Gone without a trace

“I swear, these two down here are pretty crafty. I mean I’ve checked all the usual spots the little ones tend to use, but I am amazed they,” Simone stopped midsentence, standing in the entryway near the opening to the parlor. “Are you kidding me?” she asked, bright smile on her face as she beheld the shoelace rope hanging down the wall from the stairs.

“What?” Elizabeth asked, coming up from behind.

Simone pointed at the rope.

Elizabeth laughed, “Inventive,” she said, walking over and giving the laces a tug.

“I want to say there’s no way Dustin and Charles made it up this rope since you had your pee, Dustin maybe, Charles definitely not. John coming down on the other hand, I could see that,” Simone said.

“But he would have to try and find the two down here, all the while trying to elude us,” Elizabeth said. “I doubt they established a pre-arranged rendezvous.”

“Or it could simply be a ruse to throw us off the scent,” Simone offered, contemplating.

Elizabeth smiled, “Should I untie it?”

Simone shook her head. “Make sure the knots joining the laces are secure though, I don’t want it coming apart should they go up or come down on that. I think we might want to move ourselves upstairs and do some searching there. We know the little buggers were in my closet,” she said, laughing again at the rope.

Elizabeth made sure the knots were tight before the pair climbed the stairs. “It’s pretty creative,” she said.

Simone smiled. “It is,” she agreed. “I’m wondering if maybe we should clip about a foot of it off, that’d make for a fairly decent drop, not enough to kill, but enough to sprain an ankle,” she said.

Elizabeth nodded. “Or force whomever might be climbing down to have to climb all the way back up,” she added.

Simone chuckled, “Tired little arms,” she said. “I’ll get some scissors.”

Simone cut the lace, leaving about twelve inches of space between the bottom of the rope and the floor. She chuckled, then looking at the shoe lace in her hand, she suddenly stopped. “This is from my Schutz Dubianna lace up heels,” she said with a frown.

Elizabeth put her hands to her face to hide her smile. “In your closet.”

Simone nodded, lips pressed together. “Whichever one of those little ones who dreamed this up,” she pointed to the shoe lace rope, “Is going to receive some extra special attention,” she said, nodding her head slowly.

“When we get to the perpetrator of the foul crime, you can exact just retribution,” Elizabeth said sternly, but failing to contain her smile.

“Oh yeah,” she said, nodding. “Old Testament style.”

Elizabeth laughed. “John is the one still upstairs, right?”

Sophie nodded, setting the scissors and her severed shoelace on the small table. Looking up to the second landing, she said, “I’m coming for you John, do you hear me?” voice loud and strong.

Chuckling, Elizabeth said, “You want to go upstairs and start looking?”

Simone paused a moment, considering. “Hmm, you feel like taking a shower?”

Elizabeth smiled and nodded, coy smile playing on the corners of her mouth. “Together?” she asked.

Simone smiled back, but held her hands up, “Of course, but nothing serious until we capture at least one of our little friends though,” she stipulated.

“Fan the flames?” Elizabeth asked.

Simone nodded. Together, they started up the stairs.

Upstairs

 “Food and water will be essential if we are to continue to survive,” Dustin said as the trio hurriedly walked back toward the master bedroom.

“There was a plate with a cookie and some milk in the master bedroom but Simone took it,” John said.

“There was one downstairs too,” Charles said. “Chocolate chip.”

“It’s too bad we didn’t stash some,” John lamented.

Charles stopped, looking down at himself, “I’m all out of pockets and I don’t think I could have hidden some cookie prison style,” he said, a wisp of a smile touching his weary face.

“It’s not the hiding, it’s the eating afterward,” John stuck out his tongue and made a scrunched up face.

Dustin shook his head, “That’s not a chocolate chip,” he said, snickering.

“That would be almost as nasty as nonna’s tea,” Charles said, smiling more openly.

“I think Blake took a power swig after John said it was good,” Dustin chuckled.

John and Charles both nodded, but the mention of their dead friend brought the somber atmosphere back to group and they continued to walk the rest of the way in silence, each coping in their own way. Once inside the bathroom off the master bedroom, they stood before the massive gleaming white bowl.

“The porcelain altar,” said Charles softly.

Dustin smiled. Slipping in beside the toilet bowl, he placed both palms against the porcelain. “See feel how cold it is, there’s already a little condensation here,” he said.

Joining him, “It is cold,” John agreed.

Charles tested it as well and nodded.

“This will give us an opportunity at least to have access to fresh water,” Dustin said.

“Drinking off the toilet?” Charles asked, making a sour face

“Water is water,” Dustin replied.

“I’m kind of with Charles on this one,” John said, a skeptical look on his face.

Dustin shook his head. “It’s clean water,” he assured.

“What about food?” John asked.

“There is the other cookie downstairs, but I don’t know if they’ve left it there or not,” Charles said.

Dustin shrugged. “There were some dry goods in the pantry too,” he added.

“What happened to Nettie?” asked John

“I was telling Charles, I have a theory about that, I think Simone and Nettie are the same person, and that person is Simonetta, get it, the wordplay on their names? Since this game or hunt as they call it began, we have seen nothing of the old girl,” Dustin said.

“Like a ghost or a vampire,” Charles added.

John frowned, “Vampires are susceptible to daylight,” he asserted.

“Daywalker,” said Charles.

John nodded. “Possible.”

“No, not like a vampire, or a daywalker, more likely black magic, remember Charles?” Dustin corrected, looking to the shorter boy. “We had this conversation.”

“So you’re saying the old girl might be a witch?” John asked.

“I’m saying I think there’s only one girl, and yes, she might very well be some type of witch,” Dustin said.

“Who hung herself?” John asked.

Dustin shook his head, “No.”

“I like the daywalker theory,” John said, turning to Charles.

“I’m coming for you John, do you hear me?” rang out Simone’s voice.

John froze, “What did I do?” he asked looking to Charles then Dustin. “Why me?”

“She named you specifically,” Charles said, eyes round.

Dustin shrugged.

The sound of large sized footsteps approaching, caused them to scurry toward the back of the toilet and hide.

Coming clean

When Simone entered the bathroom, she clicked on the light. Completely naked, body toned and lithe, beautiful, she possessed a little neatly trimmed thatch of blonde pubic hair above her genitals. Turning on the faucet in the shower, she stuck a hand in and tested the water. Waiting for the hot water, she came over to the toilet and sat down, the sound of urine splashing in the bowl before she swiveled her hips and flushed. A plume of steam beginning rising out of the shower.

Testing the water again, Simone said, “It’s perfect now,” walking into the spray of hot water.

Elizabeth walked in, like Simone, she too was completely nude, magnificent body sculpted. Passing by the boys, she stepped into the shower and pulled the transparent curtain.

John peered around the front of the toilet, looking through the sheer curtain as the two gigantic women began to kiss one another, hands roaming over naked bodies. Dustin put his hands on the back of the toilet while beads of condensation began to appear.

“See,” he said to Charles.

Charles nodded.

John returned, face flushed, “You guys should really check that out,” he said.

Dustin looked John in the eye, but his hand pointed down, “Um, we are all not clothed and maybe you shouldn’t be watching this, um, yeah,” he said.

John looked down, suddenly embarrassed by the obvious signs of arousal as he lowered his hands to conceal his excitement.

Despite his doleful condition, Charles chortled slightly.

“They are so totally hot,” John defended. “Like watching the most amazing porn, but on a giant Imax screen.”

“They killed Blake,” Charles reminded, deflating the mood.

“You yourself said it was an accident,” John replied, “I for one, think we owe it to Blake, to at least look, he would’ve have approved of that.”

Charles nodded. Moving forward, he looked up at the two women making out in the shower. “I wish I had my glasses,” he said, squinting.

“I wish I was recording this on my phone,” John said.

Dustin walked over, “Look, I found a hair tie on the floor,” he said, showing off his fabric coated elastic band. Following the eyes of the others, he looked up. It was like watching two goddess embracing, loving, touching, a mesmerizing sight to behold.

“So if we somehow survive this, we must never speak of this,” Dustin said, turning to shield himself from the other two boys.

John nodded, clearing his throat. “Agreed.”

“I’ve never been with a girl,” Charles confessed.

“Never?” asked John.

Charles shook his head.

Dustin backed away, unsure of what to say, focusing instead on his find.

“One day buddy,” John tried to reassure.

“What’s with the hair thingy?” John asked.

“I have an idea, we are going to need another shoelace and if we can find one, a paperclip,” he replied.

John frowned and shook his head. “MacGyver,” he said.

Simone shut the water off and pulled the curtain back. Stepping out of the shower, water spilling from her exquisite body to the bathmat and floor below, she grabbed a towel and wrapped around herself. Wiping her feet, she walked from the bathroom as Elizabeth stepped out and selected a towel of her own.

“You know,” Elizabeth said, drying the water from her body as she was walking out of the bathroom, “The two from downstairs could have tried for the cellar because I don’t think they could have gotten under the door to your mudroom.”

“Definitely not the mudroom. I don’t know about the cellar,” Simone said from the other room, loud enough for the boys to hear. “Maybe behind the fridge or under the stove, I don’t think they could have gotten in the cupboards.”

John peered around the end of the kick for the bathroom counter. Grinning wickedly, he looked back to the other boys before skulking out across the floor to a spot where water from the women’s bodies had formed a small puddle on the linoleum. Getting down on hands and knees, he leaned forward and put his lips to the water and sucked in some of it.

“Gross,” said Charles, screwing up his face. “That could be water directly from one of their ass cracks.”

John looked up and smiled, “I wish.”

Dustin frowned.

It sounded as if there were movement coming toward the bathroom and John scurried back beside the toilet. Simone walked in and bent forward, tussling the towel through her long blond hair. Straightening up, she hung the towel on the rack on the wall. Pausing at the fogged out mirror, she used her finger on it, drawing a heart in the steam on the glass, her finger making a low pitched squeaking noise as she completed the image.

Finished, she smiled and clicked off the light.