Lou was the first to wake up from a mostly restful night. Since Sandra was still sound asleep, he let her be that way. Lou got dressed and then washed up in the bathroom. By this time, Charley was also up and met Lou when he came out of the bathroom.
“Good morning,” Lou stepped out of the bathroom.
“Morning… Did you and Sandra have any problems sleeping last night?”
“No, not really, why did you?” Lou asked.
“Not as much as Brandi did. She said that she heard someone come into the house around three this morning.”
“Well, shortly before that, Sandra got up to go to the bathroom and said that she heard something downstairs. I told her that it was probably the homeowners,” Lou walked toward the stairs.
“Yeah probably. After all we are the ones who invaded their home,” Charley walked into the bathroom.
“See you downstairs,” Lou took a step down.
“Okay,” Charley closed the bathroom door.
As Lou casually walked down the stairs, he observed the beautifully varnished mahogany railing and trim work. This house might have been built centuries ago but they must have updated this woodwork, Lou thought. When he reached the main floor, he took his time and looked at all the different portraits on the wall. Some of them seemed centuries old, where others looked only a few years old. I wonder who all these people are, he thought.
Just then, Lou heard the clank of a couple of pans come from the other room. He made his way down another hallway and caught a whiff of bacon. As he turned right, he saw Mrs. Holt in a large terracotta colored kitchen. She was dressed in a red and blue flowered tank dress and had her blonde hair up in a bun.
“Good morning,” Lou said.
Startled, Virginia quickly turned around, “oh, good morning. I didn’t think anyone was up yet. Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes, please,” Lou walked into the kitchen.
Virginia poured Lou a cup of coffee and asked how he slept. He told her that he slept pretty good and that it was probably because he was tired from all the walking they did yesterday. Virginia said that she noticed a red SUV parked on the side of the road when they were on there way home.
“Yep, that’s Charlie’s,” Lou said.
“Did I hear my name? And boy does that bacon smell delicious,” Charley walked into the kitchen.
“Well, if you gentlemen would set the dining room table for me then I could get the rest of your breakfast made. You’ll find the dining room right through that door,” Virginia smiled.
“Sure thing Mrs. Holt,” Charley glanced around the kitchen before walking through the swinging door.
Lou took another sip of his black coffee before he joined Charley in the dining room.
“Wow, could you imagine living in a house like this? Just look at this dining room,” Charley glanced around and then looked at the green and gold wallpaper.
“Yes, this is quite a house. I mean just look at this Victorian style table. Beautiful dark varnished mahogany and it seats what, one, two, ten people. It’s simply gorgeous,” Lou ran his hand across the smooth texture of it.
While Charley and Lou set up six place settings in the dining room, Sandra had gotten up and got dressed. Wanting more natural light in the bedroom, Sandra pushed open the drapes on the one window. What she saw in the side yard though was a bit disturbing to her. She briefly watched as some strange man gutted what looked like a hog or pig hanging from a wire.
“Boy am I glad that we are leaving here soon,” Sandra walked away from the window.
Sandra dug her brush out of her purse and then looked into the large floor mirror to brush her hair. In the other spare bedroom, Brandi woke up and glanced around. After sleeping sound for about three hours, she almost forgot where she was.
“Oh, that’s right, this isn’t the cabin,” Brandi sat up and stretched.
Brandi got up and walked over to the one window. She pushed open the drapes for more natural light so that she could look at the paintings on the wall better. There were three large paintings of trees in a forest setting. The center painting was where Brandi thought she saw a glimmer of light. She looked closely at the entire painting and noticed a slight imperfection of the paint in one spot. Brandi ran her finger over that spot but couldn’t figure it out. Just then, there was a knock on the bedroom door.
“Who is it?” Brandi rushed to put her pants and blouse on.
“It’s Sandra, can I come in?”
“Oh, yeah, come on in.”
Sandra opened the door and quietly closed it behind her, “wow, this is pretty. It’s better outdoor scenery then what I have for real.
“What do you mean?” Brandi looked at her.
Sandra told her what she saw out her window in the side yard and then Brandi brought Sandra’s attention to the spot on the painting.
“So, it feels a little rough. A lot of oil paintings do,” Sandra pulled her hand away.
Brandi tried to explain to Sandra that she felt like she was being watched last night and that she swore that she saw light shining through that spot on the painting. Sandra then looked at the painting again and tried to remove it from the wall. But the painting didn’t budge. The ladies looked at each other and tried the other two paintings. Those didn’t move either.
“Well, maybe they just wanted to make sure that the paintings wouldn’t fall off,” Sandra tried to dismiss the weirdness and walked over to the window. “Besides, we’ll be leaving here soon anyway.”
“Yes, I guess you’re right. It was just a horrible first day of our vacation,” Brandi grabbed her purse.
As the two women walked out of the bedroom, Brandi stopped off at the bathroom first. Sandra glanced around at the artwork and hallway table up there while she waited. Then she noticed another door at the end of the hall but it had a padlock on it. I wonder what’s behind that door, she thought.
“Okay, let’s get out of this creepy house,” Brandi walked up behind Sandra.
“Creepy is right,” Sandra pointed to the padlocked door.
Brandi shook her head no and walked towards the stairs. Sandra followed behind her all the way down the stairs. They then heard the voices of Charley and Lou and walked in that direction. They glanced into the kitchen but kept walking until they found the guys. There they were, Lou, Charley, and Mrs. Holt sitting cozy-like at the dining table.
“Good morning ladies,” Virginia smiled, “would you like some breakfast?”
“Um, I thought we were leaving?” Brandi looked at Charley.
“We will, but we need to get a hold of a mechanic first,” Lou said and then crunched on another piece of bacon.
“Oh, that reminds me, Harold got a hold of our local mechanic earlier. We figured that you would want it towed to his station. So, now I’m just waiting for his phone call,” Virginia said.
“Well thank you, that was nice of you both,” Charley smiled at Mrs. Holt.
Brandi walked over to Charley, “so, how much longer are we staying here then?”
“Well, you heard Virginia, we are waiting to hear back,” Charley smiled.
“Sit down my dears and have some breakfast. How would you like your eggs?” Mrs. Holt asked.
Brandy and Sandra reluctantly sat down across the table from Charley and Lou and gave their preference on the eggs.
Please join me again for chapter 5 of: The Guests.
Just reading this makes me feel uneasy. There's creepiness all about it !