It's Just the Dark

The House

"When you get to the top, turn left. Check out the big bedroom first," Jim called up.

Lewis looked down and nodded. His friend was still in the entry-way, down the small flight of stairs (maybe 4 or 5 steps total) and was chatting up his realtor. He wondered if there was something going on between them. They certainly made a good couple. While Jim was only a couple-three years younger he certainly had a more youthful look. His dark hair had only a few gray ones starting to show through. I already had that many when I was 20, Lewis thought. Jim had an easy smile and his Italian heritage gave him a Mediterranean look. Lewis doubted that his friend would have any problems getting Marie's phone number. They'd have to talk about whether or not that happened over drinks this weekend.

He turned left and at the end of the hallway the door opened up into a very spacious master bedroom. The carpet was older. Shag. As he looked around at the rest of the house while walking to the bedroom,he noticed the walls were mostly older wood paneling. But it was clean and it didn't smell bad. No musty or moldy smell at all.

The master bedroom was huge. A lot more space than he was used to. If he was going to get this place, he would actually think about renting the room out rather than staying in it himself. After his divorce, he had lost more than 90% of his personal possessions in the course of his many moves. He was starting to accumulate some stuff again, but really didn't have as much that would warrant such a big room.

"Here's those triple-pane windows I was talking about. They look brand new," Jim explained as he showed Lewis the windows in the room. "Definitely no breezes coming through these."

Lewis put his hand up against the window and it actually felt a little warm. That was good. It would save on the energy bill quite a bit. Less heat used in the winter and more efficient use of the central air to keep the house cool in summer. He was starting to like this place but had to be careful because there were many places that would seem better than where he was now. It was not the time to make a purely emotional decision.

He noticed as he had walked to the master bedroom that they had passed another room and saw where the third room was. Lewis wasn't sure who had lived here before, but all the bedrooms were not that far apart and were in the same hallway. Maybe a couple with children? Certainly anything could have been heard coming from either of the rooms if there was a bad dream.