The House

Chapter 31 - Day 3: Touch the Sky

Yes, there's something wrong with me!

"Oh, I didn't know that your grandmother is an artist!"

"She was," David mutters. "She passed away last year."

"I'm so sorry..." What do I say to that? I could hear the sadness in his voice. "I agree that solarium is perfect for working. I've already made one pretty good painting... Well, I was asleep at the time, but still..."

"You said earlier that you've been sleepwalking. Does that happen often?"

"Not that I'm aware of... and I've certainly never painted in my sleep before."

"Belle," he says in a low voice. "I've been thinking about it, and I do remember my grandfather saying that when he lived here after his marriage, they had to move into town because my father got terrible nightmares and sleepwalked a lot as a child. He was apparently always complaining about a woman wanting to take him away, saying he was her child."

Oh, wow! That is not creeping me out at all!

"That's... uhm..." I swallow, unsure of what to think now, struggling to process this new information. I appreciate his honesty, but...

I can hear the water draining from the tub.

"Oh, crap!" David exclaims, and that is definitely not something I was hoping to hear. I'm immediately on alert and almost pop my head into the bathroom. Fortunately, I'm not in the right position to do that very easily and am still struggling to my knees when David explains. "I didn't pack a towel. Belle, could I borrow yours, please?"

"Sure," I say, getting to my feet and then it hits me that my towel is in one of the bathrooms upstairs. I glance at the stairs leading into the dark unknown. "Really! You tell me that scary story, and then you send me up the stairs to go get my towel..."

I swallow nervously, taking one tentative step and then another.

"Oh, right, sorry, I wasn't thinking," David says, suddenly looking at me from around the door, causing me to jump at his unexpected appearance. "It's okay; I'll see what I can do with what I've got."

Is he going to towel himself dry with his dry clothes or his dirty, wet ones?

"No!" I say, taking a stand... after bending over to grab one of his shoes. He's done so much to help me; it's my turn now. "I'm getting my towel, and I'm taking this weapon."

"It's okay..."

"No!" I say again, holding up the shoe. "I'm ready!"

David is grinning at me, and that grin is making my heart gallop, and a song rise in my throat.

"I'm gonna sing all the way there and back," I inform him... or warn him... I'm not the best singer. "If I stop singing, you come rescue me."

"Okay," he says, and the fact that he is more amused than worried is making me feel a lot more courageous.

"Right!" I say and defiantly turn towards the stairs. "When the cold wind is a-calling, and the sky is clear and bright, yada, yada and sis boom bah! I will riiiiiide, I will fly! Chase the wind and touch the skyyyyy! I will flyyyy. Chase the wind and touch the skyyyyyy!."

I'm running up the stairs, halfway to the landing, and I can still hear David laughing at the bathroom door. I look down to see him looking up at me, his head and one muscled shoulder visible, the door hiding the rest of him. With that attitude, I'll sit here on the steps and watch him till he's dry. Maybe he'll get bored and show me his other shoulder too.

I'm not that cruel, and he'll start to feel cold again really soon hanging around wet and naked, so, after giving him a withering look, I continue my flight and my song, completely mangling the lyrics and tune of the song from the movie Brave, but what can I do? It's the only courageous song I almost know.

I'm not feeling even remotely brave when I leave the stairs and hesitantly cross the landing to the furthest bathroom from the stairs. Well, yes, when I chose that one as my main bathroom, I was thinking of its proximity to my bedroom; I didn't know that one day I'd be spooked and freaked out, worried about an intruder while singing my heart out on a quest for a friggin' towel!

My song ends in an ear-piercing shriek when I open the bathroom door, and the nautical clock joins in, belching a string of dings and dongs violent enough to make me stagger and my ears scream in pain. I've never been this close to it when it rang before. I can imagine a solid wall of sound fighting against my entry into the bathroom.

I have a mission, and debilitating sound is not going to prevent me from completing my mission. I am Princess Merida of DunBroch, the brave and rebellious archer! I don't have red hair, a horse or a bow and arrows, but I have her song and everything, dammit! Well, most of it...

Breaking through the sound barrier, I charge into the bathroom and grab my towel hanging on the rail near the door. Right now, I'm more afraid of losing my eardrums than being attacked by a stalker... at least, I think I am.

"Belle!" I hear David's voice above the rampant clock noises and am surprised to hear him that clearly until I leave the bathroom and almost run into him. I jump back with a startled yell, and then my eyes nearly fall from my head.

He has a long-sleeved grey t-shirt tied around his waist like an apron, and the rest of him is clad in supple muscles and sun-kissed skin. My initial shock gives way to incredible joy, and I know I'm now grinning like a pervert. I can't help myself, so I do the most logical thing I can think of, I drape the towel over my head.

"Uhm... I think you meant to do this!" I hear David laugh as the noise starts to fade away and then the towel is no longer on my head but in the process of being tied around his waist. He drags the shirt free and depresses me by pulling it over his head, making all those lovely muscles disappear, and wet blotches appear on the grey material as it soaks the water from his skin. "Thanks," he says, his smile changing into a frown when mine disappear and my eyes grow in size.

"Please tell me that is your ringtone," I beg as the bongs and dongs and dings dissolve, and the only sound remaining is the tinny notes of a haunting melody I've never heard before. David shakes his head slowly, and I grab his arm when he turns to look down the length of the dark corridor leading to the study.

He starts to move in that direction, as curious as I am to know where the music is coming from, and so many uncomfortable and frightening scenarios crowd for dominance in my thoughts.

The sound seems to be coming from the room across from the library, the one with the furniture ghosts.

"David, this would be so much better if you weren't wearing something you could lose any second."

He turns his head to look at me, a teasing grin touching his lips. Seriously, doesn't anything faze this guy? I'm nearly making a puddle on the threadbare carpet with anxiety, and he is grinning at me.

"I thought artists liked naked people."

"Only when we're going to draw them," I say with a shrug. "I'll draw you later; for now, I think pants will be best and a better weapon than this." I hand him his shoe, and after standing in the dark hallway, looking at the closed door for a few more seconds, David shrugs.

"The music stopped anyway," he says, putting an arm around my shoulders and steering me to the staircase. "Okay, I'll get dressed and dry my hair first."

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