Sandra sat down on the velvet sofa and talked to Lou while Brandi looked around for Charley. She went into the kitchen and no one was there. Then she peeked into the dining room and saw no one. Maybe he went up stairs, she thought. So, Brandi trotted up the steps and then called out Charley’s name. When she didn’t hear from him, she went into the bedroom where they had slept.
“Charley, are you in here?”
Brandi looked around but didn’t see any sign of Charley. She walked over to the window and looked outside but didn’t see anyone. When she went to walk out into the hall, she almost ran into Mr. Holt.
“Oh, I’m sorry sir, I was looking for Charley. Have you seen him?” Brandi asked.
“No, I haven’t since you all were out front. Maybe he’s with your friends.”
“No, I just left them in the family room.”
“Well, I’m sure he will show up soon,” Harold started to casually walk down the carpeted stairs.
Brandi acted like she was going to go to the bathroom and partially closed the door. When she saw the coast was clear, she decided to check out Mr. and Mrs. Holt’s bedroom. She glanced back a couple of times to make sure that no one was coming up behind her and continued to their bedroom door. As she reached the door, it was slightly open. Brandi quietly and slowly opened the door and then carefully peeked in. The first thing she saw was the Holt’s king size bed fully made with a red velvet bedspread. Quietly, Brandi walked into the large room and was amazed by all the red color. She even noticed that some of pattern in the red and gold wallpaper was fuzzy. Hmm, that’s interesting, she thought.
Before moving on to their bathroom, Brandi ran her hand across the red velvet drapes on one of the windows.
“This is so luxurious,” she said quietly.
Brandi glanced around and looked at everything. When she walked over to the bathroom, she reached in and flipped on the light switch. The bathroom was fairly large and was mostly done in gold with small touches of red here and there. It also had a large garden tub and a separate walk-in shower. After Brandi quickly looked in there, she turned around and saw Harold standing there.
“What are you doing in mine and my wife’s bedroom?”
“Oh, I’m sorry sir. Your house is just so beautiful that I wanted to see what your room looked like,” Brandi stared at Harold for a moment.
Harold didn’t say anything so, Brandi decided to walk past Harold. When she did, he quickly spun around, grabbed her, and placed an ether doused towel over her nose and mouth. Within seconds Brandi passed out and fell limp. Harold quietly carried her out of his bedroom and to the locked door at the other end of the hallway. He set her down, hurriedly dug a key out of his pocket, and unlocked the door.
As Harold stepped in with Brandi and closed the door behind him, Sandra came upstairs calling for Brandi.
“Brandi, are you up here?”
Sandra noticed that the bathroom was empty so she looked in the bedroom that Brandi and Charley slept in. No sign of her here, she thought. Sandra then, walked down to the room where her and Lou slept but didn’t find her there either.
“Hmm, okay, maybe she went out the front door,” Sandra headed to the stairs.
Sandra trotted down the steps and made her way toward the front door when Lou met up with her.
“Where are going?”
“To look for Brandi. She’s not in the house, I already checked,” Sandra said.
“Are you sure, I thought I heard her go upstairs.”
“I was just up there and she’s not up there,” Sandra opened the front door.
While Sandra and Lou went outside to look for Brandi and Charley, Harold carried Brandi up into the attic. He then shackled her hands one at a time to the brick chimney and then gaged and taped her mouth shut. He then shackled her legs one at a time so that she couldn’t move. Harold stood back and looked at Brandi as she hung there unconscious. He watched as her chest rose with each inhale. Harold liked how some of her curly black hair draped down over part of her face, somewhat hiding her identity.
“Now, you’re not going anywhere,” Harold smirked.
Sandra and Lou wandered around the front yard and called for Brandi and Charley.
“Maybe they are in back somewhere?” Sandra said.
“Okay, let’s go around back. You go that way and I’ll go this way,” Lou said.
“But why can’t we stay together?”
“Because, since we’ve been calling for them, what if we both go one way and they come around the other way, we won’t know it,” Lou said.
“Wait a minute, I have my cell phone. Let me call Brandi first,” Sandra pulled her phone out of her pocket.
Sandra looked up Brandi’s number and then called her… “It went straight to voicemail. Okay let me try Charley’s.”
After looking up Charley’s number and calling it, Sandra couldn’t reach him either. So, Lou went to the right and casually made his way to the side of the house where as, Sandra rushed to the left. She noticed the barn which she saw earlier that morning but stayed away from it. She did however call out Brandi and Charley’s names all the way to the backyard. When Sandra reached the backyard, she didn’t see anyone, not even Lou. Sandra frantically looked around and called out Lou’s name.
“Lou… Lou, where are you?” Sandra quickly walked across the back patio to the other side of the yard.
Sandra was unsure of what to think and looked around, “where is everyone?”
Please join me next week for chapter 7 of: The Guests.
SPOOKY ! ! !