Gunnar had always had a good laugh whenever he'd seen that little message, but now he only smiled a bit sadly before going inside. The inside of the Carter cabin was not what anyone would expect. It was carpeted, and furnished like something you would think of when walking into a house in the city.
There was a large stereo on a table by the stairs, and the walls were painted a light cream color to match the carpet. The thing Gunnar first went to, though, was the table that held the photographs. He ran his left hand over the table as he passed, stopping to look at one of the larger pictures. It was a group shot, like the rest of them, but this one held a special attraction for him.
It was the five Carter kids; Cain and Ness, side by side as always, Conrad in the back, and Shara and Raven in the front. But, what made this photo so special to Gunnar was the fact that the "extended family" was also included. His older sister Katherine was sitting next to Conrad, her arm around his shoulders and her head leaned against his. Fritz himself was sitting next to Cain, grinning like an idiot. Devon sat next to Raven, smiling at Ulysses, who was taking the picture.
Gunnar turned away from the happy picture, not wanting to be reminded anymore of the life he had been forced to leave behind. He went to the stairs, taking a last look at the walls covered with photos of the Carter family. Gunnar took the stairs slowly, in no real hurry to complete this mission. When he did reach the top, Gunnar opened the foremost door on the right first.
This had been Conrad's room, since he was the oldest. Conrad was the only one besides Ulysses who had his own room, although he'd never objected to Shara coming and asking to sleep in his bed whenever she had a bad dream. The Carters, with the exception of Raven, were people people. They liked to have guests over.
Walking through the empty room, Gunnar was struck with a profound feeling of wrongness. Conrad's room had always been a kind of sanctuary for Fritz, since Conrad wasn't nearly as boisterous as the twins. Of course, Conrad had just as much personality as any of them.
As Gunnar walked on, he looked at the pictures Conrad kept on his desk. Family photos, and a picture of Katherine decorated the top shelf of his desk. On the desk itself was a brass model of Big Ben that Conrad had bought for himself during the time that he and his family had been in England.
Fritz had only gotten secondhand accounts of that trip, but from what he had heard, Conrad had been the one who was most excited about that trip. Looking around at the empty room one last time, Gunnar sighed softly and walked out, making sure to close the door behind him.
The next room he came to was the one Ness and Cain shared. Opening that door, Gunnar stepped inside. He wasn't really hoping he would find Ness wandering around in his old room, but Darkon had given him an order to search for him. Gunnar was just using the time to do a little heavy-duty reminiscing.
He didn't spend nearly as much time in their room as in Conrad's, but only because the silence was starting to make him crazy. He decided to skip Shara and Raven's room, since he was starting to feel trapped in the house. The last room was on the opposite wall from the others, and belonged to Ulysses.
Fritz had been fond of the Carter family patriarch, and had always imagined his own father to be a lot like him. He'd never get to know, of course, since his father had died of cancer when Fritz was only two. The left corner of Gunnar's mouth lifted slightly as he thought of what an ironic twist that was. Marie Carter, who had been Ulysses' beloved wife and the mother of his five children, had died giving birth to Raven.
Life was just kind of funny sometimes.
