BOO

Keys

– Alex –

He was right. His house was about a hundred feet away from where we were seated and it was quite easy to point it out, since it stood out a little too much. Contrary to the modern looking houses in the neighborhood, Henrik's was like a classic little mansion with a large front yard full of flower bushes in full bloom.

I watched as Henrik kept patting himself looking for something while we stood in front of the door.

- Damn it! - Henrik mumbled, giving up on what he was searching for.

- What's wrong?

- My keys. - He sighed. - I think I lost them somewhere.

- Should we go back to the convenience store? Maybe it's somewhere near there. - I suggest, pointing back at the little store that was clearly visible from where we're standing.

- No, wait. - Henrik jumped from the stairs to the bushes beside him, disappearing there.

I rushed to the other side of the stairs, from where he jumped.

- Dude, what are you doing?!

- Wait! - He said, then emerged from the bushes a few seconds later with a key in his hand. - I saw my brother hiding a key here.

- Your brother? Why would he do that?

- Dunno. - Henrik shrugged and extended his hand to me, asking me to help him out of the bushes. - But I guess he did that in case he forgets his key somewhere. Man is an airhead.

- Guess it's a family thing. - I mumbled.

Henrik probably heard me cause he laughed softly while opening the door.

Not only did the exterior look classic, the interior too reeked of old money. At least that's how everything looked like under that subtle indirect light. Every piece of furniture seemed like the type of thing a family would hand down for generations as a heirloom. The sofa on the entryway was probably half the price of everything my family has.

I couldn't help my eyes from looking everywhere. It was definitely different from the house hosting that party, even though I couldn't see much before.

- Let's go to my bedroom. - Henrik, once again, took my hand and pulled me out from my "tourist-visiting-a-museum" like mode.

To our left there was a sort of a room only for the spiral staircase. There were a few paintings in one of the walls, in which I could see a cute blond boy gently smiling starring at the largest one.

As we went up the stairs, I couldn't help but look back to the painting and up again to the back of the head of the boy holding my hand. Henrik definitely looks different now, his cheeks aren't that big anymore and I remember seeing all his teeth in his mouth. The golden locks, on the other hand, and those big amber irises, that I occasionally locked eyes with when I walk past him in the school's hallways, looked exactly like in the painting.

The staircase led to the middle of a large corridor where a big and imponent door stood right at the center. Seems like an important room.