Left as it had been when the business was thriving, the furniture sat covered and undisturbed. I pulled the white flat sheet off of the long couch and sat down on it, admiring the good condition of the upholstery. Another loud boom crashed and I jumped in my seat, watching the windows light up as the lightning flashed. Since I didn’t like being alone, I decided that it would be best if I kept moving around. The last thing I wanted to do was focus on every tiny creak the house made, and assume it really was some kind of poltergeist waiting to kill me.
The piano in the corner was covered, but I could see the legs beneath the white sheet. Memories of late night songs filled my mind. My aunt’s choir voice was like an angel, and if she wasn’t baking, or working in the rose garden, she was singing for her visitors offering free entertainment every night.
The kitchen felt the emptiest, having nothing on the counters like I was so used to. My aunt was famous for her homemade breads and pastries. Seeing the empty granite countertops brought tears to my eyes. I opened the refrigerator, knowing that nothing would be in it. As expected, the bare shelves also gave me that abandoned feeling.
Before making my way up the rear steps to her bedroom, I removed my shoes, which was something she’d always required the family to do. This part of the house was her private quarters and she liked them to be in perfect order.
Once inside of her bedroom I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach. Her bed, made up as if she’d been the last person to do it. Every fold was as pristine as she’d taught me. I skid my hands over the quilt, feeling an eerie shiver come over me.
Another crash of thunder caused me to startle. I sat down on the bed and reached for the lamp. The light came on and illuminated the dark room. I looked around and felt emptiness overwhelming me. My eyes began to burn as I fought the tears that I’d been holding in so well. My sweet aunt was gone, and her memories were all I had left.
I don’t remember laying down, or falling asleep, but I awoke to a loud boom. The sky outside was now dark, telling me that it had been at least an hour that I’d lost to rest. I sat up and heard a knocking sound. My stomach began to twirl when I considered what it could be.
Since the noise wasn’t stopping, I crept down the creaky stairs and followed it. It became even more apparent when I reached the bottom steps. I walked into the living room freaking out. The sound was so loud that I was shaking. Then I realized what it was. One of the shutters on the front porch had come loose, and it was smacking against the siding. I turned on the porch light to double check. Just as I’d assumed, a shutter was slapping with the wind, causing the racket.
I knew it was going to drive me crazy, so I headed to the kitchen and found a hammer and nails in the toolbox in the bottom of the pantry. Knowing little about home improvement, I knew that it would assumedly be a temporary fix, if that.
The wind was blowing something fierce as I made my way outside. In fact, I had to use all my weight to close the screen door and refasten it. My hair, instantly soaked, kept blowing in my face while I tried my hardest to get ahold of the shutter. Because my hands were wet, the nails kept slippi
ng from my fingers, falling down in between the old deck boards. I’d taken five outside and was on my last one. Finally I was able to make contact with the hammer, and continuously kept hitting it until I felt it going into the siding of the house.
Content that the noise had been fixed, I rushed toward the front door again, only to be startled by a giant bolt of lightning that lit up the sky behind me. Before the loud boom followed, I turned around to see that it had hit a tree. A giant branch fell to the ground, making a loud breaking sound.
My heart began beating faster and I whipped back around to make a run into the house. That’s when I saw him standing there, at the foot of the porch steps. The obvious male figure was dripping wet. He had both of his hands on either railing, and was moving toward me. I backed up against the door, feeling like something terrifying was about to happen. He’d come out of nowhere and obviously hadn’t arrived in a vehicle. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry to startle you.” He stood on the steps while the rain continued to pour, soaking him more as he spoke. “I got stranded on my bike a ways back. I’ve been walking for nearly an hour. Your place is the first I came to, and I wasn’t real sure if anyone was here. I saw the sign, and was wondering if I can rent a room for the night. The weather report says that it’s not going to break until morning.”
This was a stranger, and I certainly wasn’t open for business. “The business closed down months ago. Do you need to borrow a phone to call someone?”
He took the few steps up until he was under the cover of the roof. Although the wind was blowing the rain on us anyway, it wasn’t as bad as standing out in the open. “That would be good if I had someone to call. I’m just passing through; been traveling for the past week from Florida. I didn’t hear about this storm until I stopped for dinner. Apparently it is a result of that tropical storm that came up the coast.” He looked out as another bolt shot through the sky and appeared to touch the ground just past the tree line. “Listen lady, I won’t be any trouble. I’ll stay out of your way.”
It was another reason why I should pay attention to the news. Obviously I knew nothing about this so called tropical storm, or else I wouldn’t have planned my trip until after it was over.
The wind whipped and reminded me of how serious the storm was becoming. This guy needed shelter, and had it not been for my aunt’s private quarters that was equipped with a lock, I would have steered him to keep on walking. A part of me still wanted him to, but for some reason, even a stranger staying was better than being alone in this creepy bed and breakfast. “I can’t offer you much, but come in and get dried off. The fridge is empty, but we probably have bottled water in the pantry.”
“Are you a vampire?”
It wasn’t a time to joke around, with me being all nervous, but I smiled anyway. “No. I just returned from a trip. I planned on shopping tomorrow.”
“A nice dry place to lay my head is all I’m asking for.”
“It’s about all I have to offer anyway.”
My mother, siblings, and probably every single one of my friends would have told me that I was making a terrible decision. What sane person would allow a complete stranger to come and stay the night with her when she was all alone? They'd tell me that I was asking to get chopped up into a million pieces and left to rot in a locked ice chest.
I'd soon find out if all of my fears were real, because he walked inside and sat down his bag that he'd had on his back. "This is a big place. You here all alone?"
"No!" It was the smart answer. If he thought there were other people around he'd be less likely to plan my demise. "My grounds keeper lives here. He's upstairs somewhere."
The man nodded and took off the tight fitting do-rag that he'd obviously been wearing underneath of his helmet. Thick wavy hair was being fluffed by his hands. While doing it I could see his tricep muscles popping out of the black t-shirt he had on, that was so sopping wet it clung to his body. My attention was geared to his physique. He wasn't extremely muscular, but certainly wasn't too skinny either. In my opinion he was perfectly sculpted. Realizing that I was standing there like a wet dog, lapping up his essence, I turned and ran toward the laundry room. After grabbing a few towels, I returned to the foyer and handed him two of them. "Here. You can use these to dry off with."
He stuck one over his head. "If you'll point me to a room I'll get out of your hair. I've got a change of clothes in my bag I'd like to get in to."
My mind was all over the place. On one hand I was considering all of the ways that he could murder me. Then there was the storm, steady shaking the house with wind and thunder. Lastly, I was preparing to spend the night alone in a creepy old house with a stranger.
Then the power went out.
Chapter 2