Rinsing In The Sun

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

Feng just remained quiet long enough for the twins to stop arguing. “Gee, guys! Put a cork in it! You’re like an old married couple!” He muttered and then started to think of what they could do. He liked playing games, but he liked stories, too. “Hmm.” Finally, he had made a decision. “Okay, I want to tell ghost stories, Jude wants to tell ghost stories, and we got a big flashlight, so it works. It’s dark enough in here. Just as long as you two promise not to give me a heart attack…” He mumbled that last part before shifting around to a more comfortable position, such as laying on his good side. It was getting warm now, but he could feel a draft upon his bare backside so grabbed a sheet nearby and threw it over himself.

“Who wants to go first?” He didn’t have any ideas for a story, so he was counting on the twins to start. “I mean, we could play games, too, if you want. I just don’t know how to play monopoly, whatever that is, and I’m a wimp at checkers. I hate chess.” He tilted his head to the floor, waiting for them to reply. “Could play something else. Whatever you want.” He smirked at them before extending his arm and grabbing a pillow from Jude. “Mine!” He stuck out his tongue and then tucked it under his arm so he would be more comfortable.

[Sly Cooper]

“Ooh I want to start,” Jude volunteered, but first he situated himself till he was comfortable and his sister came down on the floor and laid her head on him. Then he grabbed a quilt and threw it over the both of them, mostly for his cold blooded sister’s sake.

“Okay—So—I don’t know if you’ve ever heard whiz story, but I’m going to tell it anyway.” He cleared his throat and changed the tone of his voice, to be soothing and yet mysterious. “So—there was a young girl, who lived with her dying mother. She had an illness that could not be cured by most attempts so the girl named—“ he thought for a moment, “—Lisa, told her mother that she was going to go and get the doctor to help her. But the mother warned her not to go, for you see, they lived in the woods away from the village. Which normally wouldn’t be an issue, but there were many ghost stories passed down through folk songs and legends.

“The mother told Lisa that the woods, grew dark and hard to see—and that’s when you get lost, and once you are lost you stay lost. But of course the girl foolishly ignored her mother’s heed of advice, and went to find a doctor anyway. So she packed her basket and left early in the morning so that when she got to the dark part of the forest, it wouldn’t be as dark. Unfortunately, she did not realize that that wouldn’t work, and just like her mother warned she got hopelessly lost.

“Frightened, she began to run helplessly through the dark, which only grew darker. Eventually she stopped because a root, or something, grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her down. Regrettably, her ankle twisted so badly, the tendons pulled away from the muscle and she was stuck. She was alone, in the pitch black—save for a small speck of light in the distance

“The light began to grow as it drew closer, and there, holding a lantern was a young man, seemingly, no older than she was. He found her, called her idiotic, then helped her up. He too warned her of the dark woods and all the souls stolen from those who would pass through them, and that she should at least have a light with her at all times.

“The boy’s home wasn’t far from there, for he too lived in the woods like she and her mother did. He offered her a place to stay, even if it was a short visit while she got patched up. And so Lisa stayed with him in his small cottage. He offered her assistance on her leg, and a meal before he head back out the door, in fact he insisted.

“He was the kindest of strangers, and so parting with him seemed sort of sad. But he told her that he would walk her to the edge where the light could then shine through again. And so he kept his word. He even gave her a lantern to guide her way in case she came to a dark spot again.

“The boy stopped at the edge and wouldn’t budge any farther. Lisa asked him to come along with her, after all he was so kind, helpful, and most of all alone. But he refused, he wouldn’t budge not even an inch. And so she said she understood, gave him a huge, and one last good bye.

“She began to prance off on her way to the doctor, when she realized something—she never found out his name to properly thank him. She turned around to do so, but he began to lose color, so she rushed over to him, but as she came closer, she realized it wasn’t that he was growing paler, but rather, he was become transparent. And so when she came back to the spot where he had been standing, he was completely and totally gone.

“Scared and confused she ran off into the direction the boy had said the doctor would be in. She saw a house. It must have been the doctor’s house. But—it wasn’t it was her house—but how—why-- She ran back inside to see her mother, who had suddenly become well again, and the entire trip seemed pointless.

“What she didn’t know was malevolent spirits would do many crazy things to lure people into the woods, including making people ill. That the boy had been in the same position, with an ill parent, but instead of returning home, he became lost in the dark, and became a trapped soul, never to leave the forest, and never to be seen by his parents again.”

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

Although the story did get creepy, the boy found himself not having his heart beating rapidly. The story was just sad and weird, full of mystery only because of Jude’s disguised voice. When the story was over, he just raised an eyebrow, gaped at his older brother, and then just shook his head as he sat upright crossing his legs again as he had done earlier. “That’s not scary, that’s sad! I felt bad for the boy… Gee, Jude, I bet your sister can come up with a better ghost story… That’s actually scary.” He just shook his head, shaming Jude all the same. He pulled his knees up to his chest by now, leaning against the trunks, and pulled up the sheet over himself while wrapping his good arm around his legs. The sheet was up to his neck now, so that only his head would be seen in the dim light as the sheet was black and the trunks behind him were dark.

“I bet if she doesn’t, I can come up with one that will really make you two piss your pants.” He burst out giggling but smirked at his sister. He would be quiet now, hoping that she had a good story that could scare at least Jude, although he wasn’t sure whether he would like to be scared himself or not. All he knew was that if they swapped enough horror stories he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep. Unless, of course, Jude could come up with another boring story. But then he stood up quickly, holding up a finger as to tell them to wait, rushed downstairs to the ground floor. The door would be heard slamming shut and then Feng had locked it, before running back up the stairs into the attic, slamming the attic door shut and then locking it as well. “Just so we don’t get caught up here,” said the youth as he returned to his spot, back to the very position he had taken just before he had gotten up. “Okay,” he announced his being ready for Joan’s turn.

[Sly Cooper]

Jude scowled, he was rather put out at the child. “No one said ghost stories had to be scary. They are just supposed to have ghosts.”

Joan knew it was her turn to tell a story so she situated herself around, and fluffed up her Jude pillow, “Alright, I don’t know if you heard this one—“ She cleared her throat, and began. “Once there were a set of twins, a boy and a girl. (just like Jude and I) They were very close, and made a pact when they were little to always stay together. In fact, they made this pact in their favorite place to play, when they were growing up. It was a small mossy spot next to the creek they would often spend the entire day playing in.

“Well for years, it was wonderful, the pact was kept, and neither of the twins had a care in the world. But eventually, seeing as how girls and boys grow at different rates, and in different ways, the two grew apart. The two then became sad for never seeing their other half for so long, that they took the time to spend a day in that very spot from in their youth.

“It was a good day, all in all. It was strange and awkward, because the two didn’t know each other the way they used to. So they decided to play a game of hide and seek because it was always their favorite game. The boy hid first, and the girl counted. Slowly, one to twenty. Then she was on her way looking for him. For nearly an hour she searched, but could not find him. She even began to look deeper into the woods, but there was still no sign of him.

“At this point it was starting to get dark, and so instead of continuing her search she called out for him. And so he came out to find her, but when he came running back, he called to her, telling her to follow him, for he had something to show her.

“And although she was a little worried about the time, she came with him. And deeper into the woods they went. Until he stopped, and pointed at a large mansion. It was falling apart due to disrepair, and there were large parts of decay. The boy then insisted they go in and look around.

“Seems as how the two were now lost at this point, the girl agreed to follow her brother in. The inside was even more in need of repair than the outside. Parts of the fool had fallen in, and everything was water damaged.

“The boy, being overly enthusiastic, went ahead without her, and in doing so, the girl had lost her twin again. It was too dark to see, and she would watch her every step hoping not to step onto a floorboard then go falling in.

“She had walked by a mirror, and thought she had seen something in it, so she stopped to look more closely. It was extremely warped due to how old it was, so when she looked closer, it was nothing more than the age of the mirror. She calmed down after scaring herself half to death and continued to look at the mirror in fascination. The bend made it look like there was a face, and she smirked and giggled, examining it more closely.

“When she did look more closely, her face became cold from a draft, and the face became more vivid. But still, it did not move. She reached out her hand to touch it, to see if she could feel the valleys. But just before her hand reached the glass-- a cold, white hand came reaching out and grabbed her by the wrist and pulled at her violently.”

Joan paused to see if the boy wanted her to continue.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

Feng, at first, thought the story was going to be about the twins themselves. He smirked at how self-absorbed they could be sometimes, but then again he found that he was wrong as she went on with the story. He had tilted his head to the side, basically getting bored the longer it got. There wasn’t any action, there wasn’t any horror, there was just suspense and weird stuff. Did the twins know anything scary at all? When Joan had paused and glanced at Feng, he just raised an eyebrow and shrugged, waving his hand as to tell her to go on. He knew he would have to come up with the better story - in fact it was more than likely at this point that he would come up with the better story.

[Sly Cooper]

Joan rolled her eyes and looked up a Jude. That had conversations with just short glances at one another, and this conversation was heading in the direction of Joan being slightly peeved. She decided not to finish the story about the violent ghosts and crude rituals.

Jude shrugged his shoulders, because he wasn’t sure that she should go on. No point after all. So instead the two decided to tell a more realistic story. And so Jude started, “Did you know this house is haunted? I know it doesn’t seem like it but at night you can tell. You can hear voices, see things, and sometimes feel things. Very violent ghosts too. When my sister and I were little, the ghost lashed out at Joan, she even has the scar to prove it. I don’t know if you saw the claw marks on her back.”

Joan took over for a moment. “It’s because I look like out however many great grandmothers ago, when she was my age.”

Jude smirked. “Yeah. There are probably some black and white photos of her somewhere. Maybe not. You see our great grandmother, Kristine, lived here with her parents here during the great depression. I don’t know how much you know about the depression, but when a man feels useless, he gets depressed. “

“And sometimes,” Joan interrupted, “When a man gets depressed he lashes out in anger. “

“See, her father had three children, and no money to pay for feeding them. He would take out his frustration on the kids. THWACK THWACK THWACK. He would throw them about and yell at them, beat them to a bloody pulp. He would even throw them into the hole in our living room and just trap them in there in the pitch black for hours!

“That’s how the tunnels were formed, the kids would dig, trying to get out. You will even find claw marks in places. Our cousin found a whole fingernail stuck in the wall down there. I know I know. Not a ghost story—yet.

“Well you see the one night when her father went to beat her and her younger siblings, she lashed out. She grabbed a rock and beat in his head, till his scull was soft and his face looked like a rubber mask.

“For a while there wasn’t any sign of a ghost. But you know things would start happening around the house. Sometimes there would be doors opening and slamming shut. Or things would fly across a room. Sometimes you can hear screams, and heavy footsteps. But the worst of all is when you can feel something grabbing you from your sleep.” Jude rolled his sleeve up to show marks across his lower arm. They did indeed look like claw marks. “That’s what happened to me. I got pulled strait to the floor. Doesn’t seem scary now, but it will—“

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He was surprised now that the twins had pretty much resorted to using their house as a scary story. Of course, he did get confused at first why they would just suddenly change the story, but upon saying that the house was actually haunted he got quickly interested at the idea of it. He had never been in a haunted house before. He listened as they spoke of their ancestors, a man being abusive to his children, and then the oldest of them killing him in the end. But what interested him the most was the tunnels. He wasn’t sure if the twins had told him the real reason behind the tunnels - if they had, he had forgotten all about it. He was sitting upright now, watching them intently.

But something caught his eye behind the twins, and he smirked on the inside, although he managed to keep his face straight. When they got to another pause, he gulped lightly, for he was slightly scared after all. But being brave and all, he stood up letting the sheet fall, and tilted his head, looking quite worried. “Where’s the bathroom?” He said calmly. If they gave him directions, he would certainly disappear into the dark, for they couldn’t see the attic door from the half-finished room of trunks. But instead of going to the bathroom, since he didn’t really need to go, he went around to the side of the attic, moving very quietly, actually on his toes but quick enough. He did feel around to make sure he didn’t bump into anything. Finally, he got to what he had saw not long ago, a mask just sitting in the moonlight, gathering dust. He quickly grabbed it but quietly, and then went close to the particular wall of trunks where he knew the twins would be. There was a little hole that he could put his head through, so after putting the mask on, he waited for the right moment to strike.

He waited, and waited. A spider crawled across his foot but in a hurry, and Feng managed to keep his cool long enough to ignore it. He didn’t want the twins knowing where he really was just yet. Finally, when the time was feeling just about right, he lunged forward, poking his shoulders and head through the hole immediately, and let out a loud roaring noise at them. “Rah!” If he had managed to scare them, he would certainly be rolling around on the floor giggling hysterically. If he hadn’t scared them, he would be disappointed, maybe a little angry. But then again, it was usually harder for younger children to scare older teenagers. Either way, at least he tried.

[Sly Cooper]

While their house did at times seem to be haunted, they weren’t really sure of why it was haunted. In fact the ghost used to pick on Jude impreticularly. When they were young their older cousin would try and scare them with assorts of different stories, but the twins weren’t usually easy to scare.

When Feng went to scare them Joan jumped like you do when there’s a sudden loud noise while Jude just stated laughing loudly. “What sis you really thought he was going to go to the bathroom?” After all Jude knew little boys all too well since he himself was one not that long ago.

“Well generally when you ask to go you have to go,” she shot a glare up at him.

He just kept laughing at her. “Congrats, kid. You successfully scared Joan.”

“I wasn’t scared I was rattled.”

“Whatever.”

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He had seen Joan jump out of the corner of his eye, knowing just from the sound of it that Jude had only just burst out laughing. He started giggling as well, anyway, for he had managed to scare at least one of the twins, and the other’s laughter was just contagious. After the laughter had started to subside, he took off his mask and grinned from ear to ear at Joan. “He he,” said the child before he retreated back into the darkness. “Now I really got to go,” he said as he reappeared by the attic door, nodding at the twins quickly before retreating down the stairs headed for the bathroom.

Moments of silence from downstairs later, a bloodcurdling scream echoed around the house leading up into the attic. The source of the voice was coming from the bathroom. Immediately, silence had followed in a split second, and soon it became too quiet that something could then be possibly wrong. What the twins wouldn’t really know was that Feng had decided to make their haunted house story come partially true. He had basically disappeared, but really he was hiding in the bathroom cabinet, glad to know that he could fit in there. He slammed the door shut to make it more frightening, and kept it shut, listening for the twins.

[Sly Cooper]

The twins had been using the alone time to do—alone time not so twin like things. And they were enjoying themselves till they heard a scream coming from down below. The two of them stopped what they were doing and looked at one another trying to decide whether or not to go see if they should check it out. “Ah—it’s probably just a spider. I don’t know why. They aren’t scary, they’re tasty!”

“Jude, I don’t think he would scream over a spider like that.” Joan scowled at her brother.

“Fine fine. Let’s go check it out. I’m sure it’s nothing.” The two got up and headed down stairs like a couple of sloths. The bathroom door was shut, so Joan knocked.

“Why did you bother?”

“Because it’s polite.”

Jude shook his head, and then busted the door down. “Yo, kid, you called?” He wasn’t on the toilet. “Hmm—kids don’t just disappear. Maybe he took off.”

“I doubt it.”

“Then you go look for him. I’m going back up stairs. I don’t feel like hide and seek in the dark.” He went to turn back around when Joan grabbed him by the upper arm. “What?”

“Why do you have to be so difficult?” she scolded her brother.

“Because I’m impatient. Besides, I want the ghost to get him first. Then he won’t be laughing at our story any more.”

“You want it to grab him by the arm and drag him out of bed?”

“Or wherever he is hiding, yeah.”

“Jude!” she scolded again.

“Fffffine!”

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He heard as they came down the stairs, approached the bathroom, and simply rolled his eyes at the knock. He knew that Joan had knocked, and he was glad she respected his privacy, but he wasn’t really needing it that much at the time. Jude, on the other hand, he was somewhat disappointed that the young man had just basically kicked the door wide open. But then again, he couldn’t have said anything, so he couldn’t blame the man for being obnoxious. He listened as they argued back and forth, slowly opening the cabinet door so that he could sneak through the dark towards them. When he was by Jude’s feet, he would then lash out and grab the young man’s ankle in an attempt to frighten his brother, since he had managed to scare Joan already.

[Sly Cooper]

Jude didn't yell, he didn't shout, he didn't jump or yelp, he just got angry. "Yeah I told you the kid was fine. I'm going back upstairs."

Joan waited for her brother to disappear back into the dark before turning to the young boy. "I should've warned you about that. Jude donen't like it it when you try to scare him." she bent down to be more eye level with Feng. "See he's the youngest male in our family, and in our family, it's tradition to pick out and pray on the youngest boy. So he gets really angry. On the upside, he's probably only angry because you scared him." She smiled at him and offered her hand, to lead him back to the attic.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

Feng could tell just from the tone in Jude’s voice that instead of scaring the teenager like he had intended to, he only angered the young man. And in turn, he got upset himself, since anger tended to be contagious when it wasn’t really necessary. He listened as Joan started to explain, and then she had offered to lead him back up to the attic. But he quickly slapped it down, folded his arms (with a little wince as he had accidentally hit his bad wrist), and furrowed his eyebrows as he glared up the stairs. “You’re a big doo-doo head, fartface!” He yelled at Jude, and then looked at Joan before rolling his eyes as he turned around, looking away.

[Sly Cooper]

Joan not being very patient with immaturity, didn’t say another word, and instead went up stairs to her ‘baby brother’. She curled in Jude’s arms like she had been before the whole incident, and then ran her fingers through his platinum hair. Although Jude didn’t look at her, and he didn’t speak, but his face lightened up a bit as his mood improved. Then she stroked his face till he was pleasant to be around again. He finally turned his head and focused on his sister the best he could in the dark. He leaned his head in close to her and the two pecked each other on the lips.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

After a few minutes had passed, of mostly silence and the dark for Feng, he started to feel uneasy. He thought he was seeing movement downstairs, and so he started to slowly back up the stairs, not knowing that the moon was just playing tricks on his mind. When he reached the top of the stairs, he felt for the door but saw that it hadn’t been closed. He entered the attic quietly, not wanting to get yelled at, and then shut the door just as quietly. Now he tiptoed back into the small handmade arena only to find the twins kissing each other. His eyes widened, and the boy immediately gulped only to find a lump in his throat. Were they kissing because they were siblings, or were they kissing for more than just that? He didn’t really want to find out. He could imagine himself kissing Joan like that and being okay with it, but if Jude wanted to kiss him like that he was definitely going to smack him across the face. Even if his family used to share pecks on the lips.