Chapter 5

Elise's pov;

I came straight to Mr Alarcon's house alone since he left for the company when the wedding got over. Someone came running to me and opened the car door for me, I got down and looked at the massive house in front of me. It was more like a hotel having many windows on top floors. Is this where he lives?

The man who opened the door for me introduced himself, “Welcome home, Mrs Alarcon.”

Mrs Alarcon? Is that how everyone's going to call me hereafter? Weird.

He continued, “My name is Steve. Let me guide you into the house.”

“Hold on. Who's staying here?”

He gave me a surprised expression and said, “Mr Alarcon of course.”

“No, I didn't mean it like that. Apart from him, who all stay here?”

“Only him. And from now on, along with him. It's you, mam.”

“Do you mean that he's the only person who's staying in a place like this?”

He gave me a nod and ordered the driver, “Bring the bags inside.” And turned to me saying, “Mrs Alarcon, Shall we?” And lead me the way into the house.

When I entered the house, I was amazed by the interior and furniture which gave a vibrant and rich look. I shook my head to clear my head. I didn't come here to admire his house.

“Mrs Alarcon, your room is on the first floor.” And said something to the driver. To which the driver handed over the bags to him and ran downstairs. Where's he rushing to?

After we came to the first floor, he took me to the room on the left saying, “This is Mr Alarcon's room.” He said as he placed my bags inside his room.

Am I going to stay in the same room with that murderer?!

Then he started taking my clothes out of my bag suddenly.

“What are you doing?”

“Arranging clothes into the cabinet-”

I interrupted him saying, “It's fine. Thank you, but I'll do it.” and took my bag out of his hands.

He nodded and left the room.

I placed my bag on the bed and looked around the room. It was bigger and scary. It looked more like a dungeon, with the choice of paint colours, no windows and the furniture which gave a mediaeval atmosphere. The weirdest thing in the room was the mirrors. Because they were more in number than a common room should have. Why does he have a lot of mirrors in his room? It felt uncomfortable the more I stayed in that room so I walked out.

I strolled in the hallway and looked into every other room on that floor since I was curious after seeing Mr Alarcon's room. To my surprise, every room looked normal with a bed, window, shades, and lamps. When I came to the stairs, I wondered how many floors there are in this house. When I took a look from outside, it looked like a three storey building. I looked at either of my sides and climbed the stairs.

Second floor looked the same as the first floor but some were empty and locked from outside.

Then I climbed the third floor, to find every room on that floor was locked except one. It's a gallery. I entered the gallery to find a lot of sketching and paintings spreaded all over the wall and the floor.

Did he paint all these things? The paintings didn't have colours either. What did I expect from a murderer like him?

Among the black and grey paintings, I saw a piece of paper reflecting bright colours which caught my eye. When I took a look at it, it was a drawing of a tree. The leaves of the tree weren't green, instead it had every colour in the world. Looked more like a rainbow.

“Mrs Alarcon.”

When I heard Steve calling my name, I walked out of the gallery and closed it in a hurry and came down stairs. I saw Steve on the first floor carrying a tray of food. It had a lot of different dishes.

Steve, “I'm not aware of your taste in food so I asked them to cook a variety of dishes, mam.”

“It's alright. I'm not a picky eater.” And tried to get the food tray.

“Allow me to serve the food, mam.” And he took it to Mr Alarcon's room.

After serving me the food, he left the room. I didn't dare to look around since I felt intimidated by mirrors on the wall. I couldn't even eat comfortably with all the mirrors looking at me. Shit! What the hell is wrong with his room? I know he's a murderer. I didn't know he's a creepy dude either.

I took the tray and walked to another room and ate my food. I didn't eat in the morning because I was busy packing my clothes for the trip. I ate to my content and came down stairs to return the tray.

The main area of the house looked silent, so I walked to the kitchen to find it to be empty too. I placed the tray and walked out of the house calling out the name Steve. He came to me and asked, “Do you need anything, mam?”

I looked around and asked, “Who cooked the food?”

“Is it not to your liking?” he asked with concern.

“It's not that. I couldn't see anyone inside the house.”

“They already left, mam.” “If you need anything, you can reach out to me, Mrs Alarcon.”

I turned around and looked at the house while asking him, “Steve, why does this place have so many rooms for a single man?”

“I'm sorry, mam. I joined here a few weeks ago so I don't know much about this place.” “All I heard is that it was passed on by Mr Alarcon's grandfather.”

“So it's a heritage?”

“I guess, mam.”

Steve left after the driver called out to him. I walked around the house to get familiar with it but it was larger than I expected which made me give up. When I came to the front of the house, Steve came to me and said, “It's time for me to leave, mam.” “Once again, Happy married life, Mrs Alarcon.” He congratulated me and left the premises.

I let out a sigh and walked into the empty and silent house. When I closed the door, it became more silent where I could hear my breath loudly. I climbed upstairs and came to Mr Alarcon's room. I grabbed my bag and walked out of that room. Creepy room.

I came to the room where I ate my food earlier and placed the bag on the bed. Since it's the opposite room from Mr Alarcon's, I could still see those mirrors. I closed the door and dropped on the bed staring at the ceiling.

Steve mentioned that the house was passed on to Mr Alarcon by his grandfather. Does it mean there are ghosts in this house? Nah, who would believe in ghosts in these modern times?

I took my new phone to call Lizzy but then I remembered I didn't save her number in my phone yet. The only number in this phone is that of the murderer's. I gave up on calling her and turned on songs to listen to it and drifted off to sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night after having a nightmare which I don't remember. I can only remember being chased by someone and falling somewhere. I wiped the sweat off my face and looked for the water but there wasn't any.

I needed water so I came down stairs and walked into the kitchen. While I was pouring myself some water, I heard noises coming from outside. Seriously?

I placed the glass on the kitchen top and walked out of the kitchen to find where that noise was coming from. But I couldn't figure it out since I didn't turn on any lights. The noise didn't stop so I walked in the direction of the noise to find out what it was. As I was nearing, I found that it was coming from outside the house.

I opened the main door, to find nothing in front of me except the car parked around the corner. I couldn't hear the noise anymore. I walked out of the house and looked around for the cause of the noise but I couldn't find anything. Was it all my imagination?

When I tried to close the door, I heard the noise again. The fact that I'm all alone and the big empty house, and the weird noise making me afraid a little. Please, don't tell me this house is haunted.

Suddenly, the noise got louder as I was holding the door handle tightly. Should I just close the door and ignore the noise and go to my room? Damn! I'm tired of this!

I walked out of the house and headed towards that noise and came to the garden. Now I know why was it so loud when I was in the kitchen. I found a bird caught in a trap and trying to escape from it. Since the trap was strangling around it's neck, it couldn't cry for help instead flapping his wings and trying to move with all it's strength.

Who would set traps in the garden?

Since I didn't bring my phone with me, I don't know how to free it without the help of light.

“Wait here, I'll be right back.” And ran inside the house to get my phone.

I came back with my phone and saw how the bird caught in the trap using the flashlight. Shit! It lost a lot of blood. After some time of struggling, I opened the trap and took the bird out of it.

With the bird in my arms, I closed the main door and headed to the hospital.

At the hospital, the doctor treated the bird and asked to take care of it by applying some ointment on its bruised areas. I carresed the little guy over his head saying, “You're going to get well soon. Until then, you're stuck with me.”

While I was leaving the hospital, someone called my name from behind. When I turned around, I found Morgan standing before me with a cast around her hand.

“Hey, what happened to your hand? You were fine in the morningyou too.” I enquired her.

Morgan let out a nervous smile saying, “The floor was slippery and I didn't know it. As I result, I slipped and fell on the arm.” “The doctor said it's a hairline fracture.” And caressed her hand. “I was supposed to get hit on my head but my arm saved me, boss.”

“Did it happen at the bakery?”

She gave a shocked expression asking, “Boss, why are you so cruel? You only care about your bakery. Aren't you worried about your employees even a little bit?”

I let out a chuckle and said, “Okay. Let me be the boss who care about their employees.” “I'll give you three weeks time to take care of that hand of yours.” “After that, you'll be working two shifts to compensate that. Do you understand?”

She gave me a stare and noticed the bird in my arms. “Is it your pet, boss? What is it's name?”

“It's not my pet.”

“I didn't know you have this side, boss?”

“Do I look that mean?”

She smiled again and talked to that bird, “How are you feeling, sweetheart? How did you get hurt?”

I can't tell her it was caught in animal trap so I told her, “It fell down from the tree near my place.” “And, it's a guy.”

She talked to that bird again, “Oh, you're one good looking dude.” And caressed it's head making pouts.

I moved away from her asking, “Did you come alone in the middle of the night? Where's your brother?”

“He ditched me and went out with his friends yesterday.”

“How will you go to your house? Shall I come with you?”

“it's alright, boss. My cabs on the way.”

I gave a nod and said, “Message me when you're home.”

When she tried to leave, I stopped her and asked for her number before letting her go.

After she left in the cab, I got a cab for myself and came to Mr Alarcon's house with the little guy.