautiful still, but even from the doorway Louis can see a thick layer of dust, undisturbed for what has been probably the better part of a century.
Louis isn’t sure whether he feels relieved or disappointed, but he definitely feels unsettled. Because this room is what he’d expected to find this afternoon, and yet he can still see the boy he’d met then so clearly now, even when the room looks different from the way it had back then. He doesn’t even have to close his eyes to envision the way it had looked earlier today, and surely it can’t have been a dream, right? Had he gone into this room, expecting to find something more than just dust and forgotten furniture, and had his dream made up for the disappointing ending to a mystery that had only existed in his head?
When Louis moves into the mansion he’s inherited from his great grandfather, he has a plan that consists of three things. One, he’s going to finish writing the next novel in his series. Two, he’s finally going to get over his ex-fiancé. And three, while battling writer’s block and having to resist the urge to kill off the main character in his books – the hot detective based on his ex-fiancé – he’s going to restore the mansion to its former glory.
Unfortunately, Louis’ plan doesn’t take into account the fact that instead of writing murder mysteries, he will find himself in one.
Written for the @onedirectionbigbang with art by the amazing @monpetithl
Read it now on AO3!