PEEK-A-BOO

- The Record's Song from Hell -

A/N: The song the record is playing is called 'Crumbling Dreams.'  It's the music box of Ballora from the game Sister Location. I usually listen to an hour loop while napping, or working. If you would like to play this during this chapter, or the parts where the record is mentioned, I definitely recommend it!

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The smoldered mansion was no more.

 Furniture? Burnt. 

Paintings? Burnt.

The family? I think you can guess what happened.

There was nothing in the house that hadn't been touched... Nothing but an old record, that played an unsettling song.

'HARRISON MANSION UP IN FLAMES.'

"That's unfortunate," the unknown man says to himself, "Someone had beat me to the story." 

Here we have, Mikey Gabble, twenty-one year old junior journalist.

He runs his fingers through his dark hair and sighs in disappointment. "Second place again," he mutters to himself, just before his intern knocks on the door. 

"Come in... I guess."

A dark haired boy with honey colored skin, and almond tinted cheeks, peeks his head through the doorway. He smiles and then walks into the office room. He stuttered, "I-I think I have a good n-n-news story for you." This sparked Mikey's interest, "Continue. What is it?"

"I-It's about the Harrison Mansion b-burning."

"Oh, that crap? Our company already got beat to it."

"N-No!" The boy exclaims. His senior gave him a skeptical look, wondering if what his intern had to say was worth his time.

"I-I was asking some of the family's n-neighbors if they've seen or heard anything before, during, or after the time of the mansion incident, and..." He pauses for a moment with a slightly shook expression on his face before continuing, "A-A lot of them kept talking about a record, and h-how it b-brought negative energy e-every time it was p-played."

"Aaaand.....what does this record have to do with anything?" Mikey was getting more and more irritated as this "conversation" went on.

The intern continued, "Th-They a-a-all say that they think the record was the cause of the building burning—" He cuts himself off before his senior could, and exclaims, "I-I KNOW YOU'LL THINK IT SOUNDS SILLY...b-but," He reverts to his timid tone of voice, "E-Everyone thinks the s-same thing, a-and say th-the record i-is s-still in the building. Untouched. Undamaged."

Mikey stared at him for a few seconds. "Let me get this straight: rumors of a "murderous record" is the cause to a building burning down. Is that correct?" The intern nodded. "It must have some killer music, then. But damn, you're so gullible. Rich people are eccentric. You do know that right?"   The intern dropped his head in shame. "Tch. Or maybe it's because you're a child, so you haven't learned any better." The intern raised his head, saying, "S-Sir, I-I'm only t-two years younger th-than you... A-And we won't have anything to lose of we were to check to see if the rumors were true!"

"T-I-M-E is what I'll  have to lose. Now get out of my office, you probably have better things to do. I at least hope you do..."

The intern wore a sorrowful expression on his face. "Please...." He begged. Mikey scoffed in return. "If you want to do it so badly, just go ahead and do it— without me.  The intern started to plead once more, "Please! If I waste your time th-that much then I'll treat you to lunch for a full 7 days!" Mikey scoffed again in disbelief, "Fine then, deal." The intern smiled with pure happiness on his face.