When Nalda made eye-contact with the man, his eyes seemed apathetic and lifeless. He looked like he was just there to finish a job and didn't really care about the results. It made Nalda's skin crawl. A part of her was telling her to get as far away from him as possible.
She almost sighed in relief when the man finally left. She was snapped out of her trance when her father suddenly dropped the scared and anxious dad act and slammed the door shut. "Good riddance." He muttered after a few seconds.
"Hey, dad, how did you meet that creep?" Nalda asked the obvious question.
Her father looked at Nalda and shook his head. "I know Reynard."
'Ah so you're casually friends with creeps who stare at your youngest daughter?'
"Nalda, that was not the Reynard I know." He sighed and shook his head again. "Don't worry too much about it. Just go upstairs but if you still feel uneasy go to your mother. She's sleeping but she won't get angry if you wake her up to be comforted."
Nalda really, really wanted to ask but looking at her father's serious expression, she just decided to give it up. He'll probably just brush her off again.
"Okay…" She said, walking towards the stairs. She looked behind her once more before running upstairs.
'I guess it's none of my business anyways.'
She already needed to identify two or more serial killers, she didn't need any more stuff on her plate than she already has.
***
Nalda found a solution to her problem of not being able to leave the house. The solution was called sneaking out.
She'll take a page out of the book of the many that came before her and escape. She totally didn't watch a bunch of cartoons and then suddenly got the idea to escape like that.
Both of Nalda's parents went to sleep quite early. It wasn't even night yet but then again it could've been the fatigue from travelling catching up to them. Her mother seemed especially tired, she probably hadn't been able to sleep properly after hearing about Nalda's situation.
The thought made her stomach twist with guilt. She really should listen to her parents and just stay home but she really, really needed to solve this case or else she'd enter the grave earlier than Mrs. Michelle ever would.
Now Nalda wasn't the best at sneaking out, she was a good child after all but desperate times call for desperate measures. She carefully walked down the stairs, keeping an eye out to ensure that no one saw her.
She heard a noise and froze on the stairs. She slowly turned around to look behind her to see if someone was coming.
Nalda's heart was beating like crazy. How would it not? This was almost as nerve wracking as finding a dead body in an alleyway but that was a memory she really, really wanted to erase.
She didn't see anyone even though she had been standing like a raccoon that was caught stealing food out of a cupboard that belonged to a five meter long snake.
A few seconds passed of absolute silence.
Then finally, Nalda sighed in relief. It seemed that she got worried over nothing.
She continued her way downstairs, moving a bit faster than before. She finally reached the front door, unlocked it as quietly as possible and then left the house. For a moment, she paused in front of the door and quickly took out to lock the door behind her. Just in case her parents wake up or something.
The moment she was out she ran as far away from the door as possible. She didn't want to get caught just yet.
Her running slowed into a jog when she thought she was far enough to not be caught when looking out of the window of her house. Now she could see more clearly around her.
While jogging through the streets, she looked for the most suspicious place in the neighborhood. She quickly realised that there was none and decided to change her strategy. She'll just walk around in circles in the neighborhood until something strange happens.
What else could she do? It's not like she could guess where the serial killer was hiding and be spot on.
Besides, she had a hunch that she would actually learn something if she did this. Just like yesterday though that was interrupted by her father's ominous message.
She did avoid her own home because she didn't want to get caught.
This good idea turned into a horrible idea when she jogged eight rounds and still got nothing. Nalda stopped jogging for a moment, she really needed a break.
While leaning against a wall to catch her breath, Nalda suddenly felt something brush against her feet. She froze and slowly looked down.
First she saw gray then she saw a tiny tail and then she crouched for the little one in front of her. "Kitty…" She muttered quietly to not scare off the cat.
Well, not a cat, it was a baby cat so a kitten.
The gray kitten was already startled with her crouching. Nalda slowly stuck her hand out and let the kitten get closer if it wanted.
After a bit of a staring contest with the kitten, it finally approached her. At first it just walked towards the hand that she stuck out but then it actually came to her.
Nalda completely forgot her objective and began playing with the kitten.
Eventually she even got to pick it up and carry it around. It was only then that she finally remembered her reason for even being here.
She cringed when she realised how much time she spent playing with the kitten. She looked at the kitten in her arms and spoke. "Hey, Mia, you wanna come?" The kitten obviously didn't know what Nalda was on about but it meowed so cutely. "Okay, okay, you're solving this murder mystery with me, okay?"
Nalda happily began to walk in the direction she earlier jogged in and tried to look for something or someone suspicious.
That's when she saw it, the door to one of the houses was left open. Normally Nalda would've ignored it and went along with her life but…
'Go Inside'
That's what the letters were saying. That meant that there was some sort of clue waiting for her instead.
She stood in front of the door and quickly looked around, when she saw that no one was watching her, she carefully walked inside the house.
The first thing she noticed was the moldy smell. It was so strong that she almost dropped Mia, the gray kitten she just found.
'I'm embarrassed to call this person a neighbour… Oh, I forgot to check whose home this is… I'll look later and shame this person for not knowing what opening your windows mean.'
She shook her head as she continued down the hallway.
She didn't go upstairs because it would be difficult to run away if she got caught there. If she stayed on the first floor she could jump out of the window if it was necessary.
Her walking pace wasn't fast because one being quiet was a necessity and two there was a kitten in her arms.
She looked down at the gray kitten that got very comfortable in her arms. "Hey, Mia I'm going to need you to be quiet for now, don't randomly meow, okay?"
The kitten didn't even look at her. It just continued to doze off.
Nalda supposed that that was good enough. A sleeping kitten was better than an awake and meowing one at the moment.
So she quickly continued to sneak around the first floor. She reached the living room that was at the back of the house.
If the hallway stank of mold, then this living room must've been the embodiment of mold. Not only was the smell stronger, the walls were just mold. How they hadn't fallen yet was a mystery.
The poor kitten even woke up from the strong smell. Mia meowed while clawing at Nalda's arms.
Nalda panicked a bit because she was fairly certain that the air was filled with spores from the mold. She looked around and saw a door that led to the garden.
She didn't even think twice before going there. She quickly figured out how to open the garden door all the while Mia kept meowing.
When she managed to get into the garden she took a deep breath and was happy to actually breathe in oxygen instead of spores.
She looked at little Mia and apologised. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry…" She muttered while stroking Mia's fur.
Mia seemed to calm down a bit as the meowing started to quiet down. Nalda sighed in relief.
After the moldy living room she had pretty much abandoned all sneakiness. With Mia's meowing and her own rushing steps, she was fairly certain that the whole world had heard her.
'I really, really want to say that it isn't a me problem but it very much is a me problem and I'll get in trouble for breaking in or trespassing if I get caught…'
Nalda didn't want to know how her mother would react to this information. She did know exactly how her father would react though. He would probably give her a forced smile before lecturing her about trespassing without getting caught or he would team up with her mother and quadruple ground her.
For now it will just stay a what if and nothing more. The real issues were, why were both the front door and the garden door unlocked and why is the entire house so moldy?
She probably wouldn't get an answer anytime soon so she just decided to look around in the garden. She set one step further and almost tripped on something.
She looked down and saw a pink astronaut keychain. It was holding a sign that said 'I love space!'. This one was tinted with a strange rusty colour and…
'Wait…'
Nalda pulled something out of her pocket. It was an astronaut keychain that was very similar. The only difference was what was written on the sign.
The one she just pulled out of her pocket held up a sign that said 'I love (personal)space!' and one of the astronaut's legs was cleanly cut. This keychain was also tinted but it wasn't the same colour as the one on the ground.
Nalda looked at Mia who was sleeping in the arm she wasn't using. She gently lowered the kitten to the ground and picked up the other astronaut keychain.
"This is…" Nalda blankly stared at the keychains and took a deep breath.
She had found her target.
A small grin formed on her face as she began to laugh quietly.
The letters showed up to confirm her conclusion in just a few seconds.
'Do not forget to look for the name of the people that live here. Do not forget the keychains.'
Nalda just looked at the letter and shook her head. She hid the keychains in her pocket and dusted her hands on her pants. Then she carefully picked Mia up from the ground again and let the kitten sleep again.
She'll look around a little more. Now that she knew that this was the serial killer's house, she would obviously look more into it.
Maybe not so obvious. Usually you're supposed to run from your supposed future murderer. But then again, usually people aren't breaking into other people's homes with a gray kitten in hand.
Entering the living room again sounded very unappealing. Maybe this was the serial killer's way of ensuring that people wouldn't break into their home. Too bad it happened anyways. The door was left open so it wasn't really her fault.
"Mia, I'm sorry for what I'm about to do." Nalda said as she stood in front of the open garden door.
She took a deep breath before rushing inside and going straight for the stairs. She startled Mia again but all in all, Nalda could say that it went pretty well.
She was about to go up the stairs when she heard a string of curses behind her. Nalda immediately froze and held Mia closer.
After a few moments of silence she heard a deep voice from behind her. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"