9

"Are houses like this scattered all over the woods? This is amazing!" Eleanor stated, in awe of the house in front of her. It was a beautiful bungalow with the roof painted a lovely brick red, the walls painted white and the window trimmings, mud brown. It was huge! In the middle of nowhere! Andreas walked them up the porch steps, gently placed her down in front of the door and pressed a small white button right beside it. Eleanor's brows rose. She definitely hadn't seen that. A small rectangular set up protruded out of the wall and he rose the covering. A small screen, key pad and finger print scanner presented itself. Her eyes widened. Andreas pushed a few buttons and a double beeping sound was heard. He took Eleanor's hand, placed her thumb on the scanner, a few moments later, it double beeped and the keypad and screen retreated, leaving only the scanner. It beeped again and the door came open. Andreas watched Eleanor eyes dart from him, to the scanner, to the door, repeat cycle.

"Go in." He waited for her to hobble in before following with her suitcase in his hand. Eleanor took in the living room and her mouth fell open. Comfortable looking black and red leather couches, a deep brown center table with a tear-drop shaped flower vase atop it, small speakers on a deep drown shelf, in front of a designed wall, housing the largest TV she had ever seen.

"No way."

Andreas continued down the hall and she hobbled after him, suddenly noticing how similar this house was to his. Even the kitchen was all the same, just differently coloured. They got into the bedroom and it was the the same arrangement. If everything was the same then-- she limped to the bathroom and almost cried out in joy when her eyes landed on the jacuzzi-like tub.

The same!

It was all the same!

She found her way back into the room where Andreas had dropped her suitcase and was currently pulling apart the curtains, and sat on the bed.

"This house is the exact replica of yours."

He nodded

"How much do I owe you for this?"

"Nothing. Perks of being under me" he said and turned to face her.

"Listen, only my thumb, and now, yours, can open the door. You place your thumb on the scanner to open the door. There are two scanners, the one you saw outside and another inside, just beside the door. I set it so you have to manually shut the door in case there are a lot of visitors coming in at the same time, so it does not shut on them. Once you shut the door, it locks. Only your thumb can open it again. Only you and I have access to this house."

She nodded. "Why this level of technology in the woods?"

He shrugged. "You'll see. Anymore questions?"

"Only our thumbs can open the door?"

"Yes."

"What if someone cuts off our thumbs, just so they can break in?" She chuckled at herself, then froze when she saw his serious expression "wait, that can happen?"

"Very much."

"I... I don't know what to say now."

"Bye." He walked out.

"Wait!" She hobbled after him. He stopped in front of the door and turned to face her.

"What did you rub on my head? It's barely scratched whereas it was bruised before."

His eyes flashed a sharp emerald green and before she had a chance to admire it, he turned away.

"Laundry room and gym room are upstairs", he pointed to a set of stairs right beside the door which he knew she hadn't seen, and placed his thumb on the scanner.

"Wait.''

He looked to her over his shoulder,

"Thank you."

He nodded once, stepped out and closed the door behind him.She exhaled and decided to explore. It was a big house. She ended up in the kitchen and surprisingly found ingredients for everything she could think of. It was obvious that Andreas was pretty fine financially. And he was nice beneath his a-few-words-per-day rigid personality. He was really nice but she couldn't shake off the feeling that he was doing all this for a particular reason. What could it be? She made herself some spaghetti, and sat with her laptop. She still couldn't find her phone but luckily, she'd stuffed her laptop at the bottom of her suitcase. She researched on Lake creek and found that there was a library not too far from here. A journey for tomorrow. She then video called her family who were pretty mad at her for not keeping in touch sooner,but were, nonetheless, happy that she'd called, then watched a few movies, took a bath in the glorious tub and peacefully went to bed at 12 midnight.

A loud knock woke Eleanor up. She yawned and tried to go back to sleep but the knocking continued. She groaned. Who could that be? Andreas? Why would he knock? She got out of bed and went to the door, put her thumb on the scanner and it opened. No one was there. She poked her head out the door and looked left and right but still no one... Hm. She shut the door and lumbered back to bed. She'd lay down when she felt like she was being watched. She turned and her eyes met with the emerald green eyes of an animal, sitting on the other end of the bed, steadily watching her. Those eyes.... She knew those eyes. She screamed and ran out of the house. A howl and a scream met her ears and she increased her pace, dodging trees and trying to navigate through the dark forest. A growl sounded from behind her and just as she turned to try to catch a look at what exactly made that sound, she tripped over something large and fell. She sat up hurriedly, turned to see what had tripped her and she stopped breathing.

A body.

A dead body with the eyes gorged out. The forest went silent. Despite the slamming of her heart against her chest, she couldn't look away.... Tap, something dripped on her head... Tap, it dripped again. She shakily rose a hand to rub at it and it dripped onto her hand. She slowly looked at it.

Fluid.

She scooted back, stood slowly and looked up. For a while, she couldn't determine what she was looking at till it shifted. A figure... In the tree, facing her. She saw red long hair and nothing else. No eyes, yet she knew it watched her. Neither moved, both watching the other. The slow dripping of the liquid increased till it became a steady flow and a pungent smell hit her nose.

Blood.

She gasped. He'd killed him.... The scream- he'd killed him and now he was watching her... Observing her... Hunting her. The creature leapt and her eyes widened in horror as she turned to run and bolted up, off the bed. She panted, her chest ached, her body was drenched in sweat, her pulse hammered as her eyes darted from one end of the room to the other. A dream. It was all a dream. She shook out her hands and was in the process of raising them to cup her face when she heard a soft sound behind her and froze.. then slowly turned. Andreas was sat on the window-sill, a knee raised with his other leg on the ground, and his head casually resting against the window's edge but the intense look in his now glowing green eyes told a different story. Those eyes...

"Andreas?"

"There's too much of Lake Creek to take in all at once, Ella Bella."

"How are you here?"

"Go to sleep."

She hurriedly shook her head. Those green eyes...

"Th-that-that thing.... Do you know what it is?"

He said nothing.

"Who are you?.... What are you?"

He lazily uncurled himself from his seat on the window and took leisurely step after leisurely step towards her. Her mind yelled at her but she couldn't look away. Those eyes.... Very similar to the animal that was a.... uh... Like--- like a wolf. He gently gripped her shoulders and pushed her backwards towards the bed and covered her in, neither of them able to look away from the other

His eyes.

"Go to bed." She was out.

Eleanor awoke and looked around.

"Andreas?" He wasn't there.

She got off the bed and walked to the bathroom. "Andreas?" No response.

She ran out to the kitchen. No sign of him. He wasn't in the living room either.

"Andreas?!"

No response. He wasn't there. Maybe he'd gone home to change, right? 'Or maybe they got him' a voice in her head suggested but she quickly shook it off and rushed to bath and brush. A few minutes later, she darted out of the house. She didn't exactly know the way to his, but she just had to find him. It couldn't be so hard. Eleanor had walked around for quite a while before she looked around and stopped. Was she lost? They hadn't walked for this long yesterday and she had been watching the turns they took but now, everything looked familiar and the same. She exhaled and kept walking and after a few random turns and stops, she spotted a house which was an exact replica of hers, just differently coloured. She got there, walked up the stairs, knocked and a few moments later, the door came open.

Andreas rose a brow.

"Where were you?" She frowned up at him. Andreas watched her walk in and turn to face him with a strange expression on her face.

"Asleep." He shut the door.

"When did you leave? I was looking for you."

He frowned. "Looking for me?"

"Yes! You were there when I woke up the first time but now, you left!"

His eyes narrowed "What are you talking about?"

"I--" she got lost in her head "I had a dream then you showed up at--" she suddenly remembered her last dream and her shoulders fell. Her mouth opened, closed, then opened again "Yo... You were never in my dream were you?-"

He gripped her shoulders. "Bella-"

"I was scared, I thought they got you, which is stupid because it was all a dream and you were never there but why--"

He shook her shoulders. "Bella!"

She blankly looked up and saw his eyes were painted orange. "Yes?"

"How did you walk here?"

She frowned "I didn't-", then looked down and froze. She had walked. She hadn't even noticed it at all. She'd taken off the bandage when she bathed and hadn't bothered to put it back on. "I... It doesn't hurt anymore." She looked up with questioning eyes. If he'd ever doubted the prophesy and her being the one to fulfill it, her suddenly healed bones just cleared it up but why now? Why didn't it heal earlier, why now? Maybe.... Maybe it was because she saw something different and the more she discovered, the more she changed to fit into it all.

"Come sit."