Wandering Eyes
After grabbing his phone and responding to texts from his mom and Gabi, Reiner decided to investigate the basement. On the map, Reiner saw that two staircases to the basement were drawn; One through the kitchen pantry and one underneath the main staircase he took upstairs. Reiner saw that Armin drew a big red “X” on the kitchen stairs with the note “Rotten” on it. Reiner went towards the main staircase and searched for the door on the side. It was at the back of the staircase base with a smiling devil spray painted on the side, almost as if it was peeking out. Reiner opened the door with a hard jerk and shone his phone down the stairs. They looked stable enough but not something he’d run on anytime soon. Each stair creaked as he walked down to the basement. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Reiner saw that the floor was made of dirt. The basement looked almost as big as the living room. It was completely empty. “It must have been used as an icehouse.” Reiner thought to himself. He panned his phone over the floor before something caught his eye. There was a discolored spot in the dirt in the far west corner of the basement. Reiner walked closer to get a better look at it. The spot was a bit bigger than a MacBook and almost rust colored. Before Reiner could investigate further a strange noise broke through the silence.
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP
Were those…
Footsteps?
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP
Reiner bolted to the stairs. The door was still open and it didn’t look like there was anyone near the door. Reiner went up the stairs as quickly and carefully as possible. When he reached the top there was nobody in eyeshot. He raced to the window and looked outside. There were no cars parked outside. Somebody could have walked from the highway and sneaked in.
THUMP
THUMP
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They were definitely footsteps. Reiner went up the stairs to the second floor. He looked down the hallways. Everything looked the same as it did an hour ago. Reiner decided to look in all the rooms to see if anyone was hiding.
THUMP
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It sounded like someone was walking right above him. Reiner walked further down the hallway to see if he could see anything. At the end of the hallway, there was a staircase that led to a door that was about ten feet off the ground. The stairs were covered with dust and there were do signs that anyone walked up or down them in a while.
THUMP
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THUMP
Reiner cautiously put his foot on the first stair to see if it could support his weight. With a small creak, he slowly walked up the staircase. The doorknob was almost shining under his flashlight. The door looked like it was freshly painted. Reiner cautiously grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it. The door swung open without a sound. Reiner peeked inside and guided his flashlight through the attic. There were beams supporting the roof. Moonlight was shining through the windows showing large objects that were covered with white sheets. It was bright enough that Reiner could turn off his flashlight. Large dark boxes stacked on top of each other in a corner caught Reiner’s eye. As he walked closer, he saw that they weren’t boxes, rather engraved slabs of granite. Reiner wiped his hand over the nearest slab, there was a name and date engraved on it. Reiner looked at the others and saw they had engraving on them too. These were the old gravestones of the Hoover family before they were exhumed and moved to the private crypt where they rested to this day. Reiner moved towards the other sheet covered objects and carefully removed them. Under them were china vases, paintings, a few mannequins with dresses on them, wooden chests, books, furniture, and other miscellaneous items. Reiner was surprised with the condition of these items. They looked like they could have been professionally restored in a museum. Reiner couldn’t understand why Marco’s family didn’t remove them from the attic. There were a sturdy set of stairs and surely they were safer in some sort of vault than the attic of an abandoned house. Reiner decided to take pictures of the items to show Marco when he picked him up in a few hours. Reiner put the sheets back over the items to keep them safe from vandals and the elements until they could be moved. Reiner checked his phone for the time, 3:47 AM. He had a few more hours to explore the house and get some rest before Marco picked him up. When Reiner looked up from his phone, something unusual caught his eye. The back wall. It was fluttering? It was like that one chick from Junji Ito that had a dissection fetish. That panel still gave him the creeps. Reiner turned his flashlight on for more light. That’s when he realized the wall was actually another sheet. How could he have missed that? Reiner saw that the entire wall was covered with the sheet. What could be so big that it had taken up the entire wall? Reiner propped his phone up on one of the vases and firmly tugged the sheet. Reiner’s eyes widened when he saw what was under it. It was a painting of the entire Hoover family. The painting was so well done it was like the family was sitting right in front of him. Reiner scanned the painting for an artist’s signature on the painting to see if the artist had done any other work. His train of thought was derailed when he laid eyes on a figure in the top right corner. The eldest son, Bertholdt. His eyes were painted a forest green and looked like they were staring into his soul. His skin was almost like chocolate. His raven hair was neatly styled and looked so real, that Reiner could lean in and touch it. He was wearing a teal sweater with a white collared shirt underneath. The painting couldn’t have been finished at least a few months to a year before the murders. He looked so happy for someone that was about to die. Reiner shook his head and tore his eyes away from Bertholdt. What was he doing? He was ogling at a painting of a guy that’s been dead for 100 years. Reiner quickly took a picture of the painting and sped walked out of the attic. Reiner took one last glance over his shoulder at the painting. He could have sworn those eyes were following him as he shut the door.