By the time I reached the top of the stairs, there was already a small line of sweat wetting my hairline. Without air conditioning, the second floor felt like a sauna and the smell of mold and decay were magnified because of it. I actually found myself gagging and almost turned around and ventured back down the steps. That thought went away pretty quickly though, when I heard Kevin barking orders to AJ. Nope, I think I’ll take my chances with the mold and heat thanks.
There was a haze to the glow of the upstairs rooms. It almost looked as if I had walked into a black and white movie. Maybe it was the way the sun was coming through the dirty windows, but everything looked rustic to me. It was kind of cool and at that moment, I wished that Brian had come with us. He always loved stuff like this and if there was one person I could count on to help me explore, it was B.
We used to have the best time together; no matter where we were we would try to find a mystery in something. The best places to do that were some of the older hotels in Europe. We’d always go on late night excursions to see if we could find ghosts and such. It was weird that now I suddenly found myself yearning to spend more time with Brian. No matter how many times I said to myself, ‘I’m going to call Brian and see if he wants to hang out tonight,’ I always managed to talk myself out of it.
An odd creaking broke me out of my thoughts and made my heart skip a beat. It was coming from down the hall; a door was slowly opening and closing. Probably due to wind, although not a single window was opened. I looked down at the picture I was carrying in my hand, “Tommy buddy…I hope that’s not you.” And just like that…it stopped.
“ooookay then.” I knew it was just my imagination because well, things like that don’t really happen. For some reason, I found myself continuing on, but nowhere near the creaking door. Instead I ventured into the first room I saw. The door was wide opened and the corners were lined with webs of dust. I bat them down with my hand as I entered.
The room looked as if it had been frozen in time. One of those rooms you’d find when you went on a generic tour of a castle or mansion or something. Where they put up the red ropes and you walk by and see how people lived back in the day. Only there wasn’t anything extravagant about this room, it was as plain as could be. The small teddy bear on the unmade bed told me that this was one of the girls’ rooms. I know… I’m a real Sherlock Holmes.
As you entered the room there was a huge dresser lined with all kinds of half empty perfume bottles and scarves and jewelry. “This could very well be BJ’s room.” She was about as into smelly stuff as this girl seemed to be. In fact because of all the smells she had going on in her room, it would waft into mine and give me a major headache. What is it about girls and smelly things? I guess it’s just one of those things I will never understand and maybe will never want to.
The little boy in me instantly went for the top drawer, which was of course the universal underwear draw and I have to say I was happy to find adult sized girl panties in there, otherwise I would have felt like a perv!
Most of them were granny panties but since this was probably a long time ago, it made sense I guess. It’s not like thongs were readily available in the 60’s. There were bras and stocking in there as well as a small, white blanket. A baby blanket and I couldn’t help but smile when I realized that it was probably her security blanket. “Well, I guess you must have outgrown this huh?”
Something fell out of the blanket when I went to go put it back into the dresser and I admit I jumped thinking it was a snake or something. It was a black and white notebook that was bent at the edges and yellowed on the corners. How I mistook that for a snake is beyond me.
It said ‘Belle’s thoughts’ written in huge black letters with hearts all around it. Can she be anymore of a girl? I opened it up and saw just random things, I was a little disappointed. I thought maybe I was going to stumble onto a diary or something. No such luck though, this seemed to be nothing more than some poems maybe for school.
If this was for school, she probably wouldn’t have made a very good student because none of them made any sense. She would go on for paragraphs and repeat herself endlessly. “Maybe she was special?”
Still, I found myself intrigued, so I sat down on the dirty, dusty floor and actually read the whole thing. The notebook was just ridiculous, but I found myself laughing at some of the random little comic strip things she drew along the way. She seemed to be a very talented artist.
When I got to the very last page, written on the back in big bold letters was…
HA! I bet you thought you would find my diary Beth…well fat chance! Try again! I hope I kept you entertained!
“Why you little minx…” I laughed; she had concocted this entire book to get back at her sister. Now this was my kind of girl.
I know the girls in my family, if any of them ever had the discipline to actually keep a diary, would most likely snoop into each other’s personal lives. I wonder if this would work for paparazzi.
I pat it as I closed the book and was just about to stand up and put it back where I found it when I saw an envelope sticking out from under the bed just a few inches away from me. I swear to God it wasn’t there before and if it was I didn’t see it. I felt bad grabbing it up as fast as I did. I mean it was someone else’s mail, although I did just also read someone else’s entire diary even though it wasn’t a diary so if I was going to go to hell, I might as well make it all worthwhile right?
It was addressed to an Isobella Wainright. “That must be Belle’s full name.” Once again the Sherlock Holmes in me decided to state. “Isobella Wainright.” It sounded so soap opera-ish and very stage name like.
I carefully opened the envelope, which was already opened. It’s not like I opened a sealed envelope or anything. I wasn’t that bad. It was a letter, written out on bright lime green paper with birds on every corner. “Wow…” My grandmother would love this stationary.
Belle,
I’ve been thinking a lot about you since I left. I’m worried about you, in fact I find myself losing sleep just thinking about all the things you are going through. I hope you’re reaching out to someone. I know how hard it can be to go through such a rough patch and not have a single shoulder to cry on.
The fact that you come from such a big family probably makes things even harder for you. I wish I could be there for you in your time of need. Seems like this crap always happens to you and your family.
I’m telling you, you need to get out of that house Belle. I know it’s something you don’t want to hear and believe me, I’ve been very hesitant to actually say it, but it needs saying because it’s the truth.
Now that Ben is gone, get out of there. It’s not a good idea to be alone with them anymore. Not after all they have done to you. Come out to Los Angeles and see me. I mean, I have the smallest piece of crap place you can find, but still, it’s mine and I’m happy to say its home.
What about Matty? Can you maybe get a place with him? I know you have more than enough money to get an apartment, unless they have taken that from you too?
I’m sorry to be so blunt, you probably hate me for being so open about things, but I’m your best friend. I love you and care about you.
Let me know if there’s any way I can help at all, okay?
Love you!
Sarah
I wonder what happened? Maybe this was around the time of Tommy’s death. Why was I so sure this kid was even dead? I mean it didn’t say anywhere that Tommy was actually dead. More importantly though, why the hell did I even care?
She mentioned a few names in this letter, two were boys. One was Ben and one was Matt. Ben had to have been a brother because her best friend made it seem like he was living in this house. “Maybe I should find Ben’s room.”
“Are you talking to yourself Carter?”
I dropped the letter and just about had a heart attack when AJ jumped into the room, “Don’t do that to me…Jesus man!”
“Sorry, what the hell have you been doing up here this entire time?”
He seemed amused that he made me lose ten years of my life. “It’s hot as hell up here…it doesn’t look like you’ve done a God dammed thing. Tell me I’ve been working my ass off down there with friggin Bob Villa and you’ve been up here…doing what?”
“Wow, stop nagging for a minute. Jeez!”
He walked around the room, picking up odds and ends and staring at them before putting them down and moving to the next thing. “I was just looking through some things. You make it sound like I’ve been up here for hours or something.”
He turned to me and shook his head, “It has been hours Nick.”
“What?”
“You’ve been up here all day. Kevin is going to be pissed at you which is awesome for me because that means I’ll get a reprieve.”
“Oh come on…it hasn’t been that long.” I looked down at my watch and I couldn’t believe what it said. Sure enough it was almost 1 in the afternoon. “Holy shit…I can’t believe I have been up here that long.”
“That’s what I’m saying nimrod.” He hit the side of my head.
I still couldn’t believe I had been up here that long. I guess reading Belle’s entire notebook took longer than I thought it did. Now thinking about it, I realized how sweaty I was. There was a thin line of sweat pouring down the side of my cheek. “I’ve just been kind of looking around.”
He once again smiled at that while raising his eyebrows at me, “Looking around?”
“Yeah…I lost track of the time.”
“Conveniently…come on, we’re breaking for some lunch.” He lent me a hand and helped me to my feet.
The smell of paint hit me full force as we left Isobella’s room. Weird that I didn’t smell it at all in there, but it was probably because of all the smelly stuff lining her dressed. Her room did have an oddly sweet smell now that I think about it.
The door that creaked open and closed to greet me did the same as we started to head for the steps. “Well, that’s creepy.” AJ said, not even bothering to stand around and wait for something ghost like to appear. This is where he and Brian were different. If B was here, before even venturing into Belle’s room, we would have been over at that door for further examination. Well more like he would have. I most likely would have been hiding behind him…just in case.
I nodded as I looked over at the door; it was hanging off its hinges. That would explain the swinging, I guess. I decided to maybe investigate that another day, since most likely Kevin was going to make me paint for the remainder of the afternoon.
“Look who I found!” AJ exclaimed as we hit the ground floor.
Kevin was putting one final stroke of paint onto the wall. It looked good. Green really did suit this place. He had a lot of paint on his pants. I wonder if he noticed that or if it was something that was best left unconversated…is that a word?
“I thought you got lost or something… did you get a lot done up there?”
“Yeah Nick, did you get a lot done?” AJ decided to add just to be a smartass.
“I looked through some things… and moved some things.” That was my very clever and round about way of saying no, not a damn thing.
Kevin hesitantly nodded as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with his gloved hands. “Okay, well what’s the situation up there? Will we have a lot of things to move?”
“Yeah.”
“Great…we better wait until I can get some more fans or an air conditioner installed.”
“The room looks good.” I complimented, really getting a chance to step inside and take a look. They did a great job because before it had a gothic, everyone is dead and this place is haunted feel. Now it was sort of warm and welcoming.
“Thanks buddy…you get to help with the dining room.” He said pointing over to the very next room which looked even worse than the living room had.
“What color?”
“The Same.” He put his hand on my shoulder, “You okay?”
I looked over at him and smiled, “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Not sure, you just seem distracted.”
“Oh, nah…I’m just hot and hungry.”
“So, where are you taking us to lunch daddy?”
“AJ, I wish you would stop with the calling me daddy thing. It’s getting old.”
“Not to me.”
“I know, but things you say get old to us much faster than they do to you.”
“He’s right AJ.” I was quick to agree.
“Well, let’s go. I’m starving myself.”
“I found out that the people who lived here before were named Wainright.”
“Yeah, I knew that much.” So much for me thinking I had discovered something new and exciting.
“Yeah?”
“Yup, they had a bunch of kids and were really rich…that’s all I know.”
I walked over and picked up one of the many pictures that used to litter the fireplace. Kevin had them all stacked into a box, which he most likely planned on throwing away. After delving into her life for the last few hours, I somehow felt closer to Isobella and I smiled when I looked at the family photo. I wonder which one was her. If I had to guess, I’d say it was the youngest girl in the picture.
“I was in her room.” I pointed her out to Kevin and AJ, but neither seemed to care.
“Let’s go guys.” Kevin said as he opened the door and led us both out.
I took a look back at the steps, feeling as if I was leaving a friend behind. It was a weird feeling but yet, an oddly welcome one.
