Chapter 1 #2
I take a few steps out from behind Axel again and run my fingers along a blade of Pampas Grass.
Strange. These don’t grow here naturally, so someone had to have planted them.
I take a few more steps around the flowering plant and notice that there’s a uniform line of them.
They’re spaced out, but I can just make out two more spread a few feet apart behind this one.
There’s not a doubt in my mind that someone put them here.
“Ev…” Axel calls out for me. He’s far enough ahead of me now that I can’t see him clearly, but I can still make out his silhouette through the fog.
“Just a sec,” I reply as I start to traipse back to the path his giant feet have tamped down in the grass.
“Hurry up, Everest. This… this is insane.”
I pick up my pace, nearly tripping over my own feet as I wade through the ocean of plants. I really love plants, honestly, but right now, could they… not?
The sound of my footsteps changes dramatically, and I look down as I finally step up behind Axel, placing my hand on his back for balance. There’s concrete here. A walkway.
I lean forward to peek around the giant in front of me as he stands in awe. “Holy shit…“ I whisper as I push my way around him to get closer. “This is gorgeous, Axel.”
I turn back to look at him over my shoulder, and he seems just as enamored by the view as I am. A smirk curves onto his lips before he glances down at me in excitement.
“Let’s go,” he says as he steps back around me and takes the lead. Thank God he was gifted with curiosity, because while I’m curious, I lack the bravery aspect that typically accompanies it. If he weren’t my partner, I would definitely have to find a new profession.
The closer we get to the monstrosity ahead of us, the more shocked I am.
For being abandoned, this place appears to be in relatively good shape.
Normally, the buildings we receive tips for are in disrepair.
Walls are crumbling, and stairs are sagging under the weight of time.
Windows are often shattered, and doors pried open, inviting in the elements and visitors.
Opportunities that leave them with vandalism or graffiti on every available surface.
This place is… It’s perfectly preserved.
Not a trace of spray paint in sight, and the doors are peacefully intact, steadily guarding whatever secrets await us inside.
The windows are a bit foggy with dust and grime, but otherwise present and shielding the contents inside from nature.
It feels as if we’ve tumbled into some kind of capsule, a place where time itself seems to be holding its breath.
We always make it a point to walk around the exterior of buildings before we enter them.
It gives us an overview of what we’re walking into, a little time to figure out the best place for us to enter, and it helps us locate any dangerous obstacles.
I follow much more closely behind Axel than before as he starts his way around the side of the building.
This place closely resembles a plantation-style home.
Giant pillars frame the front door, which are at least three stories tall, even though the building appears to only have two floors.
We finally work our way around to the back of the building, which seems as though it was used by the previous residents as the main entrance.
There’s a paved circular driveway that leads off into the woods in the opposite direction than we came from.
I bet there was an easier way to get here.
I make a mental note that we should check the maps again before we head back to the vehicle.
There’s a jostling noise that rips my eyes away from the driveway and back toward the house.
Axel stands on the porch, actively trying to work his way inside.
Since he’s focused on trying to lockpick, I make my way over to a wooden fence just a few yards away, having to stand on my tiptoes in order to look over it.
“There’s a freaking pool! This place was nice, once upon a time…” My words die off to a murmur since I know that Axel won’t be answering me while he’s focused on something else.
I mean, the pool is now green with algae, and the liner is sagging in the corners, but I imagine that when this place was built, it was like a palace.
I can envision it back then with the grass cut uniformly, the landscaping freshly planted with vibrant colors, and everything newly built.
This was someone’s haven, a place to retreat away from the hustle and bustle of life.
“Oh! Jesus! Look Axel! It’s Passion Flowers!“ I nearly clap with glee before climbing over all the weeds to where the vines weave between the fence boards. “I haven’t seen these in the wild since I was a kid!”
I glance over at Axel to show him, but the fucker is too busy shimmying open a window to pay me any attention. I guess he couldn’t get the door unlocked, after all.
I slide my backpack off and quickly pull out one of my notebooks.
I jot down a little note with the location we’re at, which I’m unofficially calling ‘the coordinate house’, and then I pluck a flower to press between the pages.
I start to delicately spread the petals exactly how I want to preserve them.
“Just like th–”
“Annnnd we’re in, let’s go, Ev!” Axel calls out.
“Shit…” I mutter under my breath as I close my notebook carefully and shove it into my bag. I zip it back up and sling it over my shoulder as I turn toward Axel, who is currently not being patient for the first time in his life. Instead, he is very clumsily climbing his way through the window.
“Fuck. Why are all the windows so high on this place? Is it like an architectural design feature of the time period or something?” He whines.
“Um… No. Actually, it’s not.” I say as I work my way over to the house. Now that I’m thinking about that aspect, it seems as if this place was built more recently. It doesn’t appear to be more than… I don’t know, twenty years old, at most.
“This place really isn’t that old, Axel. It’s pretty modern.”
“Then what’s with… these… fucking… windows!
?” He huffs as he finally falls to the other side with a thud.
I’m quite a few inches shorter than him, so I’m glad that he’s going to unlock the door for me.
If he struggled to get in with his height and muscular arms, there’s no way in hell my ass could climb in there.
“Everest… dude… I’ve never seen anything like this…” He trails off in awe.
“Well, open up! I want to see!” I whine as I pound on the door impatiently.
I hear him quietly walking towards me before the lock finally clicks and he pulls it open. I step inside slowly, my eyes torn between what I want to look at first. Axel and I both gape around in absolute awe as we dig our cameras out of our bags.
Based on the thick layer of dust covering all the surfaces, this place clearly hasn’t been visited in many years, but it’s not been neglected.
I’ve never been lucky enough to see something touched by time that hasn’t also been ransacked by other people.
No one has been here to destroy all the furniture or mirrors.
There’s been no theft of the original owners’ possessions. It’s just… someone’s home.
Axel and I are both silent as we weave through the rooms. Our footsteps and the periodic clacking of our camera shutters as we take photos are the only things breaking the eerie silence.
There’s a heaviness to experiencing something this intense.
I can almost feel the absence of what was.
It’s in such immaculate condition that I can imagine children giggling as they run up the spiral staircase.
I can see a wife and a husband dancing around each other while they cook in the oversized kitchen.
I can see them all dining together at the table like ghosts of the past. It’s… it’s fucking creepy.
“Ev… do you see these?” He asks with an odd edge to his voice that I don’t quite recognize.
There’s this saying I heard a long time ago.
Something about not worrying until someone who worries less starts to be concerned.
I can’t recall the exact quote, but that pertains to this moment far more than you can imagine.
Axel does not worry. Axel does not get frightened, or angry, or…
anything. He’s cautious, sometimes too cautious, but he is the most level-headed person I’ve ever met.
The fact that he seems distressed sends me into immediate panic mode.
I’m by his side in mere seconds, because I need to see what he’s talking about.
I also need to know, as quickly as possible, if I need to start hightailing it out of this place.
“What? The oven?” I ask with a scoff as I peer around him.
His brows furrow, and though his voice is now a whisper, it’s still panicked. “Yes, the freaking oven, Ev! And the fridge… and microwave… and dishwasher.” His concern seems to grow as he points to each one of them. “These are all brand new, Everest.”
I look at each appliance as he gestures to them, and… fuck.
“What in the world?” I whisper as I pull the fridge open. It’s completely empty, but the fact that the light blinks right on, and it starts to whirr to life, is a little jarring. I abruptly close it.
“There’s power here, Axel. The freaking power is on.” I say with desperation as I look above us to the light fixture.
“Are you fucking listening to me, Everest? These appliances are new. Brand new.“ He says as he slings the fridge door back open and starts reading the sticker along the seam. “Last year… It was manufactured less than a year ago, Ev.” He declares as he softly closes the door.