Dwellings On The Past ~ (Lorraine's daughter)

Maeve

The uncomfortable feeling is back as soon as my mom and I walk through the door of the house. I take a deep breath and continue to follow my mom in the living room. No time for freaking out, right?

"There they are." my dad says before walking in our direction. Carol follows him as well, she stops in front of us and looks between my mother and me. "Should I show you three where you could sleep?"

"I'm sorry, "could"?" my dad asks. "I thought we agreed we would sleep here." "Of course you will. I apologize for the confusion." Carol says while George joins us as well, leaving the children in the living room.

Carol and her husband exchange a glance. "Well, we're all sleeping down here in the living room. It's warmer and also less scary for the children." George explains. My mom and dad look at each other, I think they're having a whole conversation without talking. "We'll be fine sleeping upstairs." my mom says softly.

"Alright, then follow me, please." Carol says while walking up the stairs. The staircase looks very expensive, I can't even imagine what all this must've cost. I don't recognize the carpet on the floor from my dream and most of the furniture looks different, but the rest looks like an exact copy from my dream. Or vision, whatever it was.

We follow Carol along the gallery which offers a beautiful view to downstairs. There's a rather big chandelier hanging in the middle over the stairs. It's not turned on, but because of the many windows and the balcony on the wall opposite of the stairs it's still not dark. "Your house is really beautiful." my mom compliments when Carol stops at a door at the very end of the hallway. There's just one more next to it.

"Thank you." she answers firmly. "Well, this is a room with one single bed and the last door offers a double bed. I hope that will do."

My mom smiles. "Yes, of course. Thank you, Carol." she says while taking Carol's hand gently. She looks confused but when my mom talks again it's quickly replaced with happiness. At least I think it's happiness.

"You have a beautiful family. We will help you, alright?" my mom says. Carol nods while pulling her hand away from my mom's. "Yeah, we're very thankful for that." she says. "It's just that we don't have that much money left and-"

"Don't worry about that." my dad steps in. "We don't charge money." he reassures her. "If you don't mind, we'd like to rest now. It was a long drive."

I can practically feel Carol's relief when she nods and walks away. When she walks past me she almost looks embarrassed. "Is it okay if you sleep in a room alone?"

I don't know why Carol would be embarrassed for not having too much money left. As far as I know she and her husband just bought this huge house and they have three children to feed. "Linda." my dad says. I look up to him. "Yeah?"

"Will it be okay if you sleep in the room alone?" he asks, sounding a little annoyed. Did I do something wrong? "Yeah, I'll be fine." I tell him. He nods firmly before opening the last door of the hallway and walking inside. My mom hestants before following him. "Sure you'll be fine?" she inquires. I smile while nodding. "Yeah, don't worry."

"Remember the rules, okay?"

I laugh. "Only watching and asking you first before I do anything." I tell her and that's enough to calm her down. She watches me open the door and walk inside my own room before she joins my dad next room. "Since when are they so overprotective?" I whisper to myself while closing the door and turning to look at the room.

Expensive is not even an expression for this. My mouth is wide open when I walk around the big room, my hand sliding over the old but beautiful furniture. Mostly it's out of a dark wood and crested with golden handles and details. The bed could easily fit two, maybe three people and it looks so comfortable I want to throw myself in the covers. Maybe I'd never like to leave.

Just as I'm about to fulfill my desire I can hear my dad's raised voice from the other room. He's basically yelling. "It was a bad idea!"

"Yeah?" my mom questions. She usually doesn't raise her voice, but now I can hear her, she's probably talking loudly too. "Well, you were the one convincing me." she argues. I really don't want to listen to this. I wish I could at least change clothes, but our things are still in the car. I walk right back out of my room, the car is still open, so I can just get my backpack by myself. That's probably not something I have to notify my parents over.

Just when I'm about to walk towards the stairs I realize the door to my parent's room isn't completely closed. They're talking way quieter now, but I can still hear them. "Linda might be more important to solve this case than we thought and then I am." my mom tells my dad. I'm probably not supposed to hear this.

My steps are quick when I walk towards the stairs. I don't pay too much attention so I almost don't realize the youngest daughter is standing in my way. I almost stumble over her, I stop in time not to though. If I wasn't in such a rush I would've seen her most likely, she's like two thirds of my height.

"Julie?" I ask. "What are you doing here all alone?" I wonder.

"Mommy's sleeping and daddy..." she informs me. "I don't know where daddy is." she says, sadly glancing down. I crouch down in front of her so I'm at eye level with her. "We can go look for your dad, that's no problem." I reassure her while offering one of my hands. She takes it, but instead of agreeing to my offer she leads me in the room at the beginning of the hallway.

"Where are we going, hon?" I ask. The nickname is the one my mom always uses, as it turns out, I do too. Instead of answering the little girl sits down at a very small chair that's standing in the room. Next to it are two more chairs and a table.

It makes sense now, this is Julie's room. There's a little bed close to the window and a closet that looks different to the other furniture, but similar to the one in my room. They probably bought it with the house.

"Do you want some tea?" she asks, very cutely I have to add. It takes me a few - embarrassingly long - seconds to realize she wants me to play with her. There are multiple porcelain cups and jugs on the little table and Julie is holding a pair of them. They're white with light pink and blue flowers on them.

Actually playing with little children is not one of my favorite things, but the little blonde girl is really adorable. With her big blue eyes she almost looks like a doll. "Alright, but then we'll find your dad, alright?"

She nods happily and then fills the cup with an imaginary tea. It's really adorable, the way she hands it to me and then gets a cup herself. "Thank you, Miss Atwell." I smile while taking the cup from her, carefully like there's really a hot liquid inside it.

"You are welcome, Miss Warren." she says and I'm surprised she remembered my last name. Her gaze switches to something, hopefully not someone, behind me. She's still smiling when she looks back at me.

Very slowly I turn my head around. I almost jump when I see my mom standing in the doorway. But I'm still confused. The door is to my right and Julie looked to my left. I turn back around, placing my tea on the table.

"She says she likes you." Julie informs me. My eyes widen and I have to concentrate to not gasp in shock. I keep my eyes focused on her. I have to keep it together. I think of possession, but she still looks and behaves like herself.

I briefly glance at my mom, she's still standing in the doorway. She looks a little perplexed herself, but not half as bad as me. I focus on Julie again. "Who says that, sweetie?" I ask, trying to contain the uncertainty in my voice.

"Maeve does."