"Where are you taking that, Chanse?"

A short woman with black silken locks turned to her son, who had shared most of her features. Her violet eyes met his identical irises. The boy turned, a sandwich wrapped up in his hands.

"To a friend's." He answered timidly.

"Which one?" Xylia smirked, cocking her head.

"Um..." A pause. "Uh-- he's waiting, I gotta go." Chanse gave his mother a quick peck on the cheek before making for the door.

Just then he was tackled and clung to by a younger, chocolate haired boy. The littler one looked up at him. "Can I come? I'm bored."

"Well yeah, but I'm not coming straight home..."

"I don't caaaare, I just wanna go somewhere." Ketan blinked and faked a pout to ensure that his brother would agree. It worked, and he smiled. "Where are we going?"

"Just around town. I think there's a new shop and I wanna check it out."

The two boys scrambled out the door and onto the street. Their father, Vessel, passed them by. He asked where they were going, how long they would be, be safe, and all the other parental things he could review before going inside. Chanse answered everything politely. Somehow when he did that, it made his father smile. Vessel didn't smile all that often. He still couldn't figure out why.

And so they went. Chanse led the way with Ketan beside him, who was whistling happily. They passed by several houses and crossed a few streets. The neighbor kids said hello, offered to play a game with them, and ran away with no less enthusiasm after they were turned down. The two brothers seemed as close as they would ever be, even with the strange age gap between them. Ketan seemed to be stuck at age 7. Chanse was 13, but looked much younger. They couldn't quite figure each other out, but either way, they were happy to be friends.

But there came a time when they stopped at the corner of a block and Chanse stopped them. He turned, waving the wrapped sandwich around. "I have to make a quick stop."

"Where?" Ketan looked around.

Chanse pointed. The house on the corner was droopy and gray, a gloom forever settled over it. It was in poor condition. The roof sagged, the panelling was battered, the lawn was overgrown with weeds and grasses. Not to mention all the dirty, broken shutters closing off the windows. There were a few trees in the front yard, even more in the back. A single crow cackled from one of the branches.

"Not there!" Ketan grabbed at Chanse's shirt and tugged at it. "Don't go there anymore, Chanse, I don't like it!"

"Ketan..." He gently pried his brother's hands away. "It's okay. We've already proven more than once that I'll be fine, okay? I'm not going inside this time."

"... Why a sandwich?"

Chanse looked down at the food. He blushed, showing an odd bit of faint violet coming to his cheeks, and told Ketan to wait there. The raven-haired boy strolled up to the old wooden door, set the sandwich before it, knocked, and strolled away. Ketan was there and hugged his brother immediately, as if he would be lost if he let go.

"Hey, Ketan," Chanse pulled away to look down at him with a cocked head. "What do you think he looks like?" He was talking about the inhabitant of the dark house.

"Um... Everyone says he's all tall and shadowy. You can never see his face, 'cause he only comes out at night. And he drags his feet and has blood on his hands. He's like... He's like a shadow, you know? A scary one..." Ketan hugged at his brother again. "Aren't you scared?"

Chanse knew what the man really looked like. "Nah..." He didn't bother to contradict. His brother was young, and easy to believe in ghost stories. Ketan could decide on his own what he really believed when he was ready.

Chanse turned around, flicking a lavender gaze over at the faroff door. It creaked slightly open. After a long few minutes, a grimy, almost black hand snuck from out of the crack in the door, and shakily pulled in the food. The door slammed shut abruptly.

Ketan jumped anxiously, "Did you see that?! I told you he was a shadow, his hand was all black!"

"Hey," Chanse shushed him by putting two fingers to his lips. "He's still in the house, okay? And we're out here in broad daylight." The crow squaked again before flying away. "He won't get us."

After a few more moments of assuring, Chanse and Ketan were back on track, on their way to town.

***

It was maybe around four o'clock before they started walking home. It took about twenty minutes to get back to the suburbs where their home was. Again, they crossed streets carefully, and only a few children came to meet them this time. It was a short walk to town, but they still had to keep their parents in a line of trust. Playing would have to come later.

The sun was starting to lower into the western sky, though it was still a bright and blue day. Chanse seemed a bit dejected. There was no new shop, he had heard wrong. And so they came back empty handed, with a bit of change still jingling in Chanse's pocket. They stopped at the corner of the droopy house again. Chanse seemed to be looking for something.

Ketan was now frustrated. "Why do we always have to stop and look? Can't we just pass it and be safe?"

"We're safe enough, okay? It's not like we're walking right up to the door and going 'Hello Mr. Doc, can we come in for lunch?'"

Ketan once again clung to Chanse's shirt. The older one payed no mind this time. He knew how superstitious Ketan could be. Chanse flicked his eyes about the house, looking for some opening in the windows to see if anyone was there. The house's only inhabitant was bound to look out at some point. Especially if there were no crows about. It seemed that lately the crows had been leaving the house alone.

He spotted a break in one of the shudders. He stared long and hard at it. Eventually, after ignoring his brother's pleas several times, something appeared in the opening. A dim, orange, wide eye. Chanse knew exactly who that eye belonged to.

He smiled and waved. "Hello, Mr. Murdock," he called. Although it sounded louder in his head than it really was. In reality, he whispered it.

The eye blinked a few times, and seemed to soften. Then it disappeared into darkness.

Chanse seemed satisfied. "Let's go," he finally aimed his voice at his brother. Ketan whined, but went along anyway, happy to be going away from the house he feared so much.

It seemed to be a haunted house complex with Ketan. The house was scary, therefore the owner was scary. Chanse could understand, but he was too compassionate. The sadness he felt from that house long overwhelmed his fear of it. He didn't like that feeling. He wanted the man inside to feel happy. But after only a few visits, he found that something like that would take a lot of work. He was young, but he knew because of his father how to tell when someone wasn't "quite right in the head." Mr. Murdock would probably be a fascination to his father, the psychologist that he was.

With those thoughts in mind, he would probably end up asking Vessel a thing or two about psychology simply because of the shadowy man living in the ruined house. It was too curious to pass up. And he wanted to know more about that man. More than he could ever find by just asking him himself. He knew (also because of his father) that people who weren't "quite right in the head" were usually not aware of it. Mr. Murdock didn't know he was insane. That's just how he's been for the longest time.

Either way, Chanse would have to find all this out later. For now, he had to get home safely with his brother still in tact. Though that wasn't a difficult task. His mother didn't usually worry unless he was gone for far longer than she expected. And his father didn't always show his worry, so he could never figure out when he was worrying or not. But at least this gave him something new to think about later on tonight. Something new to talk to his father about. Vessel didn't talk often, but maybe this subject would interest him. He liked it when Vessel talked to him. It was like a treat to him and Ketan.

Chanse glanced back at the house, which was now smaller in the distance. It still looked so gloomy and sad. But he noticed something different.

Someone was going inside.

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Yeah, I have no idea. I'm kinda just... starting this where I wanted LOL so if you don't get anything, that's my fault. I DON'T KNOWWWWW I just like this new character so much and I wanted to write about him okay ;; And seeing as how Chanse is involved, this doubles as a gift. /SHOT okay anyway, enjoy my crap cB Hope to write more soon.