Addisin stretched, blinking her eyes several times against the sunlight streaming into the room, before groaning and pulling the covers up over her head.
"Wait I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the couch last night." She mumbled poking her head back out from under the covers, screaming when she came face to face with the toy Yorkie that had been on the stairs yesterday.
"I swear I never touched that." She said out loud to no one as she threw the covers back and scrambled out of the bed.
"And I know I didn't get in that bed naked." She muttered putting her hands on her hips as her eyes landed on the shreds of her shirt on the floor by her bed.
"What the fuck!" She screeched picking up the remains of her shirt and hugging it to her chest.
"I don't know who you are or when you were in here but you owe me a damn new shirt!" She screamed throwing the remains of her beloved shirt down and kicking them across the floor. "And some new panties!" She added moving toward the bathroom. She showered quickly and dressed, before picking up the remains of her shirt and heading down the stairs. If this was the clause in the contest she would put up with it as long as she wasn't violated. She wasn't shy about her body and if showing it to some strangers trying to freak her out during the night by stripping her was going to let her keep the house then game fucking on bitches.
"I didn't touch that." She said crossing her arms, seeing the plate the sushi had been on sitting empty on the counter. "And who ate my brownies!" She shouted throwing the pieces of the shirt into the trash can.
"I hope you enjoyed them at least." She muttered shaking her head as she packed what was left of them into a plastic bag, putting the plate into the dishwasher and starting it, before picking up the bag and heading out to her car. She was going to tell David that she wasn't the one that moved the dog and ate the sushi and hope he believed her even though she knew it would be far fetched. But he was working for the people putting the contest on so surely he would know that the other people had done those things.
Addi drove to the small town, playing over her speech in her head as she parked in the lot of the law firm and climbed out of her car, taking the bag of brownies with her.
"Hi um, is there any way I could see Mr. Otunga please?" She asked the black haired receptionist whose name plate read A.J Lee.
"Have you got an appointment my little English muffin?" A.J. asked smiling at Addi brightly.
"No I haven't. It's sort of an emergency." Addi mumbled trying not to laugh at the nick name she had just been given.
"Hang on crumpet let me see if he's free." The woman said skipping down the hall and disappearing through one of the office doors. "Go right on through that door." She said coming back out a minute later and point Addisin down the hallway.
"Thank you." Addi said smiling as she moved down the hall and into the office.
"Addisin!" David smiled at seeing the woman make it through the night.
"Good morning." Addi smiled taking David's hand when he extended it and laughing as he kissed her knuckles again.
"What brings you by this morning?" He asked her motioning to the seat across from his desk.
"Well I brought you brownies." She smiled setting the bag down on his desk.
"Well thank you sweetie." He said opening the bag and taking one of the brownies out, his eyebrows shooting up as he bit into it. "Well I can see why you own a bakery." He said quickly eating the rest of the brownie. "How was your first night in the house?"
"Well that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Does anyone else have a key to the house or…anything?" She asked slowly.
"You and I are the only ones with keys. Why do you ask?" David asked her raising an eyebrow.
"The toy dog was moved and the sushi was gone and I didn't touch either of them." She said, cringing at how dumb that sounded.
"I see. Where did the dog end up if you don't mind me asking?" David said taking a second brownie and eating it quickly.
"It was in the bed with me." She said and made another face at how that sounded.
"I see. Did you see the knife anywhere?" The lawyer asked closing the bag and putting on the far corner of his desk. "Those are dangerous by the way." He laughed.
"No I don't recall seeing a switchblade anywhere last night." She said slowly thinking about how her shirt had been sliced.
"Hang on just a second let me make a phone call, but I believe you didn't move those things." David told her picking up the phone on his desk.
"Yes she's here." David said laughing when a voice spoke on the other end of the line, and she tried her best not to eavesdrop, but she couldn't help hearing her name, they, get past, parentage, naked and kitchen come through the line before David hung up.
"Well it appears that you have been invited to touch the dog and the knife already, so you don't have to worry about those rules any longer." He told her eyeing the bag sitting on the corner of his desk once more.
"Um. Ok. Would it be alright if I put a security chain on the door?" She asked shifting a little uncomfortably in the chair.
"Why would you need to do that?" David asked finally giving in and taking a third brownie out of the bag.
"Well the house is kind of in the middle of nowhere and I'm a woman staying in it alone. And I'm not exactly huge as you can see." She said noting the corner of David's lips turn up just slightly when she said she was alone.
"Of course of course. If you need to do that to feel safe then yes it's alright. There are three access points in the house, the front door the back door and there's a third door in the basement. Just remember the rule and do not be down there after dark." He told her, eyeing her small frame while taking a forth brownie and devouring it. "I do hope you win that contest so I can keep getting these from you." He laughed.
"I hope so too. That house is amazing." She said smiling. "And I would love to open a second bakery here." Addi finished as she stood up and left the office waving to A.J. as she left the building and headed for the little store again to get chains for the doors. She found them quickly, got a package of ground beef to make lasagna, and turned for the front of the store but a candle display caught her eye and she headed toward it. She found a lilac scented candle and added it to her basket before heading to the checkout.
"Hi…Ohh goodness. Did you not find the house yesterday sweetie?" The woman behind the register said, surprise written all over her face as she saw Addi standing there.
"No I found it, the house is beautiful. I think I'm going to enjoy staying there." Addisin said smiling at the woman as she scanned the lock and the candle, handing over the card to pay for them.
"Well I do hope you are right." The woman said smiling brightly for the first time since Addisin left the store yesterday, as watched the young woman walk out of the store to her car.
"Home sweet home." Addi smirked as she pulled into the driveway 20 minutes later and headed into the house. She stopped in her tracks and blinked a few times as she entered the kitchen not believing what she was looking at. The wax paper the brownies had been sitting on was shredded on the counter, every cabinet was open and the contents shuffled as if someone was looking for something, and the bowl she had used yesterday was sitting half full on the island, the bag of flour pushed over and spilling onto the floor as if someone had started to make something, got frustrated and slapped the bag over before giving up and walking away.
"What the actual fuck." She mumbled to herself, putting the bag down on a clean part of the island, and rounding the other side stopping again at the sight of a set of what looked like very large combat boot prints walking toward the basement door in the flour that had dusted onto the floor.
"Ok, let's see you get past this." She growled grabbing one of the security chains out of the bag and digging around until she found a drill on one of the bottom shelves in the pantry before heading down the steps to the basement.
"Alright this is a little weird." Addisin muttered stopping on the last step and taking in the basement. It was empty except for what looked like two glass rooms on opposite sides of the floor, the larger being on the right, the washer and dryer sitting next to it near the door leading out. The glass had what looked to be Latin writing all over it and she couldn't help the shiver that ran though her body. She had seen that move and she knew how it ended…and what happened in between the beginning and the end.
"But that was just a movie. Maybe the guys doing the contest have a sick sense of humor." She wondered out loud taking the first step toward the door to put the chain on it. She managed to get the chain attached relatively easily, ignoring the feeling like she was being watched, chalking it up to her mind freaking her out because of the glass panes.
She straightened up, sliding the chain into place and locking the door securely, gripping the drill in her hands and got up her courage to walk over to the smaller of the cubes. It looked like there was a complex set of locks on the door of it and the name Jacob was scrawled across the door. She reached her hand up to the glass, jumping, turning and gripping the drill in both hands when she heard a loud thump behind her.
"The house was settling." She whispered moving slowly over to the other, larger cube, looking for anything readable in the glass but finding nothing other then a symbol that looked like a shield etched in the door. The door looked to lock from the inside on this cube which she though was rather odd. She turned to go back up the steps but jerked back around when a flash of red caught her eye in the corner of the room.
"What the fuck are my panties doing in there?" She muttered frowning, and pushing slightly on the door but finding it locked. "Ohh well whatever. I hope you enjoy them." She growled heading back up the stairs.