City On Fire

17

Conrad felt her grip tighten and gradually slowed down but it did nothing to calm her down. At one point she turned to look behind her before tapping him on the shoulder. He stopped just short of the sidewalk but and raised his visor but didn’t kill the engine.

To be sure he heard her this time she spoke right next to his helmet.

“Turn around. Four houses down.”

She saw him raise an eyebrow but she was in a hurry and not in the mood for his antics.

“Please.”

As she expected that was all he wanted to hear. He lowered the visor and after revving the engine spun the motorcycle around violently. He got what he wanted a second time when she was forced to hold on for dear life as tried to get both of them killed. Despite his bad taste in fun they both survived and he stopped just view feet from the four steps that lead to the front door.

This was the house she had been both looking for and hoped to God she never found. It being right there in front of her made everything disturbingly real and it scared the high holy hell out of her.

The engine still running Conrad looked at the house, both his arms resting on the gas tank. Ella knew couldn’t hide behind him for much longer and after placing one hand on his shoulder for support got of the thing.

She was cautious to approach. Knowing what transpired inside made her uneasy. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to go inside.

Conrad watched her slowly make her way up the stairs. She was a strange one all right but then what did he expect. Institutionalized for mental illness and then tortured before escaping and now being hunted by the authorities. It was worth the mention that though strange she didn’t exactly strike him as ‘ill’. Hard to believe he had tracked her down with the intent of turning her in.

He watched as she went to work on the front door, pulling at the boards the kept the front door sealed. After watching her struggle for a while her killed the engine and removed his helmet, resting in n the bike’s gas tank. Somehow watching her try the get in was painful. Ella tried, with more and more desperation, to get the barricades of the door and was failing miserably. The more she tried the more her hand shook. She wanted, she needed to, get in that house and it had to happen now. All hesitation, all rear and uncertainty was gone and in its wake was only desperation.

In her feverish attempt to get the door open she failed to notice the sound of the engine die down and she didn’t notice Conrad walk up behind her, not until he spoke. “Out of the way.”

For a moment she looked up at him from where she sat on her knees before she got up and stood aside. He waited till she was well out of the way before he kicked in the door. Once was all it took for the boards to split down the middle and the door to fly open, surprisingly not off its hinges.

“After you.” He was being cocky again but she hardly notices and was through the door before he even spoke. Her heart sank as she looked over the entry way and found it exactly she it had been in the last dream.

“You know, if you wanted a place where we could be alone all you had to do was say so.”

Despite her best efforts she couldn’t ignore him and glared at him. Unfortunately she realized too late he had been looking for reaction and now got it. Her zero, him three. While he smiled she turned her attention back to the room that lay in shambles. The furniture that hadn’t already been destroyed lay over turned. A mountain of dishes covered every surface and cob webs decorated every corner and crevice. The sun had yet to set but the house was dark and almost foreboding. Even so some how she could still see the once happy occupants go about their daily routines.

She walked from the foyer to the small living room to her left and just stood there. As if watching a movie she could see the house in the days before tragedy. She could see everything neatly in its place and all the dust gone. The man sat in one of the chairs reading a newspaper while Lucas lay peacefully at his feet. After a little while his ears pricked and he raised his head and wagged his tale as the woman walked into the room. She carried two cups of tea and as she walked in the man put the paper away and accepted the cup she offered out to him. Before she sat she rubbed one of the dog’s ears and he licked her hand. The two sat talking as they drank their tea. The scene was so tranquil Ella felt she could watch them like this forever but in an instant the scene shifted to the woman being held in the air before being murdered. She couldn’t stand to watch it all over again and closed her eyes. When she opened them again the found the man on the ground on his knees and the woman’s lifeless corps cradled in his arms. What she also noticed was that the rug that now occupied the floor hadn’t been there before. Conrad looked about the house unimpressed until finally he simply stared the Ella. He watched her walk to a moth eaten rug and roll it out of the way. Even though she wasn’t the massive stain in the wood surprised him. Looking to her for answers he found her kneeing next to it, tears welling up in her eyes. Looking up she blinked trying to hide them but it was to no avail and two managed to escape. She looked up at a dirty white sheet covering something above the fireplace. The look in her eyes said she knew exactly what she would find underneath it.

He watched as he got to her feet walk right up to it and pull the sheet way. Doing so released an avalanche of dust on to the floor at her feet but reviled a portrait of a woman and a massive black dog. Ella stepped backwards as Conrad stared at the striking resemblance between the two women. It was almost unreal and for a moment he wondered if he was being played the fool. The thought was soon out to rest when he saw her crying and she wasn’t even trying to hide it.

Ella had completely forgotten he was even there. As best she could she composed herself and turned back to the foyer. She stared at the staircase for a moment before she walked around it only to find a solid wall. “No, this isn’t right.”

She pressed her hands against the cold wood, shaking. Conrad could see she was getting upset and waked over.

“What isn’t right?” she seemed shocked when he spoke but she soon remembered he had been there all along and turned her attention back to the wall.

“There should be some kind of door here or opening.”

She started pressing against the wood with all the strength she had and only then did he notice the cable tie around her wrist. It was leaving a rather ugly bruise. Eventually he grew tired of watching her struggle and stepped up beside her.

“Move.”

She stepped back thinking that if he could kick down the door that easily he was her best bet at getting behind that wall. However he had little interest in the wall and instead held out his hand. When she didn’t react fast enough he held his hand out further. “Give me your hand.”

The whole thing had her disorientated and her mind seemed to process everything from the real world at half speed. So when he asked she raised both her hands and studied them before holding them out. Why the hell she was even complying with the request she had very little idea.

He took hold of her right wrist and pulled a rather large knife from behind his back. She was surprised but to her own shock didn’t try and pull from his grip.

He held the other end of the cable tie and bided the knife slowly over her wrist, severing the strip of plastic. It was too late. The thing had been attached so tight it left a purple bruise and had even cut into the skin at a view places. While she studied her injuries Conrad turned to the wall.

“What makes you think there should be a door here?”

He put the knife away and ran his hand over the smooth surface, a part of him wondering why he was indulging her.

“There is a staircase that goes down into this secret room. There are books there that I need to get to. When the woman was murdered her husband left something down there for me and if I don’t...”

She had said too much and when she finally looked up Conrad stared with one raised eyebrow. The things that were running through his head, she could only imagine. This was bad and what was worse was that now having said it out loud in sounded like the ramblings of a lunatic. Finding the house and everything that was left behind had seemed a pretty good plan, having recognised it on instinct alone and even finding the blood stain under the carpet further strengthened her believe that it was all less of a dream and more of a warning but now that she heard herself say all of it she doubted everything. What disturbed her more was that though she had had nightmares like this before and they had come true she still hesitated. Was it all in her head? Was it coincidence?

She felt like a very tiny fish in a very, very large bowl. Maybe the mad house was where she belonged.

She kept staring at her feet until slight knocking made her look up. Conrad has looked away from her and now stood with both hands against the wall. He ran his fingers along the edges and corners and would knock at regular intervals.