Chapter Text
The Pink Palace.
A beautiful yet old building right off the suburbs of a small town in Oregon.
It stood tall, despite only having two floors, three if you count the small attic. Slightly chipped and worn out chiffon pink painted the sides, though it was not too old, at least not as old as the building. White detailed the lines and railings of the house, obviously once clear white now gray in some areas. Contrastingly dark tiles covered the roof of the victorian style mansion, too far away and too dark to see any signs of decay from the base of the house.
Definitely not what came to mind when Tommy thought of 'apartment complex', but what could he do.
Sure, it was pretty and all, but what did he care for looks, he was honestly more concerned about the obvious likelihood of there being no one around his age living here, let alone and teenagers at all. This seemed like a cheap retirement place to him, no kid in their right mind would want to live a 20 minute drive from town.
Though Tommy didn't really have any choice in the matter, what his parents says goes. Something about wanting to live close to their work’s headquarters or whatever. They were both some sort of plant researchers or whatever, which would be cool if they actually researched plants instead of just writing about other peoples studies. Tommy never took interest in what they did when they came to their work, he found it boring, because it really was very boring.
He looked up at the building, never breaking eye contact with it. He got weird vibes from it, the asymmetry and vast amounts of different windows were throwing him off. He was definitely not an architect, but he could still say it looked weird too him.
The windows were too dark, like car windows, blocking out any view to the inside. No doubt it was probably from dust and old age, the glass definitely being older than the paint.
"Thomas, I swear to god, can you stop just standing there and help already?"
He heard his mother hiss from the front porch, where their entrance to the house stood. She was balancing a plain cardboard box in her hands, stumbling through the wide open door way.
Tommy sighed before walking over to the back of his dad's rundown van, pulling out a box which he knew was his, as he marked it on the top with bright red sharpie. He struggled to heft the heavy box up into his pale noodle-like arms, he unfortunately was not the strongest, but he'd cope. He dragged his feet along the pavement and up the small set of stairs leading into the house.
He took his first peak inside the house since they arrived, pleased to see the inside was at least a tiny bit more modern looking than the outside, though that didn't change the worn look of the inside, slight curling wallpaper and rust on the old-fashioned heater in the corner of the room.
He trudged up the stairs, practically panting when he reached the top, before heading the very end of the second floor hallway, where his parents had told him his room was.
It was a little disappointing to say the least, a small twin sized bed with egg shell white walls, a closet on the far side of the room. It was boring right now, but he could make it work, the blond did pride himself in his decorating skills. First thing he'd change is the horrid,
thin, blue, plaid blanket that laid on the bed, he never was a fan of the color blue.
Though there was a nice, big window in the corner of the room, Tommy liked windows, made the room feel more open.
He jogged up to the window, finally excited about something. He realized that this is the tower like thing that was attached to the house he saw earlier, though it definitely did not look like a tower from the inside. He could see the gravel road they traveled on to get here, his dad's van out front, and the long rows of trees beyond that.
Through admiring the still rather dull scenery, he saw a boy sitting on a rock near the tree-line, he had definitely not seen a boy there before. He wore a dark green sweater and had fluffy brown hair which seemed to be a little dampened from the wet atmosphere. This could be a friend! He was basically in the acceptance stage of grief over having no friends here, but the boy looked right around his age, maybe a tiny bit younger, but still around there.
He smiled, deciding that once he finished bringing up all his boxes he was going to make his first friend in Oregon.
-
After Tommy finished taking up the last box he sat exhausted on the steps of his front door, staring out at the misty forest that surrounded the pink palace on all sides.
There was a crow on the railing of the porch now, head tilted at the boy curiously. He scowled at the bird, which it did not react to, just continued to stare at him. Tommy didn't like birds very much, they were annoying. Back at his old house they'd always be fucking everywhere, he was hoping they would be gone with the move, but here was one of the motherfuckers in front of him, seemingly mocking him.
He angrily picked up a rock from the path in front of him and chucked it at the crow. The bird flew off before the rock could hit it, cawing loudly as it disappeared behind the house.
Tommy sighed and turned his gaze back to the forest. He looked to where he saw that boy from the window earlier, only to find that place on the tree-line completely empty. He was just there, had he left?
Curiosity took over as he took one quick look over his shoulder before jogging to the tall woods, his parent's wouldn't realize he was gone as long as he showed up before dinner. He jumped over the especially muddy parts of the road, stopping once he hit the spot where the boy had been near moments before. He sighed feeling a bit resigned at his foolish hope to find a friend before he spotted something shining on the ground.
He didn't hesitate to pick up the silvery metallic object, quickly realizing it was magnifying glass. It didn't look all that dirty, worn out sure, but definitely had not been out here for long, that must mean the boy left it here.
Tommy wouldn't admit it but he was kind of glad he had a reason to go look for the brunet stranger beyond the tree-line. So without much thought of possibly getting lost or hurt, he went off into the forest, trying to piece together where the boy went. There had to be something out here if this is where the boy went.
The blond had a love hate relationship with nature, he had a reason to love everything out in the wilderness, but also a reason to hate everything. So he settled of a feeling of neutrality, loving it when it was convenient and like wise for hating it.
Though he definitely had to say, there was a lot more reasons to hate this forest than love it. The way the dark canopy of leaves hid away any of the already small amounts of light that came from the cloudy sky made him feel claustrophobic. It was just cold enough to be uncomfortable while wearing the thin hoodie he wore, but enough that he doesn't think a jacket would be needed. The odd amount of water that clung to everything felt a little suffocating, it was everywhere, on the ground, dripping down from the leaves high above his head, even floating around in the air.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost screamed when he heard footsteps behind him.
He whipped around worriedly, calming down a bit once he locked eyes with the same boy he saw from before. He could see now that the boy was a lot tinier than him, at least by five inches or so, though his face looked a lot more mature than he originally thought. His nose was slightly down turned and had very big mocha colored eyes that resembled a lemur's. But despite his somewhat younger features he knew he was around his age from the small smile lines that were forming under his eyes and the off texture of his skin, too rough to be of someone younger.
The boy looked apprehensive, but not intimidated, "You have my magnifying glass.." He muttered.
Tommy's eyes followed the brunet's down to his own hand, which was wrapped around the metallic magnifying glass which he almost forgot he was holding. He awkwardly brought up his hand from his side and towards the boy, holding it out almost like how a priest would hold out a crucifix to a ghost.
"Yes, I know, that's why I have it." Tommy stated a little too confidently for such a stupid situation.
The boy tilted his head before slowly plucking the gadget out of his hands, staring at Tommy a little confused. Tommy tucked his hands into his pockets, not very sure of what to do with them. "I saw you from my window, you left it behind so I went to return it to you. I'm kind of generous like that." He gave a obviously unsure yet sincere smile.
The brunet looked behind him behind him, obviously thinking about the apartments he must of seen him from, pondering for a moment before he spoke. "You.. live in the pink palace?" He asked, tucking the returned magnifying glass in his basically falling apart suede backpack. "Uhh, yeah! Just moved in."
He didn't seem to like that, his face cringing a bit when Tommy confirmed his suspicion. Did he feel bad for him? Tommy would feel bad for himself too if he heard he was moving into a house decently far from town. "Oh, so you're the one who moved in today?" He more stated then asked, mostly just putting two and two together out loud. "Yep, unfortunately, didn't really want to move out here but what can you do?" He gave a half-hearted laugh, trying to break the awkward amount of tension that had built in the forest. The brunet wasn't doing much to help that fact, but he still was going to try, he wasn't going to let the friendship with probably the only other kid out here fly away that easily.
"Well uh, do me a favor and don't tell my mom I was over there? She doesn't like me getting near that place."
That confused Tommy, what was so bad about that place? Maybe his neighbors were bad people, that wouldn't be the best. Though Tommy could deal with them, he was tough. Even though that's what he immediately assumed, he still felt inclined to ask, "Uhh, why?" It was phrased stupidly, but he wasn't exactly known for being the smartest.
The brunet looked around a bit before leaning in with a slight gleam in his eyes, the awkward skin that surrounded him melting off as he spoke, "They say it's haunted,"
Tommy raised an eyebrow at that.
"Apparently kids disappear there or something, a boy who explored around there went missing a few years ago. Rumor has it that someone went missing a decade or so prior to that as well." The boy spoke with no smile, yet a hint of amusement in his eyes, guess he just had a kick for ghost stories. "Huh.. sounds like bullshit to me." Tommy smirked when the boy let out a slight offended gasp.
"It's not I swear, it's true! I was still living near here when that boy went missing." He seemed a little too eager to defend himself, but Tommy just took it as a moment to make fun of the boy, his impish nature finally showing. "Oh reallyy? Why don't you prove it then?"
The boy stood up straight at that, trying to add some height to his rather small frame, at least compared to the looming fucking tree which was Tommy, well at least for his age. "You know what, I will!" He retorted, sounding a bit more just annoyed and upset than angry. "Ok, do it then." Tommy's response was almost immediate, never one to back down from a challenge.
"W- well.." The brunet faltered at that, only making Tommy's grin widen. "I don't have any proof on me now, but I'll show you later, them you'll see I'm right."
He started backing up into the forest, going even further away from the pink palace. The boy was obviously leaving somewhere when he had went looking for him, so of course he'd have to be leaving.
The blond also turned, ready to go back home to himself until, "Oh, by the way," Tommy flipped back around that, seeing the boy still walking away, but backwards as to look his direction, "The name's Tubbo!"
Tommy smirked, shouting back, "That's a stupid fucking name!" Tubbo laughed lightheartedly for the first time in front of Tommy, luckily picking up that fake insults were just Tommy's sense of humor. "Yeah? And what's yours?"
"Tommy!"
"That's also a stupid fucking name!"
Tommy could barely see the brunet anymore, but still finished the conversation regardless.
"Haha- nice to meet ya, Tubbo!"
"You too!
He did it. He made a friend.
-
And then he was bored again.
Bothering his parents was a no, they already weren't the keenest when he bothered them normally, but if he did that now when they were stressed out from the move they'd be mad at him for sure. So he settled for roaming around the house to try and cure his boredom, running around the rooms that sometimes vastly contradicted each other, one moment he could be in a normal hallway next he'd be in some victorian style bathroom, obviously somethings have been renovated more than others.
He found himself wandering into what seemed to be a living room, much more the victorian side. Pale green wallpaper covered the walls, white accents built around it. It had extremely minimal furniture, there only being a couple old gray chairs and a fireplace that's seemed much more made for the looks than the functionality, though a peak up it did reveal that it was in fact real and lead up to a chimney.
Other than that, just another boring empty room that this house has.
He was walking out of the open doorway when he saw something in the corner of the room behind some boxes.
Tommy skipped over to the wall, examining the weird dent in the wall not-so throughly before pulling aside the boxes to get a better look at it. After fully moving them aside, he realized that the dent was actually from covering something, which he quickly realized was a door, though a tiny one. There's a small chance that a fully grown adult might be able to squeeze through it, but he'd be able to crawl through it no problem, he might be tall for his age, but he was much skinnier than average.
It had no door knob, but there was a covered lock. He couldn't see the lock, but he knew it was fancy looking from the shape. There was something engraved on the top of it, it looked like a circle with a couple of holes, sort of like a button?
He felt curiosity run through him, the excitement forcing him to stand and walk to the kitchen.
His mother was working in there with her laptop, eyebrows scrunched in obvious stress and annoyance. Tommy decided not to get in her way and instead tiptoe around her to the key drawer in the back, which he had seen her looking through before. He looked through the old wooden drawer, staring at the seemingly endless amounts of keys, having know clue of how to figure out which one belonged to the small door until he picked up one key.
It was much smaller than the rest, the key made of some black-ish gray metal. But the big thing that lead him towards it was at the very bottom of it, there was abnormal circle shape with holes in it, looking exactly alike to the engraving on the door.
He goes off to walk away, only to be stopped, "What are you doing with that, Thomas?"
His mother was now looking up from the screen, her dark blue eyes narrowed at the boy. Tommy gripped the key with is lanky fingers, nervously staring at her. "I found a door that was locked.. I wanted to open it."
She stared at him for a second, obviously about to yell at him until she sighed. Probably too tired to yell, simply waving him off, silently asking him to leave. Tommy gladly ran off, not wanting to make her more upset by bothering her.
His excitement started to come back, warming up his body as he jogged down the rugged hallways. He ran into the room and immediately fell onto his knees in front of the door, cutting the wallpaper around the door in order to open it. He didn't know why this door was making him so intrigued, but he didn't care very much, more focused on just opening it.
Though that intrigue slowly dripped out of his body as the door revealed what laid beyond, a brick wall.
Him saying he was disappointed was an understatement, but not much he could do.
The blond sighed, dragging the boxes back over to cover the door before standing up and sulking back up to his room, settling to just unpack for the rest of the night.
-
Tommy groaned as he was torn from his sweet precious sleep. Huffing as he tugged a pillow down on his head and over his ears, trying to block out the horridly loud sound that was dragging him away from resting.
The stress of today had made his body tired, he really just wanted to continue laying there for forever and never move again.
He found himself finally getting close to sleep again when another loud shriek rang through his bedroom. He groaned, curling up even more while trying to ignore the noise, at least until the sleepy haze started falling away enough for Tommy to realize, there was something cawing in his bedroom.
Tommy sat up quickly letting his eyes dart around the dark room, trying to pin point where the noise was coming from.
Another caw made his eyes flicker over to the open doorway, even though he knew he closed it before he went to sleep. Standing there was a crow, looking much alike to the one he saw the prior day, maybe it was the same one. Was the bird breaking into his house to get revenge? Was it a killer bird?
He nodded off his crazed thoughts before looking back to the crow, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't going crazy. How the hell did a whole bird get into his house and open his door? Had maybe someone left the front door open? He hoped not, his parent's would surely go off at him for that.
The crow was looking almost expectantly at the blond, like it was waiting for him to do something.
He slowly stood on shaky knees, grabbing his lacrosse stick which was leaned against the wall for self-defense, still not completely convinced that the bird wouldn't attack him. He approached the crow slowly, holding the stick out in front of himself just in case. He almost screeched when he got a few feet away from the bird, it flew off and into the upstairs hallway. He peaked his head out the hallway, seeing it now resting at the top of the stairs, staring at him the same way again.
Was it trying to get him to follow it?
He hesitantly followed, trying to see if his theory was correct. And he was correct, the bird flying down the stairs when he got close enough, waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him.
He tiptoed through the house while following the crow, shushing it every now and then when it cawed or flapped it's wings too loud. He didn't want to wake his parents, knowing them they'd blame him for letting it in the house, when he wasn't even the one who let it in, the crow let itself in!
It stopped at the green living room he was in earlier, the one with the small door which lead to no where.
This time, in the night it did not sit completely dim like the others, but instead had a soft blue glow that danced around the room, moving, but slowly, sort of like a reflection of water. He looked around for the crow after getting over the wonder of entering the room, only to find it missing. Shit! His parents were going to kill him! Now of all times it chose to be quiet, when it snuck off, probably to get him in trouble out of spite.
Upon another glance at the room, he found where the glow was coming from.
Behind the mass amounts of boxes, the door he had opened earlier was slightly ajar, blue light seeping out of it. He bent down to peer through the door, wondering what had changed from the plain brick wall.
Instead of being met with the same wall as before, he looked straight down a beautiful blue tunnel, a door on the other side, leading to who knows where.