After the past few days of best friend being murdered and almost being blown up on a boat, Collin was done with surprises for a while. "I think that someone is having a really bad week if all of this happened in a few days." Collin joked, only he half joking, what if this was all connected? What if someone was hunting him and was willing to hurt other people to get to him? That thought made Collin shiver.
Collin had never seen the new house in person but from pictures it looks very nice and much more expensive than his family could afford. "How did we get the house mom, it looks expensive." Collin's mom looked back. It was hard to talk over Wilbur in the back with Collin meowing whenever they drove. "Well no one wanted it so the price kept lowering until we bought it for a quarter of the price." His mom said seeming more enthusiastic than she had in days. "Why wouldn't anyone want the house?" Collin asked. "It looks great." Wilbur began to meow louder. "Meow," the cat said as if he were in a conversation with the others. Collin petted his feline friend to quiet him down, it didn't usually work but Collin still tried. "Where is this house anyway?" Collin asked. "It should be just down this road, unless it magically disappeared somewhere else." His father said with a smile. "After what's happening lately I wouldn't be surprised." Collin said feeling slightly more reassured by his dads jokes.
Finally they did get to the house and Collin realized why no one bought it at the original price, it was pretty creepy to look at. Collin wasn't sure how long ago the last owners moved out but he could se why. It was a two story tall brick building attached to other nearby house mad the same way, except that the other houses seemed a lot more life giving and happy and all had lights on where as this house was cold and empty seeming. "Now I know why no one wanted it." Collin muttered. He had to admit that the house looked cool but it also looked light someone died in there, and after the things he has been through that wasn't a very good thing.
Collin walked up to the front door, the steps were made out of stone, and the railing was just rust now, though, when it had been a new house it was probably some fancy polished steel or something along those lines. "Nice door," his dad said trying to seem positive, although even he was a little nervous to open the door and go into the house. "Yeah probably some rich oak or something," his mother added. Collin took a deep breath in and pushed on the door, expecting to find a body, he braced himself. "Wow, not what I was expecting." Collin exclaimed. The house seemed very clean and prepared for them. It looked like one of those rich people houses in the movies. "I'm going to go check out my room." Collin said in awe. He decided to sleep in the room on the first floor. This was definitely going to be different than Staten Island!
Collin made his way down many winding corridors, finding a bathroom, a kitchen, a living room, an office and another bathroom.
Within a few minutes of searching, Collin found a bedroom and claimed it as his. His room was spacious and already had dressers and a nice closet and there was a bed and a desk and chair. This room made Collin feel happier than he had been in days. Perhaps this was the part of him that he had felt was missing, or maybe something it was something else, but it didn't matter since Alex was gone. And suddenly, Collin's happiness slowly faded away.
Collin spent the next hour and a half putting his room together and unpacking. By the time he was done it was six thirty in the evening and he hadn't eaten anything but breakfast and those French fries that day. He wondered into the living room where his parents were sitting watching the news. "Hey dad, can I order some dinner?" He suggested. "Yeah sure, how about Chinese?" His dad said smiling. "I'll get the phone book." Collin said. They didn't know anything about Manhattan, so anything that they needed would probably require help, from a phone book or a neighbour. Collin called the Chinese restaurant and ordered some food. It only took four minutes for them to get the food to the house, maybe the food was already prepared. It didn't really matter.
Collin and his parents ate their dinner in peace, they talked about things like where they should go see around the mainland of NYC, most suggestions were around the same idea, Central Park, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, they were all just land marks. Afterward, Collin headed to bed.
Collin lay down in his bed for a while, he couldn't sleep, he just stayed in the dark with his thoughts. They were mostly about Alex and the ferry and the man on the stairs. Suddenly after twenty minutes of silence Collin heard a loud shrieking noise. He got up and flipped on the light switch, no one was there. Collin had been imagining things lately but he knew this was real. He snuck down the hall and found that his parents were watching a horror movie in the living room. In relief, Collin returned to his bed.
After another ten minutes Collin heard another noise, only this one was whispering. Collin couldn't make out what the words were so maybe it was his parents and their movie again. Collin had to be sure. He went back to the living room to find that his parents had fallen asleep and that the movie was over and the tv was off. Collin had sworn to have heard whispering, what was it though, maybe it had all been in his head. He knew something was wrong with this house, no matter how nice it was, but Collin didn't want to think about that while it was dark out, that's when his friend was murdered. Collin would look around tomorrow and find out where the whispering came from. It seemed as though that man on the stairs was right, Collin might be in grave danger!