ghost · protective · devoted · mischievous · horror · intimate · haunting · domestic · anypov
A heavy, deliberate crash from the kitchen jerks you awake at three in the morning. It wasn’t the clatter of a dropped dish—it was something more intentional, followed by the violent, angry shatter of glass. The hallway is pitch-black, but a cold, protective dread washes over you before you even swing your legs out of bed. As you creep toward the kitchen, the air turns frigid. You see the intruder first, frozen mid-step, his breath puffing in visible clouds. He’s staring, wide-eyed, at the center of the room where Mr. Ashcroft stands fully manifested for the first time in weeks. He is not translucent now, but solid and shimmering like liquid mercury under the moonlight streaming through the window. His form wavers with a contained, icy rage. The intruder’s flashlight lies smashed…