Jillian Chantal

Every week, a group of authors post snippets of their current work using the same word for all of us. This week’s word for Tuesday Tales is funny.  I’m working on the story I shared part of last week. The main characters are now inside the house the hero is thinking of buying. The heroine, a realtor, is showing it and they’ve heard a noise from one of the bedrooms, but, when they investigated, they found no one inside.

Be sure to take the time to read the other entries here.

Peering behind the open door at Stella, he indicated he was going to look under the bed.
She barely nodded, clearly spooked.
He stealthily sidled over to the tester bed, close to the blood stains on the wall and flipped the edge of the white counterpane up on top of the bed, covering some of the rusty stains.
Crouching down, he scanned the area. No one there.
Puzzled, he stood upright and shrugged his shoulders. “Weirdly, it’s clear.”
“You say that like you wish someone had been there.” She shuddered. “I’m glad it’s clear.”
“I’d like to know what it was. Not that I wanted to shoot anyone.”
“Maybe it was just a raccoon or something like that.”
“How would it get in?” Max glanced up at the ceiling and back at her. “Let’s see if Rocky and his family have a nest in the attic.”
“Rocky?”
“If I’m going to have a pet raccoon, doesn’t he need a name?”
“Maybe we should check the other rooms on this floor first.”
“The noise came from this one.”
“Maybe it echoed. I still don’t feel safe.” She pointed at the door. “Lead the way with the gun.”
He let out a deep sigh, feeling in his bones the other rooms were empty. The sound definitely was from this area. He could tell she was nervous, her former bragging about the voodoo grandmother long forgotten.
Wanting her to feel safe, he nodded. “All right. We’ll check the other rooms. Come on.”
Holding the gun in position again, he walked slowly down the hall, as he had earlier, knowing it was all pretense now. He needed to get to the attic to see if squirrels or other rodents had invaded somehow, but first, he had to appease her.
Before they arrived at the next doorway, a loud bang came from the room they’d just left.
Not thinking about Stella being behind him, Max whirled around and almost crashed into her. He quickly put the gun to his side and steadied her with his empty hand. “Wait here.”
She shook her head. “No way.”
Returning to the place they’d vacated, Max held Stella back with an extended arm as he peered in from the door.
Still quiet and not a soul to be seen. This was getting ridiculous. He could feel Stella’s hand shaking where she held his shirt.
“Let’s go. I can’t stand this,” she said.
“Not yet. I’m going to figure this out.” He strode into the room and to the bed. He looked under it again. Still nothing there. Walking to the closet, he opened it again. Nothing.
Out loud, he said, “Whatever game you’re playing, it’s not funny. Come out and we won’t have you arrested.”

No response.