In someone's home

"Are you okay?" Monty asked confused

"I-I'm okay." I stuttered, is he that unwell to not see how sketchy this all looks? I guess I'm the only one who could save us at this point, I thought to myself as I cautiously walked towards the stairs to follow Jose. I tightened my grip on his hand as I looked up from the first step.

"Please, come up madam. Don't worry, it's safe." Jose urged looking at us from the top of the stairs

I responded with a nod and carefully took the first step through the flight of stairs, the old wood squeaking from under my feet with every step that we took. Monty was quietly behind me, "Phew." I sighed in relief as we got through the first set of stairs without it crumbling under us.

As I turned to see the second set of stairs from the landing my feet felt heavy and the sight paralyzed me as I saw how old and grim the last step would lead to.

It was still dark but Jose was now holding a small oil lamp with fire dancing inside it as he carelessly held it while fumbling with a set of keys making the lamp shake from side to side

"Is there a problem madam?" the old man suddenly asked making me jump out of my skin, I forgot he was with us

"N-No" I had to show that I wasn't suspicious of anything I was seeing or else Monty and I would be doomed. "Knowing too much can kill" as I read in a book before

I mindfully took a step and another calculating any advantage points for us to escape, I stopped a few steps away from Jose "Aha!" he exclaimed, finding the key to open the old hard wooden door in front of us "Here you go, madam!" he happily said as he turned the knob, releasing a rift of blinding light

My first instinct was to shade my eyes from the light with my hand as I blindly took a step forward, good thing my footing landed securely on the next step allowing me to go further into the light.

As I reached the top part of the stairs Jose completely swung open the door revealing a living room and a small kitchen

"Wow!" I couldn't help but blurt out, the place was small but was well kept and felt cozy.

There was a beautiful stone fireplace on the wall with dancing flames bringing it to life, an old looking set of gray couches surrounded it and there was even a cinnamon colored carpet underneath, it had a modest look to it. The walls were thick brown logs that housed large windows where the light came in.

There were rusty old kettles hanging from the ceiling and to my curiosity we came closer and it made my eyes grow wider and my mouth slightly hung open from surprise. The old kettles were hollow with oil lamps inside, it was a genius design!

"I like using old stuff and making it into new things so I can use it again" the old man explained sounding proud of his idea

"It's a very unique piece" Monty complimented, he rarely does that to others

"Here sit down, madam" Jose said motioning us to sit on a couch right beside the fireplace

"I know that what happened made you cold, sir so I made Jose start a fire for the both of you." the man said taking a seat

I tugged at Monty to sit down, we both settled on the long couch at the center, the fabric was soft, the depth of the seat fit perfectly under my body and it felt comfortable and sturdy. The warmth of the fire added refuge to my nervousness earlier and had calmed me down into a trance where I can almost fall asleep.

Monty beside me sat back and remembering his shirt I quickly took the paper bags and looked for the extra shirt I bought him, I pulled out a neatly folded nude round neck shirt made out from cotton fabric "Here, change into this" I said pushing the shirt into his hands

"Where did you get this?" he asked confused

"It was supposed to be a surprise but we're in an emergency right now"

"There's a bathroom near the kitchen, you can use the soap and water to clean off" the old man said signalling Jose to lead Monty there

"Will you be okay alone?" Monty asked holding both my hands

"I'll be alright, don't worry"

"Are you sure?" he asked again concerned

"I am." I smiled at him squeezing his hands

"I'll be right back, it'll just take a minute" he said reassuring me, Monty slowly stood up and followed Jose while looking back at me over his shoulder

"I'm very sorry about the dark parts of the store, especially the stairs, we're still doing some renovations due to how old this place is, we first finished the store." the old man explained maybe recalling the expression of doubt on my face earlier "Jose even forgot to leave the door unlocked so you had to stand in the darkness while waiting, I'm truly sorry" he added

"No, it's okay sir. Thank you for your hospitality. We really appreciate it" I said respectfully

"I hope you feel comfortable in my humble home, it's small but it feels warm and relaxing"

"Yes, sir. The interior is very pleasant and gives off a homey feel to it." I praised looking around at the small decorations hanging from the walls, they were small dried flowers in frames and some framed embroideries of birds and bees.

"My late wife loved needle craft and would always make me scarfs and hats from them" he said looking lovingly at the frames

"I'm so sorry to hear about your loss" I said feeling sad to bring up someone's death

"There's nothing to be sorry about, she died smiling. We had a beautiful life together and spent our days doing what we like. Sure there were tough times but it was never there without a reason" I could feel how much the old man had missed his deceased wife

I smiled at him and he nodded, without words we knew she was happy wherever she was

"Oh hoho! This old man has been too sentimental from old age" he said laughing away tears building up in his eyes

Monty slowly sat behind me crumpling his dirty shirt that was almost dry in to an empty paper bag

"Oh, here you forgot this downstairs" the old man handed me Daisy, the pink bear Monty gave me. He carefully stood up having Jose support his shoulder as he did "Let me go ahead and check the food, feel free look around" he said smiling at us

"Thank you very much, sir" Monty and I said in unison, I hugged Daisy tightly

"Why were you nervous earlier?" Monty asked

"What are you saying? I wasn't worried at all" I said trying hard not to sound too guilty

"You were squeezing my hand like you were going to break it"

"What? Really? Did I do that? I'm sorry Monty" I said softly kissing his hand without thinking and when I looked up at him he was this shade of red that looked like my aunt's lipstick, too red Hahaha!