What Lies Beneath

Chapter Fourteen: Conversations

The taxi driver who took Karen to the strange house was also the same taxi driver who dropped Sophie off two days later. He hadn't wanted to return to the property, but it was his job to take people where they wanted to go.

All throughout the drive he found himself looking into the mirror that investigated the backseat of his cab. The girl couldn't have been more than fifteen years old. She had her long blonde hair up in two braids and she was wearing what looked like a prep school uniform. He couldn't help but wonder why a girl like her would want to go to a seemingly haunted property in the middle of an abandoned town.

When she first climbed in the back of his cab, he felt a familiar kinship to her, even though they had never met. Still, there was something about her that seemed to resonate with him. The need to ask her name was so compelling, but the nerves inside battled it with extreme vigor.

The girl that he had taken to the house a couple of days before was at least eighteen and looked like she could handle herself pretty well, but the girl in his cab now looked like she could barely break a toothpick. Perhaps the other girl would look after this one, that is if nothing happened to her since he dropped her off.

He slowed the cab to a stop in front of the house.

"Here we are." He was going to say something else but was instead met with a fist full of cash for the fare. He took the crumple mess of green bills and shoved them into his pocket.

Normally he would count it to see if he got short changed or something, but this time he didn't care. If it was short, then he would just cover it with some of his own money. He wasn't really worried about it anyway. He was more concerned with the girl.

He heard the door close while he was shoving the cash into his pocket. He had only taken his eyes off her for a few seconds, but it was enough time for her to climb out of the cab. His hand was on the handle of his door before he realized what he was doing.

Instead of rolling his window down like he had done for Karen, this time he got out of the cab. He had regretted his decision of leaving the other girl alone last time. This time he was hesitantly ready to walk the girl all the way up to the front door.

The girl was practically to the front door by the time he had willed his feet to move. It wasn't as easy as he had thought it would be. The driveway was made of gravel, which shifted under his large feet as he ran to catch up with her. When he reached the front steps, he slowed to make sure that the steps weren't rotted through.

He could hear the bell chiming in the house when he reached the top step. He supposed it was pointless to get out of the cab, but he needed to make sure that she would be alright.

He didn't know why he felt so protective of this girl, but he was determined to make sure that nothing bad would happen to her. Little did he know that the worst was yet to come.

He stood on the porch next to the girl who hadn't given him any notice since she first got into his cab and gave him the address of the house. He wanted to say something, but no words would come out, not that they would have mattered anyway.

Ever since Sophie had arrived on the property she had been entranced by the sight of the house. She hadn't even noticed that the taxi driver had followed her up to the front door.

Like Karen, Sophie felt like she was being drawn in. When she first saw it in the distance it was like she was a part of it. The only way to really describe it is by thinking of the house as a living breathing thing. Now imagine that you can hear its heart beating synchronously along with your own. That's what it was like for Sophie.

She had been unaware of any of her actions since she had first seen the house. She knew where she was, but she had no control over her body. It was like she was dreaming or simply a witness trapped in someone else's body forced to watch as it pushed on.

Sophie knew that something was wrong, but she couldn't form the words to say anything.

When the door opened, she found a beautiful elderly woman surrounded by dim light that was emanating from the house. She was a couple of inches shorter than the woman, but that was normal. Sophie had always been on the shorter side, after all she was only five foot three.

She watched the woman's mouth move as she spoke to the taxi driver who was standing next to her. The man nodded along and smiled. When the conversation was over, he turned and walked away, but not before glancing at Sophie one last time.

She watched as he climbed back into his cab and drove way. When he turned the corner and she could no longer see his brake lights in the distance, she was suddenly enveloped in sound. Everything that she was unable to hear only moments before was suddenly clear.

The woman who had answered the door seemed nice enough, though the taxi driver still couldn't shake the bad feeling in his stomach.

He had wanted to stay and make sure that she got settled in okay, he had even asked how the other girl was, but all he got was what felt like a run around answer. The woman had a nice demeanor as she smiled and told him that the girl would be fine and that the one, he had dropped off only two days before, was alright.

She told him that visitors weren't allowed while they were getting settled in and even then, it was restricted to family members only.

It seemed strange to him that parents would let their children travel alone to a place like this. No, things definitely were not on the up and up as his friend Bobby would say. He needed to get some answers, though he didn't know where he was going to get them just yet. Perhaps he should start at the library. It was probably best to get all the facts about the house before he did anything stupid.