Third installment of the story The Shell

December 11, 2007

While Randy was about to start dialing, she felt herself drift off in the little theater room. In a foggy blur, she saw him. *cue flashback sequence* hehe

Everyone seemed to hate him...especially fellow employees at work. While visiting him at his side job one day, she overheard him on the phone."I understand. I know, I know. I won't do it again!" All of a sudden his demeanor changed and he started to look delighted . A huge grin spread over his dark face. He was attractive in a boyish way. "Oh he does? hahahah! I knew it! She'll just LOVE that. Alright thanks! Yeah, I won't let it go to my head ahahha!" Steven hung up.

"What was that all about?"she asked her boyfriend. "Oh, my manager at the other job was pissed about how I have been acting. You know, being late all the time and he says I am always acting chilidish and careless." he replied.
"Uh huh. But what did he say at the end? When you got all giddy?" she asked.

He gave her a mock annoyed look. "He said that the supervisor LOVES me. He can't get enough of me and he thinks I'm a trip!"
She rolled her eyes playfully. "The owner of the place hates me the most though."he continued.." she's this saggy old ho. I could care less what she thinks."

They were in a tiny office. Papers were scattered all around. His mom's cousin had found him this temporary job. He would take whatever was offered to him since he wanted to spend all his money on beer. There wasn't usually much left over after the parties he would always throw.

Later that evening they were walking around when they came across Forest Hills. "Oh man look over there! That's where the owner of my other job lives!" Steven yelled. " In THAT castle like mansion?" Randy's eyes widened.

"Yep!" he exclaimed.
" Wow she has A LOT of money. Are you sure you don't care that you are on her bad side?"

"Pfft I could care less. what the hell is she going to do? The supervisor loves me so it's not like they are going to fire me."

"Don't get too cocky, Steven. I wouldn't be surprised if they fired you since you are always late and never do anything." "How the hell would you know if I never do anything?" he asked. "Well I visited you at your side job and all you were doing was calling your friends. I imagine you do the same in your other jobs. You even said that they complain about you not taking things seriously!" She wondered what had ininitially attracted her to him. He is attractive and humourous she thought but he is so immature and irresponsible! It gets so frustrating. You can't depend on him for anything. Just to bring beers.

They came closer to the castle like mansion. "Wow this really looks like a castle from Ireland or something. It so pretty and huge!"she exclaimed. Gah I am starting to sound like him." Let's go inside!" he said excitedly. Randy gasped. "INSIDE? are you crazy? we'll get arrested!It's not like she is going to invite us in and I am sure she has a pretty good alarm system! She'll kill us and it's like 2:30 am! let's just go home."

"Chill! I meant let's just walk through the gate and walk through the courtyard,damn!" He started for the gate door. "It's open!" he said too loudly. "Shhh!" Randy scolded. "You're going to wake her up, idiot." He just ignored her and stormed right in. The courtyard was gigantic. A window overlooked it. There were many towering trees and flowers all over. Randy couldn't resist she walked after him. "Wow" she said in a whisper. She heard a loud band coming from the ominous house.

A woman opened the shutters loudly. Her gray hair was tied in a loose bun. She clearly was awoken by the noise and looked very threatning. "Who's there?!" she shouted after she quickly spotted them. "What are you doing here? You're trespassing! Ugh! Aren't you that...employee....Steven ?!"

"Yeah..I live right across the river." He pointed towards it.

She laughed and let out a hacking cough.

"You live in THAT...-"

He nodded, pleased with his fast thinking

"..that wreck?" she mused."That place is falling apart! Though I should have figured..no wonder you are such a careless mess at work. hahahah."

Randy couldn't take it anymore. She was annoyed by how Steven never took things seriously and she hadn't blamed the old woman for disliking his lack of interest in...anything but this was too much. She felt herself lose control.

"You are definitely not high class are you!!! you are like lower middle class!!! How were you able to even afford this house? Let me guess it was passed down from generations and generation and generations-.."

A flash of rage in the woman's eyes made the girl stop in her tracks. "Get back to where you two belong! In that rotting excuse for a home!!" she hissed. She slammed the shutters and angrily stomped down the stairs. She was headed toward them! She started to open the glass doors on the first floor and Randy and Steven jetted through the yard, passed the gate and raced onto the sidewalk. They ran until they got to the next block. They looked back and were relieved to see that she hadn't followed them. A few days later Randy was waiting for Steven outside of his main job. She was leaning against the hood of her car. She saw someone approach from the corner of her eye. A wave of fear hit her. She turned around quickly and it took a few seconds to realize who it was. It was the old woman from the castle-like mansion. A very grim, odd look spread across her wrinkled face. "This is for you." the woman stated dryly. She forced a crumbled up envelop into Randy's hand. She frowned and trotted back into the direction of the river.

Randy didn't even bother to ask her what the envelope was and why she had given it to her. She feared it was a restraining order or something similar for trespassing the other night.

She opened the envelope and gaped in fear at what the note said. She re-read the note until the words no longer made sense. She dropped the note and started to scream. "YOU'RE LYING!!!!!!!!!" she yelled into the open night. "You wrote this yourself!! this is not true, you snobby ho!"

The woman was well on her way to her house at this point and Randy could not spot her. She ran to the front door of the office and realized that it had been closed early. She yanked at the door "Someone open up!!!!" She fumbled for her cell in her phone. Just call Steven! He will pick up and prove that this letter is a lie! She dialed his number frantically. Five rings, no answer. She ran toward the castle.
In front of the gate that led to the courtyard, there was a long object. She saw that something was on it. Something under a blanket? Yes. She could make out a figure. Steven! She saw him squirm, the blanket lift up briefly. Then stillness. She let out a gut wrenching scream. Horrified, she ran into the castle.She knew that he was no longer alive. She wasn't thinking. She grabbed a chair from the patio and flung it at the glass doors. She stormed in and just when she spotted the old woman's room she heard a gun shot. She hid behind a wooden door and saw a man. She saw legs sprawled out on the floor. He had shot the old woman! Randy panicked and froze in her spot.