The Art of being Strangers

xiii.

I stood nervously in front of Marigold's house, waiting for her to answer the doorbell that I rang a few seconds ago. Basil was on my right, giving me an encouraging smile.

I don't know why, but I was pretty nervous. Perhaps it's because I never really went to other people's houses, only relatives. But that also happened pretty rarely because I wasn't close to any of my cousins. Or maybe it's the fact that I didn't only come here for the school project—I came here mainly to find any new clues leading to Basil's murder. That was probably the reason for my nervousness.

"Creek! You arrived early!" squealed Mari happily.

I looked down to her feet, seeing a ball of white, black, and orange fur curl against her red socks. Marigold's glance shifted to her feet too, and she grinned when she saw what lay on her foot.

I expected to see Ansel beside her, greeting me. But when I realized he wasn't anywhere to be seen, I greeted her too. "I did. I hope it doesn't bother you, though."

"Nonsense, of course, it doesn't! I was actually hoping for you or Ansel to arrive already. I was getting pretty bored."

"Ansel's not here yet?" I say as if I hadn't observed that earlier.

"Nope. He said he had some business and that he'd probably be late. It doesn't affect us though. He's shit at art for all I know," she chuckled.

Mari bent down, grabbing the little bar of fur. Only then did I finally realize it was a cat. A kitten, more exactly. The kitten was now laying in her arms, not even bothering to look at me. She then invited me inside her home.

Marigold's house was way bigger than mine. Hers was also more decorated. There was a huge living room on the right. A big tv was hung on the wall along with picture frames. I squinted, trying to look at them. The wall was pretty far away though, so I couldn't see the pictures. I tried to hold my laughter as I saw Basil just going through all the rooms and saying random compliments only I could hear.

"Her whole living room is twice as big as my old room," I heard Basil say from some room. I had to agree with him on that. My room was also pretty small.

I couldn't reply so I just followed Marigold as she showed me some plants from the hallway. The hallway flowed into a large, wide staircase. We started climbing the stairs, the kitten still in Marigold's arms. I looked behind me expecting to see Basil, but he wasn't on the stairs nor in the main hall. I didn't want to risk whispering his name, so I just hoped he'd figure out we were upstairs.

The second floor was just as big as the first. Marigold showed me the upstairs living room which looked even cozier than the one downstairs. She told me that the door on the right of the living room was leading to her parent's room. I figured her parents weren't home.

"Alright, and now it's time for you to see my bedroom!" she said excitedly. I nodded as she opened the wood door.

Marigold left the kitten on the ground, and it started wandering around the room.

I found myself in a large room. The floors were made of colored tiles arranged in jagged patterns. There was a gray rug in the middle of the floor. The walls were black and covered in band-related posters. A red bass sat in the left corner of the room. Her bed was unmade, and she had plenty of pillows on the black mattress. Beside the bed was a desk made of dark wood, and it was covered in papers. There were several bean bag chairs and a huge flat-screen television. I could see a dozen of different game consoles and video games scattered around, and a glass coffee table covered in snacks and drinks she probably prepared for me and Ansel. Of course, the snacks were mainly different flavored chips. I smiled.