Complete Chaos

055

Steve went in first, and Julia right behind him.

Dustin handed flashlights to the group. Once everyone was in, Steve closed the door.

"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," Lucas said after trying to turn on a lamp.

The group, except for Steve, turned on their flashlights. "Where'd everyone get those," Steve asked, sounding like a young child standing near Dustin.

"Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child. Even Melody has a flashlight," Dustin said, and pointed at the baby. Melody had her hand on the flashlight her mother was holding. She wanted to help her mother carry it.

Annoyed, Dustin passed Steve his bag. After Steve grabbed a flashlight, he dropped the backpack leaving it behind.

Taking a few steps into the house. They saw how the Creels left everything behind.

Picture frames were crooked. The sofas were covered in dust. The long curtains from the living room were ripped. Spiderwebs were everywhere.

Melody sneezed as soon as Julia walked into the hall. The mother leaned her head towards Melody and said, "Bless you." She checked if her daughter had any boogers. Seeing that Melody had boogers coming out of one of her nostrils, Julia softly pinched the tip of Melody's nose to clean it. 

"Hey, guys?" Max got the attention of the group.

Julia cleaned her fingers with the side of her jeans as she walked to where Max was.

"You all see that, right?" With her flashlight Max pointed at the clock. "Yeah," Dustin and Steve said in unison.

"Is this what you saw," Nancy asked as she stood behind Max.

Max silently nodded. "I mean, it's just a clock," Robin said. Robin walked closer to the clock, not afraid of it. "Like a normal old clock." She passed her finger through the clock, and dust covered her finger.

"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks," Steve whispered.

Julia stood next to him. Melody rubbed her nose furiously, feeling uncomfortable.

Steve lifted an eyebrow and squinted an eye. "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something," Steve said seriously.

"I think you cracked the case, Steve," Dustin said flatly, hitting his back.

"The answers are here somewhere," Nancy said, looking to her left. Nancy thought they would cover more ground in trying to find clues if they got into pairs.

She took a step back "okay, everyone in groups of two." With her hand she gestured Robin toward her. "Robin upstairs." Robin saluted her and walked toward her.

Halfway to another step Nancy said, "Julia, you're with us too."

Julia was taken back; she had never had a long conversation with Nancy. Things weren't weird or awkward between them. At least Julia didn't think so. There was no bad blood between the two girls. Nancy was Steve's ex-girlfriend, and Julia was Steve's current girlfriend and mother of his first child.

Steve whispered, "go" encouraging Julia to go. Julia passed by Steve, making her way to the stairs.

Robin turned around, facing Melody and made funny faces. Melody squealed and kicked her feet in the air.

Robin walked backwards, sticking her tongue and crossed her eyes. Melody giggled and flapped her hands.

Julia smiled, seeing both girls interact. With her flashlight Julia illuminated ahead. "Be careful with that," Julia warned Robin as the teen was still walking backwards.