Fic - Hidden Horrors (Prodigal Son)
Oct. 31st, 2020 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessTitle: Hidden Horrors
author:cornerofmadness
Characters/Pairings: Malcolm Vijay
Disclaimer: Not mine, Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver owns it
Summary: Fifteen year old Malcolm Whitly has known true horrors so he doubts the haunted house Vijay takes him to can do anything to scare him.
Rating: teen
Notes: Written for Halloween 2020 for cozy_coffee for the prompt Any, any, Nightmare and for allbingo’s prompt of freaky doll. If you want to see it on AO3 head here.
XXX
Malcolm was having a surprisingly good time even though Vijay had literally dragged him into the limo their school had rented to shuttle the students to the haunted attraction. Kids in their social strata didn’t do school buses, after all. Malcolm didn’t think a haunted house would be a thing he’d enjoy because he’d grown up in one. Every time he went home to Mother’s all he saw was the girl in the box and other victims his father had left behind. Malcolm didn’t know if all of them had been in the house but he knew for certain what he saw in the basement, even if Mother and Gil didn’t believe him.
Vijay had somehow found them ‘dates’ for the attraction, twins from the sister school to theirs. Amy and Adelaide had been a complete surprise to Malcolm. He didn’t date. Vijay knew that. It wasn’t that he was uninterested. How could he trust anyone? Between people wanting him merely for the family fortune and all the abuse he’d been through as The Surgeon’s kid, Malcolm didn’t trust many. Even Vijay was pulling away from him but Malcolm tried to cling tight, even though he knew - he knew - it was a losing battle.
Amy linked her arm with his, pulling him through the graveyard outside the haunted house. Malcolm let her tug him close even though he knew this would go nowhere. “You haven’t jumped once. You must be so brave.”
“He is,” Vijay said quickly, giving Malcolm a look that made him shut his mouth tight.
Of course, he had been going to say, actors in a haunted attraction weren’t nearly as scary as finding out your father murdered twenty-three people.
“I’d be less brave if any of this was real,” he said.
“Ooo, I know what you mean,” Amy said. “And I know just the right place for that.” She suddenly screamed in his ear, holding him closer as someone dressed as a zombie popped out from behind a ‘tombstone.’
Malcolm laughed. “That one was good.”
“Good? Damn near wet myself,” Vijay said. Adelaide was halfway inside his skin after that scare.
“You were saying something about a real haunted house?” Malcolm said.
Amy pointed to the park across from the attraction. “If we cut through there, we’ll be at the old, abandoned asylum.”
“Oh, Amy, no!” Adelaide cried.
Malcolm grinned. It was probably a dumb idea but it was Halloween, and it was a time for being scared, right? “I’m interested.”
“What? Have you lost it, Whitly?” Vijay eyed him like he had indeed lost it.
“We came here to be scared, right?” Malcolm reasoned. “A real haunted asylum would fit the bill.” Maybe he’d find something scarier than his own mind. It would at least distract him from the stupid rolling around in his dreams.
“You are nuts, Whitly.” Vijay clapped a hand on Malcolm’s back. “Let’s do this!”
X X X
Malcolm didn’t know where Amy had gone. She had raced ahead of him. Malcolm couldn’t hear her or anyone for that matter. His flashlight, hurriedly purchased at a convenience store, barely cut through the murk in the abandoned asylum. The idea of an asylum didn’t frighten him, not really, not when he visited one filled with serial killers, rapists, cannibals and who knew what else lurked behind the walls of Claremont. Besides, he was fifteen, and he had put childish fears behind him, right?
Wrong! he thought when he heard the rhythmic creaking echoing in the corridor. Malcolm inched closer to where the sound was coming from. The room had been abandoned, like several others he’d nosed about in, with furniture still in it. The metal framed bed had a moldering mattress on it but that didn’t hold his interest. In the corner a rocking chair slowly rocked back and forth.
It’s the wind. The glass isn’t in the window any more, just the metal bars, he tried to convince himself of that. The freaky doll sitting on the chair did not help that image. The bisque hair and face were cracked. It stared at him with dead, flat, black eyes. The remnants of a Victorian party dress waved slightly with the movements of the chair. The doll was moving it. Malcolm knew it was true. It made no logical, scientific sense but Malcolm knew the doll was behind the rocking.
The doll shifted and a laugh sounded right in his ear. He whipped around, expecting to see Vijay or the sisters pranking him but no one was there. Malcolm turned back around, hearing footsteps. The room was empty and the doll was gone. Not wanting to find out where the hell the doll was, he took off down the hall.
“Malcolm!” He heard a man’s voice call but it didn’t sound like Vijay, too deep, too adult. He knew that voice.
Shaking his head, he still went toward the sound of the voice as if drawn in by a string. He found his father in one of the rooms. He wasn’t wearing his Claremont uniform. Instead, he was in the blue paper gown surgeons wore over powder blue scrubs. Malcolm couldn’t breathe. On the ground were the twins. Amy and Adelaide were past saving. His father had artfully arranged Adelaide’s organs around her body. Amy was stretched out in anatomical position with her eyeballs in her hands.
“W-w-what have you done?” Malcolm stammered.
“What I’ve always done, my boy. Bodies hold such mysteries and isn’t that what you’re here for? To unspool the mystery of this place?” His father squatted down next to Vijay whose abdomen was open but his friend was still alive, moaning softly. “Your friend doesn’t have much to him, does he? He’s handsome but a bit…empty. Is his head as empty as the rest of him? From what you told me, he doesn’t seem like he’s the sharpest scalpel on the tray.” His father smiled widely. “Come on, Malcolm. Help your dad out.”
Malcolm prowled toward Vijay. Maybe he could rush his father, get the blade away from him and get help. He could still save his friend.
“See what I mean? This is not a boy of substance. You can do better.” His father waved him over.
Malcolm peered down at Vijay. His abdomen was just an empty, red-rimed hole. Malcolm screamed and kept on screaming until his throat bled.
“Whitly!”
Malcolm drew breath to keep on screaming.
“Whitly, wake up!” Someone shook him. “Malcolm!”
Malcolm sat bolt upright, shaking. Vijay sat on the edge of his bed, his hand on Malcolm’s shoulder. He had his robe on loosely over his pajamas.
“Damn, Whitly, what were you dreaming?” Vijay shook his head.
Malcolm ran his hands over his face. No one in this school shared a room. Wealth came with privilege. Malcolm had a corner room to accommodate his nightmares, one less person to hear him through the walls. Vijay shared the other wall. “My dad dissected you.”
Vijay cocked his head to the side, frowning. “Yeah I’d scream too.”
“We were in the asylum,” Malcolm whispered.
Blowing a raspberry, Vijay got up. “Should have known better than to let you go in that place.” He shut the door to Malcolm’s room.
“Nothing happened. We just walked around, sneezing because it was mildewy and gross.”
Vijay shrugged. “True but why did you want to go into something that was really haunted? Wasn’t the attraction scary enough?”
“It’s not scary when I know it’s actors. I wanted to be really scared. I thought maybe it could convince my brain that there were real scares out there, and it could stop manufacturing terrors for me.” Malcolm shook his head.
Vijay snorted. “That was a spectacular failure.”
Malcolm rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”
“It’s a good thing I’m familiar with you, Whitly.” Vijay dug into his robe and pulled out a couple of the chocolate bars that had been in their goodie bags when the limo brought them back from the event. He shoved Malcolm over on the mattress and squashed him against the wall. He presented the chocolate with a flourish. “This will cheer you up.”
Hands shaking, Malcolm took the bar but he couldn’t quite get it unwrapped. His hands didn’t want to work. Sighing Vijay pulled it free from his hand and undid it for him. “Thanks.”
“Let’s go down to the common room and watch some TV. I don’t think you’ll be sleeping.” Vijay pushed Malcolm’s bangs back. He swung back out of the bed and Malcolm wanted his warmth against him again.
He accepted Vijay’s hand up. Vijay slipped his arms around Malcolm and pulled him into a kiss, leaving Malcolm’s head spinning.
“That’ll be even nicer once you taste of chocolate.” Vijay grinned.
“I’m sure.” Malcolm grinned.
Vijay locked his arm around Malcolm’s waist steering him toward the door. “Happy Halloween, Whitly.”
“Happy Halloween, Vijay.”
Part of Malcolm wanted to stay in and make out some more but his upset brain needed the mindlessly of TV. He was just happy to have someone like Vijay in his life. It might not last much longer but he would enjoy every moment he had with his friend. Nightmare aside, this really was a happy Halloween.
author:
cornerofmadnessCharacters/Pairings: Malcolm Vijay
Disclaimer: Not mine, Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver owns it
Summary: Fifteen year old Malcolm Whitly has known true horrors so he doubts the haunted house Vijay takes him to can do anything to scare him.
Rating: teen
Notes: Written for Halloween 2020 for cozy_coffee for the prompt Any, any, Nightmare and for allbingo’s prompt of freaky doll. If you want to see it on AO3 head here.
XXX
Malcolm was having a surprisingly good time even though Vijay had literally dragged him into the limo their school had rented to shuttle the students to the haunted attraction. Kids in their social strata didn’t do school buses, after all. Malcolm didn’t think a haunted house would be a thing he’d enjoy because he’d grown up in one. Every time he went home to Mother’s all he saw was the girl in the box and other victims his father had left behind. Malcolm didn’t know if all of them had been in the house but he knew for certain what he saw in the basement, even if Mother and Gil didn’t believe him.
Vijay had somehow found them ‘dates’ for the attraction, twins from the sister school to theirs. Amy and Adelaide had been a complete surprise to Malcolm. He didn’t date. Vijay knew that. It wasn’t that he was uninterested. How could he trust anyone? Between people wanting him merely for the family fortune and all the abuse he’d been through as The Surgeon’s kid, Malcolm didn’t trust many. Even Vijay was pulling away from him but Malcolm tried to cling tight, even though he knew - he knew - it was a losing battle.
Amy linked her arm with his, pulling him through the graveyard outside the haunted house. Malcolm let her tug him close even though he knew this would go nowhere. “You haven’t jumped once. You must be so brave.”
“He is,” Vijay said quickly, giving Malcolm a look that made him shut his mouth tight.
Of course, he had been going to say, actors in a haunted attraction weren’t nearly as scary as finding out your father murdered twenty-three people.
“I’d be less brave if any of this was real,” he said.
“Ooo, I know what you mean,” Amy said. “And I know just the right place for that.” She suddenly screamed in his ear, holding him closer as someone dressed as a zombie popped out from behind a ‘tombstone.’
Malcolm laughed. “That one was good.”
“Good? Damn near wet myself,” Vijay said. Adelaide was halfway inside his skin after that scare.
“You were saying something about a real haunted house?” Malcolm said.
Amy pointed to the park across from the attraction. “If we cut through there, we’ll be at the old, abandoned asylum.”
“Oh, Amy, no!” Adelaide cried.
Malcolm grinned. It was probably a dumb idea but it was Halloween, and it was a time for being scared, right? “I’m interested.”
“What? Have you lost it, Whitly?” Vijay eyed him like he had indeed lost it.
“We came here to be scared, right?” Malcolm reasoned. “A real haunted asylum would fit the bill.” Maybe he’d find something scarier than his own mind. It would at least distract him from the stupid rolling around in his dreams.
“You are nuts, Whitly.” Vijay clapped a hand on Malcolm’s back. “Let’s do this!”
X X X
Malcolm didn’t know where Amy had gone. She had raced ahead of him. Malcolm couldn’t hear her or anyone for that matter. His flashlight, hurriedly purchased at a convenience store, barely cut through the murk in the abandoned asylum. The idea of an asylum didn’t frighten him, not really, not when he visited one filled with serial killers, rapists, cannibals and who knew what else lurked behind the walls of Claremont. Besides, he was fifteen, and he had put childish fears behind him, right?
Wrong! he thought when he heard the rhythmic creaking echoing in the corridor. Malcolm inched closer to where the sound was coming from. The room had been abandoned, like several others he’d nosed about in, with furniture still in it. The metal framed bed had a moldering mattress on it but that didn’t hold his interest. In the corner a rocking chair slowly rocked back and forth.
It’s the wind. The glass isn’t in the window any more, just the metal bars, he tried to convince himself of that. The freaky doll sitting on the chair did not help that image. The bisque hair and face were cracked. It stared at him with dead, flat, black eyes. The remnants of a Victorian party dress waved slightly with the movements of the chair. The doll was moving it. Malcolm knew it was true. It made no logical, scientific sense but Malcolm knew the doll was behind the rocking.
The doll shifted and a laugh sounded right in his ear. He whipped around, expecting to see Vijay or the sisters pranking him but no one was there. Malcolm turned back around, hearing footsteps. The room was empty and the doll was gone. Not wanting to find out where the hell the doll was, he took off down the hall.
“Malcolm!” He heard a man’s voice call but it didn’t sound like Vijay, too deep, too adult. He knew that voice.
Shaking his head, he still went toward the sound of the voice as if drawn in by a string. He found his father in one of the rooms. He wasn’t wearing his Claremont uniform. Instead, he was in the blue paper gown surgeons wore over powder blue scrubs. Malcolm couldn’t breathe. On the ground were the twins. Amy and Adelaide were past saving. His father had artfully arranged Adelaide’s organs around her body. Amy was stretched out in anatomical position with her eyeballs in her hands.
“W-w-what have you done?” Malcolm stammered.
“What I’ve always done, my boy. Bodies hold such mysteries and isn’t that what you’re here for? To unspool the mystery of this place?” His father squatted down next to Vijay whose abdomen was open but his friend was still alive, moaning softly. “Your friend doesn’t have much to him, does he? He’s handsome but a bit…empty. Is his head as empty as the rest of him? From what you told me, he doesn’t seem like he’s the sharpest scalpel on the tray.” His father smiled widely. “Come on, Malcolm. Help your dad out.”
Malcolm prowled toward Vijay. Maybe he could rush his father, get the blade away from him and get help. He could still save his friend.
“See what I mean? This is not a boy of substance. You can do better.” His father waved him over.
Malcolm peered down at Vijay. His abdomen was just an empty, red-rimed hole. Malcolm screamed and kept on screaming until his throat bled.
“Whitly!”
Malcolm drew breath to keep on screaming.
“Whitly, wake up!” Someone shook him. “Malcolm!”
Malcolm sat bolt upright, shaking. Vijay sat on the edge of his bed, his hand on Malcolm’s shoulder. He had his robe on loosely over his pajamas.
“Damn, Whitly, what were you dreaming?” Vijay shook his head.
Malcolm ran his hands over his face. No one in this school shared a room. Wealth came with privilege. Malcolm had a corner room to accommodate his nightmares, one less person to hear him through the walls. Vijay shared the other wall. “My dad dissected you.”
Vijay cocked his head to the side, frowning. “Yeah I’d scream too.”
“We were in the asylum,” Malcolm whispered.
Blowing a raspberry, Vijay got up. “Should have known better than to let you go in that place.” He shut the door to Malcolm’s room.
“Nothing happened. We just walked around, sneezing because it was mildewy and gross.”
Vijay shrugged. “True but why did you want to go into something that was really haunted? Wasn’t the attraction scary enough?”
“It’s not scary when I know it’s actors. I wanted to be really scared. I thought maybe it could convince my brain that there were real scares out there, and it could stop manufacturing terrors for me.” Malcolm shook his head.
Vijay snorted. “That was a spectacular failure.”
Malcolm rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”
“It’s a good thing I’m familiar with you, Whitly.” Vijay dug into his robe and pulled out a couple of the chocolate bars that had been in their goodie bags when the limo brought them back from the event. He shoved Malcolm over on the mattress and squashed him against the wall. He presented the chocolate with a flourish. “This will cheer you up.”
Hands shaking, Malcolm took the bar but he couldn’t quite get it unwrapped. His hands didn’t want to work. Sighing Vijay pulled it free from his hand and undid it for him. “Thanks.”
“Let’s go down to the common room and watch some TV. I don’t think you’ll be sleeping.” Vijay pushed Malcolm’s bangs back. He swung back out of the bed and Malcolm wanted his warmth against him again.
He accepted Vijay’s hand up. Vijay slipped his arms around Malcolm and pulled him into a kiss, leaving Malcolm’s head spinning.
“That’ll be even nicer once you taste of chocolate.” Vijay grinned.
“I’m sure.” Malcolm grinned.
Vijay locked his arm around Malcolm’s waist steering him toward the door. “Happy Halloween, Whitly.”
“Happy Halloween, Vijay.”
Part of Malcolm wanted to stay in and make out some more but his upset brain needed the mindlessly of TV. He was just happy to have someone like Vijay in his life. It might not last much longer but he would enjoy every moment he had with his friend. Nightmare aside, this really was a happy Halloween.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}