Johnny ignores the remark, though it riles him a little, the smooth, sickeningly sweet way this guy talks, so sanctimonious and so heavy on the sort of professorial social grace. Fuck him.
Still, there's something about having him at his back. He feels a little staid, like just running off, trying to lose him in the house isn't an option. There's something pinning him down here, and he's not sure how to wriggle out. A situation familiar enough.
He steps toward the nearest door on the adjacent wall and tries the handle. It swings open without hesitation. The next room looks just as pleasant as this one. Maybe Niall was wrong. Or just lying to him.
He steps through, and immediately, no, it's different, not at all the room he just saw. He stops short, his breath catching, as the room shifts from an elegant sort of hallway to something grim and dark and coated thickly in dust and cobwebs. The lights are all burned out, the only illumination is coming from a dim window on the other side of the hall. There are several doors here too, but each one is boarded shut.
He takes stock. Three doors along the right wall, probably more bedrooms. A smaller door, maybe a bathroom, to his immediate left; before them, a stairwell plunging down into the shadows, a rotting bannister fencing it around the top, looking like it wouldn't keep anyone from tumbling into the abyss if they were to lean on it too heavily. Beyond that a fourth bedroom door.
Too many choices. Johnny is frozen for a moment, staring at it all, no idea where to turn. So far there doesn't seem to be anything dangerous here, and nothing so gruesomely personal, but the ominous air hangs over him just the same.
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Still, there's something about having him at his back. He feels a little staid, like just running off, trying to lose him in the house isn't an option. There's something pinning him down here, and he's not sure how to wriggle out. A situation familiar enough.
He steps toward the nearest door on the adjacent wall and tries the handle. It swings open without hesitation. The next room looks just as pleasant as this one. Maybe Niall was wrong. Or just lying to him.
He steps through, and immediately, no, it's different, not at all the room he just saw. He stops short, his breath catching, as the room shifts from an elegant sort of hallway to something grim and dark and coated thickly in dust and cobwebs. The lights are all burned out, the only illumination is coming from a dim window on the other side of the hall. There are several doors here too, but each one is boarded shut.
He takes stock. Three doors along the right wall, probably more bedrooms. A smaller door, maybe a bathroom, to his immediate left; before them, a stairwell plunging down into the shadows, a rotting bannister fencing it around the top, looking like it wouldn't keep anyone from tumbling into the abyss if they were to lean on it too heavily. Beyond that a fourth bedroom door.
Too many choices. Johnny is frozen for a moment, staring at it all, no idea where to turn. So far there doesn't seem to be anything dangerous here, and nothing so gruesomely personal, but the ominous air hangs over him just the same.