Life of Layla

Chapter Two

       
Ignoring my shaking legs, I made my way to the wooden steps that lead to the door.

I was unsure whether I should knock the door or just enter. Although it was a public funeral home, it was still the house of the family that worked there.

That is really strange to think about it. How do they manage to sleep at night with a bunch of dead bodies in the cemetery across from the backyard?

Shaking my thoughts away, I simply opened the door and entered the main room. What would usually be a living room in a normal house was turned into an office for funeral services. A long desk was on the far side of the room, with a bunch of plastic chairs lined up on both sides of the room. There was a couple tables with books, comics, and random papers. It felt eerily like a doctors office.

The room was deserted so I rang the bell at a desk. I was half expecting someone to enter and ask what room I will be staying in. I sat down on one of the hard plastic chairs near the desk and  picked up a random book off a table, which happened to be Alice in Wonderland.

When I think about it, the last time I read a book was two years ago. I used to love reading, but as the years passed I focused on other things. As in, television. Alice in Wonderland has always been one of my favorites. I think Lewis Carol is absolutely wonderful. If I could ever meet an author, it would have been him.

I couldn't focus on the book though, with more important matters at stake. I tried concentrating but ended up reading the same paragraph twenty times. Eventually I gave up and threw the book back on the table.

Five minutes passed, then ten. After fifteen minutes went by with no one appearing, I grew impatient and finally stood up. I decided to see if anyone was in the damn house at all.

I checked the kitchen, the hallway, and all the other rooms downstairs. When I saw nobody I assumed everyone was out. Thinking about it, shouldn't the sign on the door say closed instead of open?

I was about to leave the place, mentally reprimanding Johnny for giving me the wrong address. I let myself feel relieved about Sam, sure that Johnny scared me for nothing. If Maxwell wasn't here though, where did he go?

Suddenly I heard a voice coming from upstairs as I passed the staircase, accompanied by two more voices. I went halfway upstairs, and determined the location of the voices, which was behind the open door across me. I saw Maxwell and the old married couple that worked in the funeral home.

So much for the false hope.

I decided that overhearing the conversation wouldn't hurt, since I was already here and all. I might be able to learn of Sam and not have to talk to Maxwell at all. Ducking to avoid detection, I heard what they're saying.

"-I trust that you are telling the truth," Maxwell was saying to the couple.. "So you know Sam's mother well, I presume?"

"Yes, we knew Ruby since she was a little girl, maybe three or four."

"It was four honey," the wife said to her husband.

"Uh, okay then...what did she last see Sam doing?"

"He stormed off from his house after an argument with Ruby. I remember her coming over in tears saying that Sam disappeared and she couldn't contact him. Poor dear, she was quite distraught," said the wife. "I gave her some milk and tried to get her to relax. It wasn't the first time he had disappeared. I thought it would be like the other times, where he returned after a day or two."

Maxwell furiously scribbled in a notebook as the lady spoke. "Do you know why they were arguing?"

"We never got the chance to ask," said the man. "It would have been insensitive when she was in such a state. You should ask her. Once she knows why you are there she may open up. If she doesn't, tell her Bill sent you."