Nature's Greatest Miracle

Chapter 3

The wooden floor creaks as the man approaches us.

"W-we didn't steal anything." Josh says with a shaky voice.

We are both stunned, the only movement we make is our slight shaking.

The creaking gets closer and I notice Josh tightening his grip on the axe and slightly adjusting his shoulder.

I can feel the man's presence behind me. He places a hand on my shoulder and Josh suddenly swings his axe behind me, completely missing. I look behind only to find a harmless old man.

"No need to be harsh child." The old man helps Josh pick up the axe that got stuck on the wood.

The old man wears a plain white long-sleeved shirt with those small belt things that goes over the shoulder.

"Wait, you're not a killer?" Josh asks.

The old man gives him a friendly smile. "A killer? I . . . take care of this house."

"Take care?" Josh chuckles. "Wow, you sure are doing a good job of taking care of the house."

The old man reacts with a gentle smile that doesn't look like he wants to kill Josh just like every other people that has met Josh. "I take care a part of this house."

It becomes silent until the old man starts. "Anyways, no questions-"

Josh cuts the old man off. "Wait, are you renovating the place?"

The old man just shakes his head and still doesn't look annoyed. He bends down, places a hand on our shoulder and raises his eyebrows. "You two need to follow me right now."

The atmosphere turns anxious.

"W-why?" I ask.

"I'll answer your questions once we get there." The old man walks over to the stairs and waves at us to come with him.

I follow but Josh hesitates. "Come on Josh, if he was a killer he'd have killed us already."

"I-I think I'll just pass."

The old man suddenly has a worried expression. "Are you sure?" He asks.

"Yeah. I'll just go and explore around here, old man." Josh says those words with obvious rudeness but the old man doesn't look mad yet."

"Ok then child, do not ever follow us." He raises a finger and gives him a warning expression. "They might still be watching."

I frown at the old man and Josh's expression doesn't change.

I hesitate to ask who might be watching but the old man drags me down the stairs with a tight grip. There were instances when I was about to lose balance and completely fall since the old man's pace down the stairs was fast.

Both of us avoid rooms, take down paintings, go through shortcuts, hide in curtains, duck under vents until we eventually reached a dumbwaiter. The old man told me the dumbwaiter will be strong enough to carry me. He also said that he's not gonna be with me inside the dumbwaiter because he needs to take the stairs. I didn't ask anything else after that.

Inside the dumbwaiter, I began to over think about whether I should trust then old man or not, after what just happened. It already seemed weird and suspicious minutes ago. But I also had a little bit of faith since I notice Josh on the other end of the hallway winking at me with his axe.

While I was going up, I had thoughts like:

"What if the old man was a mad scientist that wants to experiment on me? Don't worry Oliver, Josh will save you."