An Intangible Pattern - Fate Bound.

New Home

Alex cursed at the sat nav. This was the second time she had passed the red telephone box and she still couldn't tell which house was her sister's.
Look for a yellow car. What yellow car?
Eventually she gave up and rang her sister.
"Hi, I think I'm lost. I went passed the red telephone box but I can't see any sign of a yellow car."
"Ok, our neighbor has probably moved it. I'll be out in a second, its hard to see the house from the road."
She pulled up on the side of the road and waited. Shortly after, her sister appeared at the end of a track wearing paint smeared dungarees and her tawny hair tied back in a messy ponytail. She grinned and waved to her.
Alex pulled up beside her and Cat hopped into the passenger seat.
"Hey! Sorry, it's a bit out of the way. I need to put a marker or something next to the track."
Alex turned the car into the track and drove past the driveway of a white cottage. Pine trees stood either side of the road like dark sentries, casting cool shadows along the muddy track.
"Isn't it a bit spooky out here?" asked Alex, eyeing the shadowy undergrowth warily.
"Yes! I love it, I feel like the wicked witch who lives in the forest and turns traveling salesmen into toads. We were thinking of hosting a Halloween party, but it depends on how much decorating we get finished. That's our driveway just on the left."
A stone wall marked the boundary of Cats new home, Alex steered between wrought iron gates and up the tree lined drive. They rounded a corner and she finally got a glimpse of Cat's new home, it was much larger than she had guessed from the photographs and she inwardly groaned at the task ahead of her. It was a beautiful home she admitted to herself, admiring the intricate vergeboards and steeply shingled roofs distinctive of gothic revival architecture. She understood what Cat meant about feeling like a witch who lives in the woods, she half expected the sandstone bricks to turn out to be gingerbread.
Cat ushered her up to the freshly painted yellow door and guided her into the main hall. The mosaic tile entryway opened up to the foyer where Jess and Robert greeted her from halfway up the sweeping staircase. They were wearing old paint-splattered clothes and wielding paintbrushes and rollers coated in soft blue paint
"Reinforcements have arrived!" announced Jess cheerfully.
"We thought you ditched us," chastised Rob.
"I got lost. This is nice! What's the plan?" She asked.
"I'm thinking of a Victorian mural in here, with birds and climbing roses so it feels like an extension of the garden." Cat beamed.
Alex raised a brow and replied "That will take forever."
"It will be so worth it though. Don't worry, I'm going to start with base colors in each room before I work on the detailed stuff."
Arthur appeared from a double door across the hall looking a little put out, "I still think we should just get some decorators in."
"Look here, my dear husband," snapped Cat, pointing a paintbrush at him menacingly, "...when I walk into a room I like to be reminded how much love and care went into it. I like to remember the people who were there to share the experience. I like painting my own walls!"
"Plus, she did my place for nothing," commented Jess.
"And my rent's cheap, if she says jump, I say how high," added Rob.
Arthur sighed and ran his hand through his chestnut curls in defeat. He picked up a roller and began to paint.
Alex found herself really enjoying the task: she found painting meditative. She joined in the friendly banter, Jess put on some music and they sang along to songs they listened to in highschool. Before they knew it, they had completed most of the hall, aside from the wall high above the staircase, the living room, the dining room and the office. Arthur went out to pick up takeaway pizzas and Cat passed cold beers to everyone. They sat round the breakfast bar in the newly renovated kitchen and chatted for the remainder of the evening.
"I thought it looked a bit spooky at first but the colors you picked feel so cheerful and inviting," said Jess between mouthfuls of pizza, "...it looks really good!"
"Speaking of spooky did you find anything creepy when you were renovating?" asked Robert curiously.
"Not particularly. There was a dumb waiter under the wallpaper and a stash of very old Playboys in the cellar behind the boiler, but so far no bodies. Let me know if you encounter any ghosts tonight. We haven't slept in the guest rooms." Arthur answered cheerfully.
"I wonder if anyone has died in this house," teased Rob, pulling out his phone with a wicked glint in his eyes.
Cat put her hand over his phone and pressed it to the table.
"Don't you dare, Robert! I'm choosing to believe there's nothing but positive vibes in this house and I do not have enough sage for this shit."
Rob laughed and put his phone away.
"What about the attic?" queried Alex taking a sip from her beer.
"Dust, bat shit and some spiders. Sorry to disappoint you all but no house intruders, no crazy relatives, no skeletons and no pentagrams etched in blood," replied Arthur with a nonchalant shrug.
"Well.. yet!" joked Cat, sticking her tongue out at her husband, she stood up and moved across the kitchen to get more snacks from the pantry.
"You might hear the odd creak from time to time, but it's just the house settling." Arthur continued reassuringly.
"Famous last words," interjected Rob wickedly. He let out a yelp of pain as Jess punched him in the shoulder.
"Will you shut up! You're creeping me out," she snapped.
"This is the only spirit in this house," interjected Cat, placing a bottle of vodka down on the table with a stack of shot glasses.
Alex looked visibly queasy and groaned aloud, "not for me. Not unless you want a re-enactment of the exorcist."
"You can stick with beer if you can't stomach it," laughed Cat, "but the rest of you, down the hatch!"
They toasted to Arthur and Cat and downed their drinks. Cat started pouring another shot for each of them but Arthur put his hand over his glass.
"No thanks, I need to pop by the office tomorrow to sign some documents."
"Can't it wait till Monday?" implored Cat.
"No, they need them first thing on Monday morning. I was thinking of stopping by Noah's on the way back to pick up the mitre saw. I need to be sober enough to drive."
Alex jumped at the unexpected mention of Noah's name, Robert shot her a fleeting concerned look but kept his face neutral.
"You should invite him round, an extra pair of hands couldn't hurt," suggested Cat, oblivious to her sister's alarm. Robert surreptitiously squeezed her hand.
Arthur barked a laugh, "Ha! Not a chance in hell, he's in one of his obsessive moods and I can't pry him out of the lab. He probably wouldn't notice me if I turned up stark naked, covered in tar and feathers."
Cat frowned, "What's so important?"
"I don't know, something to do with matched pairs and drug resistance, it's all very arcane to me. He's been like this for weeks. I just stick to the business side of things and let him get on with it."
"Oh well, maybe another time," sighed Cat, she turned to the others and raised her glass again, "Salut!"