Chapter 3—The Rest of the House

The house was bigger than I’d originally thought. She led me past several rooms that had open doors. There were several very large, well-furnished guest bedrooms. It made me wonder a bit why they were making me sleep in a more open room, particularly one with very easy access to the exterior of the house. It was almost like a challenge. Lucy took me to a rather large bathroom down the hall and apologized for not having a fresh change of clothes for me.

“I will try to get you some more clothes soon. I wouldn’t want you to have to wear jeans and a crappy white t-shirt all the time,” she said. She squeezed my hand and walked off towards her bedroom. I went inside the bathroom and closed the door. I was able to look into a mirror for the first time in days. I looked like absolute shit. My skin was pale and taut from lack of quality sleep and dehydration. I had bags under my eyes. My hair was greasy and messed. My scraggly beard was coming in. My lip was swelling from where Dennis had punched me earlier, and he’d left hand marks on my neck from choking me. All in all, I looked pretty bad and didn’t feel all that much better, despite having had sex not five minutes ago. I really needed a shower.

The bathroom was awesome. It was big, with a two-sink counter setup and a large standing shower. It had dual showerhead inside, with large frosted-glass sliding doors. I was excited to get in so I undressed quickly and stepped inside, turning on the water from both showerheads. It was a bit cold at first, but warmed up quickly. There was soap in the shower so I was able to wash completely. I probably stayed in for 20 minutes. I got out and toweled off. After rummaging through some of the drawers in the cabinet, I found a razor and some shaving gel so I was able to shave. I felt so much better after my shower that I was able to redress in my worn clothes and leave the bathroom. Lucy had said I had complete run of the house, so I decided to explore.

The house had 4 guest bedrooms in all. There was the full bath that I’d showered in, plus another bath, this one with a smaller shower and only one sink. There were two main hallways, and both had closed doors along them. I assumed most of them were closets, with the master bedroom behind one of them. The main parlor was by what I assumed was the front door. It was quite large, with nice couches and chairs spread out around a large, low coffee table. Down another hallway was the dining room, which was enormous, with a huge mahogany table in the center, large enough to seat 14. Through double sliding doors from the dining room was a massive kitchen. It was virtually commercial in size, with a large island, two sinks, two ovens, dual ranges, and two refrigerators. I fancied myself a decent amateur cook, so I was quite impressed with the kitchen. I rummaged through the pantry and refrigerator and quickly noticed that almost all of the food products had Spanish language labels.

So much for being in the US, I thought.

My shower had made me hungry so I decided to scrounge for some more food. There was a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables in the fridge, as well as an assortment of cheeses. I grabbed some carrots and some more cheese (muenster this time) and a bowl. I filled a glass with water from the filter in the fridge and continued my tour of the house. The kitchen led to the laundry room and a small room that was mainly filled with foldout deck chairs and bedding. The study was next. There were bookshelves filled with books, a desk made out of some dark wood, and big windows overlooking the pool deck. The room was wood paneled, dark and inviting, in a warm sort of way. I went back into my room and opened the door to the pool area.

The pool looked gorgeous this time of year. It was fairly big, with enough room to swim short laps easily. There was plenty of room around the edge of the pool for people to hang out and I had a feeling when people came to the house, this would be the main area for partying. There was even a door from the kitchen to the front of the pool deck.

The temperature outside was quite pleasant, probably low 70s and mostly sunny. I decided to stand outside and eat the food I’d found. With the warm, but not hot weather and Spanish language good, I guessed I was somewhere in South America. It was mid-April and I figured it would be hotter in Central America or Mexico. The trees and house kept me from seeing anything in the distance, so I couldn’t possibly pick out landmarks, or even see what the landscape looked like.

After finishing my food and drink, I walked back and decided to check out the study. There were books of all sorts: crappy novels, classics, books on philosophy, on science, and books in foreign languages. I picked out The Grapes of Wrath and Anna Karenina, two classics I’d never made it all the way through. I went back to my room, sat on the daybed and began to read. I was asleep within five minutes.



I awoke to Lucy gently shaking my shoulder. It was already dark out, so I must have been asleep for a while.

“Hey sleepy,” she said. “I thought I’d let you catch up on some of your sleep. I brought you some food, thought you might be hungry.”

She had set a tray of food on the table in front of the daybed. There was a bowl of pasta with shrimp, a few pieces of bread, and a pitcher of water.

“Dennis does not want you eating with us when he’s here,” she said.

“When he’s gone, I’d like your company,” she added as I started digging into my food. After a nap I was considerably hungry and the food smelled good.

“So how are you feeling now?” she asked.

“Better,” I said.