Chapter 7
I slept soundly for a long time. In my final dream I sensed a presence in the room standing near the bed. Next, I felt a hand gently touch my right side as it moved around under the covers as if searching for something. I gradually opened my eyes. In the semi-darkness I could perceive the outline of a form stretched over me. I panicked, and I immediately reached up and grabbed it—my hands coming around a waist. There was a loud gasp of surprise! I twisted and threw the body down underneath me while maneuvering to a position where I sat straddling it on top. I then reached over and turned on the nightstand light. My heart began to have palpitations as I stared down into the face of Shannon! We gazed into each other’s eyes with my hands spanning her shoulders and resting on the bed while her hands gently pushed up against my chest.
After a moment she calmly remarked, "You can get a better look if you get off of me and let me up."
I smiled as I moved aside and said, "I'm sorry. You startled me." She sat up and I noticed her right hand was still probing under the covers. Then it dawned on me what she was searching for.
"Are you looking for this?" I asked as I dropped to the floor on my knees. I reached under the bed and pulled out her diary. Before handing it to her, I fingered the lock closed. She took it and seeing that it was locked, stared first at it and then at me. I could tell by her facial expression that she was trying to remember if she had left it unlocked. I nervously wondered if she would ask me if I had read it. It would take boldness to confront a total stranger and guest about something like that and I was counting on her having the grace and tact not to. I didn't want to admit that I had read it, but I didn’t want to lie to her either.
She got up off the bed and walked over to the desk near the window. After opening the top drawer, she put the diary inside of it. Then she removed a small key from inside a cup that was sitting on top of the desk. Next, she locked the drawer with the key and then put it in her pocket. I wanted to read more entries from her diary, but I had fallen asleep before I had the chance. Now I was going to have to pick a desk lock in order to be able to do that. For me however, that would pose no problem at all. Shannon opened the shades letting light flood into the room. All the while she was doing this, I was scrutinizing her. She was dressed in a white cotton halter top and a pair of white shorts and her figure, simply stated, was voluptuous.
Finally turning to me she said, "My name is Shannon in case you haven't figured that out yet."
"Hi. I'm Lance Rock. It’s nice to meet you." I stood up and held out my hand for her to shake. She glanced at it and replied, "I know. AJ has told me all about you. Why don't you put on some clothes and come down and join us for lunch?"
Put on some clothes and lunch? I thought. Then I realized I was dressed in only my boxers! I could feel my face turning red. "Okay," I replied while ducking under the covers and glancing at my watch as she exited the room. It was 11:45 AM!
I got dressed and then made my way downstairs to the kitchen. Stacy was working at the hospital. She was doing a 12 hour shift and she wouldn't be home until 11:00 PM this evening. AJ was sitting at the kitchen table and as soon as I saw her, my hormones stirred as memories of our passionate encounter from last night came flooding back into my mind. Fortunately, Shannon was present and I was able to focus my attention on her instead.
I sat down and Shannon asked me what I would like for lunch—offering several choices. While waiting for it to be prepared, AJ decided to show me how mischievous she could be.
"Shannon, Lance said he thinks you're incredibly gorgeous and supernova hot. When he looked at your picture on the dresser, I heard him gasp and say that he had just found the girl of his dreams. He also thinks you have beautiful blue eyes."
I clasped my hands over my face in total disbelief—trying to hide! Then I looked down under the table to see if there was enough space there for me to crawl into and disappear.
"He even asked if you had a boyfriend," she continued.
My face was feeling hot and I imagined it was also glowing bright red. I could feel tiny drops of sweat seeping out from my armpits. Shannon turned and brought a sandwich and then set it down before me. I tried not to make eye contact with her and I glanced over at AJ instead. She had an impish grin on her face. I gave her a nasty look. She smiled back playfully and then while looking at Shannon she asked, "Do you think he’s as cute as Mitty?"
"That's enough, AJ!" Shannon snapped while giving her a harsh look. "It's time to eat."
As we ate, I eventually worked up enough courage to cautiously raise my head. I glanced over at Shannon and she glanced back at me while smiling warmly. I returned her smile as the butterflies in my stomach wildly flitted around.
After lunch Shannon remarked, "My mother told me to tell you that the prognosis for Mr. Colson is not good. His left side is paralyzed. He's going to need constant care and physical therapy. I'm sorry to be the one to have to break this news but this means that the plans they had for you staying there for the school year are now over." My heart sank upon hearing this. "My mother also said that you could reside here for a couple of days until the school finds someone else who is willing or able to put you up. That is, if you want to stay."
I breathed a big sigh and replied, "I'm sorry to hear that about him as well although I do appreciate you taking me in."
"That's no problem, but I do need my room back. You're going to have to sleep on the hide-a-bed couch in the family room."
"That's fine."
"Since you are going to be staying here then, I'm going to give you a set of keys to the outside doors. Also, there are house rules you'll need to know about."
"Okay."
"First, our curfew to be back in the house is 10:00 PM. Second, we have household chores that we are all assigned and you'll have to do your share of them."
"No problem."
"Finally, you are not allowed to answer the door… or the phone."
I raised my eyebrows at this statement. I could see she was uncomfortable and embarrassed about telling me this rule. Since she had been watching me nervously play with my key the whole time we were talking, she quickly switched the conversation to it.
"Is that a key hanging from that chain?"
"Yes."
"I've never seen one like that before. It’s very cool looking. Is it to something important?"
"I think it's the key to his heart," interjected AJ with that same mischievous smile on her face. I smiled back at her while slowly shaking my head.
"It was given to me by someone very close," I replied. "It's the most precious thing I own."
"Seriously?" asked AJ.
I nodded my head affirmatively. I noticed during this conversation that Shannon's gaze was now riveted on me. I stared back at her intensely. I was totally captivated by her and the feeling of infatuation was becoming even stronger. Her eyes briefly met mine and then she quickly averted them.
"So Shannon, what's most precious to you?" I asked.
While ignoring my question she got up from the table and said, "We'd better get the chores done if we want to go to Keith's house for the party tonight."
"What party are you talking about?" I asked.
"Keith Mitterhauser is having a before-we-go-back-to-school party for all the seniors," replied AJ. "Shannon and I are going and you'll be coming, too. Right, Shannon?"
She nodded her head yes.
"But you're not a senior, AJ," I remarked.
"She still's coming," said Shannon. "Here's your list of house chores," she continued while handing me a piece of paper.
Cleaning the bathrooms was on the top of my list followed by cleaning the pool and then mowing the lawn. All the dirtiest and hardest tasks, I thought while chuckling.
I went into the downstairs bathroom looking for cleaning supplies. There was nothing under the vanity or in the cabinets. I started searching around. I remembered seeing a door to the left of the inside garage entranceway and I thought that maybe it led to a utilit
y room. Upon opening this door, I was surprised to find another metal reinforced door like a security or fire door that one might find in an office building. Set in the middle of this door and at eye level was a peep hole. Above it, and flush with the concrete wall was a CCTV camera. I reached over and attempted to turn the heavy latch on this door to open it.
"STOP!" shouted Shannon while running up to me. "What are you doing?"
"I was searching for stuff to clean the bathrooms with and I thought they might be here in this closet."
"That's not a closet. You're not allowed in this area. Please don't come near here again."
"I guess you forgot to mention that house rule to me," I replied matter of factually. "Is there anything else you forgot to tell me about; any other little family secrets?"
She stared at me with wide eyes but did not reply.
"Maybe you can show me where the cleaning supplies are so I can get on those toilets right away," I now sarcastically remarked.
Two hours later all the jobs were done. The girls had gone shopping and Shannon told me to move my belongings out of her room and downstairs into the den area while they were away. Instead, I went upstairs and lay down on her bed. My thoughts were on the hidden door, on Shannon's diary entries, and on Shannon herself. I pondered the connection between the three. Then it came to me. The secret door was the entrance to a "panic" or "safe" room. It was a place of refuge and protection that was normally impenetrable where people could wait until help arrived or the danger subsided. Scott had gone over these with me in one of his lessons on security systems. The layout of this room fit the description perfectly. A secure room with a reinforced door, a camera, and peep hole to see who was standing outside. Probably an intercom built in as well. This was the room she had talked about in her diary! But why did Stacy feel the need to have a panic room in their house? I thought. What exactly did Shannon mean by the statements in her diary that someone was abusing her mother and that the police were unable to help? Why did she wish for the death of her father? Curiosity was eating away me. Was there anything I could do to possibly help them?
If I was going to attempt assistance, I was going to need more information. The first step would be to finish reading her diary to glean any additional information I could find in any other entries. In order to do that, I was going to have to pick the lock to her desk drawer. A quick search around her room yielded the proper implement and I had the drawer opened in a few seconds. But after a thorough search, the diary was nowhere to be found. Where could she have put it? I thought. Not back under the sheets because I would have felt it when I lay down. I looked around the room. There was a bookshelf on the other side of her bed. I went over to it and began to peruse through the books. The diary was not one of them. Maybe it's in the other bedroom—Teri's room.
I went out into the hallway and turned the knob on that door. It was locked. I need a different kind of pick. I walked over to Stacy's room. This door was open. I made my way over to her bathroom and started checking around her cabinets and the vanity while stopping briefly to admire the Jacuzzi. After a one minute search, I found what I was looking for and so I went back to Teri's door. I was just starting to pick the lock when I heard Shannon's voice behind me exclaim, "Now what do you think you're doing?"
Startled, I dropped the pick—not expecting them to be back this soon or having heard her come upstairs!
"I… uh… was wondering why I have to sleep in the family room when you have this bedroom available. I was going to check it out, that's all. Since the door was locked, I was trying to open it to see if it was being used. I know I probably just broke another rule and I'm, ah… sorry."
I retrieved the lock pick and quickly went downstairs. Fortunately, Shannon did not press me any further about it. I decided the only way to solve the mystery of what was going on would be through a direct confrontation. If that didn't work, I was going to have to put it out of my mind. I had reservations about using the direct approach however, because it would mean revealing what I knew through having read her diary.