A Year At The Opera

Chapter 9: The Body In The Woods

Word Count: 5200 words

Eleanor and Aaron

Eleanor opened the door and stepped in, only to be greeted by darkness.

"Hello?" She called out, checking to see if anyone was there. No response. She flicked the light switch on. Nothing. She did it again. Still nothing.

Power must be out or something.

"El?" A voice came from the second floor.

"A?" She called out. "Where are you?"

"Upstairs." His voice was faint.

Eleanor shrugged and put the car keys in the bowl, heading to the stairs. She quickly turned on the flashlight on her phone. As she reached his door, she knocked once before pushing the door open.

"Why are the lights out?" She asked, turning her flashlight off.

"Power outage or something, Ingram's looking for the gas valve for that chandelier in the living room."

"Any idea when they'll be back?"

"Ingram called his mom. She said she'd check and call back soon."

"Okay, so, nothing's working? They don't have a backup generator or anything?"

"Well, they do but it's not working. Or at least that's what Mrs. Shaw said." Aaron replied, turning on his phone's flashlight. "So, where have you been all day?"

"Went for a drive around town. Saw a movie, had some lunch and just drove around for a bit."

"Really?" Aaron asked. "And what exactly did this drive entail?"

"It was just a drive. Jeez, mom."

"Eleanor, it's never just anything with you. What did you do?"

"Look around for people."

"Any chance these people happen to be cute guys?"

She paused. "Maybe."

"El—"

"Look, I know what you're going to say but... I need a distraction and technically, we are on vacation."

"If you'd let me finish, I'd tell you I'm not your parent, you can do whatever you want. You don't have to hide things from me." He said casually.

"But?" She offered, almost looking for him to stop her.

"There's no buts. That's it."

"Really?"

Aaron nodded.

"I don't believe you." She said.

"You can choose to believe whatever, I guess." Aaron stood up, turning off his flashlight and flexed his back to crack it and release the pressure that had built up in it for a few hours, sitting on his bed trying to write.

"Sure." She said unsurely.

"And by the way, you should never feel like you have to hide anything from me. Sure, I'll judge you for a little bit but it's because I'm trying to be helpful, you dumbass. Okay now I actually sound like your parents. Just forget I said anything."

El smiled.

"Found it!" A voice came from downstairs. El stood up, following Aaron out of the room.

Mason turned on his flashlight to guide El and Aaron down the stairs. Ingram shouted from the basement, "Tell me when it's bright enough!"

The lights on the chandelier flickered to life with a small hiss, casting bright amber across the room.