I look up from my book after hearing deep, quick breaths. I quickly jump up in alarm as I notice it's Bode.
I quickly rush up the stairs, but too late as I see Bode ramming a couch into the doorway. "Hey, hey! What's wrong?" I ask concerned. He doesn't seem to hear me as he rams the couch forward again.
This time the impact of the couch makes the wood of the doorway split. Bode puts down the couch in horror, however the broken door doesn't concern me after seeing Bode's expression.
Tears glister in his eyes and a big frown covers his features. "Bode? What's wrong buddy?" I ask, gaining his attention. He walks closer to me with his shoulders hanging low, instead of answering he drops himself in my arms.
"I heard mom talk to the police.." he starts, his head snuggled into my shoulder. I keep quiet, giving him space to talk.
"Ellie still hasn't been found and they say there is nothing more they can do. They're going to declare her as dead" Bode says, his voice cracking ever so slightly.
"it will be okay, everything will be okay" I comfort, my hand drawing small circles on his back to calm him down. Bode has been hyperventilating a lot ever since everything went down not too long ago.
If he ever gets through the day without feeling down or without panicking, nightmares will be keeping him up all night.
It got so bad to the point that Tyler and I put an extra mattress in our room for Bode.
I feel Bode calm down, "Thank you Angel" he mumbles. "What is all this stuff?" he asks after a moment of silence, I look over my shoulder just like he is and see old furniture and boxes laying around.
Bode walks over to a chest, he opens it and we both peek inside. "Boring" he huffs, we both move onto the next item.
After about twenty minutes we still haven't found anything interesting, I roam my eyes over the stuff that's laying around me. My eyes stop at a closet, well more what's on top of the closet.
I nudge Bode and point at the closet, Bode walks closer and pulls a green bag off of the wardrobe.
He pulls another bag off of the closet and when he looks up he flinches back, out of instinct I stretch my arms to catch him but he doesn't fall.
Bode peeks at the item that scared him, a large animal skull was hidden on top of the closet. Bode and I glance at each other before we both rush out of the room.
Later that night Bode, Tyler, Kinsey and I come back to the room with the large skull.
"Holy shit" Kinsey breathes out, "This was just sitting here?" Tyler asks in disbelieve. I nod as Bode explains where we found it.
"At some point, there was a gigantic rat living here" Bode exclaims, I laugh at how bizarre his statement sounds.
"A rat? Really?" Kinsey scoffs, "Have you ever seen a rat that big?" she adds.
"No, but last year, we had a rat skull in my classroom, and it looked exactly like this" Bode explains.
"I mean, I know it sounds strange but Bode has been right about everything that has happened here before" I tell Kinsey once I see her facial expression.
"It's not likely" Tyler reasons, "Really? Is it any less likely than moving into a house filled with magical keys?" Bode asks with a bored expression.
"All right. Um, I have a plan" Tyler tells us, I look up at him expectingly. "Good" Bode nods, "What?" he continues.
"So we're gonna get a huge wheel of cheese, and then we're gonna build a gigantic trap" Tyler says. I scoff out a laugh and lightly push Tylers shoulder, "This is not funny. I'm serious!" Bode huffs.
"What is this giant rat thing? Where are all the missing keys?" Bode questions, "What happened to Ellie" he adds.
I worriedly glance at him, "Hey, what's gotten into you, bud?" Kinsey asks. "Just because we figured out a few of the keys, we think we know everything, but there is so much more we don't know" Bode explains.
"You're right. We don't know everything, but.. but we know that Dodge is gone. Whatever else, we'll figure it out. Okay?" Tyler asks.
"And, hey, this thing clearly died a long time ago, so let's not put it at the top of our list of worries" Kinsey adds.
"It will still be on the list" I clarify.
Bode sends me a small smile, however that smile fades as the doorbell rings.
Kinsey and Bode are the first one out of the room, I'm about to follow but Tyler grabs my wrist. "You don't always have to agree with him" Tyler tells me as he snakes his arms around my waist, I look up at him and grin.
"I know, but if he's worried about something we should at least pay a little attention to it" I explain.
Tyler smiles down at me and brings his hands up to cup my cheeks, he places a gentle kiss on my forehead before he drags me downstairs.
Tyler takes a seat at the dinner table, but I come to a halt by the door frame. "I'm going to take my meds real quick be right back" I excuse myself after greeting uncle Duncan and his boyfriend and rush back upstairs to the bathroom.
I fill a cup with water and grab a pill, I pop it into my mouth and swallow it with some water. I glance at myself in the mirror one last time before walking back downstairs.
"It's gonna be such a great adventure!" Nina says as I take a seat beside Bode. Duncan looks at us "The real adventure begins when Brian gets back from Tokyo" he says.
After a short silence he speaks up again, "We're getting married!" he announces.
"Oh my God! Finally!" I exclaim. "Cheers!" Tyler says with excitement in his voice. "I'm so happy for you guys".
