Home Sweet Home (mxm)

Chapter 3: Research

Taylor awoke the next day surprisingly well-rested. As he glanced around the room, the familiar hitting sound echoed through the house, drawing an uneasy smile to his face. 

"Good morning to you, too," he said, greeting his wall-banshee with minor enthusiasm. 

Reaching toward the small nightstand he'd dragged into his bedroom the night before, Taylor settled the laptop he'd placed atop it on his crossed knees, tugging his boxers down a bit to make sure that his legs didn't get too hot beneath the computer. 

"Alright, let's do a tiny bit of research on you guys to at least see what I'm dealing with." 

Sasha had given him some quick, unpleasant details, but he wanted to actually know what was stuck in his wall, and what exactly it was doing as far as interacting with him in the ghost's dream, too. 

"Maybe if I start with trying to figure out who they actually are first?" he mumbled to himself as he pulled up his internet browser and typed in his address. 

Giving a small whistle, he looked through the long list of owners in the past five years. The house had switched hands almost as fast as it could be bought. Each time it was a different real-estate company, too. 

"I wonder freaking why," he mused sarcastically as he quickly browsed through the first several newer owners, then started digging deeper when the time of ownership spaced out more than a few months. 

The first couple of entries he looked into that were about a year of residency didn't show anything significant, so he pushed a bit further until he came across a woman who had stayed there for nearly ten years. 

Minimizing the browser, he opened another one and typed in her name and his current address. The woman's name came up again, but no picture anywhere. Another name also came up, drawing his attention to the small tidbit of information that was available. 

"Caleb Kay Marie. Seventeen years old." 

He clicked on a little link with a familiar symbol next to the name, then felt his heart drop into his stomach. 

"Amber alert issued the day before his birthday. Still active..." 

Looking up, he let his eyes wander around his room again, then got up and walked into the living area. Setting his laptop on the kitchen counter, he turned toward the chalk board, a bit surprised to see that the word DEAD was no longer scrawled there. 

"Um, hey ghost? Are you the kid that used to live here? Or is that who is behind my wall?" 

He didn't expect an answer right away, so he decided to leave his sleuthing at that for the time being and got himself showered and dressed. He had some grocery shopping to do, and while he was out, he made sure to stock up on a few non-perishables, too, just in case something happened with the banshee and he had to leave the house for any certain amount of time. He wasn't a fan of fast food, so a few boxes of cereal and crackers was his go-to if anything happened. 

Once he had everything in his car, Taylor started heading home, only to slow to a stop as he passed a small pet store. He wasn't sure what drew him to it, but after a minute he decided to park his car and go inside. The owner was a nice older lady who was quite busy taking care of all the odd little creatures in her store. Everything was actually gorgeous and well managed. No animal looked unhealthy or unhappy. 

"Just let me know if you need any help, sweetie," the woman called as she handed a cockatoo a large nut, then got back to cleaning its gigantic cage as it stood on top with its treat. 

Taylor nodded and wandered around for a bit, eventually finding himself standing in the fish section. There was quite a lot to choose from. He even recognized some of them from the odd dreams the ghost had showed him.