Capítulo 22: Act 4, Chapter 2
After you parked your car in the driveway, you stayed in it for a while.
The box of your great-uncle's belongings sat next to you in the passenger seat and for a moment you stared at it.
Was there really nothing you could do about Chrollo?
Was he really so strong that you couldn't get him out of the house the way you brought him in?
It was kind of like a rule of thumb, how many times you'd seen and heard that in horror movies that a ghost was scared away as it was fetched.
So why didn't this work now?
Not that you believed everything that happened in movies was true, but if you could have made one chliché come true, that would have been the one.
With a sigh you opened the car door, went to the passenger side and picked up the box, which you then went into the house with.
You force yourself not to look up at the bedroom window, you knew it was open anyway but not looking made it all a little more unreal.
Without wasting any time, you went up the stairs to the second floor.
A few steps of old wood creaked loudly under your feet and you found your senses heightened.
After the first day in the house you had already tuned out the creaking and squeaking wood but now you heard it again and it was as deafening as the first time.
You made a grimace but continued up the stairs.
The chest that was still in the way stuck like a needle in your head and you stepped over it.
You wouldn't be able to get the chest up alone, and you wouldn't have gotten it down alone either.
But at least you wanted to bring up your great uncle's box and if you really decided to go to the funeral in a few days you could haul it up and down again and give it to those who really cared for him.
But if you didn't go and bring it up now, it would still be in the way somewhere in a week, a month, even a year and rot, you really didn't want that.
The stairs were still down, so you just grabbed the box a little more securely with one arm and used the other to support yourself up the stairs for balance.
But suddenly you noticed.
It was dark in the attic, much too dark.
You had removed the cardboard in front of the window, you were up there even yesterday and had seen for yourself how even at dusk not enough light flooded the room.
Now it was broad daylight, the room shouldn't be as pitch black as it was right now.
With sudden caution you went up another step, just peering into the attic with your eyes.
Judging by the shapes you could make out in the dark after your eyes got used to it, the boxes that used to be lying around had been systematically piled up in front of the window.
The boxes now blocked the window perfectly, hardly a ray of light was able to fight through them.
You didn't have to think twice to know what had happened.
Last night, while you laid unconscious on the floor and slept there, Chrollo had prepared the attic in the dark.
And you certainly wouldn't go up, Abir had said herself that only light could protect you now.
Just as you were about to take the first step down, you felt a cold breath on the back of your neck and the sensation as if someone's rubbing ice cubes across your cheek.
You yelped and hurried down the attic stairs as quickly and safely as you could.
Looking up, in the dim light of the second floor, you could see the lightbulb swaying but nothing else.
A few minutes later you were back on your bedroom footstool, pushing the stairs and then the attic door up and shut.
This time you could measure the momentum you needed a lot better and could step down from the stool unharmed.
Not being able to store your great-uncle's belongings in the attic, for obvious reasons, sealed your going to the funeral.
If you said that you would like someone who knew him better than you to take care of your last possession, someone would be willing to take care of that problem for you if you were lucky.
You had already informed your parents that your great-uncle had passed away.
On the phone they expressed their condolences and informed you what time they would be arriving tomorrow.
Your parents' visit had been planned since you moved in almost a week ago and canceling them without having to lie to them or tell them the truth was impossible.
However, neither was an option, as they would come down to them learning the truth one way or the other.
You were still their child after all and if you were being honest, not good at lying.
You put the footstool back in the bedroom along with the box.
You didn't know exactly what to do with the chest, but something inside you told you not to get rid of it.
It must have taken you close to 10 minutes to shove the box from one end of the hallway to the other end to stow it in the closet.
There you would no longer be able to stumble over it and you would only rarely encounter the chest with its contents.
But now you have to take a shower.
You had to shower away the fear, the dirt and sweat that had accumulated over the past few days, the insecurity that had wrapped itself around your body like a second layer of skin.
When you stepped out of the bathroom into your bedroom with just a towel wrapped around you, a cold wind blew past your skin and you automatically pressed the towel a little tighter around your body.
When you saw the open window you didn't think much of it at first, by now you were used to Chrollo opening it again and again for some reason.
It wasn't until you stood in front of your closet and your hand reached for the notch in the door that it hit you like a train.
It was still light outside, it was only early afternoon, and when you went in and changed this morning it was closed.
So how could he open it?
But the goosebumps on your body quickly subsided.
Maybe there were still those points Abir was telling you about that Chrollo was just better at manipulating than others in the house.
After all, he had always opened the window ever since you arrived the first time.
'Yes, it must be. I'm still safe..' you said to yourself and, looking away from the closet, you yanked open the closet's door, not noticing the shadow that quickly disappeared from inside of it as a result.
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