What Lies Beneath

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Burning the Midnight Oil

Bobby wasn't much of a believer in the occult, but after what had happened in the last twenty-four hours, he couldn't really say that anymore.

First his friend Joe had him digging up dirt on a mysterious house that was surrounded by an even stranger town. Then there was his passenger that night. The boy hadn't said much, but there was something odd about him.

Bobby had been driving a taxi for a long time and had picked up a few things over the years. For instance, he knew when a passenger was looking to rob him. They would get all fidgety and they wouldn't look him directly in the eye. However, this passenger was different.

The young boy spent most of the ride staring out the window of the cab. He only told him the address of the house. That wasn't what tipped him off that there was something more going on, however.

When Bobby brought his old taxi back to the garage for the night, he did his nightly inspection. After all, he didn't want to get caught with something illegal hidden between the seats. Everything seemed to be normal, that is, until he checked under the seat.

Folded neatly was a manila envelope. At first, he thought that it may have been drugs or something along those lines, but when he opened it, he found a letter scribbled in blue ink along with a name and address.

The note read:

Please give this to Joe, it's very important.

John Cassidy

5501 West Chamberlin Street.

When Bobby turned the paper over, he found directions from Joe's place to the address in the note. Not knowing what he should do, he got in his car and drove over to his friend's apartment. Hopefully Joe would know.

Deep in the empty halls of the house, the walls continued to chatter. The words that they whispered however were not meant for them. Among the not so abandoned rooms stood Charlie.

Most of his figure was hidden in the shadows, all except his face that is. It was lit up by the moon light that came pouring through the oversized window beside him.

Charlie had spent most of his day in search of something. He wasn't exactly sure what it was that he was looking for. All he knew was that the house wanted it and one of the guests was in possession of it, which meant that he would have to search all their rooms.

Unfortunately for him, the death of Delphine had resulted in all of them hiding away in their rooms all day like cowards. If he had known that killing her would have caused this, then he would have waited until he had found what he was looking for.

Since the moment of his arrival the house had begun to whisper to him. It told him things and prompted him to do certain tasks for it. In return for his services he would be able to kill anyone that he wanted to. After all the house really didn't have a need for the guests that were alive.

He knew that the house would not be pleased with the fact that he hadn't found whatever it was that he was looking for yet, but it would just have to deal. He was doing exactly what he was supposed to do. It wasn't his fault that the house had lost it in the first place. In the end, Charlie was sent away with a new objective. Though it wasn't one of his favorite things to do, he knew that if he was to get what he wanted, then he would have to give the house what it wanted. Even if that meant being nice to people.

Joe had barely stepped out of the steaming shower when he heard a loud knock at his front door. Not really having anytime to get dressed, he wrapped his towel around his waist and went to go see who it was.