The House

Chapter 5 Make yourself confortable

After we got the map from the pilot window of my car, my dad took control of the driving part; I didn't want to drive so early in the morning. I just wanted to sleep on the way.

The only thing left was to wait for Valerye and her parents so we could arrive there all together.

They arrived 15 minutes later.

"Thank God." says my mom.

They stopped their car in our driveway and got out to say hello.

"Sorry for being late," says Peter, Valerye's dad. "We had some troubles getting out of the house..."

"Don't worry," says my dad. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, where are we going?"

"The bastard left a map in Isabelle's car with an address, so I guess we have to follow it."

"Alright then, I'll follow you."

"Okay."

My dad got inside the car, turned it on and then began to drive with Valerye's family behind us.

...

We drove for hours and hours until we got to the address that was pointed out in the map.

My dad and Peter parked in the driveway and we all got out of the cars.

"Is this where we're supposed to be?" asks Jasmine, Valerye's mom.

I got off the car and said hi to Valerye and her parents before seeing the scenario that stood in front of me.

The House.

It is an old house; too old for having people living inside, if you ask me. It has a rusty metal-fence in the front and knee-high grass. To get to the front door you must walk through that little jungle by following a path that had bricks once. The front porch is dusty; all made of wood and it seemed as if termites had been having fests here for decades.

"Does this man really thinks we are going to live here?" says my mom.

"Well," I say. "He made us stayed in our School for five months after all; I think he knows we have no choice but to stay here too."

Valerye seems to be the only one who understands my logic; my dad just went to the door are tried to open it. The trick here is that there is no doorknob.

"Here we go!" he says and the door finally opens.

The movement of the door made the dust inside The House to move as well; the air had more dust than oxygen.

"What-?!" Peter coughs before finishing his sentence.

We are all looking around us; there are some holes in the ceiling that allows the sunlight to go through and illuminate the inside; there are spider-webs everywhere, some doors on the first floor are block by wooden boards, and there are even some frames without doors.

The first floor looks like a lobby; the doors are around it, that's why I call it "The Reception", and at the end of it are some enormous and gigantic stairs, like the ones you would see in a Victorian movie were the characters have this great dance.

I saw how everybody was eager to explore the insides of The House, but I wasn't. I wasn't in the mood of exploring or anything related to that, so I just searched for a room that was habitable for me to sleep in and launched myself into the dusty bed.

The room was a mess; all the furniture was covered in once-white-now-brownish blankets, again, there were spider webs everywhere and the unforgettable dust was there too. I couldn't do anything about it and I particularly didn't care either, I just closed my eyes and got ready to fall asleep.

I don't really know if I did fall asleep or if I was still trying to, but I now I heard the voice of someone saying something.

-Are y-...

-...-ou su-...

-.......ure...?

-............out... is...?

Are you sure about this?

I opened my eyes, sat down and looked around me; I was alone. I know I heard a male voice saying "Are you sure about this?" but there is no one near me.

-Isabelle?-Valerye walks into the room and looks at me; she looks worried.-Is everything okay?

-Uhmmm...-I look at her, thinking if what I heard was real or a product of my imagination.-Did you say something... before...?

-Me?-now she looks confused.

-Yeah, I think I heard something...-I say, waiting for her answer to be a "yes".

-Nope, I just got here; I was looking around with our parents and my dad found this... That's why I came, is it a bad moment or something?-Valerye stretches her right arm and I can see that she is holding a piece of paper.

Not another note.

-Don't worry; it doesn't say anything like "somebody is going to die" or something,-she giggles at the end of that phrase but then she sees my expression and immediately regrets saying that.-Oh... Bad joke... Uhmmm... Well, yeah... My dad found this and we all read it because it doesn't have like a, uhmmm, an addressee so... I just thought you had to read it too...

She gave one more step closer so I could grab the folded paper.

Once in my hands, I saw that there was indeed no recipient; it was blank, so I unfolded the paper and read what was written inside:

"Make yourself comfortable".

An immediate anger surged deep inside me.

He's making fun of me again.

I crumpled the piece of paper and threw it as far away from me as possible. It fell on one of the corners of the room and I just stared at it with all the anger I could have. I stared at it just as if I was staring into the Creep Guy's eyes right under that paper bag.

-Isabelle, are you okay?-says Valerye.

I nodded.

-Are you sure about this?

I turned my head in surprise to look at Valerye.

-Wait, what have you just said?-I ask.

-I said, "Are you sure about this?" Cuz you don't seem sure...

I know now that I'm not imagining things; there's no way Valerye's voice could sound like the one I heard earlier. There's someone that wants to make me hesitate about this and I'm not going to fall for it.

-I'm sure,-I say.- you'll see we're going to get out of here as fast as we arrived... In fact, I don't think we're going to stay here for more than a month.

-But what if he makes us stay for more than a month?

-We won't stay five months locked up again,-I say. - So don't worry.

Valerye smiles shyly, and then leaves.

I don't know what the Creep Guy has in mind, but I won't let him win. I will put an end to this nightmare before it continues and before it hurts more people.

Tomorrow it will begin.

Tomorrow it will continue.