The Old House

Chapter 2

     When I looked back at the house, I thought of how beautiful it was, but as I looked up at the roof I noticed something strange. 'What is that?' I thought to myself. I looked a little closer, then started to count, "1, 2, 3...that's not right." Then I realized, 'Wait a second! There are four floors!' I turned to Sarah with wide eyes.
     She looked at me confused and laughed, "what's wrong?"
     "Nothing," I said, trying to shake it off, but something was not right. I started to pick the red strawberries again, then took a deep breath before asking her about the house, "so you said that there are three floors in your house, right?"
     "Yeah," she said laughing, "I told you, and I gave you a tour of the house. Why are you acting so strange?"
     "Well..." I decided to tell her what I had seen, "I was looking at the house and thought I saw something strange, so I looked a little closer and I think there is another level." I put a strawberry into the basket then pointed to the roof to show her, "It's hard to see, but it's definitely there." I said, trying my best to point it out to her.
     "Oh wow, yeah. I see it too. Do you want to ask my dad about it? He knows more about the house than I do."
     "Yeah, that's a good idea." We paused on picking the strawberries and wandered back to the pool. When we got there, we saw that her dad was still sitting by the pool, so we slowly made our way to him. "Hi Mr. Johnson, I have an odd question for you, how many stories high is this house?" I asked.
     "This house has three floors. May I ask why you are wondering how many floors there are? It is pretty obvious and I thought that Sarah would have told you." I started to worry and was ultimately confused. It sounded like he didn't want us to know what was up there.
     "Well, I just thought that I had heard wrong and that there was a basement, and Sarah said to ask you because she wasn't sure," I tried to sound convincing. I hated that I had to lie, especially in front of Sarah. I will have to explain to her why when we get to her room.
     "Ok then, well, as I said, the house is three stories high,"  I had to get away. I knew if I said anything else I might give away what we saw.
     "Thank you then, sir," I took ahold of Sarah's wrist and walked firmly across the porch, through the kitchen, and up the stairs to her room. The atmosphere was so dense out there to the point where I couldn't breathe. "Ok," I said, trying to catch the breath I was holding. "Your dad is definitely trying to hide something."
     "Um, yeah! Why did you lie to him?!" Sarah sounded mad, "and why did you rush me up here?"
     "I'm sorry, I was afraid of what your dad might have done if I told him the truth, and I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible." What could he have done? He probably would have banned me from seeing Sarah again or do something worse to her. I didn't want to risk that.
     "Ok, I understand, but you didn't have to pull me up the stairs like that." She said while rubbing her wrist. I looked at what she was doing and felt awful. Why did I do that? I didn't want to hurt her.
     "I'm sorry. Is your wrist ok?"
     "Yeah, I'll be ok. So, what are we going to do now?" I sat on her bed thinking. 'Do we try to find some way to get up there or just forget that we saw it? Because there is a whole other floor. What about her dad? What was he hiding? Is it reallly worth the risk?'
     "Let's try to get up there," I looked at her as I said this, I really wanted to figure out what was up there and find out why it was hidden. I was determined to find a way.
     "Are you nuts!? What if my dad catches us?" She said, but before I could say anything, "Wait! My dad leaves for a work trip in the morning. We can look then!" Just as she said that, I got a text from my mom, 'Sorry, I'm here early, but I need to get these groceries home.'
     I look at my phone and then at her. "Great idea! But, my mom just got here, and I need to go. Maybe we can have a sleepover tomorrow and figure out this whole thing?" I said as we made our way down the stairs.
     "That would be great. I'll ask my mom tomorrow," she said when we got to the door. "Oh! Also, don't tell your mom about it yet. I don't want her to know."
     "I promise I won't," I hugged her before I walked out the door. I got in the car and waved goodbye as we pulled out of the driveway. What a weird afternoon...