fluctuated [l.h]

one

one

Dust lay over every surface like dirty snow, pristine dust layer, not a foot print anywhere, dust bunnies the size of bowling balls tumbled across the floor boards toward unseen skittles, free papers piled up to the letter box and cascaded all the way to the foot of the rough wooden stairs, old tea cups lay on a coffee table thickly encrusted with dried up mould, dust covered mirrors, smell of mildew, stale air, air thick with dust, shafts of light bursting through gaps in the boarded up window but she loved it. She loved every single bit it.

That was the weird thing about Lara Elson, everything else that everyone hated, she loved. She loved the ancient history of the Egyptians, the facts of different mountains and she especially loved abandoned houses. This house was special, this house wasn't just abandoned, it was lived by. Although it smelt like mould and growing fungi, there was still life here and she couldn't stop herself from taking pictures, sure she knew no one around here but that's why she had her journal to write in, to keep herself company, to keep her pictures company whilst she discovered more inches of the houses.

The roof now sagged in the middle and were it not for a hole that let the pooled water escape, it would have caved in long ago. The paint that had been white was not so peeled off that it looked out of place amid the dark of rotting wood. The windows were boarded up by the family who thought they would return one day. It was a fine house in it's day, but for most of it's life it had only sheltered insects and the occasional bird.

If it wasn't for the sound of footsteps behind her, Lara would've continued venturing in what she called her sacred place but the footsteps were rushed and that made her rush as well. She scrambled with her camera and notebooks together, panicking as the footsteps got louder as her own actions became quicker, standing up on her feet and trying to rush out the backdoor, but that didn't excel as she walked straight into the person with the footsteps, she managed to drop one of her notebooks as the other fell only to be caught by a hand. Lara looked up, eyes staring intently into blue eyes as his was staring into the same colour.

Something in her just thought it was absolutely necessary to let out a shriek, which she did and watched as he shut his eyes and crinkled his nose, tilting his head to one side of his shoulder as if to drown out her tone.

"Jesus, calm down!" he gibed, his voice quite deep and unexpected.

"I'm so--sorry," Lara mumbled, darting her own eyes away from his for a split second before looking up again, hands trembling from being so nervous.

"Are you from here?" he asked, almost to himself, his gaze was anywhere but to her, he passed her notebook back that he had caught and she was thankful for because her notebook was scrambled with ripped off papers and scribbles.

"Um no," she answered quickly, wanting nothing more but to go home. She looked at him once more before pushing past him and leaving. It wasn't that she was the awkward teenager that everyone expected her to be or thought that she was, it was simple, she didn't know what to say to him, maybe it was his sparkling blue eyes that led her to become a little mesmerised by him for a few seconds.

x x x

Parking her rusty old bicycle that her father had given her outside the house where the bushes covered half the walls, Lara took a deep breath before slipping her shoes off but leaving her socks on and entered the house. "Lara, darling, where have you been?" Lance, her father, asked the moment she closed the front door, she only shrugged as a response, hearing him sigh loudly from the living room. "You can't keep disappearing anytime you want, it's not safe."