While Sandra and Lou settled down in the welcoming king size bed, in the other room, Charley and Brandi were feeling a little playful. The soft glow of the night stand lamp shined just enough light on and around the bed to make it feel romantic. So, Brandi slowly took her light blue blouse off while Charley laid on the bed smiling at her. After she dropped her blouse on the floor, she then playfully turned her back to him. As she unhooked her bra to take it off, she noticed a strange glimmer of light in the oil painting of trees on the wall.
“What is that?” Brandi walked across the room to look at the painting.
“What? What do you see?” Charley quickly sat up.
As Brandi got closer to the painting the glimmer of light disappeared, “hmm, the glimmer seems to be gone.”
“Maybe it was a reflection from this lamp,” Charley said.
“Maybe,” Brandi backed up toward the bed to see if it was. “This is were I saw it from so why don’t I see it now?”
Charley reached over and grabbed Brandi’s hand, “forget about it darling, let’s have some fun.”
Brandi looked at Charley and then looked at the painting again. She then shut the lamp off, slid her pants off and climbed onto the bed. As Charley leaned in to kiss Brandi, he thought he now saw the glimmer of light on the painting. He stopped and looked over her shoulder as the glimmer went away.
“What is it? Did you see something?” Brandi laid down and looked over at the painting.
“No, I think we’re both imagining things,” Charley said.
“What if it’s them spying on us?” Brandi climbed under the sheet.
“Ooh, let them watch then,” Charley leaned in to kiss Brandi.
“Sorry Charley, but I don’t think so. What if they really are spying on us” Brandi rolled over and pulled the sheet up to her head.
“I really don’t think that they are,” Charley got up and took his jeans off. He then climbed under the sheet, “goodnight dear.”
“Goodnight Charley.”
Brandi stared at the painting across the room for a few minutes but didn’t see any other glimmers of light. Charley rolled over on the other side of the bed and quickly fell off to sleep. It wasn’t long after, that Brandi relaxed enough to fall asleep too.
About two hours passed and Sandra quietly got up and crept toward the bathroom. She stopped at the staircase when she thought she heard something downstairs. She glanced down the stairs but didn’t see anyone. Sandra then hurried into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet. She looked around and saw that the bathroom was decorated just as beautiful as the rest of the house. The wallpaper was gold and brown with elegant looking designs running throughout it. There was a small crystal chandelier hanging over the garden tub, and all the fixtures were in a gold color. Sandra even noticed that the towels were monogramed with the letter H, for Holt.
As Sandra dried her hands, she heard another noise. She carefully opened the bathroom door, looked both directions, and then walked toward the stairs. When she stopped by the stairs to look this time, Lou came walking out of their bedroom.
“Sandra, what are you doing?” Lou yawned and walked over to her.
“I went to the bathroom but I also kept hearing something,” she whispered.
“It’s probably just the homeowners. Come back to bed,” Lou said and turned around.
Sandra figured that Lou was probably right and followed him back to their room. She climbed into the bed and snuggled up against him. It wasn’t long before they both fell back to sleep.
Around three in the morning, Brandi woke up when she heard a car door close just below their bedroom window. She quickly got up and rushed over to the window. Slowly she moved part of the drape and peeked out. She only caught a glimpse of a dark figure in a long coat and hat as he disappeared close to the house. Brandi then hurried to her bedroom door and cracked it open. As she peeked out, she heard the squeak of a door downstairs.
Brandi closed the door, ran over to the bed and whispered, “Charley wake up, someone just came into the house,”
Charley groaned and slowly opened his eyes, “wh-at?”
Standing near Charlie, Brandi whispered again “someone came into the house.”
“So, maybe they live here too. Come back to bed,” Charley pulled the sheet up to his shoulders.
Brandi listened for a moment and didn’t hear anyone coming up the stairs, “okay, maybe they do live here too.”
Brandi walked back around the bed and climbed under the sheet. She laid there and listened to make sure that nobody was coming to their room. She wasn’t sure if she could fall back to sleep with all this strangeness going on.
Charley then rolled over and put his arm across Brandi’s stomach, “you okay?’
“Yes, I think so,” Brandi said.
The rest of the night was quiet and Brandi eventually fell back to sleep. The beginning of their vacation has certainly started out to be interesting.
Please join me again Monday for chapter 4 of: The Guests.