Rude (Choose Your Own Adventure)

Chapter 24

You decide to wait until whatever's so urgent with Jack Crawford has finished. 'Please, make yourself at home,' Hannibal tells you. 'Feel free to read a book. There is dessert in the refrigerator, if you are hungry, and an open bottle of wine in the dining room. I shall return as soon as possible, and we can begin again where we left off.'

Alone, you lie on the bed for a little while, watching the flickering flames in the fireplace. They are mesmerising, and they make you feel sleepy, but you don't want to go to sleep. You get up and leaf through some sketches lying on the bedside table, evidently done by Hannibal. They are largely nudes.

The man has an appreciation for the human body. The thought makes you suddenly starving, even though you've eaten a meal already. It's probably the raging desire stampeding through your veins that gives you an appetite.

You go down the wide mahogany staircase and pour yourself a glass of wine in the dining room. Then you go into the kitchen. Inside the stainless steel refrigerator are two chilled plates, both with a slice of cheesecake on them. There's a covered glass jug of red liquid next to them, evidently a fruit coulis. It looks amazing, but something tells you that you'd rather enjoy this with Hannibal...maybe feeding each other creamy bites, maybe dribbling the coulis on his chest and licking it off.

So you wander around the kitchen instead, taking in its huge range of equipment. Maybe you can find some crackers or something to take the edge off your appetite, until it's time to share the cheesecake with Hannibal. But there's no dry food in the cabinets. Perhaps there's a pantry...

The door to the pantry is locked. 

Why would you lock the door to the pantry, you wonder? Is the jam dangerous? 

If you pick open the pantry lock with a hairpin, go to Chapter 27.

If you go back to the bedroom and wait, go to Chapter 28.