Julian, is that you?

It was the best day of Ian’s life. It was the day after a week after that incident in the mansion. Ian was so happy; their family friends Mr and Mrs Smith were visiting them for the first time after they shifted here. Their son Ethan Smith was also coming. Who was Ethan? Ethan was Ian’s crush. They were neighbours back in New York. They both were friends although Ethan was older than Ian. When Ian was five Ethan was 12 years old. They both were close from the start due to their family visits to each other’s places. After some while Ethan had to move for his own career, they bid goodbye and got separated. But the distance never stopped them from chatting and calling every other day. During that period of time, Ethan was smitten with a gradual change in Ian’s personality. He became more beautiful than it was Impossible for Ethan to look at anyone.

Ethan Smith was a 25 years old man. He was graceful alright. He had his own business of construction technology and was progressing in every way possible. Many people wanted to have such a lifestyle he had at this age. He was responsible, intelligent, reliable and successful. He enjoyed his life by giving hard efforts for his career.   

Ian was so happy; he was going to meet his friend after a long time. They usually called each other but it was still long before they actually had their time together so today was the lucky day. His parents knew about the little crush and as usual, they wanted them to be happy.

Ian was bouncing on his feet, his mother was also happy to see him, she was preparing a feast and Ian was eager to help her with anything. She was also excited after all her long-time friend was coming over. Hannah made some of her specialities like cupcakes and apple pie for the dessert. In this excitement, they both forgot the small incident that happened yesterday.

The horn of the car outside made them jump on their feet to welcome the lovely family. Finally, they reached. Hannah went outside with her husband, they greeted both Mr and Mrs Smith and also hugged Ethan. Hannah was impressed by the way Ethan had changed. He was more mature now. After the greetings, they settled outside on their lawn. The beautiful sitting arrangement by Ian and Hannah was waiting for them.

“where is the baby of the house?” asked Camron. She was excited to meet Ian; she had learned so much about Ian from Ethan.

“oh, he must be changing, I will call him,” said Hannah after calling Ian

Ian stepped out wearing his favourite dark blue hoody which had a bugs bunny printed in the centre and black ripped jeans having small ornaments at each rip on his thigh. His hair looked so cute fluffy and soft. He stepped out and got shy as everyone was looking at him. He looked down and continued walking. Upon reaching Camron held his shoulders and kissed his forehead.

“my my look at this beautiful boy, Hannah you have a gem in your custody, you never showed him to me, I would have taken him a while ago..” she said while laughing and keeping Ian close to her. Hannah smiled big hearing her hidden proposal. Yes. She always wanted them to get married. Both men smiled at each until a clearing throat caught their attention. Ian also got that voice too and looked up, they all were looking at Ethan. Ethan looked at Ian and smiled before he moved towards Hannah, he settled himself behind her shoulders in a back hug manner. Ian looked at him a little suspicious and furrowed his eyebrows. He didn’t like it when someone tries to take his parents away from him.

“if you are going to take him as your son….why not I take aunty as my mom,” he said with a hint of tease in his voice. Ian, like a little baby, whined and hugged his mother from the front leaving the embrace of Mrs Smith. Now Hannah was sandwiched between both his favourite boys. She patted Ian’s head and laughed at Ethan’s tactics.

“he is so cute Hannah, “ said Camron while patting Ian’s back. Ian smiled at her and left Hannah to sit and greet Mr Smith. Hannah turned towards Ethan and smiled, he returned the smile and shook his head at his mother who was wiggling her eyebrows at him. After they had their time laughing and talking it was finally dinner time. Everyone was settled and enjoying their meal. Hannah’s cooking was so popular among their group and she never disappointed once. They were having a great time, the dessert was served, and everyone was complimenting her skills. After the dinner, Camron and Hannah took the dishes upon themselves and both Darcy and James were now busy In talking business. Ian took Ethan for his room tour.  

“so this the room,” said Ethan while entering

“yeah….it is where the magic happens,” he said while going towards his window to draw curtains. He looked through his window at the house opposite his. It was dark, with no light or sound. It was looking like there was no one at the moment. ‘Julian is not at home?’ he questioned in his mind.

“What is this?” asked Ethan while bending over the small table in the corner. Ian turned towards him and he noticed, that he didn’t at first because of other family members, that Ethan had his hair tied. He had long hair and bit curly too, they were tied in a bun at the back of his head. He looked mature from the last time Ian remembered. He was now wearing his white hoody that was hiding his brawny chest and muscles of back and shoulders along with blue jeans and sneakers. His eyes were big and had that intimidating expression which primarily softens when he is in front of Ian. He was tall by a few inches than Ian. Maybe Ian could hide behind him.

After not getting a response Ethan stood straight and looked at Ian. He smirked when he saw Ian checking him out. He moved a little to his left and Ian followed with his gaze. Ethan smiled and walked towards Ian in long two strides. Ian was yet looking at him but was lost somewhere.

“I asked something, Inni, ” he said and hooked his finger under Ian’s chin.

“y..you never ……..told me….” Ian said being suddenly shy

“about what?” asked Ethan

“umm… ab..about ..your …your hair?” he said while looking down

“oh you don’t like them long, I am already thinking about a haircut…so,” Ethan said but got cut off

“NO!!….i mean…..i like them long” he said embarrassed about his reaction. Ethan laughed at that and pinched his cheeks. “you are so cute Inni” he said while laughing, both hands squeezed Ian’s cheeks and Ian’s mouth was stretched.

“don’t you go to the company, is that allowed ……long hair I mean,” he asked with stretched cute mouth

“nobody can tell ‘allow or not’ to the CEO, now can they?” Ethan said and removed his hands from Ian’s cheeks.

Ian was shocked at the information, he didn’t know that. Ethan sat on his bed and patted the spot near. Ian walked towards him and settled on his bed too.

“so tell me about you now…..” said Ethan and they both talked for an hour or two.

………….

Hannah was packing the leftover and Camron was making coffee for everyone. Suddenly Hannah remembered that Julian liked her handmade cupcakes. She was packing the leftover at the moment but decided that she could share them with him, so she plated them and left the kitchen after telling Camron.

“where are you going Hannah?” asked Mr Williams when he saw a plate in her hand. It was late, nearly 9 pm.

“I am going to give these cakes to Julian, he wasn’t here so I thought maybe he would like them,” she told her husband “I will be back don’t worry Darcy, just a minute okay?” she said leaving Mr William at the front door.

………….

She went out of the door and suddenly everything became quiet. All the thoughts and doubts about Julian came crashing into her mind again. Why did he make that face? Why did he walk like that and why did he smirk at her son? No answers to these questions. But still, she wants to go and meet. Hannah proceeded to have a plan to at least learn something about Julian that she didn’t know about.

She entered the porch of the house and was a little scared. A stranger’s house after all. She rang the bell at the front door twice and managed the plate in her other hand. No answer came so she thought about knocking. Maybe the bell Is not working. She knocked and the door flew open. A swish of cold wind passed through her and she shivered. With so much courage she called out

“Julian? Sweetie are you home?” no answer came but a little groan could be heard. She didn’t think about anything other than maybe Julian is hurt somewhere so she entered. ‘a stupid move of the curious women’. She entered hurriedly but stopped seeing nothing in the house. The house was empty she wanted to go back and tried taking a step backwards but a rather loud and audible groan made her stop again. She wasn’t having a good vibe and was scared as well.  

“Hannah, I knew you would come. But don’t you think, entering someone’s property without permission is rude?” said a voice near her ear, she turned around to find no one behind her. She started moving backwards but a slam of the front door caught her breath.

“Why so eager to go back, let’s have some time together now” she was pushed forward making her land with her cute little muffins on the floor. She looked up quickly. And there he was standing near the window. He had his back towards her. Hannah could see something swaying at his back. She tried to focus but couldn’t. Hannah stood up and waited for him to say something. She was trapped she knew that now a stupid effort will be wrong so she asked instead.

“Who are you?” she asked with a low voice

“you don’t know me? That’s so funny” he said while turning around. Hannah saw what was in front. He was Julian standing there with his beautiful features. She was confused as well as relived seeing him in front but his tone was odd, that confusion was gone when she realized that the swaying thing at the back was the long and thick black hairs. They were moving on their own. He was not a human that’s for sure.

“Julian? Is that you?” she asked with a hint of scare she felt

“yes it’s me Hannah. Why so surprised? You saw me yesterday didn’t you? So why surprised” he said exposing her. She knew she was in danger. She ran towards the door but couldn’t open it. There was no lock but the door was shut.

“what are you? Open the door Julian that’s not funny” she asked. Why would she ask something like that?’ she was confused as hell but terrified also. Suddenly she fell to the floor after a great push. She stumbled and landed on the tiled floor. She winced after she got hit on her wrist. Julian was standing in front of her.

“I am not being funny Hannah,” he said a little mad from the stunt she pulled just a minute ago

“why were you keeping an eye over me yesterday night, did you suspect something when I dropped Ian?” he asked smiling, he knew why she did that but he wanted to make her weak by telling her that she was at fault. Her eyes widened after hearing her son’s name.

“Ian, STAY AWAY FROM MY SON, YOU……….” She couldn’t complete her sentence when she started rising from the floor. Her throat was caught by something; she was struggling with her both hands to catch whatever that was holding her neck. Suddenly she started rising towards the ceiling. Julian smiled at her.

“now now Hannah you wouldn’t want me angry, don’t raise your voice at me.”

“s..s.stay away…yy fr…from my s.s..son plea.se” she said in her cracking voice due to the grip over her neck.

“oh but that’s not possible Hannah, I like him and he is going to be mine forever,” he said while looking up at her. She fell down again on the floor. She was crying now, her tears were wetting her cheeks just then she heard an unidentifiable sound from near her. She looked up and screamed when she saw herself hanging from the ceiling fan. She scrambled back and hit the wall behind her. Her body was wearing the same clothes that she was wearing now, her eyeballs were missing, a lot of blood and a white substance was scattered over her face and her tongue was also hanging from her mouth. Her limbs were loose and from her feet, the blood was dripping down into a puddle. The figure of Julian was emerging from her hanging body. He was smiling with his long hair wrapping itself around Hannah’s body behind his back.

“if anyone knows about me, or if any hurdle made for me to reach Ian will cost you and your family this,” he said the hairs wrapped around her dead body cracked her body into two parts. Her breath hitched after what she witnessed.

“I can hurt you Hannah but I don’t want to, just for Ian, don’t make stupid mistakes now, imagine if Ian finds his lovely beautiful mom in this condition……….” he looked up and smiled again “he will cry so much, do you want that?” he asked while getting near her. She was crying so hard; her body was jammed at the place she was sitting as if she was held by someone. She was looking at her hanging body in Julian’s eyes and was desperate to leave the place. When she didn’t answer what Julian asked. He came near her face and stared into her eyes. His eyes started to change colour until the whole eye socket turned red. He was looking so much scary in her eyes. She hiccupped but he never left his stare at her.

“do you want that Hannah?” the voice was different now she could feel that. His voice was strange and unknown. She shook her head quickly. He smiled again and a loud screech made her close her eyes tightly until everything went silent. She opened her eyes and found herself sitting in an empty house. She looked up and no dead body was hanging there. She quickly started to run and left the house after opening the door of the house. After stumbling to her own door she started knocking madly, Mr Williams opened the door and found her shaking badly.

“hey, what happened Hannah, what’s wrong?” he asked her while catching her in his arms. She wanted to tell him everything, she wanted her child safe and secure but before she could answer, a whisper stopped her.

“Hannahhhhh” she turned around and saw Julian standing at his terrace looking at her. Mr Williams followed her gaze but couldn’t get anything, he saw nothing. Hannah was struggling to breathe before collapsing in her husband’s hands.

 ……………………

to be continued... 

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