Текст книги "Shiver : 13 Sexy Tales of Humor and Horror"
Автор книги: Belle Aurora
Соавторы: Penny Reid,Ruth Clampett
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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 39 страниц)
“Oh, what’s that?” I said, cupping my ear and pretending to hear something. “Yup, I think Mr. Jenkins is calling for me down the hall. Oh, yup, he just broke his hip. Oh wow, no, both hips. I better go check on him.”
“Ruby!” Anne called as walked to the door.
I stuck my tongue out at her when Sawyer turned around. She and I would have a major discussion later, and I’d be sure to stay at least a few feet away from her so she couldn’t put me in another choke-hold.
When I cleared the door to the dining hall, I stood there for a moment, wondering how long Anne had known about my crush on her grandson. I thought I’d been so sly; I’d never directly asked her about him. I’d wait for her to bring him up and then just piggy-back off of her discussion. I thought I’d covered my tracks flawlessly, but apparently not.
I leaned against the wall, trying to collect my thoughts.
Okay, Sawyer is here and you will have to talk to him, I told myself.
Sure, most of my encounters with Sawyer had been terrible in the past, but I was going to change all of that. Today, we would have an actual conversation that didn’t consist of me slurring my words as I shuffled past him. I’d speak slowly and clearly and be the most charming version of myself. Which might only be about one-fourth as charming as anyone else, but it was the best I could do.
* * *
“Come in, take a packet,” I said, standing at the door of the dining hall beside George as residents started to trickle in. “Come in and grab a packet.”
“Thank you,” Sandy said with a touch of attitude as she strolled in wearing her spandex costume.
Gertie walked in a second later, taking a packet and giving my work scrubs another tsk tsk. I groaned and tried to ignore her, continuing to pass out packets as people strolled in.
I’d done my best to transform the dining hall into a Murder Mystery set, but since I didn’t really know what that meant, I just went with orange and black streamers, balloons, and a bowl of punch with plastic spiders floating on top. As I finished up decorating (once I was sure Sawyer and Anne were gone), George was in a tizzy about how his script would play out. He paced around the dining hall while I set up, repeating the same concerns over and over again.
“What if no one is committed to their characters?” he asked as I dropped spiders in the punch bowl.
“They will be,” I’d replied, taking a step back and slipping on some of the punch that I’d spilled on the floor by accident. I landed flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling while I caught my breath. George didn’t even notice.
“I just want everyone to immerse themselves in the story. If they don’t, this will just be a train-wreck,” he said with a dramatic flare of his hand. All the while I was lying on the ground.
I’d been lucky to survive the afternoon, and I was still trying to console George as Anne and Sawyer walked through the doorway. Sawyer smiled at me as he walked by. Anne paused, watching him take a seat in the middle of the room, before turning to me.
“Are there enough packets left for everyone to participate?” she asked, glancing between me and George.
I looked down at the packets in my hand. There were still four left. Which meant out of the twenty people who’d already arrived, only two of them decided they wanted to participate in the game.
“Why yes, Anne, there is enough,” I said, holding her eye contact as I passed her a packet.
The edge of her mouth lifted in a smirk. “You aren’t mad at me, are you?” Her tone gave her away. She knew I was annoyed with her and she was playing the innocent old woman card. It wouldn’t work on me.
“Nooooo.” I exaggerated the o’s until I knew that she knew she was in deep shit.
She leaned in closer and whispered so that only I could hear. “I’ve lived on this earth for a very long time and I’ve learned that sometimes you just have to cut the shit. You’ve been eyeing my grandson for the past two years and both of you are too scared to do anything about it.”
I scoffed, even holding my hand over my heart for emphasis. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Mmhm,” she mumbled as she pulled away from me. “George, make sure Ruby gets a packet. She’s sure good at acting today.”
Had she not been my best friend and eighty-something years old, I would have flipped her off. Damn that, Anne. I couldn’t ever stay mad at her.
The rest of the attendees finally strolled into the dining hall, and by 7:30 P.M., George and I were standing in front of the room with two packets remaining.
“We need two more resident volunteers before we can start,” I said, waving the packets out in front of me like I was trying to auction them off.
The sea of residents stared at one another, waiting for someone else to volunteer. Out of twenty of them, there’d only been four volunteers so far: Anne, Sandy, Gertie, and Mr. Tennon. George would have volunteered, but he was out since he knew the plot.
“Seriously, someone has to volunteer or we’ll all just sit here,” I said, trying to get the ball rolling.
Sawyer glanced around the room before he finally shrugged and stood up.
“If it’s okay with everyone, I’ll play,” he said.
Anne clapped wildly, but no one else cared to comment as Sawyer stepped toward me.
“You should play, too,” he said with a devious smile as he slid the packet out of my hand.
I didn’t want to be a part of the murder mystery. I think I even specifically opted out of it on numerous occasions, but we were still down one player and if no one wanted to volunteer, I didn’t really have a choice.
I glanced around the room one more time, even holding eye contact with a few residents to make them squirm in their seats.
“Okay, fine, I’ll be the last person. Let’s do this,” I said, opening up my packet and peeking inside to find a script, a small description card, and a few props.
George clapped his hands and shouted, “Players, go read your cards and put on anything provided for you in your packet. We’ll meet back here in five minutes to start the game.”
As I made my way toward the bathroom, Sawyer caught up to me.
“Who are you?” he asked with a small smile.
“Detective Maverick,” I said, reading the front of the packet.
He nodded. “Apparently I’m Jim Fitzpatrick, the son of Gwyneth Fitzpatrick.”
I laughed at the silly expression he was making. “Thanks for volunteering by the way. I thought we were just going to sit there all night.”
“Yeah, no worries. I have a Halloween party to go to, but it doesn’t start until later,” he said with a shrug.
I thought about what I had planned for later. The options were: reading, watching a scary movie, and eating enough candy to go into a coma. I’d most likely do all of the above. Of course, I didn’t dare tell Sawyer that.
“Oh yeah, me too.” I nodded with what I hoped was a cool, nonchalant expression.
He smiled as we turned a corner toward the bathrooms near the dining hall. “Well then, let’s solve this mystery.”
Ten minutes later, the five of us were standing up at the front of the dining hall with our scripts in hand and our props attached to various parts of our bodies. George strolled across the stage in front of us, announcing the players to the crowd of on-lookers who would be helping us solve the mystery. I browsed over my script as he read aloud.
SETTING: An old estate in the heart of Savannah, Georgia.
THE PLAYERS
Gwyneth Fitzpatrick : An eighty-year-old woman who has oil money from generations past. She owns an estate in Savannah and has invited a few close friends over for a dinner party. She has two children, Jim and Hannah Fitzpatrick, who are both attending the party.
Gwyneth was played by Sandy in her latex Catwoman suit. Seemed appropriate.
Jim Fitzpatrick : Gwyneth’s eldest child. He’s a prominent lawyer in downtown Savannah. He was married to a young debutante when he was younger, but she died in a horrible lipstick accident the year before.
Jim was played by Sawyer. He still had his soccer jersey on, but now he’d added a cane, pipe, and monocle as well. Jim Fitzpatrick was apparently very stylish.
Hannah Fitzpatrick : Gwyneth’s youngest child. A struggling artist who doesn’t get along with her older brother. She has a lover named Antonio Ricardo.
Hannah was played by Anne, who was carrying a paint palette and a paint brush. She’d added a few streaks of paint to her hair which I thought was a cute touch.
Antonio Ricardo : Hannah Fitzpatrick’s lover. He’s a Latin underwear model currently between jobs. He’s never gotten along with Hannah’s brother, Jim.
Antonio was played by Mr. Tennon, who I knew from experience was probably sporting some whitey-tighties beneath his suspendered pants. Meow.
Izzie Jenkins : Gwyneth’s maid of ten years. She’s a young girl who grew up in a bad neighborhood in Savannah. Gwyneth took Izzie under her wing and provided her with a job when she had no other prospects.
Izzie was played by Gertie,who did not look pleased to be wearing a skimpy maid’s outfit over her pants and blouse. She had her arms crossed over her chest in an attempt to conceal the feather duster in her hand.
Detective Maverick : A no-nonsense Savannah police officer that has never had a case he couldn’t solve. He has a thick Scottish accent and a serious drinking problem.
Detective Maverick was played by me. That’s right. I opened up that packet to find a thick mustache stuck to a gold police badge, a pair of aviators, and some plastic handcuffs. I’d stood in the women’s bathroom after sticking the mustache on, trying to find any sort of humor in the entire situation. It was so thick, and brown, and did I mention thick? I waggled my eyebrows for emphasis. That’s right, Sawyer. I hope you like your girls with big ol’ mustaches. I’ll admit, once I put the aviators and badge on, I’d fallen into my character. Heck, I even started walking with a bit more swagger.
Anne couldn’t look at me without cracking up, but that might have been because I kept telling her she had the right to remain silent as we walked back to the dining hall.
“You look like an 80s porn star,” Gertie said to me with her lips pressed together and her head shaking back and forth.
I wanted to ask her how she knew what an 80s porn looked like, but Sawyer walked out of the bathroom right then and I didn’t think we were close enough yet for me to say the word “porn” in front of him. At least not while looking like a male porn star. That might have been overkill.
“Okay! Does everyone understand who is playing whom?” George asked, walking in front of us and going through the names again.
“I’m confused,” one resident said, raising his hand. “Why is Sandy in a cat woman outfit if she’s supposed to be hosting a dinner party?”
George crinkled his paper and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Yeah – this is confusing,” a few other residents chimed in until George had to go through and explain the scenario again to everyone.
“Pretend that everyone is in proper costume and that they aren’t your friends. They are now characters in a murder mystery.”
While George rambled on, Sawyer leaned closer to me and pulled the pipe out of his mouth. “I think you should wear a mustache all the time. It looks really good,” he joked with a sly smile.
I stared straight ahead. Sawyer is joking with you. Be funny. Be funny or so help me.
I stroked the fake hair above my lip and turned to him. “That monocle doesn’t look so bad either.”
“How long did it take you to grow that cool ‘stache?” he asked.
“About ten seconds,” I joked. “What’s in the pipe?”
“Just some manly tobacco or something,” he said, repositioning his monocle so that it wasn’t poking him in the eye.
We were joking, right? So why did it actually feel like we were flirting with each other?
“Are you the murderer?” I asked with a smile.
He laughed, shaking his head. “Wow, Detective, you’re really straight forward. There hasn’t even been a murder yet.”
Oh right, I’d forgotten how the game actually worked. Maybe I should have been paying attention to George after all.
“Okay!” George said, clapping his hands and walking over to the doorway of dining hall. “I’m going to flip this light switch and then the game will begin. Does everyone understand the rules?”
There were still a few murmurs in the crowd, and a few random words were thrown around, like “dentures” and “fiber”, clearly indicating the level of confusion felt throughout the room (were we all still on the same topic?), but George chose to ignore them and flipped the light switch anyway.
When the lights cut out, Sawyer’s hand brushed mine and I glanced over to try to see him in the darkness. There was no use; my eyes hadn’t adjusted to the dark yet.
“This monocle doesn’t have night vision,” he whispered next to my ear.
I burst out laughing, ruining the seriousness of the scene.
“Get into your characters!” George bellowed across the room before flipping the light switch back on a moment later.
When he did, we found not one, but two bodies, lying on the ground.
The game had taken a dark turn.
Gwyneth Fitzgerald, aka Catwoman Sandy, was lying on the ground with her limbs artfully spread out around her. She’d been murdered and we were supposed to be concerned about that, but everyone was focused on the fact that a random audience member, Beatriz, was also lying on the ground, blinking her eyes and staring up at the ceiling.
“Uh, Beatriz?” I asked, stepping forward.
“What’s going on? Were there two murders? This is confusing,” Anne asked, glancing back and forth between the bodies.
George flew into action, practically fuming. “Beatriz, why are you lying on the ground? You aren’t supposed to be dead. You aren’t even a character in the game.”
Beatriz propped herself up on her elbows, her dyed red hair now sticking up all over the place.
“Oh, I was confused about the rules,” Beatriz began to explain in an old, scraggly voice. “I played a game once when there were random murders and then we had to guess—”
George cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Beatriz! This is not that game and there was only one murder tonight.”
“Stop trying to steal my thunder, Beatriz,” Sandy said, temporarily breaking her character.
Even in death, Sandy was a bully.
“People! Let’s focus. Beatriz, please take a seat and we’ll keep going as planned,” George said, dabbing the sweat from his forehead. He was losing control of his cast, and I could tell it was stressing him out. “Everyone take our your cue cards and read what you’re supposed to do first.”
I pulled out a note card that had a #1 printed at the top, and read the first instruction: Detective Maverick, you arrive on the scene after Hannah Fitzgerald calls you. Make sure you examine the body for clues.
I turned to Anne, Hannah Fitzgerald, and waited for her to read her cue card.
“Oh dear,” Anne began, with mock seriousness, as she read straight from the card. “Gwyneth Fitzgerald has been murdered in her own home during her own dinner party. We have to call the police!”
I had to bite my hand to keep from laughing while she read the words. But when Sawyer nudged me forward, I realized everyone was waiting for me to start reading from my card, considering I was the police.
“Don’t worry, I’ve arrived!” I said, only remembering that my character was supposed to have a thick Scottish accent after I started, so I quickly worked it in. “Don’t fret, lads and lassies. I’m here to solve the case!”
“I couldn’t understand any of that,” Sawyer said with a laugh.
“You didn’t sound Scottish, Ruby, you sounded like you were from the Middle East,” George said, rolling his eyes.
I pressed my mustache back into place and tried again.
“Heeelllooo evverryonnee, I’m Deteccttivvee Mavverriickkk.” I mostly, sounded like a drunk version of Shrek.
“Nope. No. Now you’re just talking really slow, Ruby,” George said, interrupting me. “Damnit, just scratch the accent all together!”
I shrugged and stepped forward to examine Sandy’s body. It was kind of awkward since she wasn’t actually a dead person and she was blinking up at me while I circled around her. Her character’s blonde wig was still on straight, a strand of pearls hung around her neck, and a big fake, diamond ring hung on her bony finger. Nothing seemed out of the place except for the fake knife lying directly next to her head with blood on it. At least, I thought it was blood. It smelled like ketchup. I pretended to be horrified either way.
“No!” I gasped, pulling out the gloves that I’d spied in my packet earlier and slipping them on so I could pick up the knife and hold it up for everyone. “She’s been stabbed to death!”
Everyone gasped and Sawyer even screamed “Nooooooooooo,” for emphasis. George applauded him for being committed to his character. I laughed until our eyes met, and then I quickly looked away like a nervous school girl. You’d think my badass detective outfit would have helped with my nerves. I really thought I was pulling off the mustache look rather well, but still, one look from Sawyer and I was like a shy three-year-old.
After I confirmed that there weren’t any more clues surrounding Sandy (Gwyneth), we all looked to George for our next piece of instruction. He shoved his hands into his argyle sweater and sighed. “You’re supposed to put together the clues and figure out where to go next.”
“Oh right,” I said, glancing back down at the knife in my gloved hand.
I frowned at my lack of intuition about where to go next. I wasn’t an actual detective, people.
“Is there a card that tells us where to go next?” Sawyer asked, stepping toward me and kneeling down so that I caught a whiff of his cologne. Let me tell you, it was not that cheap stuff that makes your nose fall off. It was light and masculine and it made me forget that we were in the middle of a nursing home.
“No! You have to think,” George replied, enunciating “think” like we were a couple of simpletons.
“Alright well, we have a knife, and…” my sentence trailed off as I realized I had nothing else to contribute.
“And where do you get knifes from?” George gestured in a circle with his arms, trying to get us to fill in the answer.
“The kitchen!” Sawyer and I yelled in unison, smiling at each other as we got to our feet.
“Okay, let’s go check the kitchen for clues,” I said to the other characters in the game.
“How about you two go check it out and we’ll all hang back here and search for more clues,” Anne suggested. I glanced toward her, trying to decide if she was being sly in trying to get Sawyer and I alone.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Sawyer said, looking toward me to lead the way.
I nodded silently, heading toward the kitchen, but not before looking back at Anne. The little devil winked at me.
Sawyer caught up to me as I exited the dining hall. “This is better,” he said. “They’d just slow us down anyway and we’re on the trail of a murder.”
I laughed. “A made-up murder.”
Sawyer guffawed. “You’re Detective Maverick. You’ve never had a case you couldn’t solve.”
I thought for a moment, wondering if I was going to shy away or if I was going to show him my true personality. I decided there was no point in trying to be cool. I was still wearing my mouse ears, after all, let’s not try to kid ourselves.
I stopped walking and turned to him, pointing toward his chest. “You’re damn right, and this one won’t be my first!”
Just before we pushed open the shiny, swinging door that led to the massive kitchen of Paradise Springs, Sawyer put his hand on my shoulder.
“I have a confession to make,” he said.
My heart rate picked up at his serious tone. Was he about to confess his love for me? Right here in the doorway to the kitchen with the smell of potato salad in the air?
I cleared my throat. “What do you have to confess?” I asked, purposely keeping my gaze on the metal door in front of us.
“I think I know who the murderer is,” he said.
“What? No! Don’t tell me,” I said, holding my hands up to my ears to block out his voice.
He laughed and reached over to pull my hands away. “I won’t tell you, and anyway, I don’t know for sure.”
“Maybe you should have been the detective,” I joked.
He thought for a second, narrowing one eye on me before announcing, “Nah. You make a cute detective.”
Cue internal breakdown. Sound the trumpets. Open the gates. He thought I was cute!
“Desserts going out!” a voice shouted behind me just as the metal door leading to the kitchen swung forward. I didn’t have time to move before the door slammed into me so hard that my face smashed into Sawyer’s chest and he had to reach forward and catch me.
“Oh no! Sorry! Sorry! I just hit you, didn’t I?” The cook was overly enthusiastic with his apologies, and Sawyer’s hands were a little too tight as he attempted to steady me.
“Are you okay?” Sawyer asked, bending low so that his eyes were level with mine. The entire situation was almost too endearing to handle.
I nodded, wishing he’d pull his hands away before I did something weird, like bend down and lick them.
“Your mustache is all crooked,” he said with a smile, reaching up to straighten it on my face. Oh great, his fingers just accidentally brushed my lips. I was practically salivating in the hallway with a random cook looking on.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I? You really shouldn’t just stand behind that door. That’s a safety hazard,” the cook said, starting to ramble on like I was a complete idiot for idling behind a swinging metal door.
I shook my head clear of thoughts about sexing Sawyer in the hallway and turned to the chef.
“We were on our way into the kitchen for the murder mystery game,” I explained.
The chef glanced over our costumes, as if seeing them for the first time. Before that moment, he probably just thought I was a girl wearing a mouse ears, aviators, and a fake mustache for fun.
“Oh, right, right. You can go on in, just don’t get in anyone’s way,” he warned before stepping around us to deliver the platter of food that he was carrying.
I watched him walk away for another second before Sawyer pressed his hand to my lower back and gently nudged me forward.
“Let’s go, Detective,” he said.
The sounds coming from the kitchen made me assume that it was packed inside, but when we stepped in, it looked like most of the staff had gone home for the day, probably to celebrate Halloween with their families. The kitchen was large and industrial with clean, metal surfaces and a few oversized refrigerators. Along the back wall there was a massive assembly line of dishes being run through a machine to wash and dry them. A man stood at the very end overseeing the process. He nodded his head in greeting at us before going back to his task.
“Where should we look?” I asked, continuing to glance around the space. Shouldn’t the clue have been obvious considering we weren’t actual detectives and this was just a game? I wanted to ask one of the men in the kitchen, but the man had warned us to stay out of everyone’s way.
“You take that half,” Sawyer said, pointing toward the industrial washer. “And I’ll take this half.”
Before he could even finish his instructions, my eyes landed on a large knife block sitting in one corner of the kitchen. It held dozens of kitchen knives, but there was one slot notoriously empty at the very bottom of the block.
“Ah-hah!” I said, pointing toward it, at once proud of myself for being an actual sleuth, but also concerned that George had incorporated an actual knife into our murder mystery game.
“What is it?” Sawyer asked, his gaze following my outstretched finger.
I didn’t bother responding. I headed toward the knife block like a detective on the trail. Which I guess I actually was. Hah.
From across the kitchen I’d only seen the knife block and the empty slot, but as I stepped closer to the chromed surface, I noticed a folded note stuck beneath the heavy wooden block. I twisted around, unsure of whether or not the letter belonged to a staff member in the kitchen or if I had actually found another clue for the murder mystery game.
“Do you think we should touch it?” Sawyer asked from behind me. I jumped at his voice, not realizing how close he was to me. When I glanced over my shoulder, our mouths were only a few inches away from one another and my shoulder hit his chest.
“I think it’s our next clue,” I said, feeling more confident about it once I peered back around and saw that the handwriting on the front looked like George’s.
Sawyer reached forward and tilted the block back so that I could slide the letter out.
I read it aloud as Sawyer searched around the area for any more clues.
“Dear Mrs. Fitzgerald,
I am very busy with clients for the next few days, but I do have a few spare moments to help you update your will. However, I will need you to come down to my office at your earliest convenience, as you will need to sign off on the changes you requested in person.
Sincerely,
Jerry P. Lane, Esq. Office 113”
I flipped the note over, looking for more hints, but the back of the paper was blank.
“Who is Jerry P. Lane?” Sawyer asked, resting his hip against the chrome countertop after concluding his search for more clues. The letter was the only thing we had to go on.
“I don’t know, but he’s a lawyer and he was going to update Gwyneth’s will. Maybe the will had something to do with her murder.”
Sawyer’s lips split into a shit-eating grin. “Of course it does. I think every murder ever has had to do with a will.”
I laughed and shook my head, rereading the letter once more.
“Where should we go next?” I asked.
He thought for a moment. “We can either go back to the room and tell everyone what we found, or we can try and find office 113.”
Office 113. I liked that idea. It meant I got more alone time with Sawyer, and I also didn’t have to stare at Sandy in a Catwoman outfit any longer than necessary.
“Okay. George might have just meant the office at Paradise Springs, so we can head there,” I said.
Sawyer nodded and put his hand on my lower back again to guide me toward the kitchen door.
“We make a good team,” he said with a confident tone.
I tried to concentrate on walking through the door to the kitchen without having the metal chrome smack me in the face, but there was a question nagging me, and before I thought better of it, I decided to bring up the subject while I was feeling ballsy.
“So, Anne told me you and your girlfriend broke up?” The second the question was out, I instantly paled. Could I have asked that in a smoother way? Or should I have just kept my mouth shut? We weren’t on a date, or even hanging out as friends. No, instead we were walking around a nursing home solving a pretend murder. Oh wait, I’m sorry, retirement community.
Sawyer’s face twisted into a funny expression before he answered. “Does my grandma blab about my love life to everyone?”
“No! She’s not like, ‘Hey everyone, Sawyer is single and ready to mingle.’ She and I just talk a lot,” I shrugged, trying to play it cool.
Sawyer laughed. “Ah, well she always talks about you to me, so I figured it probably worked both ways.”
I smiled, imagining all of the insane things Anne probably told Sawyer about me.
“But yes, I’m single,” he added as we turned down the corridor that led to the main office for Paradise Springs. It would probably be locked since it was after hours, but maybe there was something waiting for us on the door. “What about you?”
My heart stopped. “Me?”
He nudged my shoulder, playfully. “Yeah, are you seeing anyone? My grandma never gives me any details when I ask about you.”
My heart stopped again. Am I dead?
“You ask Anne about me?”
“You’re really good at answering questions with more questions,” he laughed, his eyes locked on me for a moment before they drifted to something behind my head and his brows tugged together.
I spun around to see what he was looking at, and that’s when I saw a small piece of paper taped to a janitor’s closet. On it, someone had scribbled “Office 113”.
* * *
The hallway surrounding the janitor’s closet was dead quiet. The normal sounds that accompanied life at Paradise Springs were absent.
“Why does it feel like an actual murder has happened?” I asked, stepping up to the brass-handled door, suddenly too nervous to open it.
“Are you scared?” Sawyer asked, stepping beside me to reach for the handle so that our arms brushed together. Goosebumps bloomed across my skin as I nodded.
“A little. George is a bit out there, and I have no clue how serious he took this whole game,” I admitted. “I feel like something is going to jump out at me as soon as we open the door.”
Sawyer took a pretend puff of his pipe, studying the door. “I’ll check it out first then.”
His tone was confident, as if he was taking the game as seriously as I was.
“Step back, Detective,” he said, the slight upturn of his mouth pulling him out of character.
When he turned the handle and pulled open the door, the small space was pitch black. The scent of cleaning products and cardboard storage boxes stung my nostrils as he pulled the door open even wider.
I reached out to touch his shoulder just before he stepped inside. He turned to look back at me, his green eyes catching hold of mine.
“Be careful,” I mocked in the same tone a wife would use when she sent her husband off to war.
Sawyer dipped his head and stepped inside, his shoes hitting the tiled floor with a soft clap. He dipped out of site for a moment, and then his head popped back into view when he pulled the long cord to turn on the overhead light.
“Oh,” I sighed, a bit disappointed with the contents surrounding him.
Brooms and buckets and boxes were piled up high in the corner. Not a decaying dead body or a spooky ghost like I’d been anticipating.
Sawyer turned in a circle, inspecting his surroundings, before his eyes fell to something at his feet. He squatted down to grab it and I leaned forward, trying to see what it was. When he stood back up, he had a piece of silky material in one hand and what I recognized to be a tube of lipstick in the other. I reached forward for the tube, opening up the lid to see a bright red color. When I glanced back to Sawyer, he’d unfolded the silky material and was holding it between his thumb and pointer finger with both hands.
