IC - 4 - And Then There Was One - Shirley

[Mephistophilis]

While Kyle and Harry are rushing back up, Shirley pauses on the stairs to listen out for Louis. As the other two's feet thunder up the staircase, Shirley hears a crash and a thump. The noise seems to have come from the Dining Room.

[LiviaBlue]

"I'll take a look in the dining room really quick, I think Louis is in there." Shirley calls out for the boys that went up the stairs and then makes her way to the room where she heard the sound coming from.

"Hey, Louis, you alright?" she asks once she's in the doorway.

[Mephistophilis]

In the dining room she can't see any sign of Louis. The yellow candle stub still flickers on the wooden table, a misshapen mass of wax. But around it there are fragments of plaster and looking up at the ceiling she can see that there's a small hole, the size of a foot, and a faint and flickering light is filtering through.

[LiviaBlue]

Pretty certain that Louis couldn't have fallen from the ceiling, Shirley turns away from the doorway of the dining room.

She pokes her head into the room right across still looking for their missing friend. The more time passes without a sign of him, the more worried she gets.

If nothing stands out in the parlor, she checks if the front door is open before heading towards the back of the house.

"Louis!"

[Mephistophilis]

Crossing from the dining room to the parlour, Shirley moves from a barely impenetrable gloom to almost complete darkness. The only illumination is the slightest glimmer from the candles Roger has left in the hall. As far as she can make out the parlour is as she left it, dead racoon on the floor. Knapsack on the mantlepiece over the fireplace, and beside it the can and stick that Louis was carrying earlier.

On the way out Shirley checks the front door, it's locked fast. Peering out through the cracks and gaps in the wood and boards she can see the storm is now raging. Rain is coming down in torrents, lashing against the door and windows, trickling through the gaps, pooling on the floor. Occasional flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder illuminate the whole front porch and some of the yard beyond. Shirley isn't sure if it's just an afterimage from the lightning but it almost seems like there's a figure, way out by the line of the fence. She waits a moment for the next flash of lightning, but the figure is gone. Probably just the usual flourescent retinal images caused by bright light. This lightning seems to be doing weird things to her vision. Now it's dark again there seem to be some odd, random lights on the lawn. At first glance they look a bit like floating candle flames. She blinks her eyes and rubs them and the images go away.

Shirley turns and walks down the hallway past the plants and battered clock, 'Louis?' There's no answer. No light except a flicker from the candle in the living room.

[Mephistophilis]

As she stands in the corridor looking around, Roger bounds down the stairs, carrying one of his horrible little candles in one hand. He pushes past Shirley, just pausing for a second to stare at her, before disappearing into the kitchen. He doesn't say anything.

[LiviaBlue]

Shirley huffs in frustration as Roger pushes past her. She stops to look in the parlor before turning to look in the kitchen, lingering just outside the doorway by the staircase.

She was starting to become genuinely concerned about Louis.

[Mephistophilis]

Hanging around by the open kitchen door, at the foot of the stairs, Shirley sees that Roger has stuck his little candle onto the countertop and he is now clambering down off the side, having tucked something into his waistband. He turns and catches sight of her, 'What're you looking at dick-weed?' He's got a weird gleam in his eye, and he's looking even rougher than ever, like he's been in a fight or something.

Did you mean look in the parlour - which you just did - or look in the living room?

[LiviaBlue]

Yes, I ment the living room, not the parlor.

"Nothing," Shirley stammers at Roger trying not to stare at his messed up face. She considers asking him if he saw Louis, but decides against it, not wanting to risk his anger.

[Mephistophilis]

Shirley steps away from Roger who snatches up his candle and pushes past her into the hallway.

She peaks into the living room and looks around. Roger's candle still sputters on the shelf amongst the dozen miniatures and figurines of cats, foxes, birds, deer, and other animals. There's something odd about the top shelf. It takes Shirley a few seconds to process it. That stuffed cat. It's not there anymore.

That's a SAN check and 0/1 loss for noticing the stuffed cat is gone. Did someone take it? Did it move by itself?

[Mephistophilis]

There's a sound coming from the direction of the front of the house. A dull thud. A thumping sound. Like someone is pounding on the door.

[LiviaBlue]

SAN (63%):
d%
Notice Stuff (60%):
d%

Shirley looks at the spot where the stuffed cat used to be, wondering if Roger took it for whatever reason when the banging on the door startles her. She wasn't about to go answer it and with still no sign of Louis in sight, she rushes back up the stairs not wanting to be alone anymore.

"Guys! Louis is not downstairs," she calls with a worried tone.

[Mephistophilis]

Shirley is moving here.