Walk-In

Under Darkness

It was the muted thuds that alerted her first, an unfamiliar type of noise in the normally quiet house. Of course, quiet was relative, considering Alice was one of its two occupants - and if there was anything to be said about Alice, it was that she was rather...lively, to say the least. But nothing this strange normally happened, and not this late in the afternoon, either.

The redhead had just arrived home from work, a grueling few hours spent toiling in the heat at her cousin's car garage. So blisteringly hot was it that before long, he'd sent her home again, insisting that she was "much more useful to him at home than than here, complaining and distracting him from his work."
Of course, she knew the real reason for being sent home wasn't exactly that - but she kept quiet about that detail, instead throwing him a knowing smirk as she sped away on her motorcycle.
Now, she was just inside the door, peeling off the bandana that had kept her cropped locks back from her face and shedding her grease-streaked heels, only to glance up in surprise as a loud noise startled her.

Had something fallen against a wall, perhaps? But no, there it was again - and louder this time, repeated as though with some sort of intent.
A ghost?
But Alice didn't believe in that sort of nonsense. After all, she lived with a spirit, who was probably the closest thing to a ghost one could hope to meet in this day and age. No amount of horror stories could sway her in that conviction.
What, then, was that strange noise?
Her thoughts ran wild as she started down the hallway, tripping over her discarded shoes in her haste. The first room she encountered was the kitchen, but she found nothing there. On to the living room, and it rendered the same result. All that was left for her to investigate was the bathroom - an unlikely culprit - and the bedrooms.

Her own bedroom, like the bathroom she'd checked only moments earlier, held no clues. Where could the sound possibly be coming from? Frowning in concentration, she listened hard as it rang out again, turning this way and that until she identified the direction it had come from.
Her head turned to the left, and she found herself staring right at the door to Riley's room, which - oddly enough- had been shut.
That was right... He'd told her he would be out today, right? Then why...
Suspicion enveloped her as she closed the distance between her room and his, cracking the door open with a bit of unwarranted hesitation.

The room's interior was uncharacteristically dark for the time of day, a result of the drawn curtains within; Alice had to squint at first to make out what lay inside. Nothing seemed out of place at first, all of Riley's meager possessions and furnishings in their proper places - but as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could make out a strange dark blob to her left, pressed up against the wall like it was glued there.
That was...strange, obviously. Clearing her throat, the redhead took a tiny step forward.
"Riley..? Are you in here?"
She almost gasped as the blob suddenly moved, shifting and rearranging itself until she realized that it wasn't actually a blob.

Squinting harder while pushing the door open further to allow more light in, she soon identified the narrow form of her housemate, and beside him... Well, she had no idea who that guy was, but his and Riley's limbs were so entangled that she was beginning to have her suspicions.

"Riley?"

Even in the dim light, she could see the dark hue that quickly began to envelope his features; oddly enough, the taller male beside him looked more annoyed than embarrassed to have been caught in the act. His stoic features remained fixed on hers, blazing so harshly that she imagined holes being burnt straight through her scalp.
On the other hand, Riley looked an awful lot like he was going to have an emotional breakdown as a result of her sudden appearance.

"A-Alice..!" he squeaked. "I though you weren't going to be home until later..."

A brief pause, and that was quickly followed by: "I-it's not what you think it is, really..."

"Beck sent me home 'cause he didn't need any more help today," she replied airily, a tiny smirk flicking at her lips. "I see you're caught up in other things, though, so I'll leave you two alone. Wouldn't want to ruin the mood, eh?"

The taller of the two males gave an approving nod as she backed out of the doorway, quickly shutting the door behind her. Through it, she could hear Riley's protesting wail, though it was quickly cut off by... Well, she was pretty sure she knew what, but dwelling on it wouldn't help the matter any.

It wasn't until she'd left the house again that she came to a sudden realization; sitting back in the seat of her bike, she merely let out a small sigh.

"Oh... I forgot. Riley never told me that he was gay..."
The thought was accompanied by a slight laugh as she started the engine, backing out and speeding onto the street without further ado.
God, she thought, this'll make an interesting story to tell the gang back at Libertarie...

She never did find the source of the thudding sounds she had heard, though she thought she had a fairly educated guess on what had caused them. But no great loss to her - after all, some things were probably better off remaining secrets.