The Hart Hotel

Chapter Three The Hart House, 4th April 2005

Nathaniel pulls the car over outside of the heart house, he whistles to himself; "Man that's a big house," he says aloud in surprise. He pulls over his small beat down dark blue car and cuts out the engine. He grabs his paperwork from the passenger seat, flipping through his application. He swallows hard, I need to get this job; he tells himself, plucking all of his confidence together. He looks over to the newspaper on the passenger seat and swallows nervously as he reads; Husband and Wife found dead in their home. He had read the article over and over, it is suspected that they died under suspicious circumstances, but they couldn't find who had done it. As far as Nathaniel is aware, they were still investigating it.

He didn't think much of it at the time when he read the article, up until his friend Joel who works at the local mortuary had told him about how they died. Their bones broken, their necks snapped, their bodies shredded in identical places. Nathaniel feels sick to his stomach at the thought, but Joel has insisted for him to look into it. As none of their bodies left a mark of any blow to cause the snapping of their bones, nor is there a tool impression to suggest what torn at their skin.

He isn't sure whether to take it on, but he knew Joel will always tell him the truth, especially after he helped his sister move on after her sudden tragic death. She had haunted Joel for a few years before Nathaniel got a whiff of it and helped Joel put her to rest after they found the man that hit her with his car. It took a lot of work to find him, but they were relieved in the end as it brought Joel closure. He always insists on helping Nathaniel ever since then. Nathaniel didn't mind taking this job on, in fact, he is relieved to even find a job just to help him by whilst he's finding his own place. At least it's a live-in job, he tells himself. Nathaniel fiddles with his application, he knows he can handle the job and he knew it is a difficult situation, but he keeps his hope up as he opens the car door. It opens wide with a loud screech. He winces at the sound as he closes the door quickly.

He tightens the grip of his application form in his hands as he approaches the tall building. There were a few small shrubs of purple flowers scattered under the front windows of the house as he walks up closer to the entrance. The doors were as tall and wide as the rest of it, fitting in its appearance as he looks at the big silver door knockers. He takes hold of one, the metal cold in his hands as he knocks it hard against the dark wooden door. He waits for a little while, the warm breeze flutters against his exposed skin. The heavy door creaks open, a woman peers out from its small crack.

"Oh, hello... are you here for the job?" she asks in surprise. Nathaniel nods, "Yes, I'm afraid I've arrived a bit earlier than I planned". The woman looks to be in her late thirties, her body plump, and her eyes a light blue. She's dressed in a dark yellow dress with a long black cardigan. Her blonde hair pinned back, slightly greying at the sides.

She smiles sweetly at him, opening the door wider; "Come in, come in," she greets. Nathaniel smiles back at her and steps inside the house.

The house is even bigger in the inside than he expected, his eyes widen in delight as he takes in the front entrance's appearance. The reception open and wide, the wooden floorboards light and the walls a deep brown. There isn't much furniture in its entrance beside the dark mahogany cupboards to the right-hand side of the room. A white vase situated on top of it in the middle, white and red roses blossomed out of its top. "It's so big," he says in awe.

"I know! It's so hard to clean with so much space to clean," the woman chuckles, extending her hand out to him. "I'm Bonnie, I was friends with the owners and I'm the godmother to their children," she introduces herself, her tone bubbly.

"I'm Nathaniel, but you can call me Nathan if you like," he greets back, his heart begins to beat hard in his chest as his nerves wiggle their way throughout his body. Bonnie extends her arm to the right, gesturing to one of its open doors. He follows her direction and walks through the right door ahead of him and enters a big living room area. The walls follow the same colours as the hall, light wooden floorboards, and dark brown paint. The wallpaper consisted of flowers, a light cream background with a variety of light and dark brown, and black flowers. The couch is a soft cream colour, a double seater with a fabric build.