Hide and Seek

Chapter 7: I Decided to Explore

I never got over that nightmare. I tried to tell Mrs. Harmon about it, but she proclaimed that I still wasn't over my parent's death. Like that made any sense.

As the weeks passed by, Caleb and Mr. Harmon got close. Really close. While Caleb, Mrs. Harmon, and I just became more distant from each other. Mr. Harmon never actually associated with me except for a "Hey!" and "How are you?" every now and then. I think Mrs. Harmon was just annoyed with me at this point. Caleb on the other hand, I didn't get why he didn't talk to me anymore. He didn't say hi or bye. He talked to the Harmons as if they were his best friends.

I didn't worry too much about them. Mrs. Harmon did buy me a phone and a laptop two days ago. She even got Abby's number for me. This made me feel less lonely. Abby and I texted time to time, but she never responded fast enough. Our conversations were dull and never fun. Everyone seemed happier without me, and I was just left alone to my miserable self.

***

Two months with the Harmon's now and things have just been the same routines for me, although Mrs. and Mr. Harmon have often been arguing. Why? No clue.

I've been super bored, and besides Abby, I've no one to talk to. When I'm outside, I often try to locate the abandoned house that was out in the distance back when Caleb and I first arrived. Whenever I saw it, I thought about going over there. It looked kind of cool.

I was in the garden when I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and to my surprise, I saw Rosemary. She started watering some plants.

"How are you, dear?" she asked without looking at me.

I stood up and told her I was fine then tried to sneak back towards the house. I was going to tell Mrs. Harmon she was here but I changed my mind. I wanted to ask her some things. I walked back toward her.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked.

She watered more plants and said sure.

"Do you know why that house down there is abandoned?" I asked.

"I'm surprised they didn't tell you," she said. "That's Mr. Harmon's first house. He lived there since he was a kid."

"Really?" I said, "It looks awful now."

"Well, there was an accident. His parents died there. They were murdered, to be exact," she said, paying attention to me now.

"How?" I asked.

"I don't know. No one really knows how" she said. "But Mr. Harmon wasn't killed."

There was a moment of silence between us. "When you worked here, did anything ever strike you as odd?" I asked her.

"Worked, huh?" she asked with a chuckled. "I guess they told you they've fired me?"

I scratched the back of my head while giving her a fake smiled. "Yeah."

"Yes, he did," she said.

"Oh," I said.

"Things aren't always what they seem around here, Emily." she faced me. "I hope you're smart enough to see the good from the bad and the good from the evil."

Her statement shocked me and to be honest, frightened me as well. "What do you mean? Should I be worried?" I asked.

Mr. Harmon walked outside. I began walking away from Rosemary before I got into trouble for talking to her.

She didn't reply to my question. She only glared at me. "You don't have much time," she said getting up and walking away. "Get away. Far away and never look back!"

I stood there, looking at her as she left. Even though Mr. Harmon was looking in my direction, he didn't say anything. It was like he didn't even see Rose walking away. He stopped walking, stared at me with his hands on his hips, then walked back inside.

***

I stayed outside in the garden for the longest time. I just couldn't quite get over what Rose had said. What did she mean? Not much time for what? Being here was starting to creep me out.  I didn't want to be here anymore. I wanted the cop car to just pick us up and tell us that our grandmother wanted us. But I knew that wouldn't happen.

Being in the garden was making me feel uneasy. That was when I decided to explore, but not around here, around Mr. Harmon's old house. I was pretty sure he wouldn't care. No one lived around them, so I had nothing to worry about.

Little did I know, I was walking right into trouble. Trouble way beyond my imagination.