Taking in a stray

Chapter 6: When things couldn't get worse

It started around 2 AM, I was sleeping soundly, after having gotten home at midnight from my several month to hell and back trip of work I had experienced, when I was abruptly woken up to the sound of my phone going off. The notification being one of the more urgent notifications. Waking up, exhausted and fighting to stay awake, I rubbed my eyes and checked my phone, shutting my eyes from the bright light before allowing them to adjust. On the screen I saw an email notification from the program office, going into it it was an urgent email stating that a new section would be added to the care books I have, being sent a digital copy of this section till they send the physical copies. It didn't have a title and a warning that some things may change when it comes closer to physical release, making sense if it is a new addition, but before I could begin reading, I soon heard a soft creak outside my room in the hall. Looking up, the light from my phone illuminating my face, I saw only darkness, tonight was a new moon, and when I went to turn the lamp on my nightstand found it wouldn't turn on. Using my phone as a light, eventually turning on the flashlight on it, saw my door wide open, and a crumpled shirt in the doorway. Furrowing my brow I slowly got out of bed, feeling it was quite chilly then getting another notification that a substation nearby had caught fire, causing a blackout in the area which may be around a few days to a week, which explained why it was so cold and the lamp not turning on.

Approaching the doorway, I went to pick up the shirt to hopefully discover its owner when I noticed a trail of droplets on the ground, going from the shirt into the hall and to the left. It looked like water, being clear like someone got out of the shower and didn't dry off before walking out, leaving dripping water everywhere. Picking up the shirt I found it soaked, very very warm and the smell was of heavy heavy musk and sweat. I instantly dropped it and shook the, what I presumed to be sweat, of my hand. From the smell it made my brain buzz, which was strange, but made me gag a bit by how strong it was, holding back a cough as to not make too much noise, the house silent as a mouse, till I heard a soft thumping in the hall. Looking to the shirt again before investigating the sound I saw it was one of Finnick's shirts, specifically a short tee he usually wore to bed. Soon enough the gears in my head began to turn and when looking back at the trail of droplets I wondered if it was sweat, and if so why so much of it, it was frigidly cold. Keeping the questions on the backburner I quietly entered the hall, seeing the trail leading towards the sound seeing along the way the rest of what I can assume was Finnick's clothes, being some shorts and undergarments, just as or more so soaked as well by sweat. This led me to ask more questions, walking down the hall a bit further as I heard the soft thumping sound quiet down a bit ahead, though before continuing saw it was past Finnick's room which the door was partly open. Opening the door a bit more to see if Finnick was truly awake at this hour, was barraged by the same stench of musk and sweat. Stepping back, and placing my arm as a cover to my nose, coughed slightly, but looking inside saw it was a mess. The floor of his room was wood flooring, small pools about the size of a small bowl in diameter, dotted the floor, the bed was an absolute mess with what seemed to be stains of white dotting the blankets, which I didn't want to know what they were. Though I quickly noticed that one blanket was gone, back around October when I was away from home, I had mailed Finnick a nice blanket I had gotten from a town I was near, he had loved it since I sent it to him and would always use it when he went to bed, but to see it gone now, and to see Finnick gone too, gave me reason that sound was him. Closing the door as to not let the smell fill the house, my head feeling drowsy, though slowly returning to normal as I breathed clean air, was about to head towards the sound when I noticed now it was completely quiet.

Standing still I listened for maybe a minute or two only to find only silence beyond my own breathing. With the sound now gone it made me curious, as I followed the trail of sweat droplets and eventually entering a connecting hall, which led to the rest of the bedrooms, with the hangout room I had made for everyone being at the end of the hall, the hall looping around to where my room was. Walking down the hall I soon found a spot where a small bit of the wall had the same droplets, the height of which would have been someone's forehead, the trail that led me here going down the hall and off to somewhere. Seeing this made me uneasy, nervous, and ultimately unnerved. Part of me wanted to investigate further but my body, exhausted and needing rest, seemingly yelled at me to return to bed and figure this out in the morning, especially since no one else was up and nothing was broken. With that I began heading back to bed, though I was concerned about Finnick and where he was, it was both hard to think and focus with how tired I was, though the buzzing sensation in my head I got didn't help either.