Peripheral Vision: A Supernatural Thriller(16)
Sarah walked in the front door of the old house and immediately went to the fireplace to warm up. She hadn’t realized just how cold her hands had gotten outside, until she felt the tingling pain in the nerves as they warmed next to the flame. She rubbed her hands together. They were feeling better already, but Sarah realized that she had been sitting outside next to the river a lot longer than it had seemed. She looked at her phone. It was already 12:30 pm. How can that be? Her mind tried to quickly rationalize the time slip, but nothing was adding up. Did I fall asleep? She questioned herself, but that’s when her conversation with herself was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a loud crash from behind her. She screamed. The sound made her jump, but it didn’t take long for her to regain some composure. She decided to go check it out. The crash had come from upstairs. She spied the fireplace poker, and picked it up. Just in case.
As she walked up the stairs towards the bedrooms, she couldn’t help but laugh, if she were watching a horror movie, she would be screaming at the heroine to leave the house, and not go up the stairs! But this was real life, not a movie, and Sarah had to reign in her wild imagination. As she got closer to her aunt’s room, she saw the reason for the loud crash. The empty picture frame that had been hanging on the wall across from her aunt’s bedroom was now in pieces on the floor. Sarah was no longer scared, but relieved and maybe even a little embarrassed that she had been so skittish. She went downstairs to the kitchen to find a broom. While in the broom closet, she noticed her late aunt’s small wine collection, pulled out a bottle of Pinot Noir and looked at the label.
“Hello, hello. Looks like we have some things in common after all.” She said to her late aunt. She placed the bottle on the kitchen counter and walked upstairs to clean up the mess. While sweeping up the glass, she found herself looking at her aunt’s closed bedroom door. She was curious again. She walked to the door and began to turn the knob. Then her imagination got the better of her so she stopped. “You’re being ridiculous, Sarah, just open the door and stop scaring yourself! “ She turned the knob, ever so slowly, and opened the door.
Everything seemed to be in place. She walked around the room, taking it all in, and then began to finger through some of her aunt’s things. Nothing to note in her chest of drawers, just carefully folded clothes. Then she walked to the closet. The smell of mothballs filled the room as she opened the door. On the top shelf, among some shoe boxes, she found a box marked ‘Lizzy’s things’. Sarah took the box down, sat down on the bed, and opened the lid. Inside were some old birthday cards, a small cloth doll, an old dried out flower, or maybe it was a corsage, a pair of earrings, and a small scrapbook. Before Sarah could open the scrapbook, she was startled by the sound of someone knocking loudly on the front door. She jumped and accidentally dropped the box on the floor. She scrambled to pick up the contents of the box as the knocking continued.
“I’m coming... I’m coming!” She yelled.
She put the box back on the bed and headed to the front door. As she left her aunt’s room, she stopped, paused for a moment to look behind her, and then closed the bedroom door. When she opened the front door, she was pleasantly surprised to find the handsome handyman, Nick, standing on the doorstep.
“Hey. I was starting to think you weren’t home.”
“Well considering I’m with a car at the moment, where do think I would’ve gone?”
“Good question”, Nick chuckled.
“How’d the job go?” She asked.
“Good. Finished it pretty quick. Some exciting plumbing stuff...which I’m sure you’d love to hear about.”
“Sounds like the beginnings of a great conversation.” Sarah said as she giggled politely.
“I’ll spare you this one. You want a ride into town?”
“Yes. Let me just grab my purse.” As Sarah turned to gather her things, she found herself grinning like a schoolgirl. It was impossible to hide.
Chapter 7
There's No Place Like Homewood
Nick pulled into the dilapidated parking lot of the Wagon Wheel Motel and swung into an open spot close to the main lobby-there were a lot of them. Only five other cars were carefully, and not so carefully parked between the faded white lines of the many parking stalls. Not a busy time of year in old Homewood.
“Thanks for everything.” Sarah said as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
“You’re welcome.” Nick shifted into park. “Sarah, is it alright if I call you later?”
“I’d like that.” Sarah reached into her pocket and handed Nick her business card this time around.
“Senior DIrector-Search Engine Optimization… wow.” He smiled and let out a short laugh.
“Don’t be fooled. It’s just a fancy term for website marketing, Nick. My cell is on there” Sarah said.
“Got it.”
“Talk to you later.” Sarah said and hopped out of the truck.
“Yes, you will. Bye, Sarah.”
“Bye.” Sarah waved, and shut the door.
Nick left her with a short wave from behind his dirt-streaked windshield, as he backed out and drove away. Sarah stood there for a minute, thinking about Nick and then Emma, and then her Aunt Elizabeth. It’s so strange being here, she thought, and then she pointed herself in the direction of her hotel room and got her feet to start moving. Once she’d repacked the rest of her things, she took one last look at the lone odd painting on the wall, waved goodbye to the little room, and went to check out.