The House of Sorrows

Chapter 23: "He's gone"

We told the others but said that they didn't need to come over. I gave Lockwood and George the other information I had discovered while talking to Freddy. I described his facial features, how he talked, and how he acted.

"His face was slim but chiseled. He had braces of some sort, his teeth were big and yellowish. He had dark brown hair, and a light amount of facial hair on his chin and neck." I said to George who was doing a basic sketch of the guy, it didn't really look like him at all though.

It was now around 8:00 PM, it was dark outside and everyone was tired. I called Lockwood to the kitchen to clean up the cut I had accidentally given him. I grabbed some antibacterial wipes and a bandaid. I wiped the cut and cleaned it up. The bandaid was pink with some cupcakes and hearts on it.

"Sorry. It's all I could find." I said to Lockwood as I opened the bandaid and pushed it onto the cut.

I just stood there for a moment, staring at the cut. I had zoned off, and he'd caught me.

"Lucy? It's alright you know. You didn't hurt me." He said while staring at my blank face.

I suddenly snapped out of my trance and looked up at him. T

"Oh that's not what I was thinking about actually. But I am sorry about that." I said as he smiled and nodded.

"So what are you thinking about?" He asked in a curious tone.

"Well...I was thinking about whether we're incredibly lucky or unlucky." I said with a crooked grin and a little laugh.

"Oh really, how so?" He asked with a confused expression.

"I mean on one hand you could say we're incredibly unlucky because of the crap we're always put through. Evil agency leaders, evil iron company owners, stalkers, very powerful ghosts, assassins, etc." I said with an exasperated appearance.

"But on the other, you could say we're lucky because we've dealt with all this stuff and we're still alive, and happy, and we've come out stronger, and even made new friends! Like...Kipps for example." I said ending my point.

"That's a very interesting question." I hear George mutter from across the room, I didn't even notice when he got there.

Lockwood and I silently agreed with George. I sat down on a chair in the kitchen and yawned as I slumped down. I saw Lockwood glance at me for a second before standing up and walking towards me.

"Come on. Let's go get some sleep." Lockwood said as he reached out his hand.

I grabbed it and pulled myself up, I slowly walked up the stairs. I was tired, weary, and nervous. I reached Lockwood's room and walked inside, I grabbed some pj's and shut the door. I got changed into some soft pajama pants and a tank top. When I went to open the door I ran into Lockwood. Who had just gotten changed into some plad pants, and a long fleece button up. His shirt was partially unbuttoned, I caught myself staring for a few seconds before I snapped out of it.

"Sorry. Just going to brush my teeth." I said, trying to get to the bathroom as fast as I could.

Oh no. He'd noticed I was blushing. This is so embarrassing. It's not like it's the first chest I'd seen, it's not even like it's the first time I've seen his chest. It was just different after we'd kissed. I squeezed past him and made my way to the bathroom. I had brushed my teeth and gotten comfy in bed. I caught myself thinking about Lockwood, when we kissed, how beautiful he looked, even in his pajamas. No. Bad Lucy. Not the time nor place to be thinking about this. I scolded myself subconsciously. I finally drifted off to sleep.

Around 6:00 AM the next morning I heard noises from the side of the room where Lockwood was sleeping. I ignored it and went back to bed until I woke up about 10 minutes later to switch sides when I noticed a surprising lack of sound. I looked up and there was no Lockwood. I was confused as he wouldn't normally be up this early. I sat up and looked at the clock, it was just before the sunrise. I stood up and went to look for Lockwood, I wanted to make sure he was ok.

I walked down the stairs and into the sitting room, then to the library. Sometimes when he can't sleep he reads the newspaper. I heard some talking from outside, I didn't understand why anyone would be outside, it's early, and still mostly dark so it's possible that there would be visitors. As I was making my way to the door I heard a deafening sound. It was a crack that echoed around me in the silence. As I dropped to the floor my hands over my ears I realized it came from right outside our door. My eyes opened in fear and bolted to the door, as I opened it I saw the sun rising just barely over the buildings in the distance, I saw a man standing in the middle of the street. I saw a body laying in the street.

A tall, thin body. One that I recognized. One that I'd seen just the night before. It was Lockwood's body.