Beach House

“KFC safe,” Lee said.

“Cool, I was thinking about a Sub, but Subway is a little distance off, I would also choose KFC. What about you Mr. Bernard?”

“Same here,” Michael said.

“Anything in particular?”

“The Zinger sandwich with the drink and fries for the boss, same for me but with biscuits instead of fries,” Michael said.

Davis left them and walked towards the KFC outlet, he stood in line while Michael and Lee took a seat just around where KFC was. They sat down on a table that had just been cleaned and had four chairs, they would notice from time to time girls would keep looking in their direction and were laughing or giggling.

Davis returned ten minutes later with a tray that had three drinks, a large box, and three smaller ones. “I bought some extra sandwiches for you guys. It’s for the morning,” Davis said while placing the drinks in front of each of them, then placing a small box.

“Thanks,” Michael said, he could clearly see that this man could be a good assistant.

After the three of them finished eating, Lee went to the washroom to wash his hands and then returned to collect the extras that Davis bought for them, while Davis threw away the trash and Michael made a phone call. When Lee returned Davis was already heading to the washroom and only when Lee took the bag from Michael, did Michael head to the washroom.

After getting in the car, it indeed took another three hours to get to the beach house. The three of them were exhausted, especially Lee and Michael as they had been waking since before four in the morning and if they were checking it according to the time with Trinidad then it would have been since eleven the night before.

After entering Cedros Lee was on high alert and his senses became very acute as he could feel something. The road was very bad and Davis had to take his time driving since there was no way that either of them could rest from the time they reached the main road, they were looking at their surroundings.

Then Lee saw it, the school, the road, and even the house he saw her enter, it looked the exact same way as it was in his dream. ‘I wonder if she would also look the exact same way as in the dream.’ It wasn’t even a second good that he had the thought when they were passing the house that he saw the door opened, and the girl that plagued his dreams were holding a garbage bag and walking towards the trash can at the front of the house.

“Found you,” Lee said.

“Found who?” Davis asked stopping to see who the boss was looking at.

“Is that an orphanage?” Lee asked pointing at the house.

“People saw it is, but we believe it is a hostel for children to be groomed to become prostitutes and beggars,” Davis said.

“Why do you say that?” Michael asked, he saw when the front door opened and when it closed, but he didn’t see anyone. He had also seen when a bag suddenly appeared in the trash bin but he didn’t see how it arrived.

“Well, over the years we would see this man meeting the woman who owns the house. Then suddenly one of the girls we are accustomed to seeing for years stop showing up and the older boys when they reach eighteen, we would always see them somewhere begging. My parents told me that it has been going on for years and the police can’t do anything about it.”

“Do you know the girl that put out the garbage just now?” Lee asked.

“Girl? I didn’t see anyone. Did you see someone out there boss? Mr. Bernard did you?” Davis asked.

“No, boss, did you see something? I find that house strange, just as we were approaching the house the front door opened, then after a minute or two a saw a bag in the trash can and then after another minute I saw the door closed,” Michael said.

“Same here. That has been happening for the past ten years. The door would suddenly be opened, a few minutes after a trash bag would suddenly appear in the bin and then the front door would close,” Davis said watching the house as they were parked in front of it.

“The window, are you seeing anyone there?” Lee asked.

“No,” they both said together.

“Let’s head home,” Lee said.

He was thinking that he was seeing things or just imagining the girl existed, he couldn’t believe he was letting the words of that person get to him. He hoped that after some rest his mind would be clear and he could think straight.

The beach house they were staying at was only five houses on the right lower down the street. When they arrived at the beach house Davis helped them take out their luggage from the SUV before opening the house for them. “To the right of the house is a pool and behind the house is the beach. If you go in the pool after coming out from the beach just don’t let my mother see you, she would add to your fee. There is an outside shower also to the back of the house to rinse the saltwater off your skin.”

“Couldn’t you show us that tomorrow?” Michael asked.

“Just letting you know in case in the morning you wanted to head to the beach or the pool,” Davis said before entering the house. “Here is the living room, to the back is the kitchen, on the left is a guest room and to the back is a laundry room, on the right, and the master bedroom is the one to the front and another guest room to the back,” Davis said just pointing out all the different rooms in the house.

“Thanks for the dinner and breakfast. I have your number so when we need you I will call you,” Michael said.

“Enjoy the night. Light the citronella candle before going to sleep, there are a lot of mosquitoes and sand flies around this area due to the beach,” Davis said before placed the keys on the center table and then leaving the house.