worse by the poor lighting. The fact that
everything was tinged from smoke was easy to see as there had once been
multiple objects that had been removed from the walls that had left large
whitish imprints in their absence. The largest of these missing pieces seemed
to have been a cross that hung crookedly above the bed, which was still
surrounded by half a dozen small picture frames filled with various paintings
of Jesus.
The bed was queen sized with a wooden box frame that
sat on four posts about a foot off the floor. The posts seemed to have some of
the same slashing marks on them that had destroyed parts of the wall. On top of
the mattress sat a large blanket patterned with intricate cross-stitching that
would have looked good in any home décor magazine if it wasn’t for the
extensive tearing and the burn marks from many dropped cigarettes. There was a
dirty, full length mirror hung on the wall across from the bed encased in a
thin frame of pale pine. There was a window to the left of the bed across from
the doorway that seemed to have some sort of writing in another language
sprawled across the dirty glass surface. It seemed to have been written in the
same paint as the drawings on the wall in the other room.
Violet stepped into the room first, walking
immediately over to one of the two large off-white dressers that stood on
opposite sides of the room. Both of the dressers had all of its drawers pulled
out to various degrees with varying contents inside of them. The one in front
of Violet seemed to be filled with clothing, most of it old garbs for an
averaged sized man while others seemed to be clothing for a child. All of it
dusty and stiff with caked on dirt.
“Who the hell lived in this place?” she asked as she
picked up a pair of faded pink kid’s pants.
“Evidently it was a parent and child”.
“You think that woman... Poya or whatever was the mothering type?”
Riley began scanning through the other dresser, “I
can’t say much about her. But by the look of the other room the place might
have been inherited by another family member like an uncle. Or based on the
artwork perhaps a psychotic lodger”.
The drawers that Riley riffled through were filled
with scattered trinkets. A lot of which seemed like nothing more than junk such
as a plastic handheld mirror or a few stray cigarettes, a broken harmonica and
an empty whisky bottle. But there was one item that was clearly special.
Wrapped in a snowy silk handkerchief was a silver necklace and locket garlanded
with intricate floral designs, which contained a small black and white
photograph of a baby.
“I think I found the owner of that scary doll at the end
of the hallway,” Riley said as he passed the necklace to his wife.
She rocked it from hand to hand as she examined it,
contemplating what to do with the curio.
“So,” he started, “are we sleeping in here tonight?”
She looked up from her examination and scanned the
room with distaste, “As much as I’d prefer not to, I don’t think we have much
of a choice, do we?”
Without much thought Violet dropped the locket onto
the dresser top with a metallic thud.
“You could always go and sleep in the lake. Just float
on your back and hope you don’t get taken away,” Riley advocated with a smile.
Violet mocked his eagerness with the sloppiest face
she could muster, “Isn’t that where I pee? What sort of woman do you think I
am?”
With a laugh he said, “You want to stay in this bear
habitat, don’t you? I’m pretty sure you bearly qualify as a woman. Get it? Bear... ly ?”
With an even bigger laugh she responded, “I hope you
remember my lack of femininity when you want to roll on top of me this week.
You’ll have better luck getting off with an actual
bear”.
Chapter 4
Riley awoke with a start, dripping in sweat despite
the cold air that engulfed his sleeping body. His mind raced to remember
everything was tinged from smoke was easy to see as there had once been
multiple objects that had been removed from the walls that had left large
whitish imprints in their absence. The largest of these missing pieces seemed
to have been a cross that hung crookedly above the bed, which was still
surrounded by half a dozen small picture frames filled with various paintings
of Jesus.
The bed was queen sized with a wooden box frame that
sat on four posts about a foot off the floor. The posts seemed to have some of
the same slashing marks on them that had destroyed parts of the wall. On top of
the mattress sat a large blanket patterned with intricate cross-stitching that
would have looked good in any home décor magazine if it wasn’t for the
extensive tearing and the burn marks from many dropped cigarettes. There was a
dirty, full length mirror hung on the wall across from the bed encased in a
thin frame of pale pine. There was a window to the left of the bed across from
the doorway that seemed to have some sort of writing in another language
sprawled across the dirty glass surface. It seemed to have been written in the
same paint as the drawings on the wall in the other room.
Violet stepped into the room first, walking
immediately over to one of the two large off-white dressers that stood on
opposite sides of the room. Both of the dressers had all of its drawers pulled
out to various degrees with varying contents inside of them. The one in front
of Violet seemed to be filled with clothing, most of it old garbs for an
averaged sized man while others seemed to be clothing for a child. All of it
dusty and stiff with caked on dirt.
“Who the hell lived in this place?” she asked as she
picked up a pair of faded pink kid’s pants.
“Evidently it was a parent and child”.
“You think that woman... Poya or whatever was the mothering type?”
Riley began scanning through the other dresser, “I
can’t say much about her. But by the look of the other room the place might
have been inherited by another family member like an uncle. Or based on the
artwork perhaps a psychotic lodger”.
The drawers that Riley riffled through were filled
with scattered trinkets. A lot of which seemed like nothing more than junk such
as a plastic handheld mirror or a few stray cigarettes, a broken harmonica and
an empty whisky bottle. But there was one item that was clearly special.
Wrapped in a snowy silk handkerchief was a silver necklace and locket garlanded
with intricate floral designs, which contained a small black and white
photograph of a baby.
“I think I found the owner of that scary doll at the end
of the hallway,” Riley said as he passed the necklace to his wife.
She rocked it from hand to hand as she examined it,
contemplating what to do with the curio.
“So,” he started, “are we sleeping in here tonight?”
She looked up from her examination and scanned the
room with distaste, “As much as I’d prefer not to, I don’t think we have much
of a choice, do we?”
Without much thought Violet dropped the locket onto
the dresser top with a metallic thud.
“You could always go and sleep in the lake. Just float
on your back and hope you don’t get taken away,” Riley advocated with a smile.
Violet mocked his eagerness with the sloppiest face
she could muster, “Isn’t that where I pee? What sort of woman do you think I
am?”
With a laugh he said, “You want to stay in this bear
habitat, don’t you? I’m pretty sure you bearly qualify as a woman. Get it? Bear... ly ?”
With an even bigger laugh she responded, “I hope you
remember my lack of femininity when you want to roll on top of me this week.
You’ll have better luck getting off with an actual
bear”.
Chapter 4
Riley awoke with a start, dripping in sweat despite
the cold air that engulfed his sleeping body. His mind raced to remember
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