Chapter 3: Silent Spector

                                    

                                          
You didn't know how long you had been hidden for, but all you knew was that you were scared and confused. Something like this had never happened before, usually, when people attempted to enter your property they would end out running away in fear or simply not being able to find a way in. You began to question the five skeletons you had seen mere minutes ago. If monsters hadn't reached the surface how were they here? Their return seems like something even you'd hear about eventually.
Then there was the overarching question of why were they here? They had only appeared recently yet they walked through your halls as if they now belonged to them. This manor had been a big attachment of yours given it was the only thing you had left, this was your personal bubble that had been popped by these outsiders. You weren't one to overreact at the slightest appearance of new people, but this group had been different.
A feeling deep within you had been growing, the feeling of fear and the unknown. In an attempt to settle this, you came up with the idea of getting to know more about them. Perhaps not in a conversation but by observing their behaviour, their interests. Maybe by doing this you might even learn why they want to be here in the first place?
After a few more minutes of hiding, you felt most of the group move away, all but one. He had taken his time in the lobby, slowly making his way up the stairs which you could tell due to its creaking. You phased through the lower half of the stairs to take a glance at him. He had been one of the two black skeletons, this one having a more formal attire. You couldn't see much from behind other than his black cloak and shorts which faded into blue. The skeletons scarf swayed gracefully behind him as he took each step.
Following behind him slowly, you watched as his hands ran up the handrail picking up dust on his fingertips, leaving behind lines of where the dust had been cleared. The more you paid attention to his hands, the more you noticed how each section of his fingers were different colours. His distal and intermediate phalanges were stained yellow, his proximal phalanges red, and the rest remained black.
He didn't seem to do much other than look around, he inspected pretty much everything! He seemed to have a deeper appreciation for all your furniture and decor. And while you enjoyed the act of him not taking or destroying any of your much-loved family antiques, you expected him to do more than just look around... after you thought a little more about it, it made more sense as to why he would want to explore...
All he had done after that was roam endlessly around the halls, watching the old paintings as he passed them. The first one in the line was of you, from back when you were alive. The rest that followed had been what you assumed was your family. You remember staring at the paintings for hours, hoping it would jog some memory of your relatives, nothing happened..
Which led to you punching the wall in a spat of anger, even when in your physical form your punches had been weak as you barely left a dent in the wall. The only damage that had been done was the old painting had fallen from its hanging place on the wall, the wire it hung from had also been damaged.
The skeleton seemed to notice this, staring at it for a good few seconds before crouching down. He picked up the painting and looked into your relatives' eyes for a moment before standing up, painting in hand. But what he had done next was what shocked you.
He had reached a hand to his cheek and then raised his finger to the ceiling. This act confused you, what was he doing with your paintings? Just then, a long thin blue string-like cord springs out from his fingertips, attaching itself to the ceiling and then to the painting.
He rehung it.
And immediately afterwards, he went back to what he was doing. That was strange... Why were they breaking into your home and start fixing things? Well, this skeleton had at least, you were still unsure of the rest. You were thankful for him for doing that, you had no idea where to get materials to fix it or how to do it yourself...