He
used his flashlight to see that the inside of the house was empty.
There was no
furniture in the living room. He could see all the way into the kitchen, where
he failed to see a dining table, stove, or anything.
(This was because nothing was there, not because Dave had poor eyesight, which
he didn’t. Dave’s eyesight was perfectly
fine alright?) The only thing that told him that it was a kitchen was the rusted and rotted remnant of a sink. The
floors were all paneled wood that looked dusty and old. There was a musty
stillness in the air. It made Dave think of the boathouse his father had taken
him to twice in his life during summer vacations.
The only sound was a slight creaking made by
the barest current of a wind rushing by outside of the house. He shut the door
behind him.
The house itself wasn’t any larger
than he’d been expecting. It was the size of Neil’s house. He figured he’d seen
all there was of the bottom floor once he’d circled around and found the
staircase that led to the second story from the kitchen. There was another that
led into a basement that just had to be dark and unfriendly; Dave shut the door
that led down there. If there were monsters
here, they were probably getting a party ready downstairs. Dave was pretty
sure that was a legitimate concern.
Upstairs was a hallway with three
closed doors. The first two were unsettlingly locked and the third swung open
to admit sight to a room that was occupied by one twin bed covered in black
sheets and a black quilt, a basin filled with water, and a—oh man—a basin filled with water.
Dave took off his jacket and shirt
and started washing his upper body. And, yeah, a little bit of the water got on
the floor but it didn’t really bother him too much because he was finding that
the blood was coming off quickly. He
didn’t even notice the scrubbing sponge floating in the water until he’d done
most of the work with his hands. The sponge made short work of the dried blood
that remained.
Shirtless the cold started to get to
him. And because he was wet, he was freezing.
He stared at his shirt and jacket and decided that it wasn’t really worth it to
put them back on. He wasn’t sure he’d wear them ever again. He pushed them to
the side of the room with his foot and stood shivering in the room for a few
minutes.
He grabbed the bed quilt and wrapped it
around his shoulders and sat on the bed. He noticed that there were three cardboard
boxes against the wall that faced outside. There was a note on top of them. The
closet was empty; the door to it was wide open.
David walked over and grabbed the
note. It was written in letters with well-defined edges and little to no
curves, almost like a typewriter had done it.
STAY HERE AWHILE.
YOUR FRIEND WILL COME TOMORROW.
THERE’S FOOD IN THE BOXES IF YOU GET HUNGRY.
!
Dave sighed. He knew this note had been left
by Bira, the incisor, and having had his chat with Elys, he felt like following
the advice of the note was a dumb idea reserved for people who continually made
bad ideas. People who did stuff like chase after urban fuckin legends and follow crazy girls into the houses of boys who
were equally crazy and be surprised when things turned sour.
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