House of conflict

“I still don’t get why you just don’t take the money, it’s always there y’know?” Leo sways his palm upwards.

“You know why; it’s too easy.” Betsy preemptively thrusts her body forward. “To take it, there’s no work involved or anything.”

“Then why are we here? You didn’t want to take the gold necklace in the last mansion, so what the hell?” 

“We were here because I wanted us to do something fun …” Betsy nags while tossing a notebook into her shoulder bag. “But obviously you don’t want to be here.” The conflicted girl fumbles with the door, unlocking it but only there. “How do you open the door Leo?” Betsy is visibly frustrated bashing the door.

“The car’s doors go up—pull up—

“I’m pulling up, it still won’t—” The car’s door glides up glamorously, like an eagle. Betsy sweeps her leg out of the car and exits. Leo delivers a heavy sigh before swiftly following out as well. 

“Look, I’m not just gonna let you go in by yourself—we’re already here anyways.” Betsy rushes past the front bumper of the car and is seen jumping the gate. “Betsy! Wait!” Leo sways his head back and forth in denial. “Damn it, you; You—ahhh!” Leo opens the trunk and grabs two flashlights and throws them into a backpack as well as a gray denim jacket. 

The mansion has this eerie mist that surrounds the house like some kind of protection field; the steamy mist twists and curls around the air but does not travel beyond the gates. The gate is matte black but somehow glossy; the rods that line up across the gate contort like corkscrews and at the brim of the rods have black lions with red eyes. 

Leo grips one of the gate’s rods but fails to have a tacky hold on it. On the fifth try, Leo grabs a hold of the rod and escalates up; carefully lifting one leg at a time over the gate so as to not get impaled. Dropping down, Leo dusts his hands off his pants and continues to the front of the house. “Why are you doing this Betsy?” Leo mutters trying to shrug off any attempt at exhaustion. 

Betsy does not appear present at the porch of the house. “She has gone inside already.” Leo says while scratching his head in the presence of the rather grandiose structure ahead of him. Pushing the large door open, the hinges creak and resist dragging against the ground where heaps of dust accumulate. Leo’s eyes dilate and appear alert; he shimmies between the door and goes in. 

The moonlight beams the center of the room, illuminating the immediate area like a proper light. There is a stream of water that glides down the staircase like a waterfall. The entire room engulfed in mush and water. It’s as if the house is sinking into a lake. 

The room has multiple doors: one to the east wing, the staircase leading to the 2nd floor, across the foyer that leads further into the mansion; Leo chooses the closest, and travels further towards the west wing. 

Leo takes step by step, flashing every single object in sight. Identifying every object is key, from the carpets, to the unusual clumps of dust that linger in the air. “This room …” Framed pieces of artwork lean on one another; two sets of paint trays emerge above a puddle of water. And the canvas is knocked over. 

Leo overlooks the canvas. “This is some kind of gallery room.” He then walks further into the house. “Come on Betsy, where are you?” Leo hikes the stairs and is now present in a corridor—that leads both directions. Leo flashes down one end yet the beam does not travel the whole way through—the darkness lingers—and something gleams… or glows. Leo narrows his eyes to focus on the object, when the gleam rotates and pulls forward.

Leo is petrified. Eyes now opening up, and he exhales rashfully. Leo pulls one leg back, as he backs up with his eyes on whatever is lying ahead of him. Another step back and abruptly feels something solid behind him. In a quick maneuver, Leo spins with the flashlight pointing down—to feet. The figure is idle, pale—and wearing black jeans. Leo spins the flash out of control and screams momentarily. After gaining any control, Leo lifts up to illuminate the rest of the figure. The figure at an instant puts away a notebook into the bag—it’s Betsy.

Betsy vigorously laughs as one hand rests above her heart and slowly orbits her weight onto the nearby wall. Leo shifts into a rather inexpressive face as he flashes Betsy, his hand in a tremor. 

“Betsy! What the hell!” Betsy regains her posture. 

“I have never seen you so scared.” Betsy plants one hand on Leo’s chest as she chuckles furthermore. Leo flicks her hand away and walks towards the opposite direction.

“Let’s explore this place and get this over with; have you found anything?” Betsy scuttles alongside Leo and the two delve further into the corridor. 

“We have to find the master bedroom; this house was built within the late 18th century and has never been occupied ever since.” Betsy recalls. “And ehh, after the homeowner who’s name I could never pronounce, french or something; after he made some kind of deal with the head of a crime family, they had to leave but they didn’t… and they owned a lot of plants.” Leo tilts his head towards Betsy and lifts a brow.

“Wow—you … know a lot about this place.” Betsy assertively skips forward. “So, how you planning to get rich? Sell the owner’s secrets or something? 

“Something like that … if he has any secrets or dairies. We gotta find out what happened here.”

“Ah, so we got a detective here huh?” Leo smirks while clapping monotonously. 

“Detective work wouldn’t sound so bad.” 

The pair get to the master bedroom; burgundy with gold accent carpet, burgundy nightstands on both sides of the bed with the bed in the center—simple setup. Although, the whole room is flooded in murky water. Since the wood had rotted below the bed, a gaping hole can be seen leading down to the 1st floor. The bed barely hangs between the bedroom floor and plummeting down.  

“Betsy, Betsy—don’t fall into the hole. I know you’re a dumbass sometimes.” Betsy, who headed in first, turns around to Leo and delivers a smug grin. Betsy then turns to survey the room. 

“The drawers; they gotta have something in them.” Betsy practically lunges to the corner cabinet. Betsy pulls the front drawer; reading glasses mainly with an assortment of bobby pins and quills. Betsy pushes in the drawer as it gets jammed; Betsy smacks the drawer in but it doesn’t move. Leo and Betsy’s eyes meet. Betsy pulls the drawer back out when a brick red leather journal appears. 

“That wasn’t there before was it?” Leo interjects. Betsy picks up the journal as Leo huddles alongside her with his arms crossed. Golden accents run down the spin; red leather cover. Betsy pinches the cover and flips the page. The page is empty. Betsy looks up at Leo before looking down. She flips another page; empty. Flipping another page but one line appears.

“Please. I’m sorry.” 

Leo looks at Betsy whose eyes are as wide as the hole in the middle of the room. Betsy remains stagnant, eyeing down the stained yellow page. “Betsy, flip the page.” Betsy looks at Leo again before hesitantly flipping the page.

“Betsy. Leave.” 

Betsy drops the book and let’s a gasp as she covers her mouth with both hands. Leo frantically jumps back and collides with the wall as the flashlight is flung. Betsy backs up onto the bed as the ground snaps, plummeting the bed down to the first floor along with taking Betsy. 

“Fuck! Betsy!” Leo rushes to the flashlight and illuminates the hole below. The bed appears but no Betsy in sight. “Betsy!” No response. Leo crouches down to the edge of the gaping hole and hops in, landing on the bed. It’s the home entrance—but the previous doors no longer exist—only the door across the foyer. 

“Look house, I know you can hear me. Why are you doing this?” A framed piece of artwork falls from the gaping hole onto the bed. 

“Please. Go.”

“It’s not like I have a choice.” Leo fumbles the flashlight before stabilizing his grip. Into the corridor, droplets of water accumulate into a spot—likely from the flood everywhere in the house. “So, house—why did you take Betsy?” Leo mutters to himself while darting anything that appears while walking further in. The eerie thin mist appears as well as storms of dust that linger. 

Leo sways the mist away only to return thicker. Looking back, there is but a wall of smoke. At the end of the corridor is but a wooden wall with a generous pool of water in front. Leo approaches the water and flashes it down. The water is viscous and jet black. Like a portal to some dark outlandish realm. “There’s no way Betsy went in there.” 

Leo toggles the light off from the switch and puts it away. Leo holds a deep breath in before throwing himself into the deep pool. Upon opening his eyes, the deep trench just appears black with no light source anywhere; when suddenly, the furthest floor down illuminates a path of glowing seaweeds.  The seagrass lines up towards what seems like a cave entrance.

Leo swims towards the direction in which the glowing seaweed insists. The watery way has no bounds, yet does not particularly seem like it is natural. May seem like the bottom of a lake but beyond the bounds only lay an uncanny black scribbling field. 

Leo grabs onto the cave entrance that seemingly hovers above the pool of water. Leo emerges as tacky water drips like glue onto the ground. With his fingers, Leo scoops some of the substance as it vanishes from thick goo into vaporizing steam. “Dammit Betsy.”

The cave is illuminated with shining stalagmites of gems and stones of beautiful colors. There even appear gem deposits that emanate around mounds of rock. Bits of gem accumulate on the ground and yet still shine as the rest still intact. Leo is unphased by the sight and marches into the cave. 

Further into the cave appear glowing light blue moss almost like a wide dish of mushrooms. The hue of the cave walls also light up in similar green blue tints. Leo makes his way into the main chamber of the cave where the darkness persists once again.

Leo unsheathes the flash light and walks ahead. Betsy is sat at the center of the cave chamber; a yellow folder sprung out open drenched in water with documents and sheets of paper stained as well. Betsy is visibly down, wringing a sheet of paper cautiously with her notebook alongside her. Leo’s brows slam down as he strides forward.

“Are you kidding me? I told you, at some point this was gonna be dangerous. And look where we are!” Betsy fiercely rises and intrudes Leo.

“Wow, not even a ‘Oh my gosh Betsy, I was so worried!’ or a ‘Betsy are you ok?’—

“It didn't look like you needed it anyway! You, Betsy the hero of legends! Trying to fucking explore every godamn house in existance!—

“Oh fuck you!—

“Fuck you!” Betsy stomps around even managing to stomp her paperwork.

“What happened to you Leo? You used to be my friend; my friend. Now it looks like you don’t give a shit about anything. You’re just barely friendly enough to give me rides!”

“I don’t get you either Bets! I keep offering you money! Thousands and thousands of dollars! But you won’t take them!—

“I keep telling you—it’s too easy—that’s the easy way out!

“The fuck you mean ‘easy?” Betsy looks back at Leo and looks at him with passion.

“I don’t want money Leo.” Leo’s jerkiness regulates. The two orbit around one another. The cave drips water from the high ceiling above into the moist rock down below. Every droplet of water tap is echoed throughout the cave like a thud. The two synchronize and just stare at one another—with anger and with determination. “You’re lucky … y’know?”

“What do you … mean?”

“You are rich—you can have anything you want. You don’t need to work, or need to break a sweat or worry about wanting to work—it’s all there for you.”

“Bets, look—

“Leo  I just want to be able to make something of myself, ok? I have tried and tried and tried to work in everything but it never goes my way.” Betsy frustratedly inhales in haste. “I gave up everything to try to pursue something I could be good at … and I’ll probably not even be good as a historian either…” Betsy droops her head down as she points to the documents and folders scattered on the ground.

Leo takes a step forward to the papers ahead of him. The notebook, the collected pieces of documents, even some printed sheets of photos and manuscripts. 

“You came … to investigate the house. Like a detective.” Leo’s eyes focus on the saddened girl. 

“Bets …”

“Look Leo, you can leave if you want to—I don’t wanna be a burden to you anymore—it’s obvious that what we used to be is just not there anymore.” The flashlight fades and all that can be heard is a spout of dripping water as well as the audibly loud inhales and exhales of the two that echo throughout. Leo blindly walks up to Betsy with a hand out. A few steps and Leo’s hand comes in contact with Betsy’s shoulder. Leo bends one knee down and looks at her.

“Money isn’t worth it Bets. It’s actually fucking horrible… I think you’re the one that’s lucky.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life Bets… that’s why I’m always with you …”

“... What?”

“Everyday I wake up I’m sad and hopeless—I mean, what am I gonna do with my day y’know? I don’t have friends, I don’t need to work for shit—everyday I do the same routine—I don’t know what I’m gonna do with my life … but I guess what I’m trying to say is …” Even in the hollow dark, Leo feels Betsy looking up at him.

“Yeah … what is it?”

“Let’s get outta here.” Betsy throws Leo’s hand away and smacks her lips.

“That’s not what you were trying to say.” Leo laughs as he pulls out the second flashlight and turns it on. 

“Doesn’t matter what I was tryna’ say” Leo grins with a heavy charisma. “As long as you get the point.” 

Like the cave entrance, a greenish blue hue emits from the rocky floor and radiates throughout. The rocky floor resonates and becomes translucent, presenting a pool of water under. The rays of blue and green lights project themself onto the cave ceiling like northern lights. Just then, a wall of the cave retracts down and appears as an exit. 

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that you give my life meaning …” Leo confesses.