Miss Angelina [✔]

[14] Susurrous

Blood.

That is the immediate smell that hits me when I walk through the front door. It was faint and distant, but I could recognise it quickly. I had long been accustomed to it, but if both Luke and Cleo were out, there was a lack of reason for such a strong smell of it. That alone terrified me. I close the door behind me sharply and look around. There were men's clothing scattered on the floor; the trail began steps away from the front door and continued all the way up the stairway. As my eyes trail these items of clothing, I notice dripping from the top step.

I bite my lip and make my way to the bottom of the staircase. There was a body lying there, at the top of the staircase, I could see it - barely, but it was there. A pale hand was hanging off the top step, and I could see that he was wearing both an expensive suit, and an expensive watch. Both of which could only mean bad things. The average person is easy to overlook; one with money is far harder to kill and hide.

"Diana?" I had felt like screaming towards the kitchen, but this isn't what came out, it was more a barely calm gasp of a shout. I turn my head and look towards the door. She emerges after a few moments with a wine glass in hand and a perplexed facial expression. "Explanation?" I say as she looks at me; I tilt my head towards the top of the staircase, and she looks in that general direction, but from her angle fails to see the problem.

"For?" She murmurs, taking small steps towards me while downing the glass of red she was clinging on to as though she depended on it. She steps up onto the staircase and looks up. I hear her choke slightly on the liquid as she notices what I'd seen moments before. "Angelina..." She starts but stammers soon after. She begins to walk up the stairs but then meets me back on my step, shaking her head. As she turned to walk down, I noticed she was holding her breath - which only meant some form of smell was getting worse.

"Where is Florence?" I mutter quietly as she reaches the step I had been standing on. She shrugs her shoulders, rolling her head.

"I've not seen her, I waited for her to come home after you had left once again, but she didn't - not in time for me to notice at least." She declares, kneeling and placing her glass on the steps. "I need to sleep, I'm too tired to deal with this at the moment, I'll attempt to clean in the morning, and what I can't clean I'll have to replace." With this, she leaves me standing on the bottom step, staring ahead into the fabric of the rug. It was only lucky for her that her room was on the bottom floor instead of up these stairs. I couldn't persuade myself to take further steps up to fall to my knees on the staircase, looking up to the blood drip as I lean on my hand.

"You're home then?" I hear called from upstairs several minutes later; it pulls me out of the daydream I had faded into as I lost concentration of the steady pattern of blood. Florence, she was barely dressed, her hair was a mess and her makeup smudged. Her body was covered in red - if I hadn't known better, I'd be concerned she was wounded.

"Florence," I hissed. "What have you done?" I frown against my hand, before pulling myself to my feet.

"I took out some aggression." She declares, moving her hand to showcase the dead body on top of the stairs. She had walked around his body shape. He must have been a rather large man; I wasn't sure if I was meant to be impressed that she had taken on a man of larger size and won the fight, without a scratch it had appeared.

"You can't just bring a guy here and kill him on the landing, Florence," I say bluntly. I'd never killed so openly in my own house since I had murdered my fiancé. Murder - I'd never called it that previously, it had been named revenge once or twice, punishment several. I'd never fully declared it as an act against the law - that being said, he was still noted as a missing person - no body no crime as they had said. I'd been sure to get rid of that rather quickly, given how inexperienced I was I did a perfect job of it.