Chapter 45 postscript

My cell phone rings. Hello, Emlyn.I said. what are you doing You know what I'm doing.I am cutting a bush. I know.But I want to hear you with my own ears.This helps me visualize that image. Can't you call a premium line that offers a chat service? I've got someone to show us the house.The real estate agent will meet us in half an hour. house?Why?We already have a house. Estelle.It was 72 Maitland Road.A friend of mine drove by and saw a for sale sign outside the house. Oh, I said, I felt a chill, and the garden turned from golden autumn to gray.I didn't know he was going to sell the house.He never told me.But why are you arranging a house viewing?

It means a lot to you, so I'm curious to find out.You keep saying you want to go back at least one more time.But it's up to you whether you want it or not. I paused. All right.I said. When we arrived, the real estate agent was already waiting on the sidewalk.He held a piece of cardboard under his arm and pressed his ear to the phone.When we got out of the car, he raised his hand, but the phone conversation continued. Well, you know what verbal promises mean, he was talking and laughing, buddy, let's break up first.See you next time. He pocketed his phone and turned to face us.For a moment the appearance of both of us seemed to confuse him.Emlyn wore an open-necked blue shirt with a gray suit.I try my best to be the landscaper whose work gets interrupted in the middle.

Looks like someone has been extorted by price hikes.Emlyn said. I wouldn't say that, the agent said, but the market is hot right now.The prospects are bright.He holds out his hand.Matt.Pound. I'm Emlyn.Kaplan, Emlyn said, this is Estelle.Belle. You've also heard that there's been an offer for this house, Pound said, but perhaps an imaginative bid will impress the owner. Of course, Emlyn said, and squinted at me, at the same time? Yes, yes, said Pound, let us go in. He took out a familiar key with an unfamiliar label from the folder, and opened the door.I suddenly felt panicked.Is the owner there?

He has been abroad for a while, and Pound said that as long as the price can be negotiated, the buyer can move in tomorrow. I was mentally prepared for bare floors and empty walls; that wasn't the case.Miles didn't come back to complete the move.He couldn't face this home full of memories again.Familiar paintings still hang on the walls.From the open door, I could see a small rug in Pipa's former room.Still, the fact that the house had been abandoned for months was obvious.The room smelled like a cave or cellar, damp and stagnant, as if air and light had been shut out. You will find that the house is in need of a makeover.Pound said.He looked at the brackets nailed to the wall as soon as he entered the door.Apparently someone had hung a bike here before.The action of hanging and taking is not careful.

Emlyn raised an eyebrow and gave me a sarcastic smile.I didn't smile back.I suddenly felt like a ghost returning home, where I had been happy, or at least young.A ghost, came to the house already occupied by ghosts. Do you have your own house for sale?Pound asked.Emlyn shook his head.Well, if you can afford this one when you buy a house for the first time, then you really have it. I got the feeling that he wasn't sure whether to be very suspicious or admiring. From here, he walks into Miles' old room, which, while a bit shabby, is the best sell.Spacious rooms, large glass windows can enjoy the garden view outside the window.There are many original features.To be honest, when you go upstairs, you will see some strange DIYs, but they are all easy to disassemble.

I open a door of the closet.A coat, a jacket, and several familiar shirts were still hanging inside.I took a breath: besides the filth and decay, I seemed to be able to detect Miles' breath.Tears welled up in my eyes, I blinked them away, and turned my back to the real estate agent.Can we go around alone?This makes it easier to get familiar with the environment. No problem.I'm afraid this place needs a good clean up.Please try to ignore the appearance of clutter and appreciate its extraordinary potential.Call me when you see the house. After he was gone, I sat on the bed Leah shared with Miles and stared around.Emlyn walked up to me and stroked my hair.Shouldn't we be here?

As far as I know, David has refused to disclose anything so far, but the police believe that this is probably the scene where he killed Peggy.That was the first woman killed.Well, it should be said to be the second place, if you include his poor mother.Here he killed her, hid the body in a closet, and then figured out how to throw her on the street. Teach people to shudder.Emlyn said. Um.She should be a good person.Decent, but lonely.Careless when opening the door.I got up suddenly.let's go out. Where are you going next? I'm here to guide you. Pipa's room used to be messy, but now it looks empty and desolate, with only a piece of lipstick left on the carpet near the mirror where she used to put it.I opened her closet, rattling and rattling on hangers, only to find a pair of extra-stiletto red shoes she called lures.My face twitched, and for a moment I could see her sitting cross-legged on the rug, surrounded by piles of brightly colored clothing and scattered jewelry.

It's like a ghost ship.Emlyn said. We walked in a hurry. I lead him upstairs.Balls of dust were visible on the landing.The windows were filthy, one of which was recently broken.A spider crawled out of the light bulb in the bathroom.Our footsteps echoed faintly. This is my previous room. As I introduced it, I pushed open the door and stepped into the room.Square beams of light reflected on the carpet.When I stayed here, the room was comfortable and spartan. You didn't take the earrings with you.Emlyn said, and picked up the earrings from the window sill and put them in his palm, he held out his hand to me: small silver earrings in the shape of a bicycle.

Stay here, I say, they belong here. You don't have to do this, you know, he said to me as we left the room. But I want to do it.go from here. Owen's room.I stood on the threshold and said. yours? right. Photographs of women swimming in rippling water still hang on the walls.I stopped for a moment in front of the photo, lost in memory.We used to be so hungry for each other.For a while, I used to be so reluctant to part with you and me.Now he is a stranger again.Someday I won't even remember what he looks like. Do you have any news from him? I shake my head.The point is, I don't really like him.No matter what happened between us, he was never considered my friend.So when we broke up, it was clean and clean. Well, that's it.

let's go.He pulled me out of the room. Up to the top floor, I briefly show him Dalio's bedroom, tripping over a dirty, cracked deck chair that miraculously escaped a clearance sale and a scrap truck; A boxy, empty room. Last but not least, I said, standing in front of a closed door, Davy's room. do you want to go in In no mood.I said.Behind the door was icy darkness.If I opened the door, the darkness would rush up to me.No.I really don't want to go in. He took my hand, and the fingers on it were strong, warm, and alive. When we went downstairs, we found Pound waiting there.

Let's see this first, he said, someone's going to have to throw some money at the kitchen, fix the French windows, and then it'll be new and amazing. What's this?Emlyn asked.He walked across the kitchen, took a piece of paper off the wall, and handed it to me.As I gazed at it, I felt a pain in my chest and a pinprick behind my eye.It was a photo, the only photo of the seven dwarves that we all took together.When Davey developed the photo, it looked ridiculously ugly; we were limp, hysterical, and slightly drunk, but also happy, and yes, we looked happy then, trying to squeeze in and out of focus, you push I huddle together, flailing my arms, smiling or scowling with my mouth open.Now I look at the photo, trying to see what David, behind his smiling eyes, knows that we don't, and what he still knows that we don't.In Peggy.How did he manage to take that group photo while Farrell was lying upstairs?Is this his way of taunting us? Can we go into the garden? No problem, said Pound as he unlocked the back door. Let me warn you two, you have to use your imagination a little bit. We stepped outside, the late autumn sun warming my cheeks.As soon as I saw my vegetable garden, I immediately felt hot tears roll down my face.I had to pull a tissue out of my pocket and fake a sneeze.Vegetables, peas, green-skinned zucchini, and potatoes all set prematurely, shriveled, rotted, grew randomly again, and then prematurely set again.There was a big hideous rhubarb bush.An ancient stem snakes its way across the ground. I don't know what it was originally used for, Pound said, but the garden is thirty meters long.Find a designer who advertises on TV, pave some trails, and the border is a good place for barbecues.At this moment, a pop song electronic music that I vaguely remember came suddenly.Pound took the phone out of his pocket.excuse me. Emlyn was staring at the exterior of the house.I walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek.Thank you. As we approached the main house, I saw mottled dark patches on the paving stones.I got down on my knees, touched it with my fingers, and sniffed it.No smell at all.But what it is, I know: It's the oil I use to repair my bike.Emlyn looked at me inquiringly.I just smiled and shook my head.Pound shut the phone with a snap. So, what do you two think? Hope some nice guy buys it, I say, nice folks with kids.This is supposed to be a house that brings people joy. You don't like it? It's not my thing. Oh well. Let's go, my friend, I said to Emlyn, my love. I took his hand and took him into a different world from where I lived.There were faces in the windows, voices in the silence.There are stories in the shadows.My house of memories, the house of ghosts.I'll never set foot in there again. So I walked out with Emlyn, and I didn't look back, because it was over.Now I'm in another story. (End of the book)