The House

Chapter 32 - Day 3: Marco Polo

"Okay, I'm dry, clothed and no longer drawable," David announces, joining me after finishing in the bathroom. He'd dumped his dirty clothes in the tub, adding some clean water to it for a soak (I'll help him wash it tomorrow) and hung my towel on the railing to dry. He smells like shampoo and body wash, a very clean and comforting aroma. "Let's go check out the cause of that music and see if there's anybody lurking around upstairs, okay?"

"Well, how can a girl resist when you put it like that?"

David chuckles, looking at my less-than-enthusiastic face. He takes my hand and leads me to the stairs. I'm really grateful that he doesn't suggest I wait down here while he goes upstairs. I cannot let him out of my sight again. I want to stay sane and sober. When I see him near me, I feel sane and sober... Well, maybe not sober; the man is making my head spin in a rather pleasant way.

We're just starting up the stairs when I suddenly remember something rather important.

"Oh! David, it's locked."

He tilts his head, looking down at me from the step just above mine and he suddenly seems extremely big and strong again. He is not an exceptionally large man, but right now, I reach up to the bottom of his chest, and I've seen his muscles. I cannot unsee them... and I don't really want to; they were delightful.

"I was matching keys to doors, and I locked all the rooms with furniture ghosts in them because they freaked me out."

"Furniture ghosts?" I'm about to explain, but then he makes the connection himself, and to his credit, he doesn't laugh at me; he simply nods and descends the couple of steps we've taken. "Did you put the keys in the little cabinet in the kitchen?"

"Yes."

Nodding again, he directs our route, still holding my hand, and I am grateful when he hurries through the short hallway into the kitchen and turns on the light. Did I turn it off earlier? I'm sure I left it on, and it went out when the foyer light did. Did David turn it off on his way to the foyer after running in from outside? Doesn't seem logical.

The light is working now, at least. Perhaps it tripped... or something completely explainable like that.

It's dark outside; the skeletal-like contours of vines are black outlines outside the windows. There are fewer flashes of lightning, and they're not as bright as before. I cannot tell whether the thick mist is still enveloping the house. It is simply too dark.

While David retrieves the bunch of keys from the small cabinet, I lock the back door and direct suspicious eyes to the pantry. Anything or anybody could be hiding behind those strings of beads covering the door. If I allowed it to, my imagination could easily create the outline of a person watching us. I can hear my breathing growing louder, more strained and after a glance at me, David crosses the floor, flings open the beads and looks around the small room.

It's quite empty of threats.

He jiggles the handle of the cellar door and gives me an encouraging smile. Earlier, we decided to lock the door and have David hide the key from me. I am terrified of going down to that hazardous beach in my sleep again. If the door is locked and I have no idea where the key is, I should be safe... right?

"It's all good, Belle," David says, and just to stop my eyes from darting around nervously, he opens cabinets, the storage space under the seat where I slept earlier, and he even takes a quick look in the dreaded closet in the hallway.

Nothing.

The dining room is quite empty of lurkers, threatening monsters and other fun things as well when David opens the door leading into it from the kitchen. He is about to take a stroll through it to the living area and then eventually go upstairs from there when I hang back.