The apparition smiled, revealing sharp, chipped teeth. It leaned closer until its head was just an inch behind Thomas'. Slowly, in a voice that sounded like an axe slowly being sharpened, he hissed out, "Hello~"

His heart was beating so fast it felt like it was trying to break out of his chest and escape. "H-h-h-how are you?"

The smile widened grotesquely. I'm going to die. It's going to kill me. I am about to get killed by a ghost. Goodbye, cruel world.

"Remus, cease that at once!" A voice like a whip cracked from the doorway, where a young man a few years younger than Thomas stood, wearing a white tunic-like shirt with insanely long sleeves that dragged along the floor.

The apparition- Remus- Stepped away from Thomas and pouted. "But I'm having fun!"

"And he," the new apparition gestured to Thomas, "is clearly not." 

Ghosts. Two ghosts. They were ghosts. That Thomas could see through. And one of them was wearing glasses. What the actual heck-

"I apologize for Remus," the glasses one continued,  taking a few steps inside the room, "He has been bored lately. I do hope he didn't frighten you too badly?"

"Uh..." He was talking to a ghost.

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Logan Fernsby," he held out a covered hand.

"T-Thomas Sanders," Thomas stuttered, shaking Logan's hand. It was cold, like shaking hand with a block of ice.

"And that is Remus Arthur," Logan nodded slightly towards Remus. "I suppose you'll want to meet the others as well?"

Thomas blinked several times. This conversation was going way too quickly for him. "What?"

"The other three," Logan explained patiently, "Roman should be in his room at this hour- Come."

Oh... okay. Off to go meet more ghosts... that lived in his house... ghosts in his house... okay...

-

"Roman" was indeed in his room, which was tucked in the corner of the fourth floor. He stared pensively out of his window, not even noticing when Logan led Remus and Thomas in.

"Roman," Logan greeted, startling the man out of his daze. Roman spun to face the intruders, looking deeply offended, but whatever he was about to say died on his lips as he noticed Thomas.

Slowly, jaw hanging open, he pointed at Thomas, then looked between Remus and Logan. "... Real or not real?"

"If you are referring to the live human currently standing behind me and to the right of Remus, real."

Roman and Remus looked extremely similar, Thomas noted. Same bright green eyes, same dark auburn hair, same facial structure, but extremely different demeanour. Where Remus was dark and kind of sinister, Roman carried himself more with the air of a fairytale prince, chin held up regally and posture straight but not stiff.

"I... am Roman Arthur," Roman announced, rising to his feet gracefully, then glaring at Remus, "That idiot next to you is my twin brother."

Oh. "Um... what happened...?" He pointed to the side of his own head, mirroring where Roman's hair was stained with dark blood. Roman touched it gingerly.

"Ah, I slipped in the showers and slammed my head off of that homicidal sink," Something seemed to occur to him, and he looked sharply at Logan. "Did you tell him?"

"Not yet," Logan nodded once. "Virgil would be upset. You know how much he likes to be the one to give the warnings."

Thomas blinked again. "Who's Virgil? What do you mean by warnings?"

Logan made a face. "You'll see. I suspect Virgil and Patton are by the lake. Come."

Before Thomas could demand answers, Remus grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out of the room.

-

Logan paused anxiously at the top of the stairs leading down to the first floor, eyes crinkling slightly at the edges. "Thomas, do yourself a favour and either redo these stairs or don't take a tumble down them."

"Um..." Thomas looked down the stairs. They were really steep, and the floor at the bottom was hard. After a moment, Logan started down them, his hand clutching the railing. He released an audible sigh of relief when he reached the bottom, then motioned for the other two to follow him outside.

They followed him to the edge of the woods that surrounded the mansion, next to a dark lake. The scene would've been pretty were the water not as black as ink and the woods weren't an impenetrable fortress of shadow despite the warm sun. Two men sat by the lake, one with his thin legs drawn up to his chest, and the other sprawled in the grass. The smaller man's head shot towards Thomas as they walked over. Thomas felt his stomach lurch; that one couldn't have been older than seventeen.

The other man waved, a wide, warm smile on his face. "Hello!"

"Salutations, Patton," Logan greeted, holding a hand up in what was probably meant as a wave. Patton got to his feet, approaching Thomas with a happy expression. There was something about it, however, that didn't meet his light brown eyes.

"Hello! I'm Patton Burkhardt, the third oldest!" He was bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. "And that's Virgil Frauenfeld, the youngest."

Virgil bit his lip and gave a tiny wave, but didn't make any move to approach them.

"So, are you the new owner of the hospital?" Patton asked. "I saw your thingie in the driveway."

Thomas kind of wanted to scream. He was meeting ghosts, talking to ghosts, as if they were completely alive and this was completely normal and he was meeting new neighbours, not the deceased souls of the people who'd died in a mental hospital cheezits heist-

"Hey," Virgil called, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Thomas rambled, "It's just that you're all dead and I'm talking to you and you're ghosts you are dead oh my God-"

Without warning, Remus screeched at the top of his lungs, startling Thomas out of his ramble. Patton gave him a small, slightly startled smile, then turned his attention to Thomas. "We're not going to hurt you, if that's what you're worried about."

"Most of us, anyway," Virgil grumbled, probably thinking his voice was too low for Thomas to hear. Logan shot the younger a look, and Virgil shrugged. "What? He should know?"

"Know what?" Thomas demanded. Those rumours of a demon better not be true. I swear to actual God if there's a demon here-

"Just-" Virgil paused, snapping a few times as he thought. "There's a door behind the tapestry in the warden's office that leads to the basement. Don't go down there." He fixed Thomas with a serious glare, "Stay out of the basement if you value your life and jugular vein."