I woke this morning with an eerie feeling. There was someone in the house. A noise in the kitchen confirmed my thoughts as I pulled myself out of bed. I could smell a scent similar to burnt bananas which told me two things; who ever was here was cooking, and they've been here long enough to do so.
That's when I heard the yell. I bolted from my room and in to the kitchen to find Carl with his hand under the faucet. I must have made a bunch of noise because as it turns out, he found this time to be the time to complain to me.
"I just burned myself on your stupid pan. Burns like an ass."
My first question was what he was doing in my house. All he did was look at me with a dumb look and raise his hands in the air in exasperation.
"Great, I burn myself and your first thought is what am I doing here."
I didn't respond but I did reach for the nearest utensil. It turned out to be a large spoon.
"I'm here because you are the only thing I have to go on. So, I want to see every thing you have on that house. I'd also like to hear your theories, because I have a bone to pick with that house."
I didn't care what was going on I needed answers; so I asked the most obvious question.
"How long have you been following me?"
He smiled as if I deserved some kind of prize for spotting him.
"You're quick. I've been around for about 4 weeks. I've been following you for about 2 weeks; maybe a little more."
I glanced toward the back door. Wide open. The lock seemed undamaged.
He was quick as well; he caught my attention change and laughed.
"Oh no, I didn't do that . . . You left it open last night. I didn't close it after you came in because I thought it might disturb you."
"You were all ready here?"
"Yeah, I was gonna surprise you when you got back."
"And?"
"I fell asleep and was too tired after your barging in woke me up. So I fell back asleep."
The conversation was getting nowhere. I needed to figure out why he was here. An assassin? No, too open . . . he would've killed me last night. It had something to do with the house.
"Why so interested in the house?"
He looked at me and his face got contorted with emotion again. The emotion he had shown me during the interview was not faked . . . that was good to see.
"It killed my colleagues. I barely got out of there alive. If I wasn't interested before, I'm even more interested now."
I went for broke; I decided to ask him straight out.
"So what are you doing here? You aren't a college student and you're not here to kill me, so what’s the reason?"
Carl sat down. He began eating the food in front of him.
"Before you were investigating the house, we were. After we found out that you'd gone inside and made some discoveries, you became a person of interest. So I started following you. After I'd learned that you weren't a threat, me and my team decided to go back up to that house where we were attacked. I was luckily able to talk to Alfred and leave enough of an impression on him that he recommended me to you. I learned what I needed . . . or so I thought. Apparently you are more valuable than I thought. So here I am. I need to know what you know so that I can take care of what's ailing that house and then move on. So, my turn; how'd you summon that ghost?"
The rest of the day was spent quiet, save for Carl pestering me about that ghost. I haven't told him any thing yet. I'm not sure I can trust someone who has been following me for weeks and faking his identity. I needed to know more and I just had to figure out how to learn it. I haven't taken the book out at all today . . . Something tells me opening the book around him right now would be a bad idea. Right now Carl is sleeping, but earlier I tried to go out to the corner store while he was dozing and I spotted him following me again. I guess he's not going to leave me alone till I show him something.
That's when I heard the yell. I bolted from my room and in to the kitchen to find Carl with his hand under the faucet. I must have made a bunch of noise because as it turns out, he found this time to be the time to complain to me.
"I just burned myself on your stupid pan. Burns like an ass."
My first question was what he was doing in my house. All he did was look at me with a dumb look and raise his hands in the air in exasperation.
"Great, I burn myself and your first thought is what am I doing here."
I didn't respond but I did reach for the nearest utensil. It turned out to be a large spoon.
"I'm here because you are the only thing I have to go on. So, I want to see every thing you have on that house. I'd also like to hear your theories, because I have a bone to pick with that house."
I didn't care what was going on I needed answers; so I asked the most obvious question.
"How long have you been following me?"
He smiled as if I deserved some kind of prize for spotting him.
"You're quick. I've been around for about 4 weeks. I've been following you for about 2 weeks; maybe a little more."
I glanced toward the back door. Wide open. The lock seemed undamaged.
He was quick as well; he caught my attention change and laughed.
"Oh no, I didn't do that . . . You left it open last night. I didn't close it after you came in because I thought it might disturb you."
"You were all ready here?"
"Yeah, I was gonna surprise you when you got back."
"And?"
"I fell asleep and was too tired after your barging in woke me up. So I fell back asleep."
The conversation was getting nowhere. I needed to figure out why he was here. An assassin? No, too open . . . he would've killed me last night. It had something to do with the house.
"Why so interested in the house?"
He looked at me and his face got contorted with emotion again. The emotion he had shown me during the interview was not faked . . . that was good to see.
"It killed my colleagues. I barely got out of there alive. If I wasn't interested before, I'm even more interested now."
I went for broke; I decided to ask him straight out.
"So what are you doing here? You aren't a college student and you're not here to kill me, so what’s the reason?"
Carl sat down. He began eating the food in front of him.
"Before you were investigating the house, we were. After we found out that you'd gone inside and made some discoveries, you became a person of interest. So I started following you. After I'd learned that you weren't a threat, me and my team decided to go back up to that house where we were attacked. I was luckily able to talk to Alfred and leave enough of an impression on him that he recommended me to you. I learned what I needed . . . or so I thought. Apparently you are more valuable than I thought. So here I am. I need to know what you know so that I can take care of what's ailing that house and then move on. So, my turn; how'd you summon that ghost?"
The rest of the day was spent quiet, save for Carl pestering me about that ghost. I haven't told him any thing yet. I'm not sure I can trust someone who has been following me for weeks and faking his identity. I needed to know more and I just had to figure out how to learn it. I haven't taken the book out at all today . . . Something tells me opening the book around him right now would be a bad idea. Right now Carl is sleeping, but earlier I tried to go out to the corner store while he was dozing and I spotted him following me again. I guess he's not going to leave me alone till I show him something.
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