Unbound (18 page)

“Ok, thanks again. See you tomorrow!”

I walked up the steps and unlocked the front door. Slowly, I looked around the house, not knowing what I expected to find. I put the envelope of papers from the bank on the kitchen counter. I realized I had a huge problem when I looked at everything sprawled out on the dining room table. How was I going to get this back home? I could fit some of it in my suitcase—thank God I didn’t over pack this time—but there was absolutely no way I could get the weapons into the airport. The second set of keys James had left were half hidden under the crossbow. Realizing I hadn’t even looked at them yet, I picked them up. The Cadillac symbol was painted on the remote in gold. Remembering there was an old Caddy in the garage, I hurried to see if this was the right key. It was, and the engine started without a hitch. A full tank of gas and a GPS welcomed me to drive around. A note was tapped to the GPS.

Anora-

I programmed in some helpful locations.

-James

Wow, he had really done everything he could to be able to avoid me needing his help. I grabbed my purse and the house key. I remembered seeing a Wal-Mart on the way to the bank, and I was sure I’d be able to find it on my own, but I decided to use the GPS just in case. I used my new debit card that took money from my new bank account to buy packing tape, Sharpies, another suitcase and a ton of Sour Patch Kids.

 
I didn’t feel like repacking the interesting items yet, so I went all the way upstairs to investigate the attic. It was packed with boxes up here. I eeny meeny miny mo-ed a decision of which box to open first, and found it to be full of pictures. I sat cross legged on the dusty attic floor and let myself go back in time. Aunt Estelle was married, a fact that I had never known. She looked like a model in her wedding pictures and her husband was also really attractive.

I dug deeper into the box and found pictures with Aunt Estelle on a black horse, a picture of her dressed up like a witch for Halloween— an inside joke for her I’m sure— and many more of her as a teenager. At the bottom of the box was a wedding photo album. Aunt Estelle’s long, dark hair looked so pretty against her white princess style dress. She looked so happy in every picture. What I found at the back of the album brought tears to my eyes. It was her husband Reilly’s obituary. He died only five years after they got married. The obituary said that he was found burned to death inside his own home, expect the house never caught fire and there were no signs of anything else being burnt inside the house at all, according to the fire marshal.
 

“Reilly Hartwell was more than my brother, he was my friend, and he was a friend to everyone he met. He really made an impact on this community, and he will be most dearly missed,” ended the obituary, and was quoted by his younger sister, Rebecca Johnson. I wiped a tear away and set down the album. It was sad and unnerving to have died such a painful and mysterious death…

“Time for the next box,” I told myself. This one had boring regular books in it, nothing that sparked any interest in me. The next had hideous 1980’s decorations, and the one after that had old blankets and quilts. I became distracted with a very detailed, handmade dollhouse castle, complete with fancy handmade furniture. The castle was incredibly well decorated and life like. No matter where I looked, I couldn’t find the royal dolls that lived there.

 
I opened another box. I should have known better than to think I’d gotten my share of surprises that day. I unfolded a pair of black leather pants. There was also a very short halter top, a corset with gold buckles on the front, another pair of pants, a vest and a motorcycle jacket-all in black leather. I expected to find a whip and some handcuffs next. I held the pants up. I thought they’d fit. I shook them out several times, took off my jeans and tried them on. They were a little loose on my waist, but other than that, they fit me perfectly. I uncovered an old mirror to check myself out. I laughed, but really I liked them. I have no idea where I’d ever wear them, but these were definitely going home with me.

 
I wanted to put a top on too, and I couldn’t decide between the corset and the midriff showing halter. Deciding the corset required more work, I pulled the halter on. Another box nearby had matching accessories: belts with metal hooks and loops, gloves, and my favorite: fingerless leather gloves with long spikes on the knuckles. I had actually seen gloves like this at the Ren Fair before. They were designed to act like claws, when you made a fist the ‘claws’ pointed forward. I put those on too, even though it made it difficult to go through the rest of the stuff. I went through about five more boxes until I got bored. They contained little figurines of various animals, more regular books and other types of house décor. An old sofa and a few mismatched arm chairs were also stuffed up here. I’d go through the rest of the stuff later…if I ever got to go back.

I walked around the second story taking pictures. I did the same downstairs. I opened the basement door but hesitated. I didn’t like basements like this; unfinished and cold and creepy. “Later,” I said, and shut the door. Not wanting to feel cowardly, I opened it again. I had an idea and ran into the dining room. After strapping a dagger and the leather holder of throwing stars to my belt, I felt confident enough to go down.

 
The wooden stairs creaked with every step I took, and dust clouded up around me feet. There was a single light bulb at the base of the stairs. It was one of those old fashioned ones, with a string to pull to turn it on. There really wasn’t much down here. An old fridge, two tool boxes and a milk crate full of Mason jars was really all I could see.
I bet this is full of mice
, I thought. If I moved here, I’d have to get a cat. Or I could just let Romeo loose, since ferrets do catch mice. Thinking of Romeo made a wave of homesickness crash over me. I pulled the string again and rushed up the dark stairs.

I went into the kitchen and tried to eat as much food as possible because I didn’t want anything to go to waste. At about seven-thirty the doorbell rang. It was dark outside and I hadn’t turned the porch lights on yet. Since none of the windows had curtains, I’m sure whoever was outside definitely knew I was home. Apprehensively, I opened the door. A middle aged couple and two children stood on my porch; the girl looked no older than ten and the boy was maybe thirteen. They also had arrived in an old, beat up truck.

“Hello!” the women said cheerfully. “You must be—” her voice faltered, taking in my bizarre outfit that I forgot I was still wearing. At least the table was cleared off, for the most part. “—old Estelle’s niece.”

“Anora. It’s nice to meet you.” I would have offered a hand to shake but I would have stabbed the nice lady with my claws. I put my hands behind my back and struggled to remove the gloves.

“I’m Donna Campbell, this is my husband Bill and our kids, Stephanie and Max. We live up the road.” She pointed east, a direction I hadn’t yet gone. “We heard talk that someone finally moved in, so we came to welcome you to the community.”

“Thanks so much. Please, come in.”

 
Donna gladly stepped inside. The children followed and I swear Bill rolled his eyes at the back of Donna’s head. Donna was a short, stout woman with dyed blonde hair and thick brown roots showing. She had on jeans and cowboy boots, and her pale pink button up shirt was spotless and wrinkle free. Her husband wasn’t much taller, and he also had on jeans and boots, but his were dirty. He had a red flannel button up unbuttoned over a dirty white T-shirt, complete with oil stains. He looked like a farmer that just came from the fields. The little girl looked like a skinner and younger version of her mom, and the boy looked like her too, but he probably outweighed his mother years ago.

“Oh wow! Just, wow!” Donna said as she walked through the foyer and into the living room. “It’s just as big on the inside as it looks on the outside! Beautiful!”

“Thanks,” I said, watching Donna move around, inspecting the woodwork. Bill and the kids stayed in place by the door. I felt eyes on me and was shocked to see Max staring at me, right at my boobs. I looked down and realized how revealing my top was. I no doubt was more well endowed than my Aunt, and I was wearing a pushup bra, which combined with the tight leather, made me look horribly cleavagey and slutty. I wished I could dash upstairs and grab my T shirt. “So, uh, what do you do?” I asked Bill, wanting to break the silence.

“Farm soybeans and corn,” he said with a nod.

“Oh.”

“All the fields to the east of here are ours.”

“I’ve seen a lot of that. Is that what you normally grow around here?”

“Pretty much.”

“We have cows too!” Stephanie added. “Sometimes I get to help milk. Last year I won with my steer! We got grand champion!”

“Wow! That’s really cool!” I said enthusiastically. “I’ve never shown cattle before, but I have shown horses.”

“I have a pony too. She’s a real brat!”

I laughed and walked into the kitchen after Donna. Something told me that she came to see the house and not welcome me into the ‘community’. My brown, long sleeved zip up hoodie was on the counter. I knew I hadn’t put it there. In fact, I don’t think I even unpacked it. Nevertheless, I put it on and zipped it all the way up. “Excuse the mess,” I said as I looked at the dishes and food I had all over the counters. “I’m trying to eat everything before I leave. I don’t want to waste anything.” I knew I didn’t owe her an explanation, but my annoying nervous habit of babbling struck again. Not that Donna was threatening, but socially, this was awkward.

“You’re not staying?” Donna actually looked at me.

“No, I have to go home. I’m still in high school so I have to, uh, go back to school.”

“Oh, I thought you were older. Not that you look like it, I just imagined since Estelle was so old, her niece would be older.”

“I’m actually her great-niece. She’s my mother’s aunt.”

“Oh. How interesting.”

“So you knew her?”

“Oh, not too well. She kept to herself most of the time. She was real quiet too, but she was there when you needed her. Never knew how she knew when there was trouble, but boy were we glad for her help more than once. She actually looked a lot like you when she was younger, I remember. It seemed she never aged, then suddenly one day she was a weak, old woman.”

We walked through the dining room and back into the foyer. Max looked very disappointed to see the brown hoodie. Donna looked towards the stairs but Bill cleared his throat.

“Well, Anora. It was nice to meet you. Hopefully we will see you again.” Donna’s eyes sparkled with delight.

 
I smiled and said goodbye, and breathed a sigh of relief when I shut and locked the door. I went back into the kitchen and piled up everything I thought could be donated to a food pantry. I had an empty box since I loaded up a suitcase full of books, so I put the food in there and attached a note. I’d have to call Susan in the morning and make sure this all was ok with her. I still wasn’t sure what to tell her about the box of weapons. I didn’t think she’d open it, and I didn’t want her to get in any sort of trouble sending them, since I wasn’t sure about the rules on mailing daggers and crossbows. I grabbed the Book of Shadows and the book about psychic self defense and went up into the master bedroom.

 
I read until eleven o’clock. I was starting to feel tired, so I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I changed into my pajamas, crawled back under the covers and picked up the book again. Some of the pages in the Book of Shadows, which I decided to shorten to BOS, were hard to read because of the messiness of whoever’s handwriting. After finishing a section on auras, my eyes felt strained and my head hurt. I put the book down and got out of bed; my legs stiff from sitting for so long. I buckled the belt around my waist—the dagger and throwing stars were still attached— and walked up the stairs to the turret. It was really, really dark. The moon was just a little sliver of a waning gibbous, perfect for doing spells to rid you of troubles or repel evil. A chorus of crickets chirped loudly across the fields. An owl hooted softly in the distant trees. This place was so peaceful. I closed my eyes and breathed in the still country air. Everything seemed so simple and basic and I loved it.

At midnight I got into bed again. I was wide awake now, so I called Harrison.

“Hello?” he said sleepily.

“Are you asleep?” I asked, shocked.

“I was until you woke me up.”

“Oh, sorry. I thought you’d be out partying.” I knew there was an hour time difference, but still, my brother never is actually at home in bed sleeping at this hour on a Saturday night.

“Why are you still up?” Harrison asked.

“It’s only midnight here and I can’t sleep. It’s kinda creepy,” I said honestly, though he didn’t know the circumstances of the creepiness. “So how come you’re home already?”