WONDERLAND

Chapter 4

"So what now then?" I ask when we are both calm. He let go of my arm and now we're just standing near the front door.

"I think the best thing to do is to wait until the morning and then we can go to the passage." Finley pushes his hands in his pockets.

"Morning?"

"Yeah, it'll be dark soon and the streets are busy at this time. You can stay here. Come." Finley turns around and walks to the stairs. "We have a small spare room."

I follow him, but I don't say anything. I realised I've lost the battle of trying to not believe him.

We walk up the stairs, me behind him. Then we get to a corridor with four white doors.

"That's the bathroom, that's my dad's room, that one is mine and that," Finley walks to a door on the left, "is where you can stay." He opens the door for me and I meet a small bedroom with one queen size bed, a night stand and a small closet. That's all that can fit into the room.

I step over the doorway and walk awkwardly to the bed, the floor creeking under my step. I sit down on the light orange bedsheets and look at the man standing at the door.

"But I don't have any spare clothes...or hygiene products," my cheeks flush and turn hot.

"Well, I'll try to find something, but I won't promise anything. We can go out in the morning and get you some things, if it turns out you need to stay longer," Finley says, leaning on the wall, hands in the pockets.

If it turns out you need to stay longer.

This sentence burns itself into my mind and it's hard for me to even process it. I want to go home so bad. I want to see my mom and even Henry, even when we hate each other's guts. I want to be anywhere but here. I don't like Finley, I don't like this town. I don't like this supernatural stuff he's talking about. I just want to be happy in my own home.

My eyes get a little watery, but I turn them away from Finley's and try to hold myself together.

I'm not sure if he noticed, but he shifts weirdly in his place and clears his throat. "Um, are you hungry?"

"No, thanks," I shake my head. I couldn't get any food in me right now. "I think I'm just gonna rest, if that's okay..."

"Yeah, sure. Well, you can come down whenever you want or if you're bored you can get books from living room. I'll leave for now." He starts backing off and I don't find anything else to say to find. So I just watch him go, closing the door behind him.

I slowly lay on the bed, my legs tangling off the edge. I feel drained and empty.

I want my mom...

I try to rest, even sleep, but it just doesn't happen. I look at the white ceiling, then close my eyes, then turn to the side, then to the other and then back to the ceiling. And I do that for almost two hours. Then there's a knock on the bedroom door.

"Harriet, you alright? Can I come in?" I hear Finley's emotionless voice from behind the door.

"Yes," I call out and sit up. Finleys enters the room carefully, as if he wasn't sure that it's safe to come in, even though I told him so. "It's your house, you don't need my permission," I sigh, playing with my fingers.

"Well, you could've been naked. It's common courtesy," he says, holding a box in his hands.

"There's literally no reason for me to be naked right now," I scoff, indicating that I don't even have clothes to change.

"Well, now you do." He puts the box down on the bed. I raise an eyebrow at what he just said.

He sees my expression. "I mean, not in a weird way. Like, here," he opens the box from me, "here are some clothes that belonged to my dad's wife. Before she died."

"Oh."

I scratch my hair. I'm not the most excited to wear a dead person's clothes, because it feels...wrong? But if I think about it, I've probably worn a dead person's clothes before. I love to go to thrift stores, especially the ones downtown, they have such cool stuff, and I'll never know if the jacket's, that I'm wearing, previous owner is dead or alive.

"I hope you find something. Would you like to eat now? Dad just got ready with dinner. You could meet him too, you know?" Finley backs away to the door, ready to leave.

I bite the inside of my lip. Honestly, I feel nervous thinking about meeting his dad, but as he said, I don't know how long I'll have to stay here, so it's going to happen anyway.

"Okay," I nod. "Um, can I...like shower?" I ask, feeling as awkward as never before. I don't know why, but it feels embarrasing to ask to shower here. My face gets hot.

"Yeah, of course. There's a spare toothbrush in the top cabinet, so you can brush you teeth before going to bed, too. I'll get you a new towel, too." He dissapears for a second and then comes back to hand me a big white towel.

"We'll wait for you downstairs." With those words he is gone.

I start going through the box of clothes. I hope they fit me because I'm not the skinniest person. I grab a faded pink skirt and a white shirt, thinking they should look atleast decent.

I tip-toe to the bathroom, hearing quiet noises downstairs. In the bathroom, I put my hair up with the hairtie I had on my wrist, take off my old clothes and run into the shower. I look at the bottles of shower things with no labels, only them saying "shampoo" and "body wash" and so on. I only use the "body wash", which has absolutely no scent.

When I'm done, I dry myself with the soft towel and then dress myself in the new clothes. I did have to put on my old underwear, but I'll manage.

The clothes actually fit me kind of well. The skirt looks really pretty, ending just a little above my knee. The short is a little bit tight at my breasts, but I've worn stuff even worse. I don't want to remember that.

I leave the towel to dry in the bathroom and take my old clothes back to the bedroom.

I breathe shakily when I step down the stairs, facing Finley and a man with an expression I'll never forget.