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rosemaidenvixen · 11 months

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Wittebane

Ao3

tw: description of cadavers, canonical levels of Philip Wittebane creepiness

Easing it up as gently as she could, Luz pried open the window a crack, just enough to peek inside. Finding nothing but darkened rooms and silence she slid the window open the rest of the way and crawled in. Dropping soundlessly to the carpet, she turned and reached down to help pull Willow in after her. Two more figures followed Willow and soon all four of them were standing in the dark living room.

Luz pulled out her high beam flashlight, relying on your phone only to drain the battery so you didn’t have it at a critical moment was a rookie mistake, a column of bright white light cutting through the gloom. Willow and Amity grabbing their own flashlights and doing the same “Alright let’s try to find the basement then we can search top to bottom,”

Boscha scowled, she didn’t have a flashlight, just her bat in its case resting on her back with the strap around her shoulder “Remind me why we’re breaking into some old guy’s house again?”

Luz, Willow, and Amity all shared a flat look. They’d never planned on including Boscha on their expedition, but Boscha had found out about their plans at the last minute and threatened to expose them unless they included her.

Amity pulled in a deep breath through her nose and stepped towards Boscha with a look of measured patience on her face “This house belongs to the Wittebane family, when the original owners died they passed it down to their sons, Caleb and Philip Wittebane,”

The four of them moved through the room, guided by the beams of their flashlights, searching for a door that would lead to the basement.

“Apparently they were close growing up, but then Caleb and Philip had a big falling out where Caleb left and never came back, ever since Philip’s been living here by himself,”

“Really? What happened?” Boscha said, clearly curious despite herself.

“The story is that Philip didn’t approve of Caleb’s fiance,” Amity continued “And wasn’t shy about saying so,”

“Over here guys,” Willow spoke up, holding open a door to dark stairs leading down.

Without hesitating they all headed over and started trooping down the stairs, Willow and her flashlight in the lead.

“Ok…” Boscha said slowly, her and Amity bringing up the rear “But then why are we breaking into this Philip guy’s house?”

“Because eleven months ago Caleb and his wife were in a car accident where they both died,”

“Again, what does that have to do with us?”

“Because less than a week after they died the morgue was broken into and their bodies were stolen,” Luz spoke up this time “They found the wife right away, whoever stole her body just dragged it out to the parking lot and set it on fire, but no one knows what happened to Caleb’s body. The police suspected Philip, but there wasn’t enough evidence to get a warrant,”

Even with the only light coming their flashlights Luz could see Boscha’s face become noticeably paler as they reached the bottom of the stairs “So we’re here to…”

“We came to see if Philip stole Caleb’s body, and to see if we can find it,” Willow concluded.

Boscha’s face was gaunt as they swarmed around the small basement space examining the walls “Well there’s clearly nothing here, water heater, washer and dryer,” she cleared her throat “So let’s just go back upstairs and–”

“Hang on,” Amity cut in “I think I found something,”

The three of them gathered in around Amity, who was standing in front of a brick wall.

“I think there might be a–”

The wall shifted and swung inward, revealing a door cut out of the section of brick.

No one moved, no one spoke. They’d all agreed to come here but actually finding this was a game changer.

Luz swallowed hard but then stepped forward, flashlight at the ready “Let’s go,”

“Are you serious!?” Boscha hissed “You want to go inside the spooky basement tunnel, oh hell n–”

“We’ve come this far,” Willow stepped up to Luz’s side “I’m seeing this to the end,”

Amity joined them “This could be dangerous, but if I leave now I’m always going to wonder. And if worst comes to worst there are four of us and one of Philip,”

Boscha shut her mouth, face red, but she joined them at the mouth of the tunnel all the same.

They headed down the brick hallway. It was so narrow and twisty they had to go single file, and even with their flashlights they could never see more than a foot in front of them at a time. After a minute they turned a corner and the tunnel opened up into a large room, the flashlight beams bouncing off of metal and glass furniture fillinging, the four of them cautiously spreading out into the space.

The room was rectangle shaped, all four walls brick. Most of the floor was concrete but up against the wall furthest from the door the concrete abruptly dropped away into dirt leaving a bare space against the far wall. A bunch of shelves were lined up haphazardly against one of the side walls, well not really shelves more like bare metal racks loaded with boxes and books, bottles and cans and other seemingly random objects.

Next to the other side wall, as close as possible to the dirt while still being on the concrete, there was a twin size bed frame with a mattress made up. Crisp beige sheets with hospital corners and a pristine white pillow. A towel, t-shirt, and a pair of shorts folded with stark precision lay on the end of the bed. A metal tub full of water, shimmering in the beam of Luz’s flashlight, sitting on the concrete by the foot.

The sight, while mundane, was bizarrely out of place, seemingly belonging in a hotel or a dorm room rather than a dingy basement, landing straight in uncanny territory.

Luz shuddered once at the sight then turned away.

She had to focus, they were here to find Caleb’s body, not puzzle over Philip’s weird guest room set up.

As she looked away, she spotted a desk pushed up against the wall right next to the door. Several tables set up with what looked like lab equipment surrounded it. And something else…

“How– how could this Philip guy hide all this down here!?” Boscha said incredulously.

“I think this is an old bomb shelter,” Willow spoke up “Depending on when it was built it might not even be on the house’s blueprints,”

Luz was only half listening, stepping closer to the desk, spotting several open books on it. The books looked old old, handwritten in a language that Luz didn’t recognize, with several pictures that Luz could only describe as anatomy diagrams, and a series of pictures that looked like someone being buried alive but backwards. Shaking her head, Luz tore her gaze away from the books and continued on, honing in on a soft buzzing sound. Moving between the tables, Luz spotted a minifridge sitting on the floor crammed between two of them, humming with electricity. Crouching down low, Luz reached out and pulled the door op–

Bright light flooded the dark space as she scrambled back with a shriek, sending all the others rushing over.

“What’s wrong Luz!?” Amity called out “What did you…”

Shocked silence settled over them as they spotted the contents of the fridge. Staring and staring like they couldn’t believe their eyes. Which if the others were anything like Luz, they absolutely couldn’t.

Bones. Dirty white wrapped in plastic stacked neatly on the small set of shelves each with their own unique label, but all with the initials ‘CW’ scrawled on them.

CW-Skull

CW-Hand r.

CW-Hand l.

CW-Ribcage

CW-Spine

CW-Femur r.

CW-Femur l.

Seeing something so macabre and gruesome organized with the cold precision of storing leftovers made her stomach turn.

“Oh my god he actually did it,” Boscha whispered “Philip Wittebane stole his brother and skeletonized him!”

“Guys,”

“Oh man this is so messed up,” Luz scooted away from the fridge, still unable to tear her eyes away.

“Guys,”

“And what’s with the bed!?” Amity hissed “This is all so–”

“Guys!”

They all whipped around at the urgency in Willow’s voice. She was standing in the dirt, the beam of her flashlight illuminating a pale branch sticking up out of the ground–

The realization hit Luz like a punch to the gut.

That wasn’t a branch, it was a hand, thin fingers as pale as moonlight poking up out of the dirt.

Amity covered her mouth, smothering a small gasp, from off to the side she could see Boscha turning green.

Luz couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, heart beat hammering. It was bad enough that Philip had chunks of his brother in a fridge, then he’d just dumped the rest in–

Wait…

Moving slowly, Luz turned back towards the still open fridge, then back towards the dirt plot illuminated by Willow’s flashlight. The fridge. The dirt again.

“Something’s not right here…”

“Yeah no shit!” Boscha hissed “There’s body parts in a fridge and more in the–”

“No, I mean, both of Caleb’s hands are right here,” Luz gestured towards the fridge, bags labeled ��Hand r.’ and ‘Hand l.’ still sitting there on the top shelf “So that hand in the ground can’t be…” she trailed off but Amity was quick to pick up.

“If…if Caleb’s in the fridge, then who’s buried in the…”

No one said anything, horrified silence settling over the four of them as they stared at the fingers poking up out of the dirt, leaving the whole room as silent as a grave.

Which was why they all heard the thump coming from the narrow hall so clearly.

Luz whipped around, more thumps–

Footsteps

Coming from the hall, her heart shooting up into her throat.

“Over here!” Willow whisper shouted “Behind these shelves,”

The four of them scrambled between the metal racks, angling to conceal themselves behind the boxes and books stacked on them. Cramming into the narrow space and killing their flashlights seconds before the footsteps reached the room, overhead light on the ceiling flashing on. The four of them blinking in the sudden brightness.

Blood rushing in her ears, Luz cautiously peeked around the box on the lowest shelf.

A man with long ash-blonde hair pulled back–

Philip Wittebane

Stood by the desk just a few feet to the side of the doorway, setting various grocery bags on top of it.

Luz ducked back just as Philip stepped away from the desk, moving towards the dirt section of the room. They had to hang tight, wait for Philip to leave and then make a break for it, just had to make sure he didn’t spo–

“I’ve waited so long for this day,”

Philip’s voice rang out and all thought stopped.

“I’m so excited to meet you,”

Luz’s blood ran cold, completely frozen on the ground, feeling Boscha trembling from where she was pressed into her side, a roaring in her ears as she waited for Philip to step around the shelves and–

A crunch echoed out in the basement, followed shortly by another, then another.

It took a few seconds for Luz to realize that the sound was shovel meeting dirt.

She risked another peek around the box, heartbeat still thrumming. Philip was standing in the dirt, shovel in hand, leisurely digging away.

Wait….was Phililp talking to the dead body buried in his basement? That was seriously messed u–

The fingers poking out of the dirt twitched and her mind went white.

Suddenly she realized the pictures in the book weren’t backwards at all.

Luz watched, heart booming and mouth dry, as Philip set the shovel aside and grasped the fingers, pulling the buried figure up.

She had no idea what she expected for a body a weird old man pulled up out of the dirt in his basement, but whatever it was, it wasn’t this.

It was a boy, around her age, maybe a year or so older, gangly and gawky. Pale skin and long blonde hair smeared with dirt, but between the angle and Philip standing in the way she couldn’t get a clear view of his face.

Releasing his fingers, Philip put a hand on the buried boy’s shoulder, leading him away from the dirt and onto the brick.

“Brace yourself,” Philip spoke “This will be cold,”

There was a sudden splash of water, sputtering and a strangled gasp from an unknown voice, Luz getting a glimpse of rivulets of water running down the concrete to soak into the dirt.

“Come now you’re fine, no need for dramatics,”

Luz still couldn’t see them clearly, but she heard the rustle of fabric, caught glimpses of Philip ruffling a towel through damp blonde hair, of him picking up the shorts and t-shirt from the edge of the cot.

“Wha,” the boy spoke again “Wha hih–”

Philip made shushing noises, the sound making Luz’s skin crawl, and pushed the boy’s shoulder down to seat him on the edge of the cot.

“Wha,” the boy mumbled “What is…”

Philip chuckled “Only minutes old and already starting to speak, you truly are a miracle,”

“Wha…what is…” Philip held a hand to his mouth, silencing him.

“I understand you must be confused, I will try to explain things the best I can,” Philip raised a strand of blonde hair on a single finger “But first something must be done about your hair,”

Philip reached into his pocket and pulled out a hairbrush, seating himself behind the boy on the bed, nudging his shoulder to turn him ever so slightly. Raising the brush to run it through the boy’s hair.

It was just hairbrushing, nothing inherently gross or weird about it. There were a lot more gross and weird things just in this room. But something about the scene in front of her gave Luz the willies.

“I always admired my brother Caleb growing up,” Philip spoke “He was strong and courageous and the best brother I could have asked for, but then he fell into sin and temptation and ended up losing his life because of it,”

A pause of the bristles in pale hair “Fortunately I was able to preserve the best of him and use it to craft a son, you,”

“M– me?” the boy stammered.

“Yes you, I crafted you from the dirt the same as the lord crafted Adam from the dust. I suppose in a way you are my brother’s son, which makes me your uncle,”

“Un…cle?”

Philip chuckled, a sound that could be called warm if it was in any situation besides this one “Yes I’m your uncle Philip, Caleb always said that if he had a son he’d name him Hunter, so that will be your name,”

“Hunter…”

Philip tucked the brush back into his pocket and stood “My brother may have fallen prey to temptation, but I won’t let the same happen to you,”

A click and a metallic clink echoed through the room.

“No need to worry, this is just until I know I can trust you. Now you must be hungry, I’ll go fetch you some oatmeal,”

Philip turned and walked out of the room.

As soon as he was out of sight Luz felt fingers dig into her shoulder.

“Let’s get out of here before old man Wittebane comes back,” Boscha hissed in her ear.

Moving with a calmness she didn’t feel, Luz slowly stood and peeked around the shelf.

“Luz what are you doing!?” Amity whispered.

“You remember Azura book six, where she broke into the warlock’s cavern?”

Amity gasped “And found the minotaur he’d summoned!”

“Do you have to do this nerd stuff now!” Boscha snarled.

Luz ignored her, cautiously taking a step out from behind the shelves.

All the townspeople told Azura that the warlock’s minotaur was a being of pure evil that served the warlock and terrorized villages on command. But Azura was able to see that the minotaur wasn’t evil, he was just a prisoner of the warlock. And she used her power to set him free.

Stepping fully away from the self, Luz took a deep breath and approached the…boy sitting on the bed.

“Hey….how’s it going?”

She’d never met Caleb Wittebane, but she’d seen pictures of him on the news when the morgue robbery happened. And now that she could see the boy’s face clearly the resemblance between him and Caleb was undeniable. His hooked nose, the shape of his jaw, his tangled blonde hair. Pulled into a low ponytail with a single lock hanging down in his face, perfectly mirroring the graduation photo that the newspaper had printed.

Had Philip styled his hair to look just like his dead brother’s? Because that was all kinds of creepy.

She also saw the metal cuff, wrapped in fabric padding, locked around the boy’s wrist. Connected to a chain that was bolted to the brick wall next to the bed.

“Hi there, my…my name is Luz,”

He stared back at her, face blank “...my name is Hunter,”

She stopped two feet away from him. This close she could see that the resemblance was strong but there were differences as well. Subtle things, magenta eyes, pointed ears. Nothing grotesque, but things that had no place on the human body. The combined effect landed squarely in the uncanny valley.

Stop it Luz he might look strange but that doesn’t make him evil, he still deserves help.

From behind she heard footsteps approach.

“So…Hunter,” Amity spoke up “Don’t worry, we’re going to get you out of here,”

Hunter didn’t say anything, just blinked back at her.

Willow took a seat on the cot next to him, gingerly grasping the chain with one hand “We need to get the key before Philip stashes it somewhere we can’t–”

“I’ll get it,”

The three– four of them turned towards Boscha.

“Are you sure?” Luz asked.

Boscha slid her bat out of its case, smacking the end against her palm “Trust me,”

They watched Boscha make her way back down the narrow brick hall, bat in hand, until she vanished from view.

“Are you sin and temptation?”

Luz, Willow, and Amity all simultaneously jumped and snapped their heads in Hunter’s direction, the boy flinching under the force of their combined gazes “Un…uncle Philip said that outside was sin and temptation, so are you…”

Luz glanced at the other girls, the three of them sharing an uncomfortable look.

“Hunter…” Luz took a seat on his other side, making sure to give enough space to not crowd him “I know Ph– your…uncle said that, but I promise you it wasn’t true,”

Hunter just stared at her owlishly.

“Yeah,” Willow spoke up, Hunter’s head swiveling in her direction “There are bad things out there, but there’s plenty of good things to. And staying locked up like this is no way to–”

A crash and a shout and suddenly Boscha was sprinting in out of the hall. Breathing hard and bat clutched in a white knuckled grip, the end smeared with red.

“I got the key but we gotta go now, I knocked Philip out but I’m not sure how long he’ll stay down,”

She tossed the key to Amity, who swiftly leaned in and unlocked the cuff from Hunter's wrist. Allowing Willow to pull him to his feet, the five of them dashing back through the dark tunnel.

“Go go go!” Luz led the way as they sprinted up the basement stairs back into the house proper. Not even bothering with the window, all thoughts of stealth gone now, making a beeline for the front door. Tearing it open the five of them racing out into the night.

Amity outpaced her, dashing into the bushes where they stashed their bikes. Pulling them free from the shrubbery and handing them out before mounting hers.

Luz quickly glanced around at the others, seeing them all mounted on their bikes with Hunter seated on Willow’s handlebars, and pushed off, the four of them pedaling with all their might back up the road.

As they climbed a hill the others quickly outpaced her, Willow taking the lead even with carrying Hunter. Confident that the others were safe, Luz paused at the top of the hill and risked a glance backwards.

Philip Wittebane stood at the edge of the porch, one hand bracing himself against the railing, the other pressed against his temple. Blood spilling out between his fingers and running down his face.

Blue eyes pierced through the darkness, glaring straight down into her soul with a look of pure hatred.

A violent shudder coursing through her, Luz turned back and started quickly peddling to catch up with the others, the four sets of wheels with five passengers speeding off into the night.

#the owl house #luz noceda #willow park #amity blight #boscha #philip wittebane #hunter #corpse description #canonical levels of philip wittebane creepiness #frankenstein's monster au #hunter wittebane #rmvwrites #halloween prompts

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