Supernatural (Tom Holland x Reader)

4. This is the Story of How I Died

I am pretty sure she knew I wasn't telling her everything. And it's true...I wasn't. Nobody could know. At least not yet. I was stuck...but not for the usual reasons. At least, I don't think. Even as a spirit, I didn't know much about them.

All I knew was what I knew about myself. And thought it wasn't much, it was the truth. This is the story of how I died.

It was the fifth of October, and after months of sleuthing, I'd finally found out the secret of the Hardstrune empire. My brothers and I had suspected something was off from the getgo, but only I had ventured far enough as to find out what it was. Apathy was a witch. And not just a figurative one. She had these...powers. Now don't get me wrong, the very idea of magic is madness. I've never been one to believe in it, but as daft as it may sound, I had confirmation. I saw her through the window of her office. The only trouble was, she turned around and saw me too.

I drove home as fast as I could to warn my family. I took the left side of the entry stairs when I got there, stopping on the landing between them to see if I had been followed (A/N: if you don't know the kind of staircase I'm speaking about I'll link it in the link section below). Luckily, there was nobody standing between the grand double doors I'd left open in all my haste. I turned to continue on my way, but was stopped by a young woman with silky red hair and a revealing dress who'd somehow come up behind me when I wasn't looking. She leaned into me and I pressed myself as far against the railing as I could to get away from her.

"Recognize me?" she spat. I quivered. I tried yelling for help, but the woman waved her claw-nailed fingers and I could make no sound. "That's right, little boy. It's me. Ms. Hardstrune." Suddenly, her beautiful figure morphed into the middle-aged, graying figure I knew so well. I looked at her with sheer terror and confusion on my face, unable to understand. "I suppose you know my secret." She twisted the neckline of my t-shirt so hard that I knew there was no chance of escape. Her strength was superhuman...supernatural. "Yes, boy. I'm a witch. How else would I have been able to stay capital for two hundred years? You're a smart boy, Thomas. One of only twelve men to figure out my secret in two centuries. You should know that every one of them suffered a terrible fate once I caught up with them. What a shame, Thomas. You had potential. But you have made me very angry. And I cannot have you or your family in my way. I will make a deal with you, Thomas. I will kill you now and let you have your family alive and well until a year from today. Then, I will end them one by one in front of your eyes."

It seemed her spell had worn off. I was suddenly able to speak again. "How is that a deal? And even if it were, you don't seem to understand death very well. If I were dead, there is no way you could kill my family in front of me." I knew I was grasping at straws, but it was all my trembling body could do to keep from breaking down entirely.

"Oh, dear boy. But I can. And I will. They won't be the wiser, of course. They don't have the minds open enough to even know you were there. Once I pull the trigger on you, Tom, you won't be dead. You'll be stuck. All by yourself in a world where nobody knows you're there. And you won't be able to be put to rest either like all of the 'little ghosties' in your precious films either. I'm cursing you, Tom. For all time." She flung her hands at me and I felt my entire body seize. Then, she pushed me over the railing and to the stone floor a hundred feet below. I saw her disappear from the spot she'd been standing in right before I hit the floor. My whole body ached agonizingly...then it was all over.

I sat up to voices all around me. My mother was in tears, my father holding her into his side. Paddy was running up the stairs sobbing. Sam and Harry looked down at me in shock. I stood up. "It's okay, guys. I'm fine. She didn't get me. I'm okay." I tried to put a hand on my mother's shoulder, but it passed right through her. What the hell? Why wasn't anyone responding?

I stood up and walked around the group. Servants lined the room, each one either wailing pitifully or shaking their heads in disbelief. The policemen and medics quietly came through the open front door. "Honestly, you guys, I'm alright! But you have to catch Hardstrune! She's a wit-" I stopped. In the corner of my eye floated a woman in a billowy dress. She pressed a finger to her lips with a menacing grin and disappeared. I gulped and looked down at my hands. No...it couldn't be...I was...dead? I peered over my father's shoulder and nearly threw up. There I was in the center of the circle, stone cold on the ancient floor...

"You should go back to bed," I whispered to Y/N, tearing my gaze away from the window. She nodded softly at me.

"I'm going to help you, Tom," she replied. "I'm going to help you get her back." If only she knew the half of it.