Chapter 5-1
321 Words
Chapter 5
Right about dawn, Hunter awakened excited, his mind racing about the day to come. In just a few hours, Ian was due to pick him up, and then they would head north to Wisconsin, and Hunter would finally have his curiosity about Beaumont House satisfied. What would it be like? Would it be obvious to him why Nana wanted it destroyed? Was it simply because the place was falling down and was an eyesore and unsafe? Or were there darker, more mysterious reasons? Skeletons in the Beaumont family closets?
Hunter rolled over and looked at the alarm clock on his bedside table. It was only five thirty, but he knew it was hopeless to try to go back to sleep. He was too excited. Right now, eight A.M. seemed impossibly far away. Would Ian be up yet? Perhaps he could give him a call and suggest an earlier start. Are you out of your mind? You do not call people at home, especially on the weekends, before eight A.M.! For God’s sake, be a little patient!
Hunter turned onto his back and lay staring up at the ceiling as the sky lightened through his window. How many acres did the house sit on? Was it inhabitable? In the predawn dimness, he imagined him and Jay sharing it, either as a permanent home or as a weekend retreat, then berated himself for getting way too far ahead. How long ago, he wondered, had anyone lived in the house? Who were they? Why had they left?
Yet beneath all the excitement and eagerness, there was an odd sense of dread that made Hunter’s stomach churn. He didn’t know where it was coming from but felt there was something dark lurking just out of reach of his conscious mind. It was like there was a secret about the house he knew but couldn’t remember.
He got up to obliterate his thoughts with the steam from a hot shower.
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