This short story is dedicated to Sheyennae the first supporter who won my ink lottery and got herself a personal short story written by me. I hope you will like how this little story turned out.

If you want to try your luck for a personal short story as well, please check out my current ink goals or have a look at my other stories if you’re new to my works. Thank you!

It was too easy, wasn’t it? Nelio’s eyes glued itself to the last house of the street. The next neighbor wasn’t that distant, yet the space between was surely enough to keep anyone from noticing some suspicious. 

A small little house with a cute veranda facing the first offshoot of the woods beside it. The only fence obstructing his access didn’t even reach his knees. Surely, its only purpose was to keep any of the neighboring animals from entering the herb garden.

Judging from the small size of the building and the lack of any vehicles or a garage, he could guess its owner lived alone. Probably some old maid who never got laid by anyone. In the worst case a second person might be living there, but two were easy enough to handle if anything went wrong. 

Silently the man approached the front door of the house. A last check around his surroundings made sure no curious eyes had noticed anything out of order. The door itself was as old as was the lock that was supposed to protect it.

Nelio had such an easy time with his skeleton key it was as if the owner asked to be robbed. Or maybe they just thought the house held nothing of value to attract any burglar? Either way, Nelio wasn’t kind any to let a chance like that pass by. 

He slid into the house, moving around in the darkness. To make sure no neighbor who took a look out of the windows would see anything suspicious, he closed the door behind him. He moved one foot in front of the other, striding to the darkness as silently as possible. 

As old houses always had characteristic parts which tended to create unwanted noises, he never pushed his weight completely onto a floorboard at once. Only if it felt silent on the first test, he would actually step onto it. 

To his surprise the house was in especially good shape. Whoever lived here took great care of it and owned some interesting antiques. Alone the grandfather clock in the living room probably was worth a fortune. It was a shame Nelio hadn’t brought a car with a trunk big enough to take it with him. 

The person living here surely had a strange taste. As he ventured further into the rooms he came across a library with showcases holding a great variety of strange collectives. With many of them he wasn’t even sure what they were expected to be. Some clearly were gemstones but sadly not the precious type from what he could tell. He wasn’t sure if they showcases were set with an alarm, either. 

At the first glance there was nothing suspicious about them, but experience had told him to be wary if any room for doubt was left.  The eeriest thing in the cases was what seemed to be a human skull. He couldn’t take it out to be sure about it, yet its characteristics resembled the original too much to be a coincidence. What kind of freak collected human bones and exhibited them into their own library? 

Had he felt any ounce of guilt for intruding into this home, it had vanished. Maybe this house belonged to some kind of serial killer or freak? In that case, he might be doing humanity a favor with. 

The other rooms below were unremarkable. There was a kitchen, a small storage room with foods and some tea herbs as well as small guest bathroom. The door to the cellar was locked but unlike with the front door his skeleton key didn’t really help him to open it. Well, there was probably more junk down there than anything worth the trouble, and he didn’t wish to create too much noise. 

He could always return later after the house owner was no longer of any concern. Nelio turned around to take the stairs up, proceeding with the same caution he did on the first floor. No revealing sounds disturbed the nights peace. As soon as he had reached the second floor, he examined it carefully.

The first door led into what seemed to be an unused guestroom. Unlike the other rooms in the house this one was filled with so much dust, Nelio had to stifle a sneeze. Everything here was clearly unused for a long time, so he didn’t bother checking each drawer or the wardrobe. 

The other door led directly into a bathroom. He checked the mirror cabinet to see if any medication of worth was in there, but apart from some painkillers and a shaver there wasn’t much in it. 

Only one door remained. Nelio put his hand on the doorknob, gently pushing it down. Thankfully, the door swung open silently, revealing the bedroom of the homeowner. 

In the appealing conjugal bed lay a single person, claiming the whole space. At first, he wasn’t sure if it was a man or woman, but as he got closer, the difference was obvious.To Nelio’s surprise the homeowner wasn’t an old maid but a rather young man. His skin was pale, the features refined. The platinum blonde hair was short and fell into his face.