“It feels so cold.” Jim shivered as he stepped past the threshold of the house. He suddenly regretted letting his friends talk him into going into the creepy house.
“Well.” Janice scooted next to him. “No one’s occupied it for years, so there’s no heat or anything. It makes sense it would be cold.”
“Mm.”
He was there with Janice, Christine, Bones, Sulu, Uhura and Spock. Jim had a big time crush on Spock, but so did Uhura. She had been jonesing to go out with Spock and get her nails into him since the beginning of the semester of the Academy. That was the sole reason she was there that night. Because of Spock.
Jim had a little hope, though, because Spock had only agreed to go into the creepy house because Janice had talked Jim into attending. Bones told Jim that Janice liked him, but Jim had eyes only for Spock. Yeah, it probably sucked for everyone.
Despite the hope he did have, Jim wasn’t convinced it meant Spock was sexually interested in him. It could just be that he thought Jim was stupid enough to get himself hurt at the creepy house and admittedly they were friends. Spock had sort of made himself Jim’s personal bodyguard ever since Jim’s acrimonious breakup with a girl whose brother wanted to kick his ass.
“Okay, sure,” Jim agreed. “But it seems like…unusually cool. Like blast freeze.”
“Or ghostly visitors?” Bones asked with a knowing smirk. “Trying to go for atmosphere, Jim?:
He shrugged. “This wasn’t my idea.”
He saw a room at the end of the hallway but the others seemed to be headed in the direction of the kitchen. For some reason, Jim felt drawn to that room, so he lingered behind from the group and headed in that direction instead. He put his hand on the outside of the door which almost felt like he was touching a block of ice.
A voice in his head told him not to open the door, but he ignored it, twisted the knob and went into the room.
It appeared to be an old ballroom, from back in the days, he guessed, rich people had those. The room was so cold, Jim could see his breath, and he started to shake uncontrollably.
I shouldn’t be here. Something bad happened here. Really bad.
“Spock,” he said out loud, though he couldn’t say why.
As he turned around to head out, he suddenly realized he was somehow in the middle of the room, though he couldn’t remember walking that far in. Cold fingers touched his neck and he blanched. Suddenly coming toward him was a wisp of smoke or mist and for some reason he found he couldn’t move.
The door of the room slammed open like an explosion in the empty room and then warm fingers seized his wrist and yanked him with unusual force from the the room.
“We are leaving,” Spock’s voice said directly into his ear.
The next he knew, he was outside of the house entirely and being held in Spock’s strong warm arms. Spock was rubbing his back and he was speaking softly but Jim wasn’t sure what he said.
Slowly he began to feel warmer and become more aware of what was happening around him. He realized the others were there too.
“It is all right, Jim. You are safe now,” Spock spoke softly.
Jim nodded and snuggled in closer to him. “What was that?”
“I do not know. Leonard says you suffered from a bit of shock but he gave you something and you are coming out of it.”
“M’kay.”
Spock’s hold tightened. “I am going to take you home as soon as you are well enough to walk away from here. I think the sooner the better though.”
“I’m ready. Just…not sure I want to be alone.”
“I am taking you home with me,” Spock assured him.
Jim summoned up his first smile in quite some time to look into Spock’s face. “Yeah?”
“Of course.”
Nearby Uhura sighed and muttered, “I don’t know why I ever bothered.”
“Told you,” Sulu whispered back.
Spock took Jim’s arm and they all began to walk away from the spooky house. Some looked back as they did, warily, but Jim kept his eyes firmly away. He never wanted to see it again.
But at least…Spock. Something good had come out of it. But it would be a long time before he’d come anywhere near this area.
