The House

Chapter 38 - Day 4: Disconnection Experiment

"I do believe in memories and lingering energy causing atmospheres in places, and I also think that those memories can be stirred up by people who connect with it. Sometimes it might even be really strong."

He stares at me for so long that I'm starting to think he is never going to finish his thought, or perhaps he is waiting for me to finish it, but I have no idea what his thoughts are. I don't even know what mine are.

"I love this place, Belle. When I come here, I connect to the memories of the happy generations that lived here before things went South, and I want to bring that back. This place speaks to my desire for a family, a happy home, and a thriving farm. That dream last night... or this morning, tapped right into that. I've never experienced love like that, and I've always wanted it."

He pauses, raking his fingers through his hair, turning his head to run his eyes over the horizon. The sun is glistening on the wet leaves of the tree where David is standing, picking out bright diamonds around his head. I've never seen someone shine the way he does.

"Perhaps, you have that same longing?" he says gently, looking at me again, and I'm knocked breathless by the force of his eyes. "You said your father died when you were young, and your cousin and aunt moved in when their family got ripped apart by divorce. Your uncle married again, and though he has a decent relationship with your cousin, there's no room for him in his new family, and he preferred to stay with you and your mom when his mother got married again and moved out. While you were telling me all of that, I heard the same longing in your voice.

"You told me about your last boyfriend, who is an idiot, by the way, because being with someone who likes to party hard and constantly will grow old really soon, and then he'll realise that he'd let the real treasure slip through his fingers."

I smile at his kind words. Hank told me that I was boring and he needed the excitement the earing girl provided in baskets full. He probably meant beer cases full. I gaze into David's eyes, and I cannot imagine ever loving Hank. It all seems so shallow and far away.

When I was getting dressed, I saw that my phone finally had some bars of signal. There were a million messages and missed calls from Craig. The last one said that he was in the town of Misty Falls, the nearest town and that he is trying to organise a boat to come and get me, but he was not having any luck. 

There are too many small villages where people are trapped on their rooftops and people who are searching for missing family members. He hasn't yet been able to find someone who can help him get to me. According to everyone he spoke to, I'm not in immediate danger. He was also told that the river needs to calm down before it will be safe to cross anyway. Nobody is willing to risk it.

I called him right away, and after listening to him blowing off steam about how worried he was, I assured him that I am fine. I did not tell him about the weird things happening in this house or about making out in my sleep with a man I barely know. I didn't tell him about David at all because he might decide to swim that raging river if he knows that I'm trapped here with a stranger.

I assured him of my safety and my ability to sustain myself for the month I'd rented the place. I brought enough food to feed an army, and it should last even though there are two mouths to feed now. For some reason, I'm no longer afraid. I probably will be again, but right now, the sun is shining, and I'm floating on some weird love cloud... or at least, I was. David's theory is bringing me down fast, making me realise that none of what I'm feeling is real.

So, the quickening of my heartbeat and the longing to stroke his hair out of his eyes are all just caused by my loneliness tapping into the happy memories in this house. The memory in the dream was not happy, though... and it didn't feel like a memory.