Kiri must have overslept. When she awoke, her mother had already tidied up the place and left. This was uncharacteristic as she usually woke Kiri up bright and early... Maybe her mom had been more aware of the incident last night than Kiri had hoped. With a heavy body, she dragged herself upright and put on her sundress from the day before. She peeked out the door, hoping to avoid Roy, but found it to be eerily quiet... Where was everyone? Dealing with the car perhaps? She hastily moved to the bathroom to clean herself up for the day and was just on her way back down the hall to find everyone, when she heard something coming from her room. It made all her hairs stand up, and she held her breath to listen hard for whatever it was... Faint whispering sounded from inside the room. She entered cautiously, but of course there was no one inside. The whispering was getting louder though, as she neared the bed. Closer, closer...until- Tink! Something metallic fell off the nightstand. The object was familiar, Kiri realized as she bent to pick it up. It was Roy's key necklace from last night. In her embarrassment, she had almost forgotten to return it. She placed it safely in her pocket and went to face the music.
As she neared the front door she realized however, that it was pouring rain. How odd, after such a beautiful day yesterday. Oh well, that was Texas. It was the steady, soothing kind of downpour you couldn't see two feet through so she gave up on the idea of looking for the others outside. Surely they wouldn't have gone out in this deluge, and were simply in another room of the house. With that thought, Kiri tried the kitchen...Nope! She even went so far as to knock timidly on Roy's door, thinking she could at least return his man-jewelry. No luck, however. She headed down the hall, but there were no more rooms beyond the bathroom and some closets. Noticing the staircase, the intention to find the others became mingled with exploring, so she headed up the stairs and searched the second floor.
It seemed there was not a soul in the house!
At that moment however, she heard a small noise- from up-upstairs. The stairwell got much narrower here, and she had to walk carefully as it must be very old. Each step creaked loudly, but she could still hear a scuffling, scratching sound, so Kiri continued upwards. Finally reaching the top of the stairs, she took a look at the door before her. It was much heavier looking than the others in the house, like something you would see in a castle dungeon. She summoned her nerve and knocked quietly, and the sounds immediately went silent. There absolutely was someone in there! Kiri thought to herself. She tried the the knob, which was engraved with something: a figure-8 from the looks of it. It was locked. Hmph! It was then that Kiri noticed an odd vibration in her pocket. She pulled out the key and it went still once more. "Is this what you want, you little devil??" She whispered to the key. Feeling ridiculous and a bit like a trespasser, she tried the key on the lock... it was a perfect fit! Although rusty, she wiggled it a bit and felt all the tumblers move into place. Triumphant, Kiri turned the knob, preparing for potentially another unclothed man.
How disappointing, it was... An attic. Kiri entered to investigate and let the heavy door close behind her. "Hello?" She called out, but no one was there in the small room but her. Then, something very colorful caught her eye on the opposite wall. It was the lovely stained-glass window! As she approached, sun shined through it casting a pattern on the small table in front of it. The snake image that she had seen the first day, was an ouroboros! They had learned about this symbol in school- it was used in several different cultures, sometimes as a religious symbol, sometimes alchemical, and even as a hieroglyph for ancient Egyptians. Admiring the beautiful craftsmanship, Kiri was suddenly stuck by an odd realization- how was it that the sun shined through this window so brightly when it was raining cats and dogs???
Mystified, she tried to get closer to see through the glass... When the scuffling sounded. It was coming from somewhere very close this time. Kiri squinted down at her feet trying to see what it was until it darted through a stream of sunlight illuminating itself as the...BIGGEST. RAT. Kiri had ever seen. She let out a shriek so loud it should've shaken the house, and frantically scrambled up on top of the table to get her feet away from this monstrosity.
"It can't get me up here." She whispered to herself, "It cant get me up..." but the table wasn't meant to support the weight of a person, even a small one, and with a sudden Crack!!! It gave way, sending Kiri sideways through the air to painfully collide with the window.
It wasn't clear what happened next—she distantly registered sharp glass on her skin and felt her stomach drop horribly as she fell a much greater distance than it was from the table to the floor. She was momentarily blinded from the brightness of sunshine after the dark attic as she hurtled towards the ground in a sparkling rainbow of colored shards.
In this moment there was no time for soulful reflection beyond the thought that echoed in Kiri's mind like a gunshot
"I'm about to die."