By the time we got everything unpacked and set up, with the portable Wi-Fi working and the generators filled with some gasoline Kade had brought, the sun had nearly set. Kade was working on blowing up the air mattress with a manual pump, and I was unrolling our sleeping bags to let them breathe.
“I should’ve brought a pillow,” I muttered, more so I could break the silence than to complain.
“A pillow?”
“Yeah. I didn’t think to bring one, and I have the hardest time sleeping on a flat surface,” I explained with a shrug.
Kade grunted as he continued to pump air into the mattress. “I’m sure you could ball up a shirt or something to give you some padding.”
I pursed my lip and debated on testing our boundaries. After my mind had gone on an unexpected adventure of wondering about Kade and who made him sandwiches, I was feeling out of sorts.
Fuck it.
“Or I could use your arm.” I held my breath as I waited for him to respond.
He didn’t answer until he set down the container of gasoline. “Whatever works so you aren’t complaining about being too stiff in the morning.”
Oh, how badly I wanted to tell him it wouldn’t be my neck that’d be stiff in the morning, but a different body part entirely. One that was farther south and ached until it was given plenty of attention. Perhaps it was a good thing we’d have separate sleeping bags.
I kept my thoughts to myself and made a noncommittal noise in my throat as I grabbed his sleeping bag and worked on unrolling it. After shaking it out, I glanced over and was grateful there was still enough light shining through one of the large windows so I could see the way his muscles flexed with each pump.
“Do you want any help?” I asked. He was actually making great progress, but I still felt compelled to offer.
“Nope. I’m almost finished. Why don’t you grab the flashlights out of my bag and check their batteries?”
“Will do.”
I set the sleeping bag on the floor next to mine, then reached for the bag he’d indicated. It was heavier than I expected, and when I opened it, I was surprised to see at least half a dozen flashlights and just as many packs of batteries. Was he anticipating total blackout, even with the generators? Or were we going to throw caution to the wind and walk around the grounds at night?
That particular idea didn’t sound too pleasing. Not because I was scared, but because I had no idea what was out there in the tall grass, trees, and water surrounding the manor. What if I stepped on something that was alive? What if I didn’t watch my footing and fell in the water? And the mosquitoes would probably take great pleasure in feasting on me for their dinner. All those possibilities made me shudder.
But rather than voice my opinion, I did what Kade asked of me and checked all the flashlights. Only one needed its batteries changed, and after swapping them out, they were all good to go. Kade evidently spared no expense when it came to flashlights. Not only were their lights brighter than the sun, they were also the heavy-duty style that could double as a weapon if the situation called for it.
“All done. How about we tour the rest of the house, then we can form a plan of action for tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“And, you can make my sandwich after I win the bet.”
“We still have plenty of rooms to explore. I’m sure there’s something sinister up that staircase.”
“The creepy vibe I get from this place, it is possible.”
I handed Kade a flashlight, and after we flicked them on, I followed him out of the living room and into what I could only call a formal dining room. The space was large and empty except for one, high-back wooden chair. It was strange, seeing the lonely piece of furniture, but I decided it’d come into great use when I needed to work on the laptop.
There was nothing else in the room, so we continued on our trek into the kitchen. The appliances were old and looked like they belonged in a museum rather than in a lonely house in the middle of a bayou, and after checking all the cabinets and drawers, we discovered everything was empty.
“It’s like time stood still here,” I muttered when I closed the refrigerator and wiped the dust and cobwebs on my pants.
“Right? I expected this place to be in ruins. Or broken furniture, animal carcasses, evidence of trespassing. But there is nothing. It’s as if it’s only been empty for a few months.”
“It makes no sense at all,” I agreed as I pulled open the pantry door.
For being such a large house, the pantry was narrower than I thought it’d be and wasn’t nearly as deep as it should’ve have been for the space provided. But did anything about the house make sense? Not really.
“Ready to go upstairs?” Kade asked.
I nodded. “The pantry is odd. It doesn’t go deep, but it’s certainly wide. I’m surprised the door shuts considering how close the shelves are to it.”
“Maybe the previous owners didn’t use it much.”
“I wish we could find blueprints of this place,” I muttered as we walked out of the kitchen.
“I tried, remember? There aren’t any. All internet searches and calls came up empty. We might have to draw them ourselves.”
“Can you draw?” I asked him.
“I’m no Picasso, but I can draw a straight line when the time calls for it.”
I snorted. “That’s more than what I can do.”
Kade grunted again and we came to the bottom of the stairs. I shined my flashlight on the ornate carvings, and noted how they were all spirals, much like the staircase.
“Wait a second,” I said softly. “Kade, look at these.”
Kade peered at the carvings I was pointing to with the beam of the flashlight. “Yeah, they are carvings. What about them? Most staircases have some sort of design in the banister.”
“True, but…come with me,” I said with excitement and turned on my heel to march back toward the kitchen.
“We just left there and didn’t find anything,” Kade pointed out from behind me.
“Not true!” I called out without stopping.
I entered the kitchen and marched toward the cabinets.
“Look,” I told him and aimed the flashlight toward one of the doors. “What do you see?”
Kade didn’t say anything as he came to a pause beside me and looked closely at the door. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
My excitement built even more over the fact I had found something. Maybe it wasn’t anything, or maybe it was something big. Either way, it was another piece of the ten-thousand-piece puzzle we were assembling. It was just too bad the piece wasn’t a corner that would be easy to put in place. No, it was a center piece that matched the other thousands, and it was our job to find out where it fit.
“They’re everywhere,” Kade said, but it was more to himself than to me. “I wonder if they are elsewhere.”
“Only one way to find out.”
We went through the rest of the rooms on the bottom floor, and even though we’d searched them before, that time we were more thorough. Kade and I found the weird spirals on every surface possible. The doorknobs, fireplace mantel, and even the bookcase. Even the lone chair in the dining room had the design etched in the wood. What did it all mean?