"Is there anyone else here?" I asked, peering into the darkness around us, after Adam had stopped with endless tormenting laughter I had finally made it up the steps, no more unnecessary injuries.
I passed him, and slowly began walking down the corridor cautiously. Wrapping my arms around me for extra warmth, the house definitely had no heating.
"Only the spirits..."
I leapt out of my skin and released a shrill squeal as I felt his warm breath on the back of my neck, undeniably close. I resisted the urge to shiver and stepped far away from him, my gut clenching.
I placed a hand on my beating chest, and tried to regulate my breathing. "Stop it," I half-heartedly demanded in a quiet voice.
He chuckled, stepping around me.
He raised his eyebrows, "Why do you ask?" He commented, "Do you want us to be alone." He teased, yet a serious expression was lining his features. He retraced the steps I had taken to get away from him and was now unbearably close to me again.
"Tell me," he inquired, "why did you come here?" I could feel his hot breath fanning my forehead, "Because if you wanted to hook up, I'm easy, babe. Just ask."
"Although, a haunted house isn't really the best place, but I guess I could finally check that one off my bucket-list."
I was slapped back into reality and took two giant steps away from him, "Um, no." I stated, watching a sly smirk etch its way onto his face.
I suddenly regretted my decision to come here. I couldn't give him a straight answer to why I was here because I didn't know myself.
"I could ask you the same thing," I twisted the conversation around, "why are you here?"
His face fell slightly, if I was only a step further I wouldn't have caught it.
He crossed his arms over his chest, and blocked the doorway I was hoping to go in.
He didn't answer, but stared at me intensely.
"Okay, answer me this then." I began, clinging to my newfound confidence, "why are you always watching at me?"
Out of the blue, his deceiving smirk was plastered back onto his face, as he released a huff that sounded somewhat like a laugh.
Irritatingly, he answered my question with another one, "Who's that kid you're always with? The blonde one?"
"A friend. Why?"
"You're close to him? Right?"
I narrowed my eyes, "Yes."
He nodded, looking at the ceiling, his lips pressed firmly together. His eyes found mine again, "Have you told him anything?" He questioned.
"No." I stated, monotonously. "Why would I come here if I did?"
He shrugged. Somewhat agreeing with me for the first time.
I sighed, and properly took everything in. Wandering about aimlessly, I traced my fingertips along the wall, dancing across the surprisingly clean wallpaper. Silence engulfed us, and for a moment I forgot he was even there. The world was still as I meandered through rooms, fully exploring what the secret house had hidden away.
I stumbled across what seemed to be a garage, the door was soundless as I opened it and nothing could have prepared me for what the room had to offer.
I was surprised to say the least. When my eyes were met with the masses of tools and mechanical gizmos flooding the shelves that stuck to every space of walls, tools of every shape, size and colour.
Underneath the shelves, were tables, the tops of them completely swamped with different mechanical parts, which I could only assume were a range of parts for the unfinished motorbike that stood in the middle of the spacious room.
My head tilted to the side as I released a small gasp. The gears and cogs turned in my mind, as I pieced parts together.
"Do you build these?" I asked, already knowing the answer from the state of the room.
I looked to where he stood in the doorway, his eyes elsewhere and his expression unreadable as he nodded.
"And you built the one we rode on?"
He nodded again, finally looking towards me, shrugging with a smirk growing on his face. Astonished, my eyebrows rose, and I shook my head in disbelief.
I looked back to the dismembered motorbike, which looked close to finished.
"Adam?" I asked, looking back at him, "That night when you took me to the... Uh," I paused, searching for the right words, "fighting club, why did you get the motorbike out of the bushes? Why was it there?"
His eyes stared intently at me, "You don't miss anything do you?"
It was pretty hard to miss, I thought. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to figure it out, yet nothing came.
He sighed, rolling his brown eyes at me. "I don't buy the parts." He said, waiting for me to connect the dots.
I frowned.
Then it clicked.
I gasped, my mouth gaping open as I glanced the heaps of stolen items. Everything looked to clean, professional. Expensive. "What about the tools?"
He threw me a look.
"Jesus." I exclaimed, placing a hand on the top of my head. "How?-- Wait, no don't answer that. I don't want to know."
He chuckled lightly, moving away from the doorway allowing me to pass.
I found the steps again, and began climbing them, dodging the broken one with ease. I had explored all the rooms up there apart from one, which Adam had tried to steer me away from, it was subtle, but I had caught on.
Still, he didn't stop me barging into it.
The room was large with no furniture. When I entered the first thing I noticed were the two massive windows on the opposite wall, the windows were on the side of the house further away from mine, so they displayed the woods opposite to this house.
Underneath the windows, there was a blue sleeping bag, and my heart sank for a moment. Next to the that, I recognised another small bag, and realised it was Adam's school bag. There were some other bits and bobs, strewn about here and there.
I turned to him, my heart aching, "Do you live here?"
He shrugged, dodging past me and going into the room, "Depends." He vaguely added.
"On what?"
He shrugged again, standing over the sleeping bag, staring a it intensely. "I do have a home." He acknowledged, after a while, snapping his head up to peer at me, "I just sleep here too, sometimes." Strands of his black hair fell down to his eyes, and he pushed them back into place with a stroke of his hand.
His voice was quiet and I wondered where the Adam he made himself out to be was. I frowned again, "Why?" I shook my head in confusion.
He shrugged, a glint in his eyes displaying the same confusion I had.
Unable to give me a straight answer, he sat down on the sleeping bag, peering out of the window. "I like the view." He admitted, "Plus, no one dares to step foot into the 'double-murder-suicide-house', or whatever they call it."
I watched him gaze out of the window, surprised at the side of Adam no one knew.
I sat down on next to him, slowly, as if I made a sudden move and he would spring up and reality would come back, and this would all be over.
And for a while we sat in a calm silence, the only noise around was the rustling of leaves outside, and the sound of our steady breathing.
I tilted my head to get a better look when I thought I saw a squirrel climb a tree, but as my head tilted a flash of silver caught my eye.
I looked away from the window suddenly, which caught Adam's attention, and stared at the small square tin by his makeshift pillow, I reached for it. Curious.
My hand froze as his deep voice pierced the air. "Leave it." He said.
"Why?" I asked, my curiosity spiking, "What's in it?"
I watched his jaw clench, "Just leave it alone, Gabrielle."
I cringed away from my full name, "If its drugs you can tell me because there's isn't much I haven't seen when I'm with you--"
"Leave." He snapped, his face red and his fists locked.
I put my hands in the air, "Okay, I'll leave it alone."
"No." He turned to me, his eyes blazing, "Just get out."
I coiled back, feeling a pang of hurt and hoped it didn't show on my face. "Why?" I managed to say.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Because you're a fucking nuisance. And I want you gone. So get the fuck out."
I sat up straight, shocked. But I should have realised it was coming. That it was all in my head. I felt the weight of humiliation on my shoulders.
"Leave!" He shouted.
So I did.