The World Through Various Eyes

[26] Visitation (Leslie's POV)

Mornings began with a note and a gourmet breakfast in Christopher's house. His parents were rarely home, so their notes usually consisted of some sort of contrived message saying how much they missed him, and where they were that time.

The Leonard's house was eerily huge, and when I was really bored, I found myself roaming its rooms and hallways, looking for some sort of mystery to solve or interesting thing to find. Nothing showed up that even vaguely fit that description of course, but that didn't mean I didn't keep looking. I had to have something to do. And as far as houses went, Chris' was pretty much the best you could get for exploring.

Everything, from the furniture to the doors, seemed to be constructed out of chestnut wood, with a clean, elegant finish. It gave his house a sort of consistent beauty, and was just fun to look at.

One day, after I had pretty much exhausted every possibility of finding something cool, I received visitors. This was kind of strange, since that had never happened before, and I wasn't exactly sure how to deal with it.

Should I answer it? Was it even my place to answer the door? What if it was a criminal? The house was easily the most expensive in the area, from its contents to its land plot, so it wouldn't be shocking if there was a criminal going around the neighborhood and he sought out this house first.

I decided to go upstairs to Christopher's bathroom, which had a clear view of the front door and stoop. I lumbered up the stairs, hurrying in fear of the person leaving and me not getting to it soon enough. Did I even want to? Indecision filled me, but nonetheless, I rushed to take a peek.

Unlike the salesmen or criminals or Jehovah's Witnesses that I was expecting, the people on the front stoop looked utterly harmless. They even...

Wait.

I took a closer look, squinting.

They even looked like they were my age.

The two, a boy and a girl, weren't holding any fliers or clipboards, so it seemed to be a pretty personal visit. But did I know them? It was time to find out.

Dashing out of the bathroom, I found the top of the staircase and began to descend it. My hand gripped the smooth finish of the wooden banister, for support and balance, and when I came to the second-to-last step of the stairs, I jumped off and lunged for the door handle.

The door flung open, and I leaned awkwardly in the doorway, up against the left edge of the door frame.

The boy was short and scrawny, with messy brown hair and matching brown eyes. He wore a loose, heathered t-shirt and jeans. The girl to his left had on a maroon skirt that fell loosely at mid-thigh, black tights, a cream blouse and cream colored flats. Her hair was long, dark brown, like chocolate, and wavy. I could practically feel gears turning in my head as I struggled to remember their names.

I had seen them before, I knew it. Aaron and Jane? No, didn't sound right. What were their names?

"Christopher? You're not busy, are you? We'd like to have a word." the girl said with a matter-of-fact tone.

I knew I had seen them at school before. They were the people Alice had introduced me to at lunch. But what were their names?

Alex.

And Jade.

It came to me finally, and I audibly sighed in relief.

As I invited them in and they entered the hallway, I wondered whether or not they were siblings or a couple. I really couldn't remember this one for some reason. But judging by the boy taking the girl's hand, I was leaning a little bit more towards the second option. They seemed really close. It was pretty cute honestly, regardless of whether they were just friends, just siblings, or romantically involved.