Morning everyone. I hope you are having a splendid morning. I woke up today and it was only in the fifties, so I will be having my coffee and going on a walk before it gets scorching. It might be one of the last days until fall that I can do that without melting. So I am going to take advantage and then just work through lunch to make up for it. Sounds like a plan to me. so let’s get going on the writing prompt of the morning. Ready with those timers? Then off we go.
I think that Anna is in for a bit of a dreadful surprise when she goes down to dinner. Not entirely sure what that will be, but dreadful, nonetheless.
Wednesday, May 24th: Everything felt damp.
Everything felt damp. She touched the pile of cloth. The top garment was only slightly damp, but as she pressed, the clothes underneath squished slightly and she saw a drop of water slip from the pile and roll down the chair leg to hit the floor. It was absorbed by the carpet.
She frowned. The droplet of water showed no color distortion when it hit the carpet. She bent down and placed her hand on the floor. The carpet was damp in a wide circle radiating from the chair. She stood up and hearing the front door open she quickly left the room and padded quietly down the hall to her own room.
She didn’t want to be caught investigating. Sean had been acting so strangely lately. His temper unpredictable. Anna hadn’t meant to snoop, she actually came to warn him. A House meeting was scheduled for that evening. Once everyone was home, the other housemates would be questioning Sean and his recent behavior and his answers would help determine if they would ask him to leave at the end of the month or if he would continue as one of the housemates.
While Sean didn’t always stay for a group dinner these days, he was almost always home for a short while the time before. Anna, closed her door softly as she heard Sean start up the stairs. On impulse, she locked the door. There was …something off about his room, the damp clothes, towels and carpet, that bothered her.
‘It was raining the other day,’ she told herself. She moved to her small private bathroom wanting to wash her hands for reasons she couldn’t explain. The bathroom was small, a converted closet if she had to guess. It contained a commode, a pedestal style sink and a shower the size of an old fashioned phone booth. It was small, but it was private, which she appreciated. In the bathroom she closed the door behond her and automatically found herself locking the bathroom door. While she really only closed and locked her bedroom door when she was out of the house and only locked the bathroom door, when she knew her bedroom door was open, today, she felt the need of the extra protection.
In the bathroom Anna looked at her hands and saw that there was nothing really on them. No sign of anything. She quickly rinsed them off anyway. She dried her hands and felt a lot better about it. On impulse she reached for the hand sanitizer as well and gave her hands an extra coating of clean.
‘They were just damp,’ she thought. Still there was something.
Anna heard the door to Sean’s room slam shut. ‘He’s in a mood today,’ she thought. The hand sanitizer dried and Anna picked up her hand cream. Too much hand sanitizer without cream and her skin would crack. It was always prone to dryness, but the hand sanitizer made it so much worse.
She shook the thought away, her mind eager to slide into other thoughts rather than think about Sean’s room. Something was off, something besides the damp. She heard another door slam somewhere in the house and then heard raised voices. She looked at her watch. It was early yet for their house discussion.
‘Someone must have started early.’ Anna decided she had no reason to start early and figured dinner would be soon enough. She left the bathroom, and put on her headphones. She would join the others when they confronted him later as planned.
Ten til Midnight 