Soul Watch

Chapter 20

I was already panting as I reached the second floor of Carwyn's house. Their house was unbelievably large that the flight of stairs leading up to each floor was longer than usual.

"C-couldn't...he...have...a...room...that...was...on...the...second...floor?" I gasped in between pants.

Carwyn, who was already on the platform of the third floor, looked down at me, his boyish grin plastered on his face. "Ceron wanted a whole level to himself. You'll see why later. Come on!"

In just three strides of his spider-like legs, he was already on the third floor, his head peeked out at me from the railings.

"Come on, Pandora! You can do it." His voice echoed down the staircase.

I looked up at him still puffing, feeling like I was on some weight loss show, and he was my trainer trying to motivate me.

With that thought, I quickly scrambled up the remaining flight to his side and came face to face with a door with a black and white sign hanging on it.

"FUCKING PARENTAL ADVISORY REQUIRED"

I looked at Carwyn with a raised eyebrow.

"It's left over from Ceron's teenage days. He was one of those moody, cranky kids that swore a lot." He laughed and pointed at the sign and then at the mat that I missed on the floor.

"OH, YOU'RE HERE. WELL, GO AWAY"

I laughed as I read the doormat. "He sure had a sense of humor. I'll give him that."

"Oh, wait till you see his room," Carwyn said as he turned the doorknob and let the door swing open to reveal Ceron's room.

The first thing I saw as the door swung open was a ceiling to floor glass case and in it were hundreds of different types of cameras: Holga, Polaroid cameras, DSLRs, small palm-sized digital cameras, and large vintage cameras. The whole case was filled top to bottom with cameras.

"Wow." I breathed.

Carwyn nodded beside me, peering into the room. "Ceron loves photography and collecting cameras. He called this whole case his baby." In a lower voice, Carwyn added, "He even named each of his cameras."

I took my first step into the room, still in awe of the towering glass case filled with so many types of different cameras. As I did, the room seemed to expand on both sides. It was larger inside than it was on the outside that both sides appeared to be a deeper and bigger corridor than a rectangular room. The wide walls were painted in a shade of turquoise except the ceiling which was fixed with what seemed to be glow in the dark stickers. To the far right was what I guessed a thirty-inch plasma television plastered onto the wall and set on a long TV console. Underneath it was an assortment of gaming consoles, wires intertwining each other. The wall right next to it was shelves upon shelves of games. Like the glass case, the shelves were set from the top of the wall to the floor. In front of the TV console was a pixelated carpet and squishy looking bean bags littered on it.

"As you can see, Ceron was an avid gamer." Carwyn's voice drifted from behind me.

Avid gamer was just an understatement to the amount of consoles and games he had tucked away in the right side of his room. It was the most I had ever seen even more than a game shop I'd bet.

A small white board with messy scrawling was set on the wall opposite the wall of games.

"What's that?" I pointed at the whiteboard as I turned around to look for Carwyn.

He appeared beside me, hands folded at his back as his eyes followed to what I was pointing to.

"Ah, that." A huge grin spread across his face. "That was Ceron's scoreboard. We used it to keep score on games."