Chapter Text
When Brian had a spew of pots and pans thrown at his head, he knew that his relationship with his fiance was over.
It was hard, and it hurt, but he knew it was going to happen one day. He was just lucky it happened before he and his future wife-to-be were already in the middle of their vows. He mourned what could have been every day when he woke up on the living room couch to watch his ex-fiance Mary wandering around the home getting ready for work while ignoring his very presence like he was a ghost; nonexistent in her life despite being feet from her.
They had issues their entire relationship; It began when they first met and she forced him to cut ties with any female friend he had. Brian didn't think that was too much, but he was also desperately lonely and he thought this woman owned his heart so he let it pass.
It got worse when she started cutting his ties with his male friends too. After he'd admitted to having male partners in the past, she was so paranoid that he would cheat on her that suddenly all of his friends were targets that he may have a shag with.
Brian never even thought of cheating on what he thought was the love of his life, but the glory of their love began to falter when she started seeing other people under the idea of an open relationship despite Brian's disagreement about having one.
He had to say yes; if he didn't, he would have no one. He loved her. Didn't she love him?
When he proposed, Mary looked excited. She was happy with him for once in her life, and that made him happy. That went sour so fast it made his head spin.
Mary's temperament and anger towards him became worse, and eventually, it turned into a relationship where they were starting to hate each other. That hate turned to ignoring, and the ignoring turned back into a more vicious hatred.
Brian was looking for new apartments the moment Mary tossed her engagement ring across a pond near the park across the street.
He wasn't sure if he was hurt or angry, but now he knew it was both. He was simply finished. He never wanted to see her again, and she knew she felt the same.
Brian's first few options in new housing weren't coming fast enough, and Mary started taking dates home almost as soon as there was verbal confirmation that they were finished and Brian simply couldn't handle the mental strain that put on him, especially when the men began to resemble him in too many ways.
That's when he found a house. A house that was better to be considered a mansion, but a house.
The house was what he first thought to look like a classic haunted mansion you'd find in Disney or a cheap horror movie made by college students. It was in better condition than a stereotypical haunted house; it didn't look like it would fall apart if you looked at it the wrong way, but the price was a concern.
It was cheaper than any house, better yet, apartment he'd seen so far on any listing near him.
What was wrong with it? How many people didn't want to live in it for it to be so cheap? Has he found himself at the beginning of a horror movie? He decided to call the owners.
The owners answered every question he had from why the price was so low to if it was indeed haunted with the ghosts of tortured and restless spirits just waiting to turn Brian into their next victim. The answer to the first was 'It's simply very old. It was built in the 1500's' and the answer to the second question was a laugh that lasted a little too long followed by a very serious 'No.'
So, that was a good start. It wasn't if he was being honest with himself. But it was a start!; and at least he wouldn't have to live in the city where he would constantly see his ex-fiance around.
It seemed perfect; it was secluded and the grounds were massive. He would be completely alone out in the woods with a massive mansion to live in for the rest of his life if he wanted. He could continue his studies into astrology, something he wasn't allowed to do while living with Mary since she apparently hated fun on top of everything else as well.
It seemed absolutely perfect.
It was even better when he was standing out in front of the double doors with moving men unpacking his things and boxes.
The home was at least seven stories and it had around ten rooms and four bathrooms. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with ten rooms, but he could probably figure it out. Maybe in the future, his children could live inside with him and his partner. It sounded nice.
He was too stuck in his admiration to notice that boxes were being piled in front of his front door until the entryway was nearly blocked, and getting worse.
"Hey," Brian said with a frown as he jogged over to the front door where a worker was putting another box outside of his door. "Can you bring those inside?"
The older worker clad in jeans and a company t-shirt gave an uninterested look to Brian who was trying to be as non-confrontational as possible. "We aren't going inside."
Brian frowned. "No offence, sir, but I need the boxes in my house. I'm moving into the house, not my front porch."
The joke fell flat into the rusted dirt and rocks below them and Brian chuckled awkwardly.
"You're the one moving in here, it's not on us. We aren't mad enough to go inside."
He blinked. "What are you talking about? It's stable-"
"It's cursed."
He was getting so very tired of the spook-house bullshit everyone had been selling him and joking about ever since he announced he was buying a beautiful old house built before dirt was discovered and the bearded man let there be light.
Mary had done her fair share of belittling him and telling him that if a serial killer made furniture out of his skin that it wasn't on her and she didn't care. So, that was heart-warming to hear.
Unsurprisingly his best friend John also cracked a few at his expense, but it was mostly aimed at how he was going to grow old and become a character in an Edgar Allen Poe novel that goes insane from isolation.
To hear it from strangers, strangers that he was paying to move boxes into his home, was fucking irritating.
"Can you just put the boxes in the entryway?"
The man he was paying to do a job seemed bothered to be asked to do his job. He put on the fakest smile Brian had ever seen and must have cursed him out in every language he spoke since he was mumbling under his breath with every inhale he took as he instructed the rest of the men to move the boxes into where they were told.
Once everything was inside, Brian felt at peace for the first time in months.
There was no internet yet, nor were there any pieces of furniture, but he was perfectly content with sitting in the middle of his empty living room with a can of peaches and plastic spoon.
He would start his life here, and everything would be okay. He would move on, and find someone new or maybe just focus on his studying. It felt good, he felt good.
Focused on his thoughts, Brian didn't notice the men standing behind him.