Eva might be keeping from going stir crazy with whatever weekly escapades she disappeared on, but Juliana had nothing of the sort.
Her solution might be a poor man’s substitute, but in the boring town of Brakket, Juliana would take what she could get.
She pulled open the drawer of her desk that held all of her exploring gear. She dumped the contents, a notebook and pens, a map of the town, a heavy-duty flashlight, gloves, binoculars, and rope, into her backpack. She checked the battery level of her camera and grabbed a few bottles of water from the fridge along with a few granola bars.
With that, Juliana put on a light jacket and headed out into the early morning air. She had her sights set on a very specific building today.
Business buildings were pretty easy to tell if anyone used them. If a business building was closed for any reason other than holidays or renovation, it was probably out of business. A for sale sign would be a for sure sign but that usually means the inside has been cleaned out unless it used to be a big factory. Boarded up windows indicated a goldmine.
Residences, on the other hand, were harder to tell. Even if no one went in or out for weeks, it might still be a summer home. Or in a school town like Brakket, a winter home for students during the school year.
The house Juliana had her sights on today hadn’t been used all summer. It had looked interesting at the start of summer, but Juliana couldn’t tell for sure back then. So she had discretely stuck a bit of painter’s tape over the doors and garage. They hadn’t been disturbed once.
That combined with yellowing grass from a lack of water, general disrepair of the exterior, and a broken window on the second floor led Juliana to believe it was, in fact, abandoned.
If it was intended for use during the school year… well, school was going to start in two weeks and no one had shown up so far. If she was supposed to live in it, she’d probably just choose to live in the dorms rather than spend the effort fixing the place up.
Juliana made a quick staircase out of earth and hopped over the wooden fence, flattening the earth once she landed. She wasn’t particularly worried about neighbors being nosy, but going in through the back door would give her more time to get in without displaying her obvious breaking and entering to the whole street.
All the residences in Montana, or at least around here, were very spread apart. Large houses on larger properties. This house wasn’t the biggest she’d seen, but it was decent sized. There was bound to be something interesting inside.
Juliana removed the bit of tape on the back door. The front door still had the bit of tape over it. She tried jiggling the handle and was surprised to find it unlocked.
Reeling back, Juliana began coughing and gagging. There was something foul in there. Wishing she was a better air mage, Juliana slapped a cloth over her face.
Right inside the back door was a small dining room and kitchen. Dishes had been left all over the table. There might have been a meal on them but flies and maggots swarmed over the whole thing. The fridge was hanging open and full of even more bugs.
Underneath the cloth, Juliana smiled. This was
She carefully moved forward with her wand out. It wouldn’t do to be surprised by some rabid animal that managed to get in. A quick test of the light switch produced no results. As expected of an abandoned building.
Carefully maneuvering her hands, she brought up the flashlight to her hand holding the cloth. Enough light was coming in through the large windows, but some corners still ended up dark. In all honesty, she should just toss the cloth. It wasn’t helping much anyway.
The dining room connected with a small room at the front of the house. Several couches and seats were set around a low coffee table. Several shelves of books lined one wall. Sadly none were both interesting and something Juliana didn’t already own.
There was a fancy mask hanging off one wall. It was half black and half white with what looked like tarot cards cut out over the eye holes. A fake gold medallion hung in the center of the forehead depicting a moon encircling a sun. Several sheet music covered curls sprang off the top.
Juliana plucked it off the wall. It felt flimsy in her hands, like papier-mache. She replaced it on the hook. If she wanted it, she’d get it when she left.
The rest of the ground floor had nothing of interest. A small office with some computers set up, a room with a big couch and a bigger television, and a bathroom.
Juliana crept up the stairs to the second floor. She made it to the top and frowned. Not a single step creaked. What kind of abandoned house didn’t have creaking stairs.
