Merriton

“Twelve hours?” Kevin rolled the dolly piled with boxes up the ramp of the U-Haul truck. Sierra was in the truck, arranging boxes. “That’s how long it took us to drive it. It might take us longer in this truck, though. How far did you think it was?” Kevin dumped the boxes off the dolly and headed back down the ramp. “I don’t know. Thirty minutes on a plane and thirty minutes in the rental car.”

Kevin went back into the studio apartment. “Random! Sierra says it’s going to take us twelve hours to get to Merriton!” Randy nodded and picked up the futon mattress. “Help me get this thing into this bag.” Kevin opened up the huge plastic bag and Randy lifted one edge of the futon mattress. “Probably longer in that truck. We could probably shave off an hour if we don’t stop to eat.” Kevin lifted the other end of the mattress and hurriedly stuffed it into the bag. “Then we gotta hurry!”

By the time they pulled up to the shed, it was dark. “Wake up, sweetie.” Sierra had been driving with Randy sleeping on her shoulder for the last hour. She shrugged her shoulder. “Randy, wake up. I don’t think I can back this thing up that little dirt road. Should I just pull in?” Randy stuck his hand into the neckline of his t-shirt and scratched his back. “Let’s switch.” Kevin squinted. “That’s a shed. You bought a shed?”

Sierra climbed out and Randy scooted into the driver’s seat while she walked around. “Get over.” Kevin moved to the middle and Randy expertly navigated the U-Haul along the dirt road. “At least it’s not raining.” Sierra noticed that the road had dried up nicely. Kevin kept talking, “Seriously, Sierra, that’s not your cabin, is it?” Sierra shook her head, “No, Kevin. That’s a shed. Not even ours. The plat map says it belongs to a sheep farmer next door. We share this dirt road. It goes to our place and then branches off to his. What did she say his name was?” Randy focused on the mirrors. “Elvis.” A smile crossed over Sierra’s tired face. “Yeah, we live next door to Elvis, the king of sheep.”

Randy turned off the U-Haul and opened his door. Sierra opened hers and the two of them headed to the porch. “THIS is your cabin?! You bought a freakin’ farmhouse, you dolt! Who’s gonna clean this thing? You’re gonna a need a freakin’ maid!” Kevin stood beside the U-Haul, staring at their new home. Sierra put the key into the door. “Damn, Randy! Where are the sheets?” Randy rubbed his face and pointed at the truck. “In there.”

Sierra shook her head and stood at the opened door, “Ha, ha, Randy. Seriously, where are they?” Kevin said, “I used them to pack your dishes in so they wouldn’t break. They’re in the kitchen boxes toward the cab of the truck.” Sierra angrily looked at Randy. “Dammit, Randy.” And then her shoulders sank. “I don’t care. I’m so tired, I’ll sleep in those dirty, dusty beds.”

The three of them walked into the house. It hummed with electricity, phones, Internet and heat, but there wasn’t a fresh bed in the house. “So where’s the room where… you know… the guy blew his head off?” Randy shut the door behind Kevin. “It’s around the back of the house. You want to sleep there?” Kevin shuddered. “No, you freak, but I wanna see it.” The three of them walked to the master bedroom. Sierra turned on the light. The yellow bulb buzzed slightly and the stain looked worse than it did in the daylight. Kevin stared at it and then looked at Sierra. “I kinda thought you were joking.” Randy walked through the room to the attached bathroom and shut the door. Sierra and Kevin just stared at the blood stains while they listened to Randy pee. “You let him buy this house?” Sierra lifted her arms, pulling at the wrists and stretching her shoulder muscles. “There’s more to this house than this room.”

The light bulb burned out in a fizzled crackle and the two of them screamed. “What’s going on out there?!” Randy opened the bathroom door and light streamed in from the tiny room. Sierra turned around. “Nothing. The light bulb just burned out.” Kevin said, startled, “Nothin’?! There’s a freakin’ ghost in here!” Randy’s hands were soapy and wet. He turned back to the bathroom and finished washing them. “Then I guess you’re not sleeping in here.”

Sierra headed up the stairs and the two of them followed. Kevin grabbed Randy’s arm and whispered, “Random! I’m not sleepin’ in this house!” Randy shook his head. “Kevin, you’re so tired, you could sleep in that room if I left you in there for five minutes. There are some beds up here.” Sierra headed to the room with the gold shag carpeting. “Kev, there are two other rooms up here. Sorry they’re dusty.” She and Randy walked into their room and shut the door.

“I left my bag in the truck,” Kevin mumbled to himself. Sierra and Randy had taken the room closest to the bathroom. He flipped on the light in the room next to theirs. It had red shag carpeting and floral curtains. It reminded him of his grandmother’s house before she moved in with his family. A wave of comfort washed over him as he pulled the matching floral bedspread away from the pillow. He was asleep before he could take off his shoes.