Upper Floor

While on the upper floor, the two scanned the premises before taking a few steps to the right and stopped. Just at that moment, Jean noticed a corridor to his left. The corridor consisted of two doors on either side, and it extended deeper in the left wing of the house.

'What are those doors for? Let me spare the question for the official house tour, tomorrow.'

When he looked further into the corridor, he noticed another corridor running across the furthest edge of the initial one.

Turning to his right as prompted by Natalie's movement, Jean noticed another corridor extending to the right wing of the house and it was directly opposite to the one on the left wing. It was also barely a meter away from the staircase.

This was the direction that Natalie was heading to.

When he looked past the moving Natalie, he noticed another door just like a half a dozen meters away from where he was standing on the right side of the corridor. This one looked a little different from the four on the left wing, especially in terms of structure and size. It was fancier and relatively bigger as compared to the others.

A few moments later, Natalie resounded without looking.

"Come this way!"

With a tired expression written on his face, Jean grimaced as he staggered in Natalie's direction.

Some moments later, Natalie stopped at the door. Without hesitation, she outstretched her arm and reached for the handle of the door. A heartbeat later, she pushed the door open. She then motioned Jean to follow her as she stepped through the door.

'Is this her room or my room?'

After lingering for a while, Jean scratched the back of his head and slowly stepped through the door.

After passing through the door, he noticed the door opening to a stunning looking room. When he saw this, his jaw dropped in amazement.

The room was spacious, with a huge bed on its left, a wardrobe on the right wall, a medium table and a fancy wooden chair on the edge of the wall in front of him – between the bed and the wardrobe.

The floor was tiled with marble like tiles that gleamed in the lights of the room hanging from its exquisite ceiling.

'From the look of things, this can't be…'

At this point, the thought that was running through his mind was that Natalie had brought him to his room. But after analyzing the looks of the room, he immediately felt doubtful.

Cutting short his thoughts, Natalie spared him a quick glance and took some steps towards the wardrobe.

"Let me give you your cloths before I take you to your room."

Somewhat agitated, Jean blinked for a couple times.

'I knew it! There was no chance that this was going to be my room. But wait… does this mean that my room is located on the left wing. The corridor is relatively eerie, yet it is lit up. What if it is shrouded in darkness? Let me just avoid such an imagination. If I am right with my guesses, then this is really going to be a long night for me. What if the worst happens, if I have a room on the other corridor at the furthest edge of the first one? How can I be even sure that there are rooms along that corridor?'

At that moment, Natalie had just opened the wardrobe and was now pulling out her suitcase.

Throwing a curious stare at Natalie, Jean rubbed his eyes.

'Oh! So, this is the work of this cupboards. When did mom learn this? I'm relatively behind when it comes to urban lifestyle. At least I have someone to learn from.'

Natalie then placed the suitcase on the well tacked bed, opened it and started rummaging through the clothes.

Some moments later, she was done with picking Jean's clothes from the bundle of clothes in the suitcase.

"Come here!"

Without hesitation, Jean staggered towards Natalie, who was now standing by the bedside.

Immediately he reached there, Natalie picked a bundle of clothes and placed them in Jeans hands. These were Jean's clothes. Smiling nonchalantly, Natalie bit her lower lip.

"You will have to carry this."

Jean studied the clothes in his hands for a few moments. When he realized that they were only his clothes, he sighed and let out a smirk.

Moments later, the two stepped out of the room and stopped in the corridor for a few seconds as if thinking of their next move. At this time, Jean fixed his gaze at the corridor extending to the left wing.

'I hope we are not going there.'

Jean thought to himself.

At the same moment, Natalie moved to the right.

Standing rooted to the ground, Jean pondered.

'Where could she be heading to? But I thought we were heading to the left wing. If my room is located on this wing, it would be better…'

At that moment, Natalie turned around and glanced at Jean with a serious expression and spatted.

"What are you still doing there? Come this way!"

Natalie said as she took a right turn and advanced deeper in the right wing.

As soon as Jean heard this, he jolted to the side and almost let go the clothes in his hands. After a few moments of hesitation, he lunged forward and followed in Natalie's direction.

When they were entering the room that they had just left, Jean had noticed the corridor leading to the left at the furthest end of the corridor they were currently in. But since the fancier door had gotten much of his attention, he didn't ponder much about it.

Just as expected, on reaching the end of the corridor, they turned to the left and entered the other corridor.

A half a dozen meters away, there stood a single door on the left wall of the corridor. The door looked attractive just as the door of the initial room.

 Judging by their movements, it was clear that they were heading in that direction, as there was not any other door along this corridor. On the right wall three meters away from the first corridor, the wall was replaced by steel grills that ran right from the floor to the roof. This design allowed one to have a clear view of the outside. And since it was already dark outside, all Jean could see were a few stars in the sky and the vista of the estate with lights of different colours lighting up from various angles and points.

Just as he was starting to enjoy this beautiful scenery, they suddenly arrived at the door.

'Argh!'

Jean pouted.

Stopping by the wooden door, Natalie pulled out a single key and inserted into its lock before turning it open.

With a distant look on his face, Jean stared at the door that was now right in front of him and sighed.

'This must be my room. At least it is not located on the eerie left wing. …Wait! …Is this room located where the ominous tree stands? But the last time I stared at the tree, nothing happened. Maybe the initial feeling was just as a result of mental tiredness…'

At that moment, Natalie turned the knob and pushed the door open. The two then stepped into the brightly lit up room with a calculated gait with Natalie leading the way.

Somewhat dazed, Jean gulped and looked around the room in quick glances.

"I like this. It is what I have been dreaming for."

The room they just entered was relatively spacious. Although, it was somewhat smaller as compared to the first one.

Brimming with ecstasy, Jean moved around the room.

'If this is my room, then the room we just came from must be hers.'

Jean pondered.

The room was indeed attractive.

On the furthest right next to the window, there stood a fancy medium bed. There was a wardrobe at the furthest end of the adjacent wall from the entrance. A wooden door to the left and a metallic door to the right, opened on the opposite wall. There was a glass window on the opposite wall, too.

Unlike Natalie's room, this didn't have a table, but instead, it only had a wooden chair that was placed next to the bed.

Placing his clothes on the bed, Jean stared at Natalie. He was waiting for the next instruction.

As if understanding him, Natalie wore a deadpan expression and glanced at the clothes on the bed. She then sneered and gestured at the wardrobe.

"Pick those clothes and put them in that wardrobe."

Following Natalie's gesture. Jean lingered for a moment.

'So, that is what they call it… I'm learning already. Apart from suitcases, it can also be used to keep clothes. Now I see…'

Looking up at the shining lights, Jean smiled.

'Mom must have been somewhat busy when she first climbed here with the suitcase. How did she manage to turn on the lights of virtually all the essential areas in this house within that short span?'

After Jean was done placing the clothes in the wardrobe, Natalie proceeded to show him a room that the wooden door led to. This room was the rest room and the bathroom. It contained a shower and a flash toilet.

From the outside, the house looked like and old house model because of its design. But its interior suggested something else.

Some minutes later, Natalie had left, and Jean was now standing alone in the room.

'This is better than what I had in the village.'

While in the village, Jean and his mom lived in a house that was small in terms of structure. Despite its small structure, Jean at least had a sizable room to call his own. Albeit it was small and congested as compared to where he was standing this time, he still fancied it and loved it. He always felt connected to it.

Now here he was again, standing in his new room of which he had the task of establishing another connection to his new room by making it his own. This could be achieved in multiple ways including arranging it to suit his requirements or keep his precious items in it, among other things.

While still pondering on the matter, his gaze fell on the steel door on the left wall from the entrance door of the room. He then shifted and blinked a couple times.

'A steel door in a room. How comes mom didn't tell me anything about the door. Maybe she was going to tell me during the official house tour tomorrow. Or she just wanted me to inspect it myself. What if it poses a danger to me? This can't be possible. How can mom bring me to this room knowing very well that it contains some structures that could endanger me?'

Taking a few steps towards the steel door, Jean muttered to himself.

"I must know what is behind this black door before I retired to bed. It is not even closed. That is to my favour."

Stretching his right hand and turning the knob of the door, Jean's heart raced in his chest.

*BANG! *

In the next moment, the door flung open.

-{--}-