Hide and Seek

Chapter 5

*LOUIS POV*

Exploration of the innards of this spooky house is strictly forbidden by the disgruntled youth who

owns it. I kick around specks of dust for an hour until realizing that this place is dead-beat enough

for the whiskers of a mouse to be heard at long distance. I could easily go on a hunt for further

mystery and get back to safety before Harry catches me upon his return.

"Hanayen!" I call to the dog lazily draped across my new bed. "Come on."

We depart from my bedroom and Hanayen is instantly on intensive guard-mode. It amuses me just

a little bit more than it should. I start with that room under the creaking staircase. The door is just

as I'd left it, except now I will be extending my investigation. I grab ahold of the head of the

dwarf-sized door and drag it open. The bottom brushes noisily on the ground.

My shoulders slump, not from laziness or any other accorded feat of mine. This environment feels suffocatingly empty all of a sudden. The once simple, selfish dust flecks are now tumbleweeds

undergoing mitosis. I ignore the urge to abandon this notion, and peer into the darkness before my eyes.

*NARRATOR POV*

Louis didn't feel her imminent presence at his back. He was too ignorant of the town's folklore and

stubborn to acknowledge such a worthwhile fact. He stared into the sea of black like he was

expecting something to emerge from it. He didn't expect that such a thing was about to touch his

shoulder.

Gemma's done it before, touched this foreign boy who has invaded their wallowing lifestyle in a

gilded cage. He reacted by covering his arm and shaking it off as just a simple chill. She didn't

how to communicate with him. Only Harry could hear her when she spoke and though she adored

her bigger brother, she didn't like this state of existence. Her mother would shun all opinions such

as this, disregarding it as near treason in her will.

So she recoiled and just stayed there, watching him go about his snooping. She hoped Mother was

still in her room or somewhere she couldn't uncover Louis' current activities. Louis ducked, easily

evading a bump on his head as he tried to fit into the hole in the wall.

She giggled and Louis' back tensed. She lifted herself off the ground, rising to the ceiling where

he wouldn't dream of finding a girl hanging from.

She watched him glance around the room suddenly less confident of his motives. His dog did not

wag his tail, this was not an interest of his.

"Hush, Hanayen." Louis says to the dog. Had he whimpered? She didn't hear anything of the sort.

Louis closes the door under the stairwell and Gemma feels less happy about it. She knew what her

brother was, Louis living here - even if it was just for a short while - would be to his own

detriment. Mother never told her about her 'discussions' with Harry, just that he would keep them