Chapter
seventy-five:
The sun had set
less than an hour before, and he and Jenna were the first ones to arrive from
the hotel.
He held the door
open for Jenna, who stepped inside and dropped her bags on the floor, the sound
echoing throughout the house.
“Welcome to the ‘House
on Haunted Hill’.” She muttered under her breath.
“Don’t call it
that.”
Jenna shrugged, and looked up at the wall which had been thoroughly cleaned and
freshly painted, and the windows had been replaced.
“Come on, Jen.”
He attempted to lead her away. “It will be easier to forget about it if you
don’t dwell on it.”
“It’s kind of
hard not to.”
“I know… look,
why don’t I help you bring your bags upstairs and maybe we can do something to
get our minds off it.”
“Like what? We’re
not allowed to leave ‘The Bates Motel’, remember?” She asked with a slight
sarcasm.
He sighed. “I
know. It sucks.”
“Well, then why
don’t you go out, hmm? You could go clubbing, maybe meet a few girls, get some action? I’ll be fine here by myself-“ She attempted.
“No
way. You know I’d get
in shit for that. Look, why don’t we break in the pool table? You can beat me
at pool a few times.”
“No, that’s way
too easy.”
He laughed.
“You’re sure? I’ve been practicing…”
“Alright. If you think you can beat me. Give me a
minute?”
“Sure.” He
locked the front door and made his way into the small room at the back of the
house which had been set up into a game room, complete with a pool table.
He set up the
balls, put an excess amount of chalk on his cue and waited ages for Jen. When
she didn’t arrive, he set off to look for her, fearing she had attempted to
escape.
He found her
standing in the kitchen next to the main telephone in the house.
“Jen? You okay?”
She drew in a
deep breath and sighed heavily. “Six messages, none of them are from Luke.”
“Was he supposed
to call?”
Jen nodded
slowly, clearly upset. “He promised he would.”
“Maybe you can
call him…” He tested.
Jenna shook his
head and smiled, putting on a show even he could tell was fabricated. “No, he’s
probably just busy. I’m sure he’ll call. Come on; let me beat your skinny ass
at pool.”