Hide and Seek

Chapter 26

*HARRY'S POV*

Turns out Lou - my Lou - really did have to cover for Seth during his break and a rain check had

to be enlisted regarding our promised lunch plans. I stumble into our flat with determination,

locking the door behind me and checking the time. Lou let me have the car but also squeezed a

promise to pick him up - and to not be late - out of me.

I hope Louis responsibly asks for my portion of the rent soon, so that I'd take it as a lenient

proposal and opportunity to seek employment. I could work at the hardware store but I don't want

to cramp Louis' space and make him upset. I could work downstairs with Martha in the deli. I'd

have to ask Louis first, to see if he even thinks it's okay to get a job yet.

It really did annoy everyone - being Lou (I hope) and I - that even though I walked regularly on

the streets here and nobody cared to yell or get violent because of me, there was still a cloud. A

dampened cloud that was swelling with a storm that threatened to release all over us.

Up in the attic I remove my heavy green jumper, leaving only a black T-shirt underneath and

reach for my bandanna. I realise that I don't have it on and frown because I haven't used it in a

while. It was a burden of sorts, but a positive one. It kept me from letting my temper take over in

threatening situations which came in handy after meeting a certain quiffed, short and very

defensive Louis. I hate to think what would have happened if I hurt him.

I've only managed to sort through - though the task does not fall under my duty list - about a tenth

of the total quantity. I found some interesting bits that I hope to present to Louis tonight when he

gets back - or when I go get him. His shift ends at five on weekdays and one on the weekend.

I almost knock over a pile of unsteady filing boxes before I steady the shaking tower that stops at

my neck. I go over my table by the window, one that still has the dust on it that it did twenty years

ago. Several articles are spread out before me, displaying several horrific images and conveying

such tragic stories of families with a single thing in common. They lived at Lost Lake.

Hamster scurries across the room like the uninterested rodent he is.

April Febbs and her husband, Joe Febbs, were killed in the year 1924 in the same house my things

still sit in.

Olivia Jones and her husband, Matthew Jones, with their two daughters, Ally and Octavia, were

also killed there but in 1945.

Kimberly and Scott Ellis and their three daughters, Marissa, Katy and Sam, were also found

strangled in the living room. That was in 1956.

In October of 1985 a family of six was discovered mutilated in the back yard. The daughters were

playing on the same swing Gemma and I played on.

There were two more but the most well-known and final act of terror, was the death of Anne, Des