Chapter 4: The Psycho House

23rd September 1996

I woke up with a start. The sun was peeking through the blinds, casting a shot of light across the room. It shone directly onto my face causing me to squint, I rubbed my eyes furiously and yawned. The dream started fading into oblivion. The bathwater was icy cold. My hands and feet were numb and wrinkled. I stood up shakily, grabbing the towel hanging on the wall and drying myself off as fast as possible. I wrapped the towel around my shoulders and made my way back over to the bathroom door.

While I was getting dressed, I looked up through the skylight. The sky was a bright blue and void of any clouds. The weather was perfect for a Saturday morning. The fresh autumn air carried a slight chill as I opened the door and went downstairs. Mum was out early for a job interview. She would not be home until dinner time.

I poured myself a glass of orange juice, sipped it, and then picked up a photo of Dad and me from the coffee table. It was taken before we left for Cornwall for the summer holidays. He was carrying a large shopping bag as Mum was struggling to get one of the suitcases in the boot. Dad was laughing in the picture and grinning widely. I remember the day very fondly. It was the last holiday before Dad died.

I heard three loud knocks on the front door. I put the picture back and made my way to the door. I opened it and there was Amber standing outside, wearing a similar outfit to the one the night before. She wore a grey flannel shirt with a black tee with a skull in the centre. Her hair looked so smooth, like butter. She smiled and waved at me. 

"Hi, Katie."

"Hello." That's all I could say.

"Can I come in? I brought my bike with me."

I stepped aside to allow her in. As she stepped inside I noticed a bicycle leaning against the wall next to the door. She looked stunning. I wondered why I was even thinking this, I pushed those intrusive thoughts out of my mind as she slipped her shoes off at the door.

"Come in."

I gestured for her to follow me into the living room.

When she walked in her face held a look of wonder and confusion. She rubbed her nose.

"That smell... It's like..." She pinched the air trying to form a word

"Copper?"

"Blood."

That hit me hard. Were the rumours true? No. Surely not. We wandered into the kitchen.

"So this is the Psycho House then." She spoke excitedly. "I've always wanted to go in here, the famous kitchen, the site of the murder."

"Wait they actually happened?" I said, concerned.

She nodded.

"Oh, God!"

I leaned against the counter. My head felt like it was spinning.

"You okay Katie?" Amber asked me, worried.

I nodded.

"Yup." I responded, forcing a smile.

Amber grabbed me a glass of water and I took a sip. She poured herself one too.

"Sorry about the smell. You might want to sit down or something before I pass out."

Amber smiled. She sat on the sofa and motioned for me to sit beside her. I followed suit and sat down.

We spent an hour talking as we drank our drinks. She told me all about her life in Manchester before she moved up here. We talked about our lives before we met each other and how she wanted to be an artist once she graduated high school. She told me about her dad and her brother. I wasn't sure if I had ever had this much fun talking to someone I hadn't spoken properly to before. It wasn't just the company either. She was so nice and easy to talk to. Even though she had never met me, she seemed like such a great person to talk to.  She was like some sort of friend I hadn't had in ages. When she finally suggested that we head upstairs, I agreed enthusiastically.

We walked up the stairs, stopping every so often to point out various paintings on the walls and tell stories about them. One of the paintings had been painted by a woman who killed herself, probably because of what she had done. It looked horrible. When we reached the landing I first went to show Amber my room. By that point, I'd got all my furniture in there. I had a long blue desk in the corner, a chest of drawers next to the door and the same lumpy boxspring that was there when I moved in. (Although it did have a lovely yellow and white stripe patterned quilt and pillows now. I still haven't gotten around to buying a new one.) The floor was covered in a thick carpet. At the end of the bed was a small walk-in closet.  There was also a small shelf containing a couple of books and some knick-knacks.

Amber looked around in awe.

"This is amazing," She said, "How long have you been here for again?"

"Only a couple of days."

"And you've already got all this done!?"

"Well, I've only just started actually.  But yes. This is pretty much all I've done." I said, motioning to the desk.

We sat on my bed. 

"Oh, that reminds me," I said, reaching into one of my desk drawers. I pulled out her book. Seeing the cover reminded me of Dad.

"Oh god I forgot about that," she told me, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She flipped the pages carefully as I sat next to her. She was silent, studying the pictures. After a few minutes, she spoke up again.

"It's really beautiful in here," She whispered.

"Thanks," I replied softly.

She turned another page before setting it down on the bed. 

"Shall we keep the tour going?" I asked.

"Sure."

We walked into the study. Nobody had really been in there since we moved in. We were just using it to store boxes of old knick-knacks. It smelled dusty in there too. We wandered around the room, examining the various objects still left in boxes. I moved over to a small closet in the corner. It was similar to the closet in my room, but it had a sliding door. I tried to pull it open but it wouldn't budge. I called amber over to take a look. We took turns pulling on the door with little success. She looked up in thought and burst out laughing. Attached to the top of the door was a small bolt-lock.

We were pulling on a locked door.

We unlocked it and it slid open with ease.

This 'closet' wasn't a closet. Where we expected to maybe see some old boxes or clothes we found a staircase leading up. We looked at each other, intrigued. We started walking up towards the top of the stairwell. Amber grabbed my hand, almost making me trip backwards. We continued climbing. each step creaked underfoot. I looked around curiously. There didn't seem to be anything unusual. Then Amber let go of my hand as we reached the top of the stairs, there was a small square platform at the top, only about a foot in size. We turned right and found ourselves in the attic of the psycho house. There was nothing particularly special about the place. A small window let in some natural light, but otherwise, it was empty except for some boxes in a corner. The rest of the attic was bare, apart from the huge amount of dust everywhere. It smelt musty in there too.  There was a single light bulb hanging on the ceiling. Amber stood near the window looking out at the sea. I watched her quietly for a while, wondering what she was thinking about. It was obvious to me that she was uncomfortable being there. She eventually turned to me and started speaking to me.

"There." She pointed at a little pastel yellow house next to the harbour. "That's my house, you should come over sometime." "Really?"

"Yeah. I'm renting the house."

"Why don't you live with your parents?"

"Oh you don't know them, they're... Strict. They kicked me out last month."

"Why did they kick you out?"

"They think I'm gay."

"What?!"

"Yeah, they think I'm a homosexual and they're trying to stop me from seeing friends. My mum doesn't approve of anything like that."

My mind went blank. All I could do was stand there shocked. How could they treat their own daughter like this? I didn't want to ask any more questions about her family, I knew it would just make things worse. I decided to change the subject.

"Are you hungry?" I asked her.

"Starving."

It was getting late and mother still wasn't back so we decided to order another pizza. Axel was delivering again today. It was seven o'clock when he arrived. He gave us his usual cheery greeting and handed us our pizzas. He glanced at Amber as he passed and nodded slightly. He was obviously surprised to see Amber here. Amber saw him looking and frowned. He quickly turned away, pretending he had seen nothing. I tried to ignore it.

I didn't want to ruin the mood. Amber looked at me and smiled.

We ordered one large pepperoni and one medium. We ate outside on the terrace. The conversation stayed casual until we finished our food. After we finished eating, Amber offered to help me tidy up the mess in the kitchen. 

After some time, the mess had been tidied up nicely. Amber helped me put everything back where it belonged and we both sat on the sofa.

It was comfortable sitting there together and we talked about absolutely everything.  Nothing was awkward. The evening went smoothly. It was getting late and Amber decided it was best if she'd head back home. We hugged goodbye and she promised to meet me at the corner shop before school on Monday. I thanked her for coming and we parted ways. I closed the front door after Amber left and headed upstairs. I stopped by my bedroom to get changed. 

I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth before heading downstairs.

Once downstairs, I went to the lounge room to watch TV while I waited for Mum to come home. It's not like she would take long anyways. I switched through channels aimlessly. I ended up turning off the tv and staring at the wall. I couldn't focus on anything. I felt like I was going crazy. I needed to distract myself somehow. So, instead of watching something, I decided to take a shower. As I sat under the hot stream of water, I silently sat in thought about the day's events, about the attic, and about Amber.