Best Friends, Remember?

The (non) empty house

Genevieve has felt very sleepy, although she knew, she couldn’t fall for nap desire. She was too anxious about what was ought to happen in next few hours.

She was the only passenger on the bus. The driver, bit surprised, was giving her a lift to her last destination for today.

“Is Stan really a person you should rely on?” thought Genevieve; “I mean, he was very helpful but…”

But.

Exactly. There was no “but”. Not even knowing Genevieve, Stan helped her, not expecting any favour back. That was a selfless act of sympathy and care. She immediately had a thought, that she’s supposed to thank him and be grateful because of what he has done for her. Genevieve felt, it wouldn’t be fine to accuse Stan of bad intentions.

She was absolutely right.

Her head was spinning round, thanks to all the experienced, she’s been through the whole day. Innocent day at school, Giselle’s call, meeting Stan… And now what?

The next stop (the one, where she should take off) was coming closer and closer. That was kinda unbearable for her. She would be forced to go to Stan’s empty house, he “borrowed” her, although she felt that wasn’t quite right.

“How could I possibly move around his house?” Genevieve asked herself but the glass didn’t seem to give her an appropriate and reasonable answer. Instead, it was brazenly keeping silent.

The bus has finally stopped. Genevieve’s heart started beating faster, even almost painfully and ominously. She got up from her seat, took her backpack and left the bus, saying thank you and goodbye to the driving woman. When Genevieve took her foot from the last step, the driver closed the door and drove off.

Genevieve has left alone.

She took the northern destination and just went straight ahead. The path was narrow and limited by the conterminous meadow.

The thing she was really excited to see was the famous Mistland Water. Stan said, that his house is environed by it and that it makes a really breath-taking view. She had an occasion to find out herself. That’s what she was planning to do at first.

The path became more narrow than before and finally instead of bricks, it was covered by rocks and mud. Orange leaves were lying all over the ground, spotted on puddles. Everything was wet. The temperature was low, a delicate wind was blowing and it was unbelievably dark outside.

Genevieve could here nothing except squeaking crickets. Unofficial concert they performed in front of her made her fall in love with the place’s atmosphere and gave her a specific feeling of rural naturalness, freshness and peace. That felt quite good and cheering up as the end of the long and tough day. “If only everything worked alright, until the end…” Genevieve hoped in her thoughts.

She found the house. The Mist Hill.

It was medium-sized, wooden and it had an attic – Genevieve noticed that it had a small window on a very high level – almost under the roof. All of the windows were dirty and had some withered flower centrepieces on windowsills. The house looked very old.

She stood in front of the grey (at first probably white) fence of the house and touched it smoothly. The paint was very old and it started to peel away in small pieces. Genevieve got her hand back and spotted that she had some dirt on her fingers.

“Gross” she said disgusted.

Genevieve walked into Stan’s garden. During the day, the autumn that year was beautiful, but harsh at the same time. Although everyone had the opportunity to watch the nature changing the environment, it didn’t change the fact, that everyone did not want to say goodbye to warm and light clothes.

Regardless of how dark it was outside, Genevieve noticed that the garden – even so small – was incredibly messy. Leaves weren’t collected, the ground was muddy, because of the rain and also some tools were scruffily put in front of the porch. That scenery looked like Stan wanted to tidy up before Joan’s homecoming, but it turned out he decided to visit her there, in Maidstone and not caring about all the work he wanted to do – went away.

As soon as Genevieve saw the huge chaos in the garden, she wanted to fix it, but then she realised it was not the right moment for that.

Genevieve walked through the front steps and stopped in front of the wooden door. On the left there was a small button – probably the bell – and a letterbox.

She pushed the handle and slowly walked into the house.

It was dark all over the place, but luckily, the moon was shining high on the sky (although the full moon was supposed to be the next week). The hall was covered by a thin carpet, which colour couldn’t be recognised. The air was full with a strange smell of dust and old age. That felt really weird, because Stan left the house just few days ago. There was no possibility to make the house so scruffy just in few days.

Genevieve slowly walked upstairs, taking every step carefully and quietly, even though she knew, there was no one in the house.

She saw outlines of a few rooms and decided to walk into the first one. She opened the door with no squeak and entered it. It was insanely dark inside. Genevieve couldn’t notice any light-switch, so she just made a decision to find a bed and go to sleep as soon as possible. She started seeking for

a bed by touching everything that surrounded her. She felt some wooden railing and thought that had to be the bed. She put down her backpack, took of her jacket and put it next to the bed. Exhausted Genevieve knelt on the bed and when she was ought to lay down, she felt someone underneath her.

She screamed and woke up the stranger.

“What the hell?!” screamed some male voice.

Genevieve couldn’t push any words out of her mouth.

“I… I… What…?”

The stranger has switched on the lamp, so they could see each other’s faces.

The man lying on the bed had short, curly hair and deep, brown eyes. His nose was a bit broken and his skin little bit pale, but despite these features, that look made Genevieve feel something weird in her stomach.

“Who are you?” asked the stranger.

“Who are YOU” asked Genevieve afterwards.

“I asked you first”

“Yeah, so?!”

They were arguing, but Jared finally decided to stop it.

“Okay, okay, calm down!” he said, putting his muscled arms towards the girl; “I’m Jared…” he said, trying to act nicely.

Genevieve looked at Jared. She had extremely mixed feelings about him. That was a stranger. She knew nothing about him. “But… Gosh, his eyes…”

“I’m Genevieve” she responded and they both shook hands.

When they eventually calmed themselves down and all the nerves went down too, Jared and Genevieve looked at each other in complete silence for a while. Then, Jared wanted to say something, but he finally quit.

Genevieve bit her lip, while looking at Jared who was lost in his thoughts.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Genevieve after a minute or two.

“What exactly?”

“You know… That both of us went to this house. Was it because of Stan?”

“How do you know about Stan? Are you a soothsayer or something?” he asked.

“No! I just… He offered me staying in his house until I… figure things out…” hedged Genevieve and finally took her sight away from Jared’s face.

She was staring at the window and trying not to pay attention to all the dust motes, that were floating all over the room.

“I…” started Jared.

Genevieve looked at him interrogatively.

“I.. kinda have problems too, you know?” Jared said and considering his face, Genevieve could tell that something heavy laid on his heart. Something he wasn’t able to deal with.

“What it is, may I ask?”

Jared gave Genevieve an innocent look and realised he had nothing to worry about. The stranger girl didn’t seem dangerous, not at all. Enough to stay – friendly and… beautiful…

“Well…” he started, but hung up for a while.

He was staring at the corner and then moved his sight to the window. The sky was black and there were million stars above the roof.

“You know… don’t misunderstand me, but… I don’t know if I can mix you into my problems. I mean… I don’t want to… man, how can I say this…? I don’t want to make you endangered. That should tell you that it’s not worth it – making friends with me or… any relation… whatever…”

He lowered his head down in silence and sad face. Genevieve felt sorry for Jared, but was bit afraid to try to tell about her problems too. She completely understood him, so…

“You know, Jared…” she started shyly. Jared rose his head up and looked right into Genevieve’s eyes. That felt unusual for both of them. Half nice, half weird.

“I do have problems too…” she admitted. Jared frowned his eyebrows and his eyes went wider in seconds.

“Are you serious? What kind of?” he asked surprised and worried. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to take care of Genevieve. She was here alone, (well, sort of), with only a backpack, and most importantly – struggling to solve some serious problems. It seemed so, though.

“Family problems… let’s just say…” she said, sitting on the bed, next to Jared.

“Are they serious?” asked Jared.

“Very much” she responded, fixing her ponytail.

Jared’s heart started beating a bit faster as he came up with an idea.

“Maybe… you can tell me…? As a secret. I promise, I won’t tell anyone” Jared raised his hand as a swear gesture.

Genevieve wasn’t at first quite concerned about this idea, but as soon as she saw truth, hidden in Jared’s eyes, her prejudice melted away and that opened her heart.

“Well, I guess I can. Under the condition, that it will be a secret”

“Of course” he said, straightening himself.

Genevieve started to talk about what she experienced through the whole day.

“I was heading my home, coming from school. I’m in high school, by the way. So… I got a call from my older sister, Giselle. She sounded scared and panicked. I asked what was going on and then she responded, that

I must not come back home… or they would find me. Then I tried to find out about whom she was talking about. It turned out, that my parents were killed by some two assholes”

Jared widened his eyes and opened his mouth, shocked. His hands were shaking. His breath went shallow and he could feel cold sweat dripping down on his back. Realising that, Jared tried his best to hide things happening recently to his body. He wiped his lips with his hand I put a lot of energy to keep focusing on what Genevieve was saying.

“There was blood all around the house. Giselle went upstairs, after she had called the cops, obviously, and then found out there was not a soul in our house. Men just vanished. The police said, they probably ran away by the window in parents’ office, because they found muddy bootprints on the windowsill and the frame. Then I met Stan, he offered me this house as

a place to stay at until things go right again and now… I found you” she smiled delicately, saying the last word.

Jared smiled back, also gently.

“Wow…” he said; “I mean…”

“Yeah…” admitted Genevieve; “And now, I’m afraid, that even I had moved here for some time, they will find me…” by saying these words, Genevieve shed a single tear, to finally fall in a deep cry.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay…” Jared wanted to calm her down and cheer her up, so he took her hands – they were cold as his. Then, he softly moved to hug her.

Genevieve looked at Jared with sympathy and a strange feeling of… exactly…?

“I know nothing about them. You know – those men who killed my parents. And it feels so weird without them. Without Giselle. No one! Except you… I mean, you’re really nice” she smirked.

“Thanks” smiled Jared.

“And you probably wonder, why the hell I went so far to run away from those guys. The answer is: Giselle warned me, that some murmurs were sneaking around my house and four blocks away. All in black. Like some… criminals. And Stan… appeared, like from heaven. Yeah, this is

a relevant comparison. I just desperately stuck to what I have received. But still… Stan gave his house straight away to two strangers. Me and you. Why didn’t he tell me that he had given you the opportunity to live in his house before? That’s weird”

Jared fixed his hair.

“He’s no spring chicken” joked Jared.

“Right” admitted Genevieve, fixing her ponytail again. Her brown curls jumped funnily over her arm and fell on her back, to their initial position. “At this age he was able to forget… No, that’s not… I just can’t believe it. Would you be able to forget giving your own house to someone else and then offer it to another person without a clue?” Genevieve was deeply interested in Stan’s potential reason of generousness. “Is that supposed to be funny?”

“I don’t find it funny at all” admitted Jared and sat with his hands on his nape. Genevieve thought, that his arm muscles were probably hard, judging by the way they looked. Mainly, she thought, that Jared is really handsome and fine. He didn’t seem to be a psychopath or a criminal. His look wasn’t innocent though, as she suddenly saw something on Jared’s denim jacket. A bloody spot.

She stopped her sight at this spot and got little bit scared, looking at Jared’s face. He was thinking about something deeply, as he happened to bite his bottom lip all the time. She felt uncomfortable as she discovered the blood and balanced it with his flawless personality. And manners. And appearance. Oh… shut up, Genevieve…

“Hey, um… why… do you have a blood spot on your arm?” she asked slowly and insecurely.

Jared looked uninterrupted at the blood and shook his head.

“That’s nothing. Really. I hit myself with a rock… (s**t!)”

“Oh, sorry to hear that… How, the hell, that happened?” asked Genevieve to straight up the issue ruining her inner peace.

“Um… my house is a one, big ruin. It looks like the barn, standing just next to it. Dirty bricks, scruffy, falling roof. Gross. Trust me, you don’t want to visit the place…”

Genevieve thought, that maybe not necessarily the place is the one, wanted to be visited by her, but Jared himself.

“I see” she just said, instead of telling him the truth.

Jared moved his legs and suddenly stood up from the bed. He grabbed his bag (his only bag) and hung it on his arm.

“There you go” he started; “Genevieve, you take the bed. I’ll sleep on the ground”

“Oh, no, no. I won’t let you sleep on it! Have you seen the dust all around? Gross. No… unbelievable… terrifying!” she said loudly disgusted.

She made Jared laughed truly and when they both started laughing after

a second, Jared looked at Genevieve and smiled to himself once again, showing a row of his white and straight teeth.

“Okay, fine. The dust is horrible… So… where am I supposed to sleep?”

Genevieve started to look around the room and she tried to find a proper place.

“Have you entered any other room?”

“Nope. I was exhausted when I arrived”

“So was I… Are we gonna check them?”

“Maybe tomorrow. Gosh, I’m so tired, but sleepy, though. That’s weird”

“Yeah, same mate” she laughed, so did he.

Jared bit his bottom lip and came up with an idea.

“Okay, don’t misunderstand me, but we can sleep in one bed. You’ll put your feet here…” he pointed one corner of the bed; “I’ll put mine here” pointed the other end of the bed; “Feels good?” he wanted to make sure.

“Yeah, sounds reasonable. That’s not gonna be weird, is it?”

“No, not at all. After all, I’m stuck with you” Jared laughed in a very cute way. Like a naughty boy, who messed something up; “I’m just hoping you’ll bear my company” Jared asked this question as putting one eyebrow up.

“With a pleasure” responded Genevieve, so he made Jared smile again and say:

“I’m glad to hear that. I’m really flattered. No, really!” he said as Genevieve mocked politely.

“Okay, calm down. I believe you. Now, can you please help me with this blanket. We have to share it. Luckily, we have at least something to cover ourselves with”

“The bad news is, that it is not enough for a cold, October night, Genevieve” worried Jared.

Apart from the fact, that he was telling the truth, Genevieve felt heat as Jared happened to call her by her name. Her heart jumped, as she enjoyed that a lot, but didn’t say a thing.

“I suppose you’re right… Well, at least that’s something. We have our jackets, right?”

“…And this appetisingly-looking rug”

Genevieve started laughing hard as she admitted, that it looked truly disgusting.

“Stop it!”

Jared and Genevieve laid in one bed together, lying across each other and that really made look like they were a couple of friends, having a great sleep over.

They both moaned with a relief when they laid they heads on the bed. That was a gesture of tiredness escaping their bodies.

“Finally… I didn’t believe that I would end this day. It seemed to never be over” he explained; “that’s a nice surprise”

“Sure” responded Genevieve.

“Are you cold?” asked Jared worried.

“No, no. I’m fine, thanks for the care. How about you?”

“I’m good, thanks”

Genevieve looked at Jared.

“Goodnight, Jared”

He looked at her.

“Goodnight, Genevieve”

And they both didn’t say a word that night any more. Genevieve thought about her parents and sister one more time and finally fell asleep. When it comes to Jared, he didn’t have this pleasure. His head was full with different images. His old, scruffy home. Blood. Intruders. Finally… blame…