Share

1.2

Author: Kiko Briar
last update Last Updated: 2023-10-10 03:56:48

“It’s somehow strange.”

The staircase leading to the second floor is located just opposite the entrance. And facing a crossroads: what to explore first - Leah began to rise again. If the house had a standard layout, then the living rooms were on the second floor, and in this case the first floor would have to wait.

Five closed doors plunged her into a slight stupor, since from the outside the house looked much more modest, but the very next minute, remembering the bathrooms, storage rooms and dressing rooms, she exhaled with relief. Knowing her mother, Leah could already be preparing for the assignment: cleaning the entire floor herself. However, there is a significant difference between five rooms and two or three.

Opening the nearest door, she saw a narrow staircase, apparently leading to a lonely turret. The dark corridor ended with another closed door.

Succumbing to curiosity, Leah climbed the groaning steps and pulled the handle.

Closed.

She squatted down, leaned forward, touching the floor of a small platform with her fingers, slowly moved towards the large keyhole and tried to look through it into the room.

Nothing. One thickening darkness.

I listened to the dead silence. And she said in a low voice:

- Hello. Is there anyone there?.. I hope we can become friends.

As expected, there was no answer. However, Leah was not very upset about this. Smiling at her childhood thought about the ghosts living in the attic, she rose from her knees and quickly walked downstairs. When she again went out into the square corridor of the second floor, she closed the door behind her without turning around.

The first room we examined turned out to be gigantic. Large windows stretching along the entire length of the wall looked out onto the road, near which the parents were still standing, talking with neighbors. But that's where all its advantages ended - at least for Leah. But Kayla will appreciate its size, biting off a decent piece for a dressing room, and she will also like good natural lighting.

Then she examined the combined bathroom, noting without pleasure the poor state of the plumbing: the entire inside of the prehistoric toilet was covered with a yellow coating, and a long, rough spot stretched along the bottom of the bathtub with worn enamel. And the tiles, in the seams of which there was perhaps no moss, which could not be said about the fungus, was also not left without attention.

“Mom will be happy ,” Leah remarked ironically.

The first thing she saw when she looked into the next room was a bright white sheet of paper against the background of a wooden floor. It lay in the center, with the lettering facing up. However, the words were written in too small letters to be read from afar, so she had to go and pick up the note the stranger had dropped.

“Your room ,” read the short phrase written in narrow, angular handwriting.

"Seriously?" — Leah grinned to herself and looked around.

The small, dark room suited her requirements, except for the window overlooking the neighboring house. However, for her this was an insignificant detail, since its location in the wall was much more important, and not the view that opened to the eye. Therefore, having more or less decided on her choice, she again moved towards the corridor, hoping to explore the remaining room, when she suddenly heard a noise from below.

The parents entered the hallway and, noticing her face peeking out from behind the staircase railing, smiled stupidly. Kayla immediately hurried to get up, babbling with exaggerated joy:

- What a wonderful town, and the neighbors are such wonderful people. Tomorrow Hugo promised to give us a tour of the city. At the same time, it will help you buy more things. And she invited Martisha to dinner on Saturday,” she smiled, putting her arm around her daughter’s shoulders. - Honey, have you already chosen your room?

“Yes, that one,” Leah shook her head, pointing at her.

“Wonderful, then I’ll go decide on the bedroom.”

— The attic door is locked. Don't have a key?

- What do you mean: “locked”? The realtor said that the attic and basement were not locked due to long-lost keys. He offered to change the locks for us, but I refused. “She smiled kindly and added in a gentle tone: “Maybe you didn’t lean hard enough on the door?” The house and doors here are old. Perhaps it was just jammed a little.

- Yes, you're probably right.

Kayla ran her hand along her back and headed towards the large room. And Leah, remaining standing in the corridor, looked thoughtfully at the closed door leading to the attic.

If you think about it like that, then she really didn’t make any special efforts: she pulled the handle once and calmed down. Now she was stifled by curiosity. On the one hand, I didn’t want to agree with my mother so easily because of the worm itching inside, wanting to defend its own; on the other hand, Leah never saw what the view was like from the round tower with a panoramic window. Therefore, having covered the distance to the door in a couple of steps, she opened it and froze.

Daylight fell on the steps from above.

Related chapters

  • Sociopath in Love    2

    Pulling the back of her slip-on onto her heel, Leah awkwardly galloped on one leg to the front door and, finally taking off her shoes, impatiently ran out onto the porch. A quietly humming car was already waiting in front of the house, driven by a sleep-deprived father. He yawned sleepily and didn't even try to cover his mouth with his hand.- Why so early? “Normal people sleep until ten in the morning,” Leah wheezed displeasedly, plopping down in the back seat. - And I’m not averse to it until noon.“Who gets up early,” Marcus began.“He’s annoying everyone,” Leah finished and immediately heard an approving chuckle.In their family, only the mother was an early bird, rising, if not with the first rays of the sun, then certainly no later than seven in the morning. Of course, she tried not to make noise for the first two hours after waking up. But, starting from nine in the morning, her “turbo cleaning lady” mode turned on: the vacuum cleaner roared, the coffee grinder rattled, and thi

    Last Updated : 2023-10-10
  • Sociopath in Love    2.1

    For some time, Leah wandered around the shelves, looking at the used book books full of multi-colored spines: some pretty shabby, with wrinkled or even torn corners, others practically new. And there were even ones that had never been opened, with a crunchy sound pleasant to the ear, as soon as she tried to leaf through one of these.“Your coffee,” Yuna announced in a playfully formal tone, lowering a tall glass goblet onto a special wooden stand. — I hope you like the latte?“Cappuccino, mochaccino, latte, glace - yes, I’m practically omnivorous in the coffee variety,” she walked up to the table and, trying not to make noise, carefully pushed back the chair. The seat turned out to be really soft, and the freshly brewed coffee was so aromatic that it instantly stupefied her.—Where did you move from?- Is it written on my face: “not from here”?— Не совсем, — коротко усмехнулась Юна. — Я живу в доме напротив, поэтому видела, как вы въезжали.— Так мы соседи... Ты дочь Хьюго Бьёрка?—

    Last Updated : 2023-10-10
  • Sociopath in Love    3

    Opera HouseIt may be strange to meet in one day, out of forty thousand people, precisely those two who lived in neighboring houses. To some, this might even seem suspicious: deserving of special attention and some caution in communication. However, it’s not that Leah didn’t fall into the number of suspicious paranoids; now she was rather barely worried about the very fact of the existence of a new acquaintance, not to mention his proximity and obvious desire to get closer.After she got out of the water, the air temperature seemed to drop by ten degrees. Sharp, angry gusts of wind forced her to shiver from the cold: they pierced through her long summer cardigan with a large knit, blew their cool breath on the wet fabric of jeans and slip-ons - they did everything to make her teeth beat out the ragged tap dance.Wrapping herself tighter in her jacket, Leah ran up the stairs, leaving behind her a trail of wet sole impressions and damp sand on the steps. She tried to keep her mouth slig

    Last Updated : 2023-10-10
  • Sociopath in Love    3.1

    “The main cultural center of our region,” Neil straightened up and placed a couple of cans of soda and a large bar of milk chocolate with berry crumbs on the tabletop. He looked at Leah and explained with a playful smile: “Roughly speaking, the first four floors are divided into two huge halls: on the right is the theater, on the left is the opera.” Are any of these things of interest?- Not really. Have you worked here before?- Yeah, I worked part-time in the summer.- And no one cares that you steal from the local cafe? And anyway, no locks... You must have very lenient laws.- How to say. Compared to other countries, our crime rate is much lower. Robberies are so rare that many people, especially in the provinces, don't even lock their front doors. Violence and murder are also infrequent phenomena. True, sometimes people go missing, but you saw it yourself - around the forest, the sea. Either they drowned or were chewed up by wild animals. Usually someone finds the remains of bodi

    Last Updated : 2023-10-10
  • Sociopath in Love    4

    Chapter 4. The neighbor's catThe door bell rang loudly behind her, and two pairs of eyes immediately fixed their gaze on Leah: Yuna was sitting in the center of the room at the table, bending deeply over sheets of tables; and a stocky girl with short-cropped hair froze near the shelves on the first floor.The visitor's interest quickly waned, and she again switched to the book she was holding in her hands, while the good-naturedly smiling shop worker hurried to clear the table of papers.“Hello,” Leah pulled out the chair next to Yuna and tiredly plopped down on it.“I already thought that you wouldn’t come today either.”- Yes, it somehow got twisted. Mom took me shopping - I needed to replenish my wardrobe with warm clothes. Yesterday I simply didn’t have the strength to crawl here.— Did you have fun shopping?— Do I look like a happy person? Leah grinned in obvious amazement, barely able to stop herself from gushing about the hardships she'd had to go through over the past two da

    Last Updated : 2023-10-30
  • Sociopath in Love    4.1

    The weekend has arrived. Since early morning, Kayla had been working hard in the kitchen with such desperation, as if she were organizing a dinner party and not one of the invited guests. First I prepared a meat terrine with liver, bacon and pistachios - hoping to surprise with my knowledge and exquisite taste, and now I was fiddling with a sponge cake topped with curd and sour cream. And when she got to decorating the lush top, she suddenly realized that she desperately needed whipped cream.Leah also followed Marcus as he headed to the nearest store, wanting to escape from under the yoke of the domestic tyrant-exploiter for at least half an hour. The excessively fussy mother did not allow her to sit quietly for five minutes, either running on small errands, or needing ears to listen to her and a mouth to assent to every word.A new department has opened in the shopping center under a rather catchy name: “Desperate Prankster”. Scary masks and toy plastic knives with blades extending

    Last Updated : 2023-10-30
  • Sociopath in Love    5

    Chapter 5. Dinner PartyNeil sat in the kitchen and silently tapped his finger on the countertop, listening to the sounds coming from the second floor: water gushing; something landed with a loud thud on the ceramic surface of the sink. Then for a few minutes Leah became completely silent. And he, too, sat, frozen like a predator before the decisive throw, even reducing his breathing to a minimum. He lowered his eyelids and became fully alert.Careful steps. The tap water began to rustle again; The pipes hummed dully. Finally, the door swung open, and the steps became more distinct: she was heading towards the stairs; the steps sometimes creaked under her thin legs. A couple more seconds - and Neil opened his eyes, looking with a half-smile at Leah, frozen in the doorway.“I’m done,” she said shortly.The red spots had disappeared from her face, and the swelling had visibly subsided. But still, simple cool water cannot wash away all traces of half an hour of sobbing. She couldn’t do a

    Last Updated : 2023-10-30
  • Sociopath in Love    5.1

    — I graduated from school as an external student at the age of fourteen and university in four years.For some time, silence reigned in the dining room: everyone stopped eating and, as a result, making noise with cutlery; the Lagvuri family looked at him with admiration, like some kind of museum exhibit, but of course, not all of them - Leah continued to be in her thoughts, indifferently picking at her food with a fork.- No I do not understand! God, Martisha, how could you not say anything about your son? Kayla howled, turning to his mother. - Yes, you should be proud of him, everyone you meet will comment on how handsome and smart he is.“You shouldn’t attack mom like that,” Neil gently besieged her and, reaching for the pepper shaker, added: “I myself ask her not to talk too much about my successes.” Sometimes the reaction of others is very confusing. And she obviously wanted to introduce me to you at dinner. Am I right, mom?“Yes, of course,” she stretched her lips in confusion an

    Last Updated : 2023-10-30

Latest chapter

  • Sociopath in Love    17

    “We offer our deepest apologies,” pressing her head into her shoulders, the girl rustled her fingers on the keyboard. “But we really can’t help you.” There are no available rooms. Annelle, in helpless anger, grabbed the key to the boss’s room from the tabletop. A few hours ago, her reservation for two rooms was confirmed. The end of the business trip, she relaxed. And of course, according to the law of meanness, it was her apartment in the “standard” category that was immediately flooded by some idiot. Yes, so thoroughly that it leaked two floors below. There was no point in expecting that in the near future they would clear up the consequences of the trouble caused by the problematic guest. “Come up to your room,” Annel handed the key to the boss. — I'll try to call other hotels. “We’ll spend the night in the same room,” he headed towards the elevator, taking her suitcase for company. She was left blinking her eyes in confusion with her outstretched hand, in which she still held

  • Sociopath in Love    16

    Kneeling down, Annel jerked her travel suitcase out from under the bed. When she returned home this evening, she already intended to pack her things for her business trip. She even prepared some of her clothes and put them in neat piles on the dresser. But, as often happens, unforeseen circumstances interfered with the plans. Professional costs, ignorance of which did not relieve one from responsibility for their implementation.“Your bedroom is so small,” the boss commented, shamelessly entering the room. That's someone who definitely didn't need an invitation. He stopped in front of the desk, and also the dressing table, and concentrated his gaze on her family photograph. “Now it’s clear why you’re so cute.” Your father looks familiar... isn't he a composer by any chance?— Yes, he is the author of many soundtracks, but not so popular that someone would recognize him if they met him on the street or saw him in a photograph.— I know many film composers due to my musical interests.H

  • Sociopath in Love    15

    With the arrival of winter, the nights became longer. Dawn came late, and sunset crept up unnoticed. For the last week, Annelle left the house at seven in the morning and got to work in the dark. I returned to them late in the evening in a company car.“Mrs. Lagvuri, good morning,” the driver opened the door for her and politely greeted her. The third driver she's hired this week. As it turns out, the boss is not so easy to please.- Good, Lorenzo.Previous highly qualified employees were able to stay on Kurt Naper’s personal staff for no more than a couple of days, simply unable to withstand the harsh tests that their new boss generously bestowed upon them, and did not forgive the slightest flaws. The completely green guy, who had just graduated from the Higher School of Personal Drivers, had been holding his position for four days already. Annelle hired him out of sheer nuts, after the director fired the last driver for not thinking to meet him at the car with an umbrella in the rai

  • Sociopath in Love    14

    She quietly tapped her thin finger to the beat of the music on the strap of the bag folded on her lap. And with a detached gaze she glanced at the landscape passing by outside the car window. I had to try to impose my company on her. But even when she agreed, as soon as they entered the city, she again began to ask to be dropped off at the nearest metro entrance.It was exciting, pleasing, and at the same time a little frustrating at the coolness with which Annalia reacted to him. She did not devour him with her eyes, like other women, did not respond to attempts to flirt with her. And the more indifferent she behaved, the more she scattered his interest.“Turn right here, please,” she said laconically, as usual, emphatically polite and strictly to the point.“What a dense area,” Kurt said, his gaze sweeping over the empty sidewalks near the old, repeatedly restored houses. — Isn’t it scary to live here?- Against. I find this place very cozy and, thanks to its decent neighbors, safe.

  • Sociopath in Love    13

    The first person to learn about Annelle’s new position was, naturally, Julia. It couldn’t have turned out differently - she was waiting for her right in front of the door of the executive director’s office. And she pounced with her questions, both business and personal, literally after a couple of meters walked in impatient silence.The entire time that Annelle was packing her things, her friend was chattering incessantly. Basically, I admired and sincerely rejoiced at her luck. He fell silent for a while only when the gloomy Mr. Bernhard appeared in the hallway. As if as a joke, he tried to ask why he had displeased Mrs. Lagvuri. In the same tone, he mentioned that no secretary had ever run away from him so quickly. And he clearly wished him success in his new place, and then turned around and finally noticed the presence of a red-haired minx on the sofa. Because it was impossible to call her anything else, given the position in which she was sitting.-What kind of wonderful creature

  • Sociopath in Love    12

    The drinking binge that took place at night could not but affect Annelle’s morning meetings for work. My head was pounding from the hangover and lack of sleep, so much so that even two aspirin tablets were of no help. The only consolation was the almost professional makeup applied by a friend who spent the night on the sofa. Although she herself painted quite brightly, preferring dark shades of shadows shaded almost to the eyebrows, and long arrows peeking out from behind extended eyelashes, she also had a keen eye for the most delicate nude images.Annelle went to work alone. Julia showed up to her in only a short shirt and a translucent peignoir, over which she threw a leather cloak. And since in the morning there was not a single decent thing for her in someone else’s wardrobe - by “decent” one should mean “provocatively sexy” - she decided to stop by home before work to change clothes.Annelle arrived at the executive director's office five minutes before the appointed time. She r

  • Sociopath in Love    11

    The wind ruffled her loose hair as Annelle stood in front of a glass forty-story building with an empty coffee glass, her head raised to the sky. The blinding rays of the dawn sun slid across the mirror-like surface, now peeking out and now hiding behind heavy cumulus clouds. They either illuminated the silhouette of the building, immersing it in an aura of brilliance and chic, or returned it to gray and dull everyday life. And this play of light looked like a visual demonstration of ups and downs, just like in her life, in which another eclipse occurred.Starting today, major changes awaited the employees of their company. The group responsible for the reorganization should show up in the first half of the day. The performance of all departments without exception will be analyzed, every candy wrapper will be carefully examined under a magnifying glass, and employees, from directors to cleaners, will be required to undergo recertification. And as soon as the data collection is over, h

  • Sociopath in Love    10

    Apart from difficulties on the personal front, she was completely satisfied with her current life. Since her immediate boss was a close relative, she did not have to fend off harassment from management and even hide the affairs typical of many directors, thanks to her uncle’s respectable and loyal character. A salary of a tidy sum allowed her not only to live on her own in a rented apartment, but also to treat herself from time to time with expensive branded items, and put some of it into a savings account.And there seemed to be no signs of trouble, life flowed at a measured pace. Suddenly, thunder rumbled out of the clear sky and bad news loomed on the horizon.- Uncle, you realize that the longer you are silent, the more nervous I get? — Annelle asked excitedly, squeezing the glass sides of the ice bottle in her fingers.“Then I won’t beat around the bush,” he smiled sadly. He took a symbolic sip of tonic, which he barely moistened his throat with, and casually threw out just three

  • Sociopath in Love    9.1

    She filled her palms with ice water, pressed them to her face and froze. A pleasant coolness slid from the temples along the spine to the bare shins, covered with goose bumps. Nothing invigorated her in the morning like a contrast shower, but she didn’t have the time or energy for it today. And the day was already long and terribly tiring.Opening the door of the wall cabinet, Annelle took out a container with colored lenses and, with a movement perfected to the point of automaticity, placed one on the eyeball. She blinked her eyes and looked appraisingly at her reflection. From the other side of the mirror, a shaggy-haired maiden with sky-blue eyes, which wonderfully set off the purple circles under them, looked at her.However, for a person who had slept only two hours in the last 24 hours, she still looked good. Just think, the face is sallow in color and the look is drowsy, which has never happened to anyone. Small details that can be easily covered by makeup.It took her half an

DMCA.com Protection Status