The Thing in the Woods [Phayu x Rain] (Love in the Air)

Chapter 1

Note: Written for the 18+ Phayu/Rain Discount Server. Prompt: Monsters

(Explicit scenes + 18)

~

We live in a world full of wonder and magic, in a world where Fairytales don't only slumber in books. They live amongst us...in us...are us, waiting in shadows and plain sight.

They wait in patience for someone to play with a power they cannot control.

They wait for the scales to tip and for them to be freed.

Beware, greedy soul. Heed the warning.

The monsters are coming!

[I.Crane. Book of Tales, 1884. P. 203]

~

Rain sat in his parent's car, surrounded by their old life in Bangkok. Everything was labeled and packed into the boxes around him. They had only started their journey a few hours back, but he was already missing his friends back home. Even if he understood why they were moving-his grandmother was ill, and it was only normal that Rain's mother wanted to be close to her.

Rain looked at the scenery passing by. They had arrived at the outskirts of his grandmother's hometown, the new place they would live in. Rain's dad turned the car onto a small street lined with family homes. At its end stood two old-looking houses. One was clearly lived in, with a car and a motorbike parked outside. The other looked abandoned. It felt colorless in comparison, even with thick rose tendrils climbing up the facade.

Was this their new home?

Rain felt weirdly disconcerted. Somehow, this town felt wrong. It didn't look like anything he had ever seen. There was a similarity to the illustrations in his old fairytale books-it certainly did not feel Thai. The buildings looked nondescript enough, but the atmosphere around the town was off. Rain could sense something in the air. It smelt tense. At least, that's the only way Rain could describe the scent surrounding them. It smelled and felt like the quiet before a storm.

He exhaled heavily as his father parked the car. Since when did he hold his breath?

No matter, Rain could do this. He loved his grandmother very dearly and was happy about the chance to be close to her.

With a last sigh, he exited the car and entered his new life.

He opened the front door to look around the house curiously but he didn't get very far.

"Rain, why don't you help your Phaw unload the car while I open the windows? It feels stuffy in here." His mother practically pushed him back outside the door.

They even had a little front garden where roses were growing wild. Tendrils climbed the front of the house like vines.

Rain walked down a path to get back to the car. He was surprised when he passed a boy, only a little older than him, carrying a box clearly labelled as one of theirs.

"Hello, Nong, you must be our new neighbour. I am Saifah," the boy smiled. He tried to balance the box he was carrying on his knee so that he could shake Rain's hand good-naturedly. "We are neighbors. My family lives in the house right next to yours."

"Hello," he said, shaking the hand shyly, "I am Rain. We are just moving in here. Well, I suppose you already know that." He winced.

'Nice going, Captain Obvious.' Rain groaned inwardly. Of course, Saifah knew they were moving in. The boy was literally carrying one of their boxes. Rain considered bumping his head into a wall in embarrassment.

But Saifah just looked at him in sympathy. "You are funny." He laughed. "Come to our house once you are settled in, so we can get to know each other better."