Is This Safe?

Chapter 20

A knife.

Dusty, dirty, and dry, cobwebs hung loosely on the tip as my hand reached forward to grasp it. It seemed familiar, like the one I'd see in my dreams every so often at night. It would confuse me, making me feel as if it was real, but the more that I stared at it, the more familiar it became. It was in my dream. And I had seen it before. But where?

The sudden thought popped into my brain the second I started to retract into my memory.

Andrea!

Andrea's knife! Why was it doing here? In Canada? But it was in Washington!

"No--"
I shook my head as I shakily hid it back inside the drawer, safely away from my eyes of terror.
"--it's not her knife. It can't be, that's impossible. It must look very similar then."

After I had set the knife back, something shiny had caught my attention. Curious, my hand found on it when I retract it back.

It was a key.

I frowned as I stood back on my feet. A key. But to what?
There was nothing inside this room that could be unlocked, at least I didn't think so. Maybe it unlocked another room or something. On instinct, I walked over to the fireplace and patted down the area with my hand, searching for a loose brick that might be pushed to another room behind it. Unfortunately, there was either no secret room or I hadn't searched well enough, but after patting it down twice, there was nothing there. What about that lonesome room down the hallway? Or the rest of the rooms? What were inside them?

Maggie was still fast asleep, but I made sure to leave a note letting her know that I was going to investigate some of the house. I hope they didn't mind, or Samantha, that is. After all, this was her house. Checking on Ann and Chelsea next door, they were both covered in blankets while one was breathing like a rabid dog. Not exactly though, but they were exhausted. Shutting their door quietly once more, the hallway grew utterly quiet and dense.

"Here I am, alone again."
I whispered to myself while inhaling a deep breath.
It was now or never.
I was going to learn the secrets of this house if it was the last thing I'd do.

***

"Hmm...a library, interesting."

After walking down the corridors of the long hallway, I opened every single door, but there was only one door that opened to something other than a bedroom. This one in particular was a library. A very big one, in fact with bookcases on either side of the walls. The floor was colored in white tiles with small black circles dotted on every so few of them. It was as if someone dropped small droplets of black paint just for show.

Rows, rows, and rows of books were inches away from my fingertips. All I had to do was touch them. Ann would absolutely love this room, knowing her.
My eyes scanned the limitless number of books, but I never found a familiar book that I have read personally myself. They were all bizarre and Latin, I think, but nobody read Latin anymore. Did Samantha?

Bang!

I nearly jumped out of my skin once I heard a crash not very far from me, but as I huddled my arms together in fear, I knew it was nothing more than a book that had fallen off a shelf.

"Strange."

I found myself saying aloud as I bent down to pick the worn book up from off the ground. This library looked as if it hadn't been occupied in forever so why would a book fall just now as I'm in here? It should have been lodged safely for all these years on this shelf. Unless, someone had previously looked at this book. Whatever it is. I blew the dust that was accumulated on top as I read the title, but the thing was, there was no title. Maybe this was a journal instead.