Ikea-inspired fiction!

It was the eeriest thing I’d ever seen.

I had been driving home from my cousin’s house, a long drive on winding dirt roads in the rain. It was very much a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” scenario, up to and including the sudden blow-out. I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. With high hopes, I checked my mobile phone – no reception. I had passed a house not long ago, and thought it the best idea to see if I could use the phone there.

I walked up the drive, and through the slanting rain I could see a light shining from a doorway. This seemed promising, until I realised that said doorway was devoid of door. Odd. Nonetheless, I knocked on the doorframe as a polite visitor should. I waited. There was no response. I walked in cautiously, half-expecting somebody to jump out at me like a bad movie.

“Hello?” I called. My voice sounded loud in the quiet of the house, despite the muffled sound of rain on the roof. But still there was no response. I walked further into the house, gaining confidence that nobody was there.

I wandered the house with growing curiosity. Everywhere was evidence of recent human habitation: unmade beds, a radio playing softly, a kitten sleeping peacefully on a chair. But no human was to be seen.

Then I walked into the kitchen. It was the eeriest thing I’d ever seen. The dining table was set for twelve, but eight chairs lay askew on the floor as though thrown. Half-eaten meals were left on plates. A wine-glass lay in pieces on the table, with wine still spreading from the ruins, and candles still were burning on the centrepiece. But no human could be seen.

*** To Be Continued ***