Johnny Blue

Chapter One

You need to live
again,
it’s been ten years, Jewel
.
It’s time.”

I clung to my therapist’s admonishment as I stealthily approached the back door to the dilapidated warehouse like a common crook
.
I made it to the rusted out green metal door and found no knob
.
Lord
, the
Doc’d
be horrified
that I’d chosen
breaking and entering as my choice
for
stepping out o
f my comfort zone and taking ri
sks.

Just
wanted to see for myself if the mysterious man
who
painted murals all over town for free
, actually
lived in such
a dilapidation
.
Not to mention
t
here was
the
decent reasons. Somebody needed to warn him
‘bout
the boys in town
.
T
alk
was circulating
about
them
pulling some kind of prank. I’d just look around and slip a nice
heads up
note where he could find it and be done
.
   
 

I pushed softly against the door and
froze
at
the loud creak tattle-tail
ing
my i
n
trusion
.
A hundred heart beats later, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes
.
You’re  fine
, nobody’s here, he’s down
town painting.
I gave the door a six inch
shove
,
and at my s
i
len
t
success,
I
quickly stepped inside
.

My nose wrinkled
from
sharp
moldy wheat
,
and I think
,
turpentine
.
It wasn’t a bad smell, just an odd mixture
.

Sliding my purse strap off my arm I rummaged for the small blue flashlight I’d purchased for my expedition while trying to calm my marathon breaths
.

I gripped the plastic flashlight tightly, shining the jittery beam before me.
First surprise
.
A vehicle under a cover
.
Definitely unexpected from the man who seemed to live out of
the
grocery buggy he pushed all
over
.
Course maybe it wasn’t his
.

I tip-toe ran then stooped down next to the far end of it, pausing for several thundering heart beats. Maybe he slept in it
.
I lowered my purse
to the floor next to me then lifted the heavy canvas up a little, flashing my light under
it
. My heart sped up at seeing
the old teal paint
.
Classic
truck,
looked like.
My CSI juices
kicked in as I wo
n
dered w
hy on earth this guy
would hide a vehicle.
You don’t even know if it’s
his,
don’t be careless in this investigation.
Investigation?
When did this become an investigation?
I needed to pipe my nosy ass down before I ended up in a heap of trouble
.
 

Metal clanged somewhere in the distance, stopping my heart a second
.
I dropped the cloth back down and flashed the light all around again
.
A stairway
?
What’d they have up there?
I flashed the light on the wall behind the
vehicle
and spied a large door big enough to drive through
.
I turned the beam up and was surprised to find
no
ceiling
.
What in the world did they ever use this space for? House a rocket? 

I quickly placed the flashlight between my teeth and aimed the light beam at my bag next to me
.
Time for some p
icture
s
.
A moment later, I had my phone out and on
, proceeding nonchalantly with my little CS
I
extravaganza. Pictures were
a must for the success of any investigation
.
A visual journal
.
Nothing left to
faulty
memory
.

I lifted the canvas at what seemed like the back end of the vehicle
.
No license plate
.
Dang it.

I clicked several
pics
then dropped the canvas and took
a few
of the
giant
door
on the wall
, the stairway, the non-existent ceiling, and every other angle I could think of
.

I contemplated those stairs only for a second before I headed to see where they led in this odd building
.

I put the flashlight in my pocket, able to see well enough by the light of my phone
.
Much stealthier
.

The stair way was enclosed and turned out to be multi-landed, enshrouded by thick, old spider-webs along the walls
.
Good God, if anything should appear alive in them, this
silly little
operation was so over
.
I took pic
tures
as I went, mostly at the sp
i
der webs, watching for movement in them
.

I focused on the building’s architectural purpose.
Sure didn’t look like much from the outside, just a plain metal, ten
-
story building out in the middle of a field next to a gravel road
,
left
leading to
town, right leading to
nowhere
land
.

I froze at hearing soft thudding in the stairway above me
.
A streak of black shot past my feet and I screeched right as the thing
meowed
.
I collapsed in relief then spun around and aimed the light at the spider
-
webbed wall
.
I pulled my waist long ponytail in front and stuffed it safely into my coveralls then gave a violent shudder
before hurr
y
ing my ass
through the ancient web maze,
past
ready to be done with my so called the
r
apy
.

A hundred steps later, I was convinced I’d followed stairs to a dead end. Then
came
the door.
My heart thundered in my ears as I snapped several pic
ture
s of the… I
paused, realizing the door was solid blue
.
And I’ll be darned, not that old looking
.
Was there a
house
behind it?  Wouldn’t that be the shock of the
century.
Daylight appeared at the crack beneath the door
.
Wonder if my phone could snap pic
ture
s from there?  I aimed the light of the phone at the handle first, and reached to slowly try it
.

Unlocked
!

Why should that surprise me? Not like
anybody
’d
think to rob
a place like this
.
Who knew this
even
ex
ist
ed
up here?

A flutter of fear raced along my spine
.
Well, if somebody
did
live up here…t
hat would be quite dangerous
.
A
s far as anybody knew, this place was abandoned
.
And as far as I knew, I was the only person that had the stupid idea to follow him here for the past week
to make sure this was where he was staying
.

That familiar nose burning euphoria hit me like it always did when the possibi
l
ity of death drew close in any fashion. A light-bulb moment slapped me
still as a mouse.
Maybe suicide wasn’t the only forcible way to the other side after all. I mean, death was all around, elusive to me as it was, that didn’t mean it couldn’t be enticed. I could probably orchestrate it up to the very act if I were creative
.

But
then there was one nagging problem. W
hat if I was wrong about fo
r
giveness?  What if I didn’t make it to where I needed to go?  Temporary separation from them was one thing
.
Eternal separation was unthinkable
.
I needed to be sure b
e
fore I made
such a
leap, no ifs ands or buts.

I turned the knob carefully and opened the door. Amazement replaced my u
n
ease as I peered into the naturally lit space
.
I’ll be damned
.
Not only a house beyond
the
door…
but a damn nice one
.
Not in a modern convenience kind of way, but
an
… ecle
c
tic, antique kind of way
.

I entered in and shut the door then selected rapid shot on my camera and began capturing the unexpected find
.
An odd excitement raced through my veins as I rotated the
phone,
the
camera
flutters sounding entirely too loud
.
Just… amazing
.
And the
smell
.
Turpentine permeated the air along with…I lifted my nose and gave a slow sniff
.
Something very sweet
.
And
orangey
.
Smelled
…
damned
delicious
.
Not the rat urine and human fecal matter I’d anticipated
.

I looked down and wowed at the floors
.
The old wood planks were
a
dark m
o
cha, warm and shiny
.
My tennis shoes squeaked as I slowly walked my way toward the giant space at the end of the little dining room, capturing the petite, almost feminine wood dining table for two as I went.
Okay, that
was just downright
adorable. I snapped pictures of the
bowl
filled with
vibrantly colored wooden fruits in the center
then
lift
ed
the camera to the white dining walls crowded with framed artwork. I
paused and
a
n
gled my head wondering if the
person decorating h
ad been drunk.
Chaotic
,
crooked mess
.