Welcome to part four of the first chapter of Lost in Tumultuous Despair! Part four is told through Benedick Monty’s point of view as he recounts the first five days of his stay here, and this will continue to do so for any future chapters.

Enjoy!

“I bet my dad and sister won’t believe their eyes if they ever see us talking to each other in a non-aggressive manner,” I whispered amusingly to Hal as I tried to get rid of any trace of that absurd feud between our families that has been raging around Veronaville for centuries. “They would probably think I came back from the loony bin or something similar!”

“Heh, yeah,” chuckled Hal.

Now that our conversation is done, we looked to our side and see two guys not getting along after a conversation. This sure feels more challenging than I thought.

I entered the nearby abandoned house. It was quite fancy in the inside, so why would the original residents leave such a beautiful house? Anyway, what caught my eye was a gigantic dance sphere. Boy, these things are definitely fun to play, so it wouldn’t hurt if I use it for a while.

Man, that was quite a thrilling experience, so to say! I haven’t used a device as thrilling as this for a long time back in Veronaville, so glad this was a refresher.

About half an hour later, the sphere had been moving very quickly, and I felt trapped and shaken up by this idiotic contraption. Can it just slow down like it’s supposed to?

That does it! Being tossed out of the sphere feels very humiliating because other people would assume that I wasn’t strong enough to hold onto it. I felt so dizzy that I need a big break from this thing.

Ow! That was an extremely powerful throw the sphere gave to me! All I could do at the moment is to rub my poor hurt butt.

Perhaps joining the conversation over at the sofa would forget that dance sphere incident. That way, I could just get rid of any thoughts of being thrown off that contraption. It sounds like they were talking about why they went on the road trip. Anyway, this could mean that I might need to join them.

“Hey, ladies,” I exclaimed. “How about I join you two?”

However, they were too preoccupied by each other’s little conversation to even notice me. What a bummer.

Unfortunately, the music from the piano became too unbearable for me to hear that I immediately covered my ears. Even the blonde lady was covering her ears in pain. But what about the other two ladies? Why were they staying or sitting so still like there was nothing wrong? Maybe they actually liked it, but who on earth could stand such awful music like this? That made me really wonder.

After that dreadful music finally died down, I immediately approached the lady who was covering her ears with me. This should be a good opportunity to introduce myself to her and know her better.

“Hi,” I said. “My name’s Benedick Monty and I’m from Veronaville. What’s your name and where do you come from.”

“Well,” she replied, “I’m Jill Smith and I’m from Strangetown. By the way, you haven’t asked me the reason you went on this road trip. I went on it because I was meant to oversee the construction of a hospital.”

I thought for a moment to think about whether I should mention the feud back in Veronaville, but I eventually decided not to. “Well, I went on this road trip because I wanted to explore SimNation. It’s a pretty exciting place to do. After all, it’s quite nice to know more about this place.”

“Heh, I see what you mean,” she chuckled. “Exploring around is definitely an awesome thing to do, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. And you know what?”

“What?”

“Have you ever tried that dance sphere across the living room? It’s fun if you try it, but be careful with it, though. It can throw you out if it gets too fast.”

“Oh, I see what you mean.”

All of a sudden, Jill began to cringe in fear. Was it because of her past traumas or what?

“You know,” she muttered, “I’m starting to think there’s something weird going on in this place. The piano music is fine to me to some extent, but there are times when I can’t stand it at all. Is it because there’s something wrong in this house?”

Something wrong with this house? Nonsense! This house is perfectly fine in my opinion, so there shouldn’t be any reason why we should be anxious about this place.

“Easy there,” I cried. “There’s nothing wrong with this house. All you’re talking about is part of your anxieties, which should go away in any second.”

“A…are you sure about this?” stuttered Jill. “Please say that you are.”

Me? Sure? Of course I am! “Of course I’m sure! Like I said, there’s nothing to worry about in this place. Everything’s fine in here, and I’m sure you’ll know that.”

However, our conversation was soon broken off by the sound of the piano again. Gah, how horrible are these people on the piano? Did they ever practice it before coming here?

With all that noise around, I needed to do something to get my mind out of it. There seems to be nothing around here, so finding another room was the way to go. Maybe the restroom was a good place for me to find some peace and quiet. All I needed to do was to find the door.

I took me a few minutes to figure out where the restroom is. Turns out the door is right next to the piano. As I entered the restroom, I noticed Jill going out of it. How strange. Maybe there’s another way in here, I suppose.

Turns out I was right. There is another way in here. However, I learned it the hard way when this guy in a business suit came in here through that door.

“Er…” he muttered as he awkwardly noticed me in the restroom, “Oops?”

“Why, yes,” I cried. This guy should’ve been more aware in the first place. “Can’t you see that I’m in here trying to use the toilet? You need to be more aware of what other people are doing in here next time.”

“But how am I supposed to know that people are…”

“You. Out. Now.”

“Okay, then.”

As the door finally closed, I finally sat down and used the toilet. That felt really good after all that I faced since I came here. Some relaxing did me good, after all.

As I sat, however, that conversation with Jill felt worth thinking about. Maybe she had made a good point about something wrong with this house. I haven’t seen such a house with so much festive décor. I wonder what it really means in the first place.

After using the restroom, I went over to the lady in orange. Maybe I should talk to her about Jill’s suspicions about this house. “Hi, miss. Do you happen to suspect anything peculiar about this house? This blonde lady told me that this house has some sort of problem, and I was wondering if you think the same way.”

“First of all,” she interjected, “My name’s Mrs. Coral Oldie. Second of all, I don’t think I suspect anything weird about this house at all. That’s just part of Jill’s suspicions, and why she didn’t tell me about it, I neither know nor care. Third of all, why don’t you introduce yourself first? How rude of you!”

Oops. Turns out she’s actually married, but where’s her wedding ring? Anyway, out of my jumbled mind and back to the conversation. “Sorry, ma’am. I thought you were single because you don’t have a wedding ring on your finger. Oh, and my name’s Benedick Monty, by the way.”

“Right. Well, I accidentally left my wedding ring back home, and now I don’t know when I’ll ever get it back.”

That conversation turned out fine, but the piano music wasn’t. What an unpleasant surprise I got myself into these days!

Afterwards, I heard someone yelling that it was time for lunch. Maybe that was a good idea because I felt so hungry ever since I came here, and a meal would totally do me good. Anyway, off the kitchen to see what they have in stock in there.

The kitchen had a plate of well-prepared lunch meat sandwiches on the counter already. How convenient! Maybe whoever yelled that it was time for lunch prepared it himself already. Anyway, I grabbed a plate and brought it over to the table to eat it. Apparently, I had company as I ate. This should be fun, I hope.

“So,” the blonde man spoke up, “Now that we’re here, let’s properly introduce ourselves. Hi, my name’s Buck Grunt. What’s yours?”

This should be easy, even though he forgot to mention where he came from and why he went on this road trip.

“Well,” I replied, “My name’s Benedick Monty. By the way, you forgot to say where you come from. You see, I come from Veronaville, where I live with my father and sister. Oh, and I came to this road trip because I was just touring around SimNation. Tell me yours.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention those two. Anyway, here goes nothing. Well, I come from Strangetown, where I live with my father and two brothers, and I come to this road trip because I’m sick and tired of a frugal lifestyle back at home that I just want to go somewhere to escape all of it.”

A second later, Buck paused for a moment, then finally spoke up. “By the way, one thing I want to tell you is that the blonde girl Jill told me about something wrong about this house. My main worry is that she didn’t have any strong proof to back it up, so I don’t know if I should trust her or not.”

Wait, what? Jill told Buck as well? At least he doubted it as well because he was right that Jill didn’t use any proof to back it up.

“You know, Jill told me that there’s something wrong with this place as well. She didn’t use any proof to back up her point, apart from the piano sound, but I think it’s more of the person’s lack of talent rather than the general piano itself.”

“Well, I guess you might be right on that. I just want to keep my suspicions up at the moment to see what’s going on, if you get what I mean.”

Buck was kind enough to clean my plates alongside his, and that was awesome. However, the piano music was not. It seems like there is no way that we can escape from the music as long as we stay here and at least one of us keep playing the stupid piano.

Watching a nice TV show was pleasing to some extent, especially if you have some company. Anyway, I chatted with this lady in lilac, whose name happened to be Darleen, who lived in Pleasantview with her husband and son. She didn’t give any further details, though. I wonder why.

However, the sound of the piano became so unbearable that it was time for me to move somewhere much quieter, so the room through the door right in front of me wouldn’t hurt.

Right. I went inside the room, where Buck was talking to some random teenage girl, and boy was I amazed at the walls and decorations. So much fire-themed stuff in it! This has to be the most bizarre room I have ever been to. Another thing I was very intrigued at were the wall decorations. They were mostly posters displaying with angst as the main theme, but a couple were completely different. One was a painting of a woman in red, and another was drawn by a child. I wonder what kind of people would dare put such a drawing in a room full of angst-themed posters?

As I took a nice, warm, soothing bath, I pondered at the same time regarding Jill’s words. Maybe she was right, but why didn’t she mention that earlier? Perhaps she discovered it after she told me about it.

After my bath, however, I was faced with another dilemma. It turned out that there was a huge crowd of people gathering around the bathroom, and I got pushed to the side. Now that does it! All I ever wanted to do during that situation was to get out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to see if there was anything left to eat.

Luckily for me, there seemed to be another huge plate of lunch meat sandwiches. Maybe someone made these when I was away. Guess the house won’t burn down at anytime soon.

After grabbing a sandwich, I set it down on a table and sat down to eat it. Seconds later, I was joined by some mysterious guy wearing glasses and a suit. This should be the chance for me to get to know him better.

“So,” I said, “What’s your name, and how’s your day been going so far?”

“Let me guess, I think it’s been an eventful one,” he muttered a few seconds later. “What with us stranded in the middle of nowhere and all. I even talked to some people passing by here that this place is going to be a golf course. Apparently, a few of them warned me that this house is under a curse of some sort. Oh, and just call me Mr. Simself.”

“Well, that’s interesting,” I took a bite off from the sandwich. That guy was definitely a strange man. He never mentioned his first name, let alone saying it first. I guess he’s a shy person.

For a moment, I pondered on my thoughts for a while. Should I tell him about what’s wrong with this house? Jill may not sound like she made sense, but I guess I found something fishy about the fiery room.

After much thinking, maybe I should give it a try. “You know, that blonde lady Jill told me this morning that there’s something wrong with this house that creeps her out. The blonde guy Buck also told me about that, albeit in a not-so-paranoid way. I guess they were being paranoid about their surroundings and such. But at some point, I went to the room with fiery walls, and I noticed that the décor was a bit… bizarre to my tastes.”

“You know what, maybe they were right about this place after all. As I said earlier, some of the people I encountered during the day said that this house is under a curse of some sort. I think we should investigate this place to prove my point. You and the rest can investigate around this house while I go outside to investigate as I try to get us out of here. How’s that?”

“Ummm… fine. I’ll see what I can do about that.”

“Good. Just don’t hurt yourself, OK?”

As I washed my dish, I thought for a while. This sounds like a weird quest for me to do, but let’s hope the benefits overweight the risks. But at the moment, I felt really sleepy.

This day was so tiring that I really need to just sleep. Luckily, there are four, and I chose one of the single beds out of convenience. I mean, that would take up less sleeping space than normal, wouldn’t it? Anyway, can’t wait for the next day to unravel before my very own eyes, then!

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Wow! That was quite a refreshing sleep! I really felt much more energized as a result. Let’s start this investigation, shall we? This better be good.

As I rose from my bed, I noticed the creepy-looking lady rising up from her bed as well. Then we took a glance of another bed and found Coral asleep. I also looked out at the windows that the sun had not risen yet. It looked like we woke up too early.

I walked out of the room and found myself hearing the dreaded piano music. Ugh! Who could be playing it during this time of day?

As I checked to see who was playing the piano, I couldn’t believe my eyes at what I saw.

It turned out that it was Jill Smith herself playing the piano! This is just too bizarre and unreasonable. She was the one who complained about something wrong with it in the first place, but now she was playing it. What was wrong with her, anyway?

Seconds later, I was approached by the creepy-looking lady again. What did she want, by the way?

“What is it that you want, miss?” I asked.

“Well, first of all, it is not appropriate to talk to a woman like that. Second of all, my name is Gvaudoin Tricou. Third of all, what I wanted is none of your business for the time being.”

What kind of name was that? I had trouble figuring out how to pronounce it. I think I should call her Miss Tricou from now on.

I felt like a change of food, so cooking some tasty toaster pastries wouldn’t hurt. After all, it can give some variety to our diet, wouldn’t it? Well, here goes nothing, and let’s hope this thing won’t burn.

Luckily for me, the toaster pastry didn’t burn, but there was no space on the counters to place the plate on. Let’s just say that the floor would do for the time being.

The toaster pastry tastes very delicious, but eating while standing takes the joy out of it. If there are more dining tables and chairs in this house, then I would love to set this down and sit as I eat.

Okay, I have to admit that this contraption is very thrilling that I just want to try this out. After all, a little spin shouldn’t hurt much.

Unfortunately, the dance sphere spinned so heavily that I ended up throwing up due to nausea. How could this thing happen to me? This isn’t fair at all.

I took a refreshing bath on the bathtub. It was dirty when I tried it, but it was worth the try, I guess. Afterwards, I was approached by Jill wearing underwear. Oh, the humanity! What should I do now?

“So,” she said, “Did you have a good night’s sleep? If so, that’s great.”

Let me guess, she was worried about the house. “I did have a good night’s sleep, thank you very much. Don’t worry about me at all. I can take care of myself.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I should go take a bath by now.”

Ugh! There seems to be an extremely stinky stench going on around this room! I better get out of this room and find somewhere less smelly.

I was surprised to find out that there were toaster pastries left on the plate, so maybe grabbing one wouldn’t hurt a bit. Let’s just hope this thing won’t get rotten quickly.

After grabbing a plate to eat, I set it down on the table sat down. Apparently, Miss Tricou was on the other side already.

As soon as I started eating, she immediately spoke up. “My apologies for my behavior earlier this morning. I thought you were blocking my way when I was trying to look around the living room.”

That sounded like very apologetic of her. I guess it was not much harm done, then.

“It’s OK,” I replied as I took another bite from my toaster pastry. “Just next time, don’t scare me like that.”

As I munched on my bite, however, I felt something very disgusting about it. It was no longer sweet and crispy, but moldy and smelly. In fact, it tasted so horrible that I held my mouth to prevent myself from vomiting. When did my pastry started going rotten?

The rotten toaster pastry meant that my lunch was finally cut short, and I had to throw it away. What a waste, but it was for my good, though. The same happened to that lady in black as well, so I volunteered to pick up her dish along with mine. I better wash the dishes to get rid of any germs that got stuck in there.

In the meantime, watching Darleen playing the piano was oddly entertaining to some degree, especially since she did her best to play beautifully, just like Jill. However, she didn’t play long because she ended up running to the restroom and stayed there for a long time. I wonder what she had been up to.

From what I had seen in the restroom after Darleen left, I found out that the toilet was horrendously dirty and emitting some sort of disgusting stench. My best guess was that she also ate rotten toaster pastries, but she got sick and constantly vomited on the toilet as a result. Time to clean that toilet, I guess.

It was finally time to corner Jill and ask her why she played the piano this morning, but telling her directly would cause too many problems I personally couldn’t handle, so saying it indirectly would help me explain it to her.

“You know what?” I whispered as I pointed toward the piano at the back. “I feel like some of us tried playing the piano as best as they could while others thought that their playing was horrible.”

“Oh, really?” she replied. “Can you give examples?”

“Just look at Miss Tricou behind me. Remember that she was the one who played the piano often?”

“Yup. What do you mean?”

“Imagine her expression when she found out that people hates her playing.”

“Well, that should definitely be fun to watch,” Jill chuckled. “She would probably go into a fit of rage or whatever.”

“Yeah. I think I saw you playing the piano, and you’re not that bad after all.”

“Hehe, thanks for the compliment. I’m actually a newbie at it. Been playing since last month. I just tried the simple tunes, so I expect not a lot of people to appreciate it.”

“Yeah, I never got to play it, though. Just watching people playing it.”

Just as our conversation was done, Coral suddenly tickling me. What was that for anyway? Why did she do that, by the way? Can’t she at least tell me at first? Boy, that was so sudden that it was a bit too much for me to handle.

Okay, I really couldn’t stand this at all. I must tell Coral what on earth was that tickle for.

“Geez, Coral!” I shouted angrily. “Can’t you see that I just got done talking to Jill? Can you at least be a bit more patient?”

“You know,” she smiled like there was nothing wrong with that, “I want to prove that a normally serious old woman like me can have a sense of humor. I thought it would be nice to cheer you up with my own brand of humor, but I guess I’m wrong at this time around. Sorry to bother you.”

“Well, you better pay attention to what others were doing when considering doing something to them. Interrupting them like that is rude.”

When I turned back, I noticed Buck staring me like there was something wrong. “What’s the matter?” I asked.

“I think you should chill out when someone is just trying to have some fun,” he finally said. “It wasn’t like Coral’s trying to harm you or anything. She just wants to cheer you up, that’s all.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Like she wants to have fun with me? She’s old enough to notice that I just got done with my conversation with Jill! She could’ve just waited for me and asked me. That was so irritating of her!” Gee, Buck was as annoying as Coral just now. After all, it was all Coral’s fault for giving me a heart attack during the afternoon.

“Look, I know you got tickled right after you just got done with a conversation, but isn’t it a bit too harsh to snarl at that person? You could’ve done better than that.”

Done better? Hmph! I’ve grown tired of this. I’ll just walk away and stop thinking about this anymore.

That was a really stressful time just now. I was really glad that drama had died down. I need to get my mind off of that by sleeping. Hopefully, there won’t be anything unpleasant tomorrow.

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Upon waking up very early in the morning, I quickly used the restroom. Felt like I should have used it before going to bed. Anyway, at least there was a nice bowl of cereal on the kitchen counter. What a nice thing to see once I entered the kitchen. A satisfying meal will never fail me regardless of what it is.

As I ate my bowl of cereal, I heard some munching right in front of me. Can I just eat in peace and quiet for a while?

I lifted up my head to see who that was. And then I said, “Look, can you please be quiet next time when you’re eating? I need some privacy, you know.”

Once I finished my sentence, I was mildly shocked to see who that person was.

It was Miss Tricou herself. I couldn’t imagine my eyes that it was her who ate rather loudly just now. Normally, she acted as prim and proper as possible, but here in the kitchen, she ate rather sloppily.

“Mr… umm…” she spoke up once I finished talking.

“Monty,” I interjected. “Name’s Benedick. We forgot to introduce ourselves yesterday, which explains the confusion. I just want to tell you that I just want to eat in peace. Understand?”

“I understand completely. I shall have to be careful whenever there are other people eating in the same room with me.”

That was a satisfying meal, I should say. Even more humorous was that I kind of farted in the kitchen, which was kind of weird because I never liked the idea of doing such thing in public. At least this is a house, which is a private place. To the bathroom I go.

Man, that bath was really relaxing and soothing. I even got the opportunity to wear my original clothes afterwards. They make me feel so much more dignified. Once I got done bathing, I scrubbed the tub clean just so that someone else would want to use it. However, I was interrupted by a nasty smell coming from behind me.

As I turned around, I was mildly surprised at whom I saw.

It was Miss Tricou, and she did smell pretty bad, but I won’t tell her that, of course. Now what did she want anyway?

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“I was just her for a nice, soothing bath,” she replied. “Would you be so generous as to give me the opportunity to cleanse my body from the putrid stench within?”

“Sure. I’ll get out as soon as possible.”

Boy, she was right! She really smelled awful! I better get out of the bathroom and let her take a bath without any interference.

Ah, baking toaster pastries will always get my mind off of such obnoxious situation like just now. I just had to serve this, grab a plate, and eat it to my heart’s content.

All I could do at that particular moment was to eat and enjoy the taste of the pastry. How delightful! I also get to enjoy a sense of privacy as I ate because it felt more calm to eat by myself than to eat with others.

Sadly, however, my moment of privacy was disrupted when Coral sat in front of me with a plate of toaster pastry with her as well. Seems like I had to get used to having company whenever I’m in this house.

Not long, I heard Coral opening her mouth and asked, “How’s your day been going so far?”

My day? Let’s see what I could say. “To be honest, today’s just like any other day in the house, other than the fact that I’m currently investigating around here. In fact, I might believe that there’s something wrong with this house.”

“Well, why would you think of that?”

“You know Mr. Simself, right? He told me that we should investigate around this house because there might be something peculiar about it. Maybe you should help us.”

“Sounds like something exciting to do for me,” She was silent for a few seconds. “But where do I start?”

“It doesn’t really matter. Just look around the house for anything you might find interesting and tell it to anyone on the house.”

“Okay, then. I think I’ll get more to eat.”

“Suit yourself. I better get going.” I think I’ll just find something to do.

That was quite an interesting conversation just now, but maybe I should try my hand at playing the piano just to see if I could confirm anything weird to it. It seemed that playing the piano was quite fulfilling despite being a relative beginner, so how come I heard awful sounds when other people are playing it unless they’re already good at it? Only time could tell, I guess.

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I played the piano for a pretty long time, but all I could hear were nice stuff into my ears. Huh? How weird. I played it, and it was no problem, but I didn’t like the way other people played it. Also, I was starting to get hungry, so I should stop playing before I starve to death.

Once I got up on my feet, I was immediately approached by a smiling Coral. It seemed that she was in a good mood.

“So,” she said, “It’s about time you played the piano, huh? How was it?”

“Yup,” I replied. Despite my lack of sufficient piano skills, at least I tried. “I would say it was quite fun playing it. You know, what with listening to the melodic tunes while I played. I may not be an experienced player, but I certainly would love to try.”

“That’s great. Just keep practicing, and you’ll do fine.”

“Gee, thanks.” At least Coral didn’t mean any harm just now. In fact, I was glad about what she said just now. That made me comfortable deep inside.

Sitting on the couch with Jill beside me was a bit weird if either of us stayed quiet. Maybe I should talk to her.

“You know what?” I said. “I think there are times when you’re talking through your hat.”

“Well, what do you mean?” she asked.

“What I mean is that I sometimes think your assumptions about this house sounds like nonsense.”

Once I finished my sentence, Jill immediately frowned. “If you think I’m talking nonsense, then you should try investigating around the house,” she shouted. “There must be evidence about what’s wrong with this house.”

Wow, what a temper! But I can’t be swayed by such temper. I should stay calm in such cases. “I did search around this house as best as I could,” I replied. “It’s just that your automatic assumptions about this place lacks evidence, and you should back them up with reasonable clues in the first place. Look, I know that there might be something wrong with this house, but you presented it in a way that seems too vague for me to believe.”

“Okay, fine. But I just need a moment to think for a while.”

“Well, suit yourself. I need to head into the kitchen for a nice drink, if you don’t mind.”

Now that the tense conversation with Jill was over, I walked into the kitchen to find something to drink. Luckily, there were some Milkis in the fridge, so I grabbed one and started chugging it as quickly as I could. My, what a tasty drink!

Maybe a little chat with Darleen should help me even more. That would probably relieve me from any excessive stress for a while. I had to admit that I had something interesting to talk about as well.

“If there’s some way to tell the future, that would be great,” I exclaimed. “I mean, we could assure our hopes that we’ll survive this ordeal together.”

“Actually, it wouldn’t be as fascinating as it would be,” she replied. “In fact, what if we’re revealed to die instead of getting saved? That would make us paranoid.”

Paranoid? Ha! I doubt I’ll act that way regardless of situation. “Ever heard of free will? That’s what help us make our own decisions and destinies. In fact, many historical events involve some sort of free will.”

“Look, the way the world works isn’t as simple as that,” she chuckled a bit and then shook her head. “It’s true that we have our own free will, but it works with fate to lead us into the future we deserve in the end. After all, history has always reminded us that people’s actions, motives, and decisions have affected the world around us. So, even if we have our own mind and determine what we do, there’s still a greater power that affects the outcome in the end.”

After hearing all this rambling, I realized that this might be an opportunity to ask her about this house. “Speaking of which, do you have anything about this house?”

“I read this book while I was resting on a bed. I think it’s a diary of the previous owner of this house. As I read it, I was quickly hooked at the details the author wrote about her life. I would want to read more, but I was sick with food poisoning, so I ran to the restroom to throw up afterwards.”

“Well, that’s absolutely great! After all, it might contribute to any efforts to investigate this house as we wait for rescue.”

“That does sound nice. Have you made any progress so far?”

I thought for a moment on the progress I’ve made before finally speaking. “Not a lot, actually. The room with fiery wallpaper got me thinking about it in the first place.”

“Now that sounds weird to me. After all, what if the people who lived in there were actual punks? That’s got to be something, right?”

“Maybe,” I held my arms around me as I thought of a joke about it. “Say, do you think it’s chilly in here?”

“Are you acting this up?” she frowned and shook her head. “You look like you do.”

Yikes! She knew I was making it up. Best admit the truth. “Yeah. I was just making a joke about the fiery room I talked about just now.”

“Okay, fine. I’m off to go somewhere.”

After that lengthy conversation, some stranger pointed out to me and laughed. “You really are bad with chicks, aren’t you?”

Why, I oughta… Honestly, what he said pissed me off. If Beatrice was here, she’ll smack him cold. I guess I could only hope.

Oh, well. I guess a good night’s sleep is what I really need by the end of the day. Frankly, I was also eager to see what the next day would be like. I just have to see for myself, eh?

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Just another day in this house, with me starting it by eating some cereal on the counter. At least it was satisfying to my body, though.

Time to wash the dishes, then. Apparently, the big bowl on the counter was empty when I grabbed my bowl of cereal, so I had to wash it alongside my small bowl. On the way to the restroom, however, the dreadful sound of the piano took over my general attention that I nearly slipped the dishes. How horrible! Once I get into the restroom, I can just take my mind off of that tune.

An hour after washing the dishes, I went to the kitchen again to see whether or not there was anything else to eat. Man, I had to admit that I felt so hungry that I wanted to eat again. The cereal wasn’t enough to keep me full for a long time, but I was fortunate enough to find a plate of toaster pastries, so I grabbed one and ate it to my heart’s delight.

I tried my hand at the dance sphere once I finished the pastry just to have fun. Again, it shook ever so violently that I ended up getting so nauseous that I threw up right in front of the contraption.

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to use the dance sphere after eating.

I had learned a rather painful lesson from this experience, but I hoped I could remember it, just so that I wouldn’t experience it again. Oh, well. Time to eat another toaster pastry, probably because I threw up the one I ate before riding the sphere.

By then, I should take a refreshing bath, mainly because I really needed to be clean and fresh. When I entered the bathroom, I saw Buck turning the tap off. Maybe I should ask him just in case he had some reservations regarding it.

“Excuse me,” I said. “Mind if I use the bathtub right now that you’re done?”

“Go right ahead,” he replied. “Use it well, though.”

Great. All I had to do was to turn the tap on and immerse myself into the bathtub. “Why, thank you.”

Now that was a nice bath, but I quickly got bored around here. The only thing to do at the moment was to listen to Jill playing the piano. To be honest, her playing didn’t sound bad at all, which was quite unexpected. Maybe she practiced so much that her skills had improved. What to do next, however, was another question.

All of a sudden, I heard a familiar voice calling me.

It was the mysterious Mr. Simself again. He must be here for any progress we had made on the investigation of this house.

“Hey, Benedick!” he cried. “Have you made any progress investigating this place? Or you can just tell me what you found interesting about other people here, you know.”

I thought for a moment and had an idea what to say, even if the only thing I could count as progress was Darleen’s discovery, and I would definitely not mention the food poisoning incident. That was rather humiliating. “Darleen, the woman in lilac, told me that she read this diary belonging to the previous owners of this house. Nothing else I encountered was of much importance, I guess.”

“You know, that was an awesome discovery you’ve mentioned,” he moved his hands as if to push something. “In fact, we should ask other people to help us around. That would help all of us find out more about this place and possibly tell other people about it.”

That suggestion sounded very risky because it seemed to involve other people. I should tell him so. “That sounds like a good idea, but I don’t want other people to get hurt in the process. I mean, this sounds like a risky thing to do, and involving more people will affect them as well.”

“You may sound right to some extent, but all of us in here are already involved in this thing. Also, this task is so urgent that we can’t just leave other people out of this.”

“Well, suit yourself. I might not agree with you completely on this issue, but I’ll see what I can do about it. See you later, then.”

Gee, these plates needed to get washed immediately, assuming they had been sitting around on the table for probably quite a long time.

A few minutes after I finished washing the dishes, I was stopped by Jill as I was walking towards the kitchen to prepare for more food for the night. Apparently, judging by the smile, she looked unusually happy. I wonder what was going on.

“Why, hello there,” she said. “I hope you’re not feeling distraught right now.”

Distraught? Me? The only thing that was making me distraught right now was Jill’s own smile! It was just too much for someone normally reserved like me!

“You know what?” I flinched as I closed my eyes. Is it just me, or ever since when did she start acting like this. “I kinda can’t stand the look of your eyes. Give me a break for a while, okay?”

Phew! I managed to walk out of that sense of awkwardness just now. This time, I should make some mac and cheese to satisfy my hunger. And because I’m not a cruel person, I decided to make a big bowl for everyone else to share.

As soon as I reached the dining table, I noticed that the sky got dark. Heh, talking about perfect timing around here. Anyway, time to eat this bowl of mac and cheese before it’s too late.

Wow! Maybe I wasn’t wrong about my assumption that Jill went cuckoo. But at least Joe bore the brunt of her fury. For that, I appreciated it. After all, he laughed at me because I wasn’t “good with the ladies”. That should teach him a lesson not to mess with me. But enough of that. I better wash this bowl in the sink.

Washing that bowl was tough work, and I got so sleepy that I just wanted to sleep regardless of the bed I was sleeping on. I would love to have some company as I slept, though.

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It may seemed a bit too early when I finally woke up, but I felt like my energy was fully restored that I could just wake up regardless of the time. Gotta find that Mr. Simself and talk to him about my concerns about this… investigation. Sometimes I felt that it was starting to become a bit of a burden. Here goes nothing, then.

As I entered the restroom, I found him in here as well. I better talk to him about my general feelings towards all this investigation. Once I called him, he turned around and asked me what was going on. This better be the time to tell him about my general feeling about this investigation.

“You know,” I said, “I think I’m feeling down about all this investigation and such. I know it’s necessary, but I’m feeling down right now. Call me lazy if you want to, but I guess one needs a break every once a while.”

“How so?” he asked.

Yikes! I never thought of him saying that. I must think quickly before he got more suspicious. “Well, I’m just feeling exhausted by all this searching stuff. Besides, I don’t think I did much anyways.”

Once I finished, he chuckled a bit. “But still, I was impressed about what you told me about the diary Darleen read. I guess this investigation thing is no longer confined to both of us. In fact, it has spread to other people as well. You just need to acknowledge it.”

Really? Acknowledge it? I wasn’t so sure if I was ready to acknowledge the fact that everyone in here’s been investigating. They might pretend like they were, but I might have to think about it more. “Oh, alright. But if this investigation thing dies down, I’ll take my words back.”

“Try as you might. I doubt you’ll be successful.”

“I suppose you could say that,” I clasped my hands and smiled. There must be a way to distract him from my further doubts. Maybe I should talk to him about Jill’s madness. “Anyway, do you find anyone in particular that you think is annoying?”

“I don’t think anyone in here’s being annoying so far. Part of it is because I have a job to get us out of here as soon as possible, so I pretty much miss all the drama that has been going on in here. Why are you asking me this?”

“That’s because…” Before I could say more, I suddenly heard something that interrupted our conversation.

We turned around to see Buck crying. Ouch at the incident! I had to stop smiling in the face of a situation like that. I really wonder what his problem was anyway. Perhaps he just wanted to grab our attention. Anyway, best get out of the restroom and into the kitchen because I was hungry.

Man, that incident was a rough one. But at least there was a spare toaster pastry on the floor. Best eat it before it goes bad. Food poisoning is something I could just prevent for the rest of my life provided that I eat non-rotten food.

The dance sphere in the living room felt so addictive that I could just ride on it literally for eons. Oh, how I was glad to see something like this in here. Gave me something fun to do whenever I felt very down.

The only part that wasn’t fun about this ride was when I got thrown out of the sphere after it shook violently. Worse, I felt like my head was being punched continuously with a rock. At least I regained consciousness afterwards.

As soon as I got up on my two legs, Jill approached me. Oh, not again.

“So,” she said, “How was it when you were riding that sphere? It sure looks fun.”

I was slightly relieved that she was talking about something else other than the house, but who know how the conversation will turn out. “Honestly, have you ever tried it before?”

“I tried it once, and I got thrown out of it as a result. Whatever that was, I would love to try it out again.”

“You definitely should!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. Talking about the dance sphere sure was fun. “It’s like riding a roller coaster without having to sit down! I’m glad you tried it out!”

“Well, yeah. It is really thrilling because I love to watch people spinning in the sphere itself.”

“Great! I better go take a bath. See you later.”

After the usually nice bath, I scrubbed the tub because I noticed that it had gone rather dirty. For the sake of anyone else who would love to use it, I better clean it well.

Once I was done, I turned around and saw Buck standing in front of me. He better spoke something or else I would end up wasting my time with him in here.

“You know what?” he finally said something, breaking the awkward moment of silence in the process. “Mind if I talk to you about my plan to get us out of here someday? I swear it will be harmless.”

Great. Just great. I felt like everybody in here were idiots. “Yeah, yeah. What is it that you want to talk about? I don’t have the time and patience to listen to you.”

“Okay. Now here’s my plan. How about we go outside and try waiting for someone to rescue? We can take a break whenever we feel tired or whatever.”

OK. This guy is flat-out nuts. Going outside just to wait for some nonexistent rescue would never work at all, given the relative isolation of this place. I must tell him that I refuse to partake in this because of how irrational it was.

“So we’ll just wave our hands in the air and act like total nutcases?! I don’t think so! This plan is idiotic, so don’t try it out!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” he exclaimed. “I’m not trying to offend you or anything. I just want your opinion about it, that’s all.”

“Well, you’re talking like an idiot every now and then. And you must be stinky by now. Have fun taking a bath while I go out to eat something!”

As I walked towards the kitchen for something to eat, I noticed Darleen sleeping on the main bed. How lucky of her. I must sleep on that bed again whenever I get the chance. After all, it allows for more space for me to sleep.

Man, this sandwich was delicious, but I didn’t chew enough and choked for a while as a result. I must try to chew my food well enough until it’s digestible. That way, I won’t have to choke again.

Then again, maybe I should step outside to see what interesting things were happening at the moment. I hope that idiot Buck wasn’t making a fool of himself.

Apparently, he was outside standing on the sidewalk with a worried expression on his face. He must be impatient about rescue because his “plan” had failed. I must talk him out of this madness.

“What’s up?” I asked. “Things didn’t go according to plan?”

“That was part of the reason,” he replied. “But the biggest reason I’m out here is because that house was starting to feel like a prison. I mean, look at all the routine we’ve been doing for the past few days. Doesn’t it bother you?”

Wow! That was quite an unexpected response I got from him! To be honest, I might be thinking the same way as well. But I wouldn’t want to be humiliated by those words, so there must be some way to stand up on my two legs again.

“Well, you might be right to some extent, but who knows if you might end up getting used to it to the point that you’ll end up enjoying it? That could actually happen to all of us, you know.”

“Are you trying to get even with me?”

Oops! He knew my intentions straight away! But what should I do: Admit it or cover it again? Maybe I should cover it again, but that would create more tensions, which is something I mustn’t do.

“Hurry up,” a voice that could come from none other than Buck said all of a sudden. The scowl on his face could mean a stern warning from him. “I’m waiting for an answer.”

Great. What should I do? I hope this would work despite the very little time given to me upon my response. “OK, OK. I really have to admit that I couldn’t stand to see myself feeling challenged by what you said. I just wanted to make myself feel better by stating my opinions. Right now, I just realized that it won’t end up the way I wanted to, and I just wanted to apologize right now.”

Phew! That was tough to say out loud to him, but I felt a very strange relief descending on me. Maybe that was an indication that what I did was right. But I still wondered what Buck’s real reaction would be like. All he did was stand still without even a tiny hint of emotion.

I think I should just take matters into my own hands by starting the conversation. I seriously hoped it wouldn’t hurt much if I start as soon as possible, and frankly, I would love to get back inside the house.

“Have you accepted my apology, then? If so, then I’m heading back to the house.”

As I happily entered the house, Hal approached me with a seemingly enthusiastic smile. Now what?

“Mind if I talk to you for a while?” he asked. “It won’t be long, I suppose.”

I didn’t see why not? “Sure thing. What do you want to talk about anyway?”

“I have some stuff to ask you. First of all, do you notice anything weird about Coral? Second of all, do you think rescue would eventually come? And lastly, do you know that the driver who left us here is actually an impostor?”

Wow! That was a lot to ask! I honestly had to answer all those questions one by one! I even learned new stuff just from all of those questions. I mean, the driver who left us here was an impostor? What an outrage! And did he mention anything about Coral? What if that had anything to do with Darleen not telling much about herself during the first day? I really must tell him about that. I felt my memory slowly coming back to me.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anything weird about Coral. I guess we haven’t interacted that much,” I tried to smile as calmly as possible. “Oh, and I’m very sure that rescue would come eventually. It would be way cooler if we know the future, though. And did you say anything about the driver? I never thought of him being an impostor. Oh, and if I were you, I might need to keep a careful eye on Darleen from now on.”

“Well, what about her?”

“You’ll see. I haven’t figured out about that, though.”

As Hal walked away from me, however, he got slapped by Buck all of a sudden. On one hand, the sight of a Capp made me laugh in the inside. After all, these people had been nothing but backstabbers from what I had learned from my dad and grandparents. On the other hand, Hal hadn’t been mean to me so far. I was completely torn about it until I could no longer contain my laughter. I laughed uncontrollably until I realized that I should feel confess about it to Hal. Man, never in my life that I felt guilty for doing something bad.

I guess eating a nice sandwich would drown away any guilty feelings I had with me today. I was later joined by Mr. Simself, which made me even more nervous. Should I tell him about Coral and Darleen? Well, maybe not mention my names. I also thought that I should tell him that this house is a total wreck.

“Hey,” I said, “I’m sorry I didn’t get to finish what I said this morning. I was trying to tell you that some people around here act like total weirdos. That might as well explain the reason why I was feeling down about this investigation, but I felt myself changing my mind this afternoon.”

“Don’t sweat it, man,” he replied in an instant. “Everything will be just fine as long as you persevere, so don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried. I’m just frustrated.”

“Frustrated about what?”

This was an opportunity to tell him that I had lost all confidence in this house. Everything in here was getting on my nerves. “Well, let’s just say that it’s getting harder and harder to stay calm and confident in this house. Part of it is because rescue hasn’t come yet for quite some time, and I’m getting more and more stressed at the very second.”

“You guys should hang on. I’ll get to the bottom of this. I’m currently working for some construction firm that plans to build a golf course in this area, but they’re very tough to convince, so I have to work my way up in order to convince them to rescue us.”

After hearing those words, maybe it would be worth the effort to persevere. “Well, I guess I’ll try.”

“Good. I’ll see to it that you’ll succeed. Don’t fail me.”

Seriously, ever since when did Mr. Simself start treating me like some sort of right-hand man. Was it because of my keen observation of things? I really didn’t get it at all, to be honest. Well, a day had to pass, and there was still no sign of rescue, save for Mr. Simself’s absurd attempt to get some powerful figures to get us out of here. Maybe I should just go to bed with Buck. That would ease my stress a bit.

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