by Nelly Asher
***
When the annoying visitor left, Kevin Evanford waited for a while and went down to close the gate. Then he returned and took “Flashphoto” from the library.
It wasn't clear what his ancestors counted on when they were building the mansion – most of the rooms weren't in use. Evanford's family tree has never been too branchy. Perhaps they thought that the situation will change... But their lineage kept declining. On the next step to the last resided Henry Evanford, who has never started a family, and his sister Mathilda, whose sole life achievement was her son, Kevin. The latter wasn't going to get married at all, much less burdening himself with an offspring.
Even before the recent tragedy young Evanford was thinking about moving into an apartment, but there was no particular reason to do it. Now there's no reason to postpone it – it's unclear when and if his uncle will regain consciousness, and he had no intention to maintain the mansion for long years to come. Before selling it, some revision has to be done in storage rooms – what's found in there has to be sold, donated or just thrown away. These were actual big rooms where rarely used or needless things were piling over the years. Three of them – for clothes, various equipment and for “other” things. Kevin considered library to be another room of that kind – it was full of books that Henry has almost never opened.
“Flashphoto” had to be returned to the equipment storage room, but Kevin forgot to do it right away, and didn't want to go to the first floor just for that. He can put the camera back later, and for now Evanford decided to take some rest and get back into a routine by doing the thing he loved most – solving equations. Kevin put the camera bag on the bed, but remembered about the pictures it contained. He might as well take a look.
Piles of parts... More parts... Selena's face – pupils are dilated, but it's barely noticeable with her dark irises... A wall... And what's this supposed to be?
Some weird structure was towering over the part piles. Seems like it was a heap of computer boards entangled in wires. Kevin noticed old transistors that turned obsolete around fifteen years ago. It was resembling a piece of abstract art – he couldn't come up with any practical explanation for a structure like that. He thoroughly examined other pictures – nothing new. There also were pictures of the door – it was approaching with every shot, its shape somewhat blurred because of the shaking camera. Those images evoked anxiety that seized him back then. No, this accident has to be forgotten... Being nervous is unhealthy. Kevin shoved the pictures back into the bag.
He sat behind the desk and took a pencil. Before him, there was the same equation he was solving yesterday. There's a mistake here... It has to be done anew. Evanford erased everything, but it was written with a sharp pencil, so thin outlines have remained on the paper. This was a bit distracting, but Kevin tried to pay them no attention as he started to solve the equation again. The solution seemed to be correct at first, no error here... He noticed that he draws along the old outlines. This has to be redone on a new sheet of paper, or else he'll do the same mistake again... Suddenly Kevin heard some sound coming from the corridor.
He got up and cautiously stepped towards the door, listening. In a few moments Evanford heard quiet taps, as if something has hit the wall near his room. Then there was a sound of a door slowly closing in the end of the corridor.
A quick look around revealed that there isn't a single object in the room that can be used for self-defence. Theoretically, something can be used to stun an intruder – for example, a heavy book put into a metal construction set box... No, crazy ideas aren't likely to help. The sane thing was to lock the door and call the police, but false alarm might bring trouble. Not to mention he didn't want to deal with people in uniform unless it's absolutely necessary. After some consideration Kevin picked an abstract metal statue from the table – a prize he took back in high school for placing first on the city math competition. Not too weighty, but it's still better than going empty-handed.
Evanford headed to the door, opened it as quietly as possible and peeked into the corridor. There were no more sounds. In a few steps he felt something under his shoe. Lifted the leg, but there was nothing on the floor. Kevin looked at the sole of his shoe and saw a cherry seed stuck to it. It was still wetly glistering, with tiny bits of red pulp – like someone has just spit it out. But the liquid it was covered with seemed more dense and turbid than normal saliva. Crinkling his hose in disgust, Evanford wiped his shoe against the floor, trying to get rid of the seed, and noticed another one lying nearby. Why did the intruder drop them? Or those aren't just seeds?.. Young man froze as he heard the sound of the slamming door... That came from his own room.
Squeezing the statue in his sweaty palm, he came back to the door and cautiously peeked in. Nothing seemed to have changed. But upon entering the room Keving quickly noticed a message on the paper with an equation. Writing was bold and absolutely terrible, like it was scribbled by a monkey:
Shall we play, handsome? Just you and me, forget about that idi
Last few letters were written with such a pressure that pencil cracked.
Who could've written it? And, what's more important, how did this person disappear? Ran away, slamming the door? Cupboard door couldn't make the sound he heard. The only one remaining is...
Evanford gave the closet door a heavy look. A nasty feeling arose from the left side of his chest, a place no signals were coming from for a long time now. In his childhood, back when Kevin was living with his parents, he had trouble falling asleep. It seemed that the moment he'll close his eyes some creature will crawl out of the closet. The boy wasn't quite sure what it might look like or what it'll do to him, but was frightened nonetheless. Father though that those fears were nonsense and refused to lock the closet, and mother didn't argue with her husband. Henry would've get him through some psychological treatment, but father thought that one should face their fear, and it'll go away. Once he confessed to his son that he's afraid of sharks and whales, so he takes every chance to go to the sea. Father never saw any sharks or whales after all. But one day he and mother went boat riding, lost control and wrecked...
Kevin didn't need uncle's help – he realized on his own how irrational his fear of the closet was. It's just a small room where mundane things are stored – what can possibly crawl out of it? But now... Something did, in the middle of the day, and left their marks. Arguments he was reassuring himself with didn't work anymore. Evanford slowly approached the closet and opened the door. Shelves were practically empty – almost everything was kept in storage rooms. Obviously, there was noone here... But slimy worms of fear were tying around his heart. Yes, Kevin was frightened and could do nothing about it. But it wasn't even about the note's author – as dangerous as that person was, he or she is still a human. What he dreaded was a shadow emerging from his childhood memories.
Kevin opened the door wide and took such a positon behind the desk that closet was in his field of vision. He sharpened a pencil, crumpled the paper and took a clean one. It seems that this ill-fated equation was never meant to be solved... Young man started on a new one. Familiar activity was distracting him a bit, but every half a minute Kevin was straining his ears to hear if some door in the house creaks, and looked into the closet.
