I've been laying here trying to figure out what that horrid noise is. It disappears for a second then returns for two before disappearing again, every now and then I swear it sounds like someone's choking. What the hell is that?
Well maybe it would help knowing exactly where I am. Am I still at Jillian’s house? Oh I hope I didn’t fall asleep. No wait, that doesn’t seem right, didn't we go somewhere after that? I shake my head, suddeny feeling extremely confused. I rub my eyes and extend my hand out in front of my face.
I jump as my fingers come into contact with something soft and fluffy. Am I on a couch? Hmm, maybe I really did fall asleep at Jillian's. Damn it! How embarrassing. I bet her old grouch of a husband had something to say about that. I wonder why doesn’t he like me? It's not like I did anything to piss him off yet he avoids me like the plague.
Suddenly the deep grunting sound is there again. I sit up and open my eyes wide in an attempt to see better. Why is it so dark in here? More importantly, where is here? I start feeling slightly panicked as I try to remember falling asleep, it's like there are holes in my memory and no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to put the pieces together.
I find myself getting a fright each time the terrible noise comes back. It’s sounds close, but what could it be? Only one way to find out. I turn over, swinging my legs off the couch and onto the floor. As I stand up my legs wobble a bit and I extend my hand out, moving forward until I found myself holding onto something solid, wood maybe?
After steadying myself, I start stumbling through the dark. Once again not giving myself any chance to chicken out as I move towards the sound that’s really starting to creep me out.
What if it's someone in trouble? Surely it can't be anything bad, I mean, if whatever it is was going to hurt me or anything I’m sure it would have done so by now. Sure it’s dark, and I hate the dark, but what’s the worst that could happen? Maybe I'll find a light around here somewhere?
As I shuffle around the room, bumping into things every now and then the noise gets clearer and my breathing heavier. I must be getting close. Eventually I feel like it’s right in front of me. Slowly I reach out to it, praying to God that whatever it is won’t eat my hand.
Suddenly I feel something warm and a little bit squishy. Eew, what is that? The noise is definitely coming from here. I gulp as I use my fingers to poke around, curious to find out exactly what it is. Suddenly the noise stops and is replaced with a terrible choking sound followed by a soft, deep voice. “Kayla?”
Oh no! It knows my name! I gasp, pulling my hand back and trying my best not to scream as it speaks again. “Is that you? What are you doing?” Surely that can’t be.. “Mason?” I whisper. “Uuh yeah? Who else?” “What do you mean who else? I didn't even know you were in here, where are we? And can somebody please switch on the damn light!” I shout.
There's a shuffling sound and seconds later the room is illuminated with a soft yellow light. I look around the room, spotting the brown fluffy couch in the corner with a blanket and pillow thrown on the floor next to it.
My eyes slowly move from where I slept to a small pin board next to the open door leading to a small bathroom. The board is filled with different names, pictures, cut out newspaper articles and snall sticky notes with scribbles on them I can't make out from far away.
All on a huge map that barely fits inside the wooden frame of the board it’s been pinned to. I notice that there are multiple pins in different locations, but not all are connected with colourful strings. I wonder what it all means.
My thoughts are interrupted as I hear Mason clear his throat loudly, “Well, firstly, we are in my room on the farm. I brought you here so that we could continue the investigation and review the evidence..” He looks at his watch quickly. Oh right, we went to the house! A jacket, that’s all I needed. Did I get it? "We should get up now anyway, wait a second, were you scared?"
He says as a small smile starts pulling at the corners of his mouth. I feel my cheeks heat up as suddenly the door swings open with a loud bang and Danny comes strolling in. “Hey guys! I saw the light under the door and figure you were up.”
She walks over to the curtains and pulls them open, letting in the morning sunlight before turning to me and wrapping her arms around me. Agh, where does she get her energy from at this time of the day? I think to myself as I look towards Mason who’s now standing up and stretching his hands behind his head.
Danny gently nudges me. “How did you sleep through his snoring!? All of us had to get earplugs when we moved in and we’re in the rooms on the other side of the house!” She says laughing and shaking her head, making her long blonde ponytail swing slightly.
“Anyway, let’s go downstairs and eat up! The others are already down there and you, my friend, look like you need an extremely strong cup of coffee.” She looks at me from top to bottom before adding. “Or two.” and winking at me playfully as we started walking downstairs towards the kitchen.
As we approach the bottom of the stairs I expect to hear the sizzling of bacon accompanied by the sweet smell of coffee. I close my eyes, waiting for it but am quickly disappointed when Instead all I can smell is something burning, or is it gas? I involuntarily crinkle my nose as I stop and stare at Danny questioningly.
She shrugs, leans closer to me and whispers. “Chuck always insists on cooking, he is not great! No, scratch that, he’s terrible! Before he joined us he was at some fancy culinary school. His parents pulled some major strings to get him in there and, well, he still can’t cook.
He was failing so he dropped, well he says he dropped out. Anyway, after that he ended up joining our little gang. He thinks he is an amazing chef and those idiots didn’t know a gem when they saw one.
He was pretty broken up about it when he left, so we always tell him his cooking is great.” She studies my face for a moment. “Oh, you don’t have to eat it all, just chew what you can manage and when he isn’t looking, slip it to Zues under the table. Don’t worry, we’ll get something good to eat soon I promise.”
With that she leads the way past the unpacked boxes and into the kitchen where Felicia and Chuck are sitting at a little round table, decorated with a mint green tablecloth. They both raise their heads as we walk in.
I sit down in front of one of the plates and look down at my food. Everything on this plate is burned, well, all except the bacon which is absolutely, without a doubt, raw. I pick up my fork and poke at the black crispy edge of the egg.
“Wow, Chuck. It looks great!” I say as enthusiastically as I can manage. I look up at him, giving him a small, friendly smile. He returns it with a large smile of his own as he beams with pride. “Thanks! I went to culinary school you know.” He says as he turns his attention back to his food which is covered in tomato sauce.
Danny sets a cup of steaming black coffee in front of Felicia and I before sitting down opposite me. ”So, How’d you manage to sleep through Mason’s horrendous snoring?” Felicia asks. I blush, embarrassed about how I didn’t even realise that that’s what it was.
“It wasn’t so bad. I must admit though, it didn’t sound like snoring.” They all laugh as Chuck says. “No kidding, the guy sounds like he’s choking on a whistle!” Everyone giggles again as Mason appears beside me, pulling out the chair and sitting down before picking his fork up and glancing at all of us.
“My snoring is not that bad, guys.” he mumbles, taking a bite of bacon and swallowing hard. “Whatever you say, lifeguard.” Chuck says, giggling at his own joke as Felicia groans. “Oh, Chuck. That was so lame! Lifeguard, Dude? That’s the best you got?”
Chuck gives a little “Hmmph!” As he lowers his hread, turning his attention back to his food.“Shut up.” Everyone smiles and nibbles on their food quietly for a while.
Chuck finishes his pretty quickly before standing up. “Anyone want some coffee?” Everyone quickly answers yes as he turns and makes his way to the coffee machine. The moment he turns his back I put a hand over my mouth to stop giggling as I watch everyone take a piece of food off of their plate and hurriedly lift the tablecloth before throwing it under the table.
Chuck turns his head back just as everyone lifts their empty forks into their mouth. “Shit! We’re out of coffee, I’ll run up and get some more while you guys eat.” He tells us before marching out of the kitchen. As soon as we hear the loud thumps of his heavy footsteps on the stairs, everyone takes turns letting Zues clean their plates.
Once they all finish, I lift the tablecloth and look underneath to find the most beautiful Great Dane with a glossy black coat and large, brown eyes. Drool is running down from the side of his mouth as he happily chomps away on pieces of bacon, not at all bothered by the fact that its partly raw. I reach out and rub his head as I follow what the others were doing, giving the happy canine the remaining pieces of bacon and sausage on my plate.
We quickly finish up washing our hands and rinsing the plates in the sink when Chuck makes his way back down the stairs, whistling a happy tune. “Got it!” He says, holding up a small packet of coffee. Mason walks forward and places a hand on his shoulder before saying.
“We were thinking of going back to the house and grabbing the stuff. We can review it all at Jesse’s afterwards. We’ll grab coffee and a waffle, you in?” Chuck foods his arms. “You said waffles, why are you even asking.” He says with a smile as he sets the small bag of coffee on the counter and grabs the keys.
I clear my throat as all eyes land on me. “Uh, guys? Could I perhaps freshen up a bit first?” I say looking down at my tattered and dirty clothing.” Felicia stands up and walks with Danny until they’re both standing next too me. “I agree." Danny tells them. "You guys may be content with staying dirty for days on end but not me. Give us 20 Minutes.”
Without waiting for a reply, Felicia grabs my hand and the three of us walk up the stairs, past Mason’s door and through a bright green door at the end of the passage. Felicia walks over to the left, up to a little wooden cupboard next to a large double bed covered in red and black silk bedding.
She sets out a thoughtful "hmmm" before swinging it open and pulling out different items of clothing, most of which are black. Danny walks over to the other side of the room, which is completely different from Felicia’s side, and starts doing the same.
Although they’re twins, they sure have completely different styles. Where Danny obviously likes all things pink, sparkly and pretty, Felicia likes dark, mysterious and dangerous. I suppose it fits their personalities well.
Danny starts pulling out pink skirts and denim jackets whereas Felicia is pulling out fishnet stockings and stripey crop tops. The two each bring items of clothing to the middle fo the room where a large black desk with two chairs separate the beds.
They stand and speak to each other softly as they arrange and rearrange the pile of clothing on the desk. After a few moments they turn around and call me over. “C’mon. You’ll need some clothes, so Danny and I have taken a few things from our closet. You can have these if you want, no doubt you’ll look amazing in it.” Felicia says as she shows me the outfit they’ve pulled together.
Laid out neatly on the desk is a black skirt that looks like it could be a bit tight, a sleeveless light pink vest with a low v in front and a denim jacket that’s length covers only half of the shirt. “Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.”
Danny smiles as Felicia snaps her fingers together. “I almost forgot!” She bends over and examines my feet for a second before walking over to her cupboard. A few seconds later she comes strolling back with a pair of black and white sneakers in hand.
She goes behind me and lifts my ankle so that my foot is pressed against the bottom of the shoe. “Yeah, that’ll fit. Here you go.” She says as she shoves the pile of clothes into my hand. “Bathroom is down the passage, second door to your left. Meet us back in here afterwards, there’s shampoo and conditioner in there if you need any.”
I thank them again before rushing down the passage and into the bathroom, eager to scrub myself from head to toe. As I climb into the shower and let the hot water rush over me, I can't help but feel a bit anxious about what we're going to find when we go over the overnight recordings.
