Chapter 1 #3
My brows pinch together as I glance around the house again.
I pull up my camera and start looking through the pictures I’ve taken.
He watches me with concern as I start to spiral.
“I don’t understand, Axel. The dust. The furniture.
No one has been here in years. It… It’s not possible.
” I demand as my eyes shoot up and lock with his.
“It is possible. Not only is it possible, Ev. It’s a fact. They may not have stayed here, they may not have touched anything else, but someone was here. Recently.”
We’re both talking in hushed whispers now.
I’m not really sure why, because we’ve already wandered all around the bottom floor with absolutely no regard for homeowners.
I mean, I’m pretty sure that no one is here.
It’d be rather difficult to have this much dust and never accidentally brush up against it or touch anything.
Axel is definitely right, though. Someone was here.
“Let’s just…” I start as I look above me. “Let’s go upstairs, get some photos, and head back. Yeah?”
His brow furrows, but he silently nods in agreement and leads the way to the stairs.
I get this odd feeling that I need to leave.
Now. It’s a heavy and unsettling awareness that’s taken over, so I know I’m not fully enjoying what we’re looking at, but I want plenty of photos to pick apart later.
I’m extra careful to keep my extremities close to my body as I take as many pictures as I possibly can.
Axel seems to have the same idea, since he appears to be just as cautious with his movements.
We start to spiral up the stairs, each step echoing into the silence until Axel abruptly stops, causing me to bump right into him.
“The fuck!” I hiss quietly, barely managing to keep my camera from toppling out of my hand.
He turns back to glance over his shoulder at me, and his face is…
downright terrifying, really. I’ve never seen him like this, and I’m starting to feel as if maybe this anonymous tip was one that we should’ve just ignored.
My skin prickles as a wave of chills covers my body.
Axel shifts to his left and wordlessly points at the banister past him.
Clear as fucking day in the mansion full of dust lies a perfectly placed handprint near the top of the staircase railing. Pristine. Absolutely no settled dust. It’s brand fucking new. My eyes dart to Axel, and it seems that he’s come to the same conclusion that I have.
It’s time to fucking leave.
He frantically ushers me back down the stairs with both hands.
I’m an absolute ball of panic, so he literally has to shove me to get my feet moving.
Once my wits decide to return, I’m carefully sprinting down the stairs as fast as humanly possible.
I nearly slide across the floor as I U-turn around the banister at the bottom.
As quiet as we’re both trying to be, our footsteps sound like an earthquake pounding through the silence.
The front door creaks loudly as I pull it open, and I wince as I bolt through it.
“Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Shit! Fuck!“ I chant as I dart through the yard in the direction we came from.
“Right, Ev! Right!” Axel directs me. I end up looking left before actually turning right, and then I scramble over to the breach in the fence that he carefully crafted earlier.
It’s not lost on me that Axel is always in front and for a good reason.
I’m terrible with directions… and just leading in general, but add in emotions, and my brain is practically scrambled eggs.
I’m almost certain that Axel has let himself fall behind to protect me.
If someone came after us, he would be between them and me, and that makes me love him just a little bit more.
I quickly scurry underneath the fence, careful not to damage my camera, not even bothering to dust myself off as I stand up.
I reach down to grab his camera from him so that he can come through without having to worry about it.
He isn’t even cautious as he shoves it into my hand and drags himself through the dirt to get out as fast as possible.
Once he stands back up, we both seem to drop some of our urgency.
We haven’t relaxed by any means, but we do finally pause to dust ourselves off and catch our breath.
Even though I can’t see it through the fog, I’m anxiously glancing back toward the house periodically as we both shuck off our backpacks and unzip them to put our cameras away.
He’s already throwing his bag back onto his shoulder when a sound rings through the silence that makes both of us freeze in terror.
I jerk my face in the direction of the house. I still can’t see anything, but I know, though. I know. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that what we’re hearing is a garage door. Not a single fucking doubt.
Then the faint sound of snarling and barking echoes out into the forest.
There are fucking dogs.
“Take your shirt off, Everest. NOW!“ Axel demands as he drops his backpack again to remove his own shirt. I rip mine off as quickly as possible and then sling my bag on. I’m bouncing with nerves, and the way Axel seems cool and collected is absolutely ticking me off.
The guy is always so fucking chill and organized.
Freak out a little for fucks sake, because being a trainwreck by myself is not fun.
After he strips his shirt off, he props a foot up on the fence and viciously yanks at the piece he folded back earlier.
Even though it’s realistically only a couple of seconds, it feels like it takes an eternity before the fence finally gives and folds back down.
He hisses and steps back as a sharp piece grazes across his flesh.
He stares at the blood starting to trickle down his forearm as he kicks brush and dirt up around the bottom of the fencing to hold it in place.
“Axel… what do we do?!” I whisper frantically.
He hastily whips his bag back on, grabs me by the hand, and takes off.