The Dead Shall Rest (Phantom Freddy X Reader)

Chapter 4: Uncle Ben

Despite your parents ignoring you and school being the worst part of your life, there was still a person who was truly alive and who would always welcome you day and night.

That person was your uncle.

Ben was your mother's big brother and looked way older than he actually was. His long wavy white beard and his messy hair made him look like either an old bear or a caveman, but he was a cinnamon roll beneath his looks. He acted like a grandpa even though he didn't even have any kids. He considered you more as his grandchild than his nephew/niece. You tried to visit him as often as possible. Your parents would let you stay at his place for holidays, which suited them. 

Uncle Ben would always welcome you with your favorite drink, summer and winter, and a lot of candies and would ask you if you were hungry five times in an hour, which increased his grandfather's behavior. 

When you were a child, he would come at home for Christmas and Easter but stayed most of the time in his house. When you started high school, his place was like a second home for you. 

Every time you entered his pretty cottage, you would immediately hear his gramophone playing songs from between the 70's and 90's. The living room had that particular smell that ancient books have. The kitchen, however, had a kind of rusty odor, probably caused by the neglected sink. The whole furniture was made of wood, giving the inside of the house a beautiful ancient look. The lamps were a particularity themselves aswell: a huge chandelier was hanging on the ceiling of the dining room, two lanterns were hanging outside of the cottage, next to the front door, and even the night lamps were their own masterpieces.

Your uncle wasn't that type of person who would always wear suits, even in their own property. On the contrary, he was belonging more into the casual type: during summer, he would wear cotton sleeveless shirts with shorts or bermudas, accompanied by his "good ol' hat", as he liked to call it, which was a small felt headgear, while he would choose wool sweaters and warm pants for winter. 

If you had to describe your uncle with one word, it would be "goofball" for sure. He was indeed extremely clumsy and was probably the reason why the dishes was being reduced every time you came at his house. He was a good living despite being alone. He was always pleased whenever you visited him but seemed to be a bit cold with your parents, more with your father than with your mother actually. He loved telling you bedtime stories which consisted of either reading a book with him or listening to him talking about his childhood and adolescence. He always managed to make you fall asleep without you noticing in one way or another.

You smile while thinking about the warm but smothering welcome he will give you. You open the gate, climb the little staircase and knock on the wooden door.