A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.
Thankfully, Nathan was out of town for still some time, as he wouldn't want to see the condition of his room. (F/n) had started out putting everything back in its place, but with time that action died down to nonexistence. So, his room was presently a mess.
The sheets on the bed were incredibly disarranged, and the mattress was at an angle. Pillow cases lied on the ground, while the pillows themselves were lying on the bed in a haphazard manner. Drawers were pulled out and various objects littered the floor. Only the antiques were spared mercy from her incessant search for evidence. There wasn't anything in them either, but they were set back nicely in their places.
Nathan already had one of his antiques now at the bottom of a pond, and she presumed that she should treat the rest of them with some respect, with the exemption of the monkey of course. After all she did wish to kick Drem across the room at times. Still, she was tempted to break some of them out of spite for Nathan allowing her to watch over his house with giving her no warning about Drem.
Despite the mess in the room, she had discovered nothing of interest to her. Running her fingers through her (h/c) locks, she huffed out loudly in annoyance. She desired to scream at the top of her lungs in frustration. It didn't help that Drem was watching her quietly, and she felt like he was mocking her secretly. Honestly, it wouldn't shock her if he began to laugh at her predicament. If anything, she expected him to chuckle at least.
Even with her high amounts of exasperation, she figured that she might as well put everything back. She seemingly marched around the room, setting objects back in their places, so that the space would look like it did before she trashed it. (F/n) wondered if Drem were at the minimum smiling. He must be thrilled that she didn't find anything that related to his relationship in the past with Nathan.
Once the room was arranged to its original condition, she rested the palms of her hands on her hips and thought about where to look next. Nathan could've hid something anywhere in the house. There was even the possibility that he buried something in the backyard. She would check there as a last resort, though. Frankly, she didn't desire to start digging up the backyard, as she enjoyed lying on the soft grass. Piles of dirt and holes wouldn't make for a good resting spot.
Maybe, she should check the garage next. That was a logical place to store things of the past, unless one had a tuff shed. Since Nathan didn't own one, the garage was the next best option. It was merely that she didn't want to venture into there. She would be going in there tomorrow, so why rush it?
What if, though, she found something that was vital to what separated the two males? Drem had stated that she would let her search the house, but he hadn't promised not to kill her once she did. Perhaps, she should check the bathroom next then. It would be quick, since there was only the cabinet under the sink and the medical cabinet. Both were uncommon hiding places. In other words they were good candidates for examination.
Eventually, though, she would have to travel into the garage. Probably if she wished to come across something on value, she would have to step into the area and look around it. A sigh escaped her lips, as she headed into the bathroom and crouched down in front of the cabinet below the sink.
To her relief, however, the knives from yesterday were gone, but the candy remained. She picked up a lemon one and popped it into her mouth, throwing the wrapper into the nearby trashcan. (F/n) moved the candy around in her mouth, as she searched. It aided in relieving the stress of trying to discover something.
She desired for something to come out of her efforts of today. The day ending, without her finding anything, would be a cruel result. If it were to be the concluding outcome, she would have to rely on assumptions and what little knowledge she had to come upon the truth of what had happened between Nathan and Drem. Or, she could agree to Drem's deal. That was an option that she didn't wish to consider.
Soon, she was done with the contents under the bathroom sink, and she moved onto the medical cabinet. Nothing of value to her mission revealed itself in either, leaving her to travel to another location. She situated the cleaners, soaps and other bathroom supplies back under the sink as well as the various supplies back into the medical cabinet.
Getting up, she left the space and went to check the living room. She stopped herself, however. It would be wise to inspect every nook and cranny of the house, but she had a feeling that the garage would give her the best result. This was only a gut feeling.
Technically, however, it wasn't entirely. She recalled what she had seen in there when Nathan had given her a tour of the place. Inside the garage was a multitude of boxes. Within any of those could be an answer to her search.
Clenching her hands in nervousness, she switched her direction and headed towards the garage. Soon enough, her right hand rested on the doorknob. Her left hand unlocked the lock, and her right hand turned the knob. She opened the door more but glanced behind her first to see where Drem was.
Unsurprisingly, he was behind her. Glancing forward again, she reached out her left hand and switched on the light. The dark area became illuminated by the dull glow of a single light bulb in a dusty glass covering. She gulped a little before she took her first step in.
Her eyes did their best to not focus on the tool bench, where a variety of potential weapons lay. She did look over to the area, however, as she couldn't resist the temptation to peer over at the tools. Tomorrow, she would have to use those with Drem. The amount of things that could go wrong invaded her mind.
Taking a deep breath, she made her way over to the metal shelves. There were two sets of shelves, and each had three shelves on them. Dusty boxes stood on their surfaces, which gleamed under the pale glow of the light bulb. None of the boxes had labels, meaning that any could hold what she was after.
Starting with the topmost right one, she reached up and took it down. She placed the cardboard cube on the ground and seated herself down soon after. (F/n) simply lifted the flaps off, since they weren't taped, and peered inside. To her dismay it was only old Halloween decorations. Still, she took all of the items out to examine if any had something secret hidden within.
Before she continued, however, she gazed over to the doorway. Drem was standing near it, until he began to come over to her. Within a few short moments, he was a few feet from her. Would he try to snatch something should she find a clue? She hoped not because she didn't desire to try and get it back. On top of this, she wanted to be done in this section as soon as she was able.
Only having the poor lighting in the garage didn't add anything positive to the atmosphere. Well, from Drem's perspective maybe it did. From hers, it only contributed to the present terror, which tickled her veins. If she didn't keep a close eye on Drem, he could easily disguise himself in the shadows of the area.
Trying to keep her negative thoughts away, she focused back on the Halloween items in front of her. There weren't too many inside the box. Most of the decorations were strings of orange jack-o-lantern lights. Occasionally, she would come across a fake spider or bat hanging decoration.
Reaching the bottom of the cardboard cube, she did note something odd. Granted, there was nothing there when at first glance, but something didn't seem right. She lifted the box into the air and peered at the bottom. Her right fingers moved from their position, as her left hand supported the item in the air.
Tapping against the object, it made the normal sound that cardboard would make when something hit it lightly, yet she knew that there was a peculiar aspect to this particular box. She set it back down on the cement flooring of the garage and furrowed her eyebrows. A few seconds passed before she reached her right hand into the box.
(F/n) kept her fingers pressed against the bottom, as she looked over the outside of the cardboard cube again. She glanced between the inside and outside. Strangely enough, her fingers were higher than the outside bottom of the box. A small smirk touched her lips, as her eyes gleamed. To her joy she had discovered something.
Now, her attention was solely on the cube. Putting both of her hands into the box, her fingers tugged on the sides of the bottom's base. The cardboard there began to lift up but wouldn't come up fully. She presumed that the false bottom was glued to the real base. Well, she would just have to tug on it harder.
Several minutes were eliminated in time before she managed to rip the fake base off. Once it was off, she tossed it aside. Her eyes eagerly feasted upon the true bottom of the box. Lips upturning into a wide grin of victory, she found a picture. With no hesitation her hands grasped onto the picture's edges, and she brought it closer to her eyes. Two boys, one in an explorer costume and one in a fortune teller costume, were in the picture. Both were sitting at a table and were eating French toast sticks with strawberry syrup, whipped cream and dark chocolate chips on top. At last, she had found something