Morning all, I hope you had a fabulous weekend. I decided to take down the closet of doom this weekend and am really feeling it in my shoulders. Forget the weights at the gym, try taking down boxes of papers and old suitcases that you thought were empty but turn out not to be. It’s quite the workout. But while my arms are sore, I think it is time to give my brains a good stretch. So if you are joining in, timers set to fifteen minutes and lets wake up those little gray cells. (I might have let Poirot play while I worked this weekend). To the Prompt!
I like the start of this. The survivor no one knew was there and the solving of the mystery. Could be fun. I might take some time to think about the mystery over lunch today. Mysteries tend to require solving before the writing can begin.
Monday, February 19th: The scream rent the air.
The scream rent the air. He sat upright in bed, heart pounding as his head swiveled from side to side. Nothing changed in his room. As he rubbed sleep from his eyes he wondered if he dreamed it. His dreams had been murky lately, filled with dark shadows that reached for him with sharp claws.
He sat there, trying to calm himself. The fear had him awake and he knew he would never be able to get back to sleep. For good or ill he was awake. He swung his feet out of bed, letting the covers fall away. As his feet touched down on the soft rug beneath the bed, another scream sounded.
Without thought he was moving. Up and through the door in an instant. He was halfway to the landing before he realized he grabbed the baseball bat from the display against the wall. The signed treasure was a gift from his grandfather and was both treasure and a source of angst. It hadn’t left the wall since it was gifted to hm more than twenty years prior and despite the once over with the dusting cloth the cleaning crew gave it once a week it had a slightly gritty feeling in his hand. He knew the light dusting was so that the signatures remained undisturbed.
Dan hefted the bat to his shoulder trying to squash old memories of t-ball practice where he was often more of a danger to himself with the bat than he was to the ball.
At the landing he paused and listened. There was nothing. No sounds, not a whisper let alone another scream. ‘I can’t be the only one to hear it.’ He thought.
There was the sound of a car engine revving and he hurried to the front door. It was standing open. He approached it cautiously, his steps soft. He looked out and saw tail lights disappearing around the bend in the road.
He paused in the door frame. The house was silent. Dan frowned. He wondered if the others were hiding in their rooms. He was the last to arrive for this gathering of the family. He missed the welcome dinner party earlier that night and only arrived as the others were going to bed. Given the distance traveled and the number of flights cancelled, he was amazed he managed to make it at all. To get here, he had to rent a car for the last leg.
He looked over at the driveway and saw his rental was still safe in the driveway. Whatever happened, hadn’t affected it. Dan closed the door.
Knowing everyone was already angry with him for missing the big celebratory dinner, Dan decided that it couldn’t get much worse. “Might as well wake them up with the lights,” he told himself. He was certain they would have heard the screams and might be hiding. With the lights on, he could not only ensure they knew the intruder was gone but search the house for anything missing or damaged. He turned on the hall light. That was when he saw the blood.
Ten til Midnight 