The House

Chapter 49 - Day 5: Love's Dream

The noise in my head drowns out David's words as the blood rushes to my extremities, preparing my body to fight or run away. I'm on my feet and heading for the kitchen door before he is even done talking.

Belle!" he exclaims, grabbing me away from the door I opened, pushing it shut against the rain invading the kitchen's warmth. I try to shove him away, but he is too strong for me. The arms locking around me, crushing me against his body, are powerful and unyielding, and it suddenly dawns on me that I wouldn't stand a chance against him if he turned out to be evil and wanted to hurt me.

It makes no sense for my heart and body to react to that strength in the way it does, melting into it, embracing it, relishing it. I am a fool to feel this safe when the man could probably obliterate me if he wanted to. That is exactly why I'm feeling this warm wave of well-being flood over my senses, bringing my heart back from its flight and stopping the droning noises in my ears. David is strong, and he will always use that strength to protect me.

I know that with a certainty beyond any I've ever experienced before.

"We can't stay here if there's someone in this house, David," I try to reason with him, but what are the alternatives?

"I know," he whispers into my hair. Sensing that I've calmed down a little bit, not fighting him anymore, just anxiously casting glances around, searching for movement where there shouldn't be any, he lets me go and guides me back to the chair I've knocked over in my hurry to run away. With one hand, he plucks it off the ground and puts it back into position and with the other, he settles me on its seat while sitting down on the chair next to it, all the time keeping my hand locked in his.

Holding his hand is warm and comforting; I never want to let go of this hand with the long, strong fingers wrapped around mine.

"The reason why I didn't want to say anything at first is that I managed to shove whatever it was away and burst out of the room, and there was nothing. Nobody. Only your screams, coming from downstairs." He swallows, his nostrils flaring with emotion. 

"Hearing you scream like that and being unable to get out of the room was just..." he shakes his head, closing his eyes for a few seconds, and I can feel his fingers tremble. "Yeah, I didn't take a good look around; I just ran to find you, but if there really was someone, they couldn't have disappeared that easily and that quickly..."

He sucks in a deep breath and levels his gaze on me, his eyes boring into mine.

"Belle, you saw people hanging a man..." I nod, confirming his statement. "Can we agree that that definitely did not happen... at least not tonight?"

Swallowing, I nod my head again. It clearly didn't, or the man would still be hanging there. Nobody took him down while I was lying in the foyer; he was just suddenly gone. 

"Can we also agree that it is not possible for the man that was hanging there to be the same one who dragged you down the stairs?"

"Yes..." I can see that it cannot be possible. "So... What are you saying?"

"Perhaps you fell and passed out and-."

"People don't scream when they're passed out." I did not pass out and imagine the whole ordeal... I might've imagined some of it, but not all of it.

"No, you're right, they don't, but..." he pulls a face, unable to think of a more plausible explanation. "What exactly do you remember?"

"I was sketching the outlines for my next painting when I heard a crash; I thought something happened to you, and I ran down the solarium steps, and someone knocked me down and dragged me."