Secrets and Snakes

Chapter 1

It was a cold Monday evening when Richard Prescott reached his destination. His car slowly came to a stop on the driveway, that was cleared specifically for his arrival, and he turned off the engine. He stepped out of his car and stood to admire the beauty of the house in front of him for a brief moment, like he always did when he visited the house. He loved how it looked both old-fashioned and luxurious, maybe even like it belonged in another city, like it wasn't meant to be in an average neighbourhood like this one. He wasn't used to such wealth, it was something he could only dream of. His thoughts were cut short by the door swinging open.
"Ah, you've arrived!" said a joyous voice, "You're perfectly on time, I was just making coffee."
The joyous voice was that of Carol Daine, wife of Larry Daine. She was wearing a pink overall, with her blonde hair in a ponytail. She stepped out of the house to give Richard a warm, welcoming hug. He accepted it, immediately smelling her roselike perfume. It was a smell sweet and soft, but it was also a dangerous one. One you shouldn't apply too much of, or the smell would become a stinging one. They let go of each other.
"Your hair has grown wildly since I last saw you, last time there almost wasn't much left at all!" Carol said.
"You're right, Carol. It's time to pay a visit to the barber again. I'm also thinking about going blonde, like Larry. I think it would suit me," Richard said, feeling his own hair.
"Blonde, huh? I've never imagined you with blonde hair before. I like your brown colour tho, I think this already suits you perfectly fine," Carol responded, turning to the house again.
Richard followed her inside. He carefully wiped his shoes on the doormat before entering the living room, not wanting to get any dirt on the clean floor.
"Don't you worry about it, I still need to clean the floor anyway," Carol said as she walked into the living room.
This confused him. Like the floor isn't perfectly clean already, he thought to himself.
"It can never be clean enough in my eyes," Carol said then, answering Richard's question like she could read his mind.
Richard laughed. It's never clean enough for her, he thought to himself. It was funny to him how he could go days without cleaning his house, and Carol had to get rid of every single imperfection as soon as she saw one.
Five days ago, the Daine family and Richard decided it would be fun to meet up again. It had been a while since they last saw each other, and they felt it was good to catch up every once in a while. They would grab something to drink and chat, to keep each other updated on their lives. Larry and Carol Daine, both in their late forties, lived here. Their two children, Darian and Adeline Daine, both in their early twenties, both moved out not too long ago and now live on their own. Richard has been a good friend of both Carol and Larry for at least the last twenty-five years. It had been almost two months of not seeing each other, until they agreed to meet up again. Adeline and Darian would come too. Richard was the first to arrive, a little bit earlier than they had agreed to meet up, like he always did.
"You want some coffee too? Or perhaps something else to drink?" Carol asked on her way to the kitchen. "You can sit down by the way, make yourself comfortable."
"Some coffee would be great, thank you," Richard responded, "I could really use one of those. It's been a long, long day at work."
"Well then you certainly deserve one, coming right up!" Carol said.
Richard sat down. He sighed, tired of the long day. He wondered where Larry was. Wasn't he supposed to be back from work already?
"Where's Larry?" he asked Carol.
"Oh, he'll show up," Carol responded from the kitchen, "Eventually. Sometimes the stress and the tough, heartbreaking stories you hear on a daily basis as a therapist can get to you. He tries to clear his mind as best as possible when he's done working, but you know, it gets hard sometimes. Some stories you wish you never heard."
"It's impressive, the way he does that," Richard responded, "I wouldn't be able to deal with all those stories of broken individuals. It's admirable, how therapists do their job without losing their mind."
"I think so too, Richard," Carol said, "but he himself won't admit it's tough sometimes. He never really speaks about it. Whenever he does, he just says that it's his job to be able to deal with those stories and help other people. He says there's no use in having all the stories dwell around your mind. It's more important to try and help those people, rather than letting the stories get to you. He once said to me, 'Tackle the problems before they tackle you'. I thought it was beautifully fitting."
Carol then returned with a tray consisting of two cups of coffee and a few cookies, placing it on the little table in front of the couch.
"Thank you, Carol," Richard said, smiling kindly at her, "You're always such a kind and caring host."
"You're too kind. It's nothing, really. Just enjoy your coffee." Carol said, smiling kindly at Richard.

Twenty minutes passed, and the doorbell rang. Carol jumped up and entered the little hallway to open the door. Not knowing who to expect, either her son, her daughter or her husband, she was more than excited to see both her son and her daughter. Her daughter had picked up her brother from his house, and together they took off to visit their parents. Now, they were both more than excited to see their mother, even though Carol's daughter, Adeline, showed it more clearly than Darian, her son.
"There we are," Adeline said, engulfing her mother in a long, tight hug.
"Oh, I'm so happy to see you two," Carol said, still holding Adeline and rubbing over her back.
Adeline and Carol let go of each other, smiling at each other once more before Carol turned to Darian to give him a hug too. After doubting a little, Darian accepted the hug.
"Hey Darian, how are you feeling?" Carol asked her son.
"I'm okay," Darian responded shortly.
His mother knew what this meant. It had been some time since he truly felt like living a life worth living, and everyone knew. He felt it was better to say he was doing okay than to give a detailed description about problems holding him down from feeling true happiness. His mother knew this. She put her hand on his cheek and smiled at him both kindly and reassuringly. She promised him everything would be okay eventually this way without exchanging a word.
She turned around then, gesturing to her children to follow her into the living room. After closing the door behind them and hanging their jackets on the coat rack, they did so, entering the living room to see Richard sitting on the couch, a cup of coffee in his hands.
At the sight of Adeline and Darian he put down his cup and stood to shake their hands.
"It's nice to see you again," Richard said, smiling kindly at both of them. "I don't think it's fitting for me to say you've grown since the last time I saw you anymore. That's no longer, so fast have you grown to become responsible adults. Oh, now I'm doing it anyway."
Adeline laughed. "Well, I suppose you're not wrong. Time sure does fly. It feels like that for me too."
"Can I get you something to drink? Tea, water, coffee, anything?" Carol asked from the kitchen.
"A cup of tea for me, please," Darian answered.
"Oh, for me too, please!" Adeline added quickly.
"Coming right up," Carol responded. "Sit down, make yourself comfortable, grab a cookie, blah blah blah, you know by now."
Richard, Darian and Adeline sat down and like Carol had suggested, Adeline and Darian grabbed a cookie from the tray she had placed on the table.
"When's Larry coming?" Richard asked the two at the other side of the couch, hoping they might know.
"I have no idea, I expected him to be here already, to be honest," Adeline responded, shrugging her shoulders.
"It's strange, yeah," Carol said from the kitchen, preparing the tea for Adeline and Darian. "I know it's not unusual for him to be a little late, but he's never this late. It's strange."
"Eventually, he'll show up," Richard said.

Fifteen minutes passed, and everyone was starting to get concerned. Carol started nervously biting the inside of her cheek. She started to feel anxious, like something might have happened to her husband.
"I'll text him. It's starting to get a little out of hand now," Carol said, laughing nervously as she got her phone out of her pocket and opened the chat between her and her husband. Where are you? We're waiting for you, honey, she sent him. She stared at her screen a little longer, hoping the little grey bubbles would pop up, indicating he was typing a message. It didn't happen.
"Do you think something might have happened to him?" Darian asked, starting to look more and more nervous too.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Adeline said, putting her hand on Darian's shoulder to reassure him. "Larry's a tough guy."
"He is, no need to worry about him, honey," Carol said, putting her phone down after not getting a response from him. She said this to make him feel less worried, even though she herself was just as nervous. She was trying to act as calm as possible, even though in the back of her mind she too started to feel a little uncomfortable.
"Let's not forget he hasn't been gone for days," Richard said, "It's only been like forty minutes."
"He's right. Maybe he just stopped at the store to grab a few more snacks or something," Carol said. She knew that wasn't the case. The others did too. Larry never went to the store, let alone on his own initiative. Still, she was trying to make the children feel reassured. Darian and Adeline just played along. If playing along would make their mother feel less worried about them, they were okay with it.

Another ten minutes passed. Carol had put some snacks on the table, but no one was eating them. The situation was starting to get more and more tense. They were all hoping to suddenly hear an approaching car, hear the engine turn off and hear the melody of the doorbell, but it didn't happen.
Instead, they heard a different melody. The melody of Carol's ringtone. They all looked up, hoping to finally hear from Larry. Carol grabbed her phone and hopefully looked at the screen. She looked relieved. It was Larry.
"Thank god, it's him," Carol said, picking up the phone and putting it on speaker. "Honey, where have you been?"
For a second, there was only breathing on the other side of the phone. Then, larry started speaking.
"Honey, honey, I'm in a cabin near the woods. Please don't freak out, but," Larry started. His voice was intense and loud, like he was scared and on the verge of crying. It sounded like he had just seen a ghost. "I think someone is trying to kill me."
Then, on the other side of the phone, there was a loud banging noise. Even though the sound sounded differently through the speaker of Carol's phone, one thing was very clear. It was a gunshot.