Chapter 3 - Blair's Room
"Kahlen?" Kahlen spun around at the call of her name, her heart beating fast. She came down from her startled state when she realized it was Greer. She wasn't able to say anything, really, just stare at Greer while her head spun in circles. Greer cranked his head around, starting to observe the room they were in. His eyes widened.
"Wow." He voiced, walking around the bed to the window seat. "This the master bedroom? It's nice." Greer admired, nodding approvingly at the view outside the window. He walked past Kahlen, hardly noticing the mirror she had been gazing into. He entered a little alcove with Kahlen trailing behind him. When Greer walked into the alcove, he thought he would've found a small closet, but a large walk-in greeted him. To his right, there were many empty shelves for shoes and clothes. It was so large he estimated that the entire family could stand in it. Straight ahe cdad, there was a closed door. He continued forward, opening the door with a loud creak and a bit of curiosity building up inside him. The thrill ended when the door revealed nothing much except a large-sized master bathroom. It had two sinks on a long counter along with a caddy-cornered shower.
"Hmm." Greer nodded. "Not too shabby." He turned around again to head out and jumped slightly when he saw Kahlen. "I forgot you were behind me." He mentioned, noticing her silence. "You okay?" He exited the alcove, blinking at the sudden daylight that the room cast upon them.
"Yeah, fine." Kahlen answered, shaking her head. She rubbed her hands together. "It's just a bit cold in here. And the house is so overwhelming."
Greer's face lit up like a child's. "I know, isn't it excellent?!" He exclaimed gleefully. "I'll go check the thermostat." Greer nearly skipped out of the room. He felt so accomplished for finding the perfect house. Nothing could be wrong with this house. It didn't seem possible. Well, aside from it being a tad on the chilly side, but that was expected when you lived in Canada, wasn't it?
Blair had finished exploring the bottom level of the house, taking a liking to the room directly of the kitchen. It had a large piano in the corner and two big, brown comfy couches. The lighting was dim, and she liked that, especially since the walls were splashed with a deep crimson color. There was one large vertical window that looked out into the woods, but it had a thick Venetian blind covering her site of it for now. Blair supposed she should leave it now, however, because if the downstairs was this beautiful, the upstairs must be just as stunning. She wandered into the large, open hallway and was about to put her foot on the first step of the wide staircase when her niece and nephew came barreling around the corner and past Blair up the staircase. Bridgette punched Jay on the way up in attempt to get ahead of him.
"No punching your brother on the staircase!" Blair shouted, trying her shot at discipline. "Or, ever, for that matter!" But by the time Blair had added the necessary statement, the kids had peeled around the corner upstairs in search of the bedrooms they wanted. She began to climb up the staircase, holding tightly onto the banister. Knowing her clumsiness, Blair would miss a step and fall, or something along those lines. Her apprehension faded, though, when her eyes drove to a clear French door sticking out like a sore thumb straight ahead at the top of the staircase. Her feet seemed to work on their own up the rest of the staircase, and she got to the top, standing in front of the balcony. The wood creaked beneath her. The door in front of her had a think shade over it on the other side, but she could see the outline of the room through it. She could see a bed against the wall and a bureau opposite it. Blair's curiosity got the best of her and she put her hand on the gray, curling door handle, pushing it downward and stepping into the room. She would normally have let Bridgette or Jay see if they wanted the room, but Blair felt drawn to it. She was drawn to it for a good reason, she discovered. The bed was a bit small, but that was beside the fact. The bureau was large and would definitely hold all of her clothes. The ceilings were nearly as high as the ones downstairs, if that was possible. But, best of all, there were two doors identical to the one she entered the room in. Two windows accompanied it. Blair could see straight through them, and her mind nearly exploded when she saw the balcony. She had always wanted a balcony outside of her room, ever since she was little. She walked slowly towards it, the hardwood floor rough against her feet. She reached out her hand, grasping the handle in it to turn it and open the doors wide, but it didn't budge. Blair tried again, yanking the door towards her. But they didn't moved. She figured they must be locked, for there was a small skeleton keyhole below the handle. She turned around, wandering carelessly over to the bureau to see if the key was hidden in one of its drawers. She was about to open one and find out when a small knock sounded to her right. She turned to see Kahlen standing in the doorway, knocking gently on the doorframe.
"Hey." Blair greeted, abandoning her task and walking up to her sister.
"I see you found your room." Kahlen observed, her arms crossed. Her eyes passed briefly over the room. Blair nodded, motioning to the French doors.
"Balcony."
"I see." Kahlen nodded, remembering Blair's past obsession with having a balcony outside her room. "Where're the kids?"
Blair smirked. "They trampled past me up the stairs and," Blair pointed to the right, "went that way." Kahlen followed her gaze and began to turn around to find Bridgette and Jay. "What about Greer?" Blair questioned before her sister walked away.
Kahlen kept walking, but shouted back to Blair, "He's checking the thermostat or something!"
Blair shrugged. It wasn't cold or anything but she guessed Greer had to find something to occupy himself, considering he was usually doing something or other. Blair was about to trail after her sister to see what her niece and nephew were up to when she heard a scuffling noise behind her. She rotated on her heels to view the room, and noticed something she hadn't before. There was a door to her right, next to the bureau. Blair wasn't quite sure how she had missed it before, but she dismissed the thought, moving towards it. There seemed to be noise on the other side of it, like someone movie around. Instead of being like a typical horror movie character, Blair first put her ear against the wood door to see if she could identify the sound. But just as she did so, the strange sound disappeared. She removed her head from against the door and stood back a second, waiting to hear it again. But there was only silence from the other side of the door. Assuming that it was a closet, Blair reached forward and pulled it open towards her. She expected to see a coat rack or shelves, but instead, it opened to another room. She stepped through the door, the floor going from hardwood to green carpet. Blair guessed that it was the master bedroom, it was about two times bigger than the previous bedroom. She glanced around, seeing a bed to the left of her and an even larger bureau than hers on the wall to the left of her. There was a cute little window seat looking out the same side as the balcony. She moved her gaze to the wall opposite her, and that's when she saw it. A beautiful mirror set into the wall. Blair stared blankly into it at herself. As she looked at her reflection, something felt different about it. She wasn't quite sure what it was, maybe it was just the mirror. But…somehow the reflection looking back at her seemed like a complete stranger. Blair couldn't place it exactly, but there was definitely something unusual about it. She shrugged, dismissing the thought and turning away. She was about to walk out of the room when she felt a sudden rush of paranoia plow through her. Blair's feet picked up their pace and nearly flew across the carpet and out the door to the hall. Blair stopped to catch her breath, realizing that it was ridiculous to feel threatened to turn her back on a mirror. But a sense of fear was still churning deep inside her that just wouldn't leave.
A hand closed around her shoulder and Blair screamed, not expecting the sudden touch. She turned around to see Greer's eyes widen. He threw his hands up in the air defensively.
"Whoa! Sorry, Blair, I didn't mean to scare you." Greer apologized, dropping his hands to his sides. Blair, embarrassed, tucked her short hair quickly behind her ears. She folded her arms together.
"Um, it's okay… I mean, I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm so jumpy." Blair admitted timidly, breathing silently to slow down her heart.
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm running down to get some groceries at the town store. I couldn't find Kahlen, would you tell her for me?"
"Sure." Blair nodded. "I think she's with the kids somewhere."
Greer glanced around, then lowered his voice. "It could just be me, but I kind of noticed Kahlen acting a bit off. Anything wrong?"
Blair shook her head, still recovering from her startle. "No, she seemed fine to me." She shrugged casually.
Greer shrugged also. "It's probably just me, then. Besides, I guess this whole thing is a bit overwhelming, huh?"
Blair smiled, a half-smile, really, Blair was never known to fully smile. "Just a bit." She laughed.
Greer patted her on the shoulder, backing up to head downstairs. "If you get bored, you could try to figure out how to hook up the cable." Greer laughed, winking. The sounds of his footsteps down the stairs echoed up the hallway.