The Green Thorne Bed and Breakfast

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Patrick wasn't entirely sure why he had suggested scary stories. Maybe he had wanted to look cool in front of everyone? In any case, he was glad that no one had taken him up on his offer. He couldn't sleep himself, so he stuck around the hall and sat on the stairs that didn't creak. He didn't think about the lack of sounds in the house. He noticed them, but he didn't let himself think about it. Patrick made sure to ignore the confrontation between the late guest and the cook. Looked like too much drama to him. When he wasn't sitting on the steps and listening to the storms, he was pacing the hallway and lost in his thoughts.

He was never going to get sleep in this house in this storm. He couldn't get the shadows from the forest out of his head. The bubbling of the stream. Some of the shadows that the candles in the hallway made were similar... reaching to him... reaching...

Patrick jumped. His head had been in his hands, and he had nodded off for a moment. He woke up just in time to hear the commotion. "Charlotte?" he heard the cook say in the next room. "Lotte?" Patrick said as he got up and rubbed his eyes before following the sound of voices into the next room.

When Patrick finally rubbed the sleep out of his eyes he half-stopped and half-kept going into the room. Lotte, the pretty chick he talked to at lunch, in Joshua's arms! Wearing hardly anything! Patrick took a moment to glance her over a couple of times before he registered what he was seeing. "Oh! Um... I'm sorry!" Blushing furiously, he started to back out of the room. He had no idea! Lotte and Joshua! Man, so much for trying to impress her earlier in the day...
 
The night appeared to be getting more...abrasive. Drama was unfolding and he was just standing away and watching. Some of it subtle while other parts stuck out worse than a sore thumb. All of it was rather...calming. It reminded him of home. The concept sounded weird in his head, which less if he mentioned it out loud. He decided that mentally pursuing the subject was not a good idea.

Coming out, just behind Joshua, he scratched his shoulder. His blue eyed gaze moved the two who had embraced and then to other. The poor guy looked like he watched his secrets flung about the room. It felt like he could flail his arms and the awkwardness could be seen prancing about.

"You are the one who screamed, Miss? What did you see?" he asked blankly.
 
Sometimes Noah just knew that life was pissing all over his little parade. It made him want to close up the B&B and just live in it, alone. He'd done it before and it certainly wasn't like he did this for a profit. In fact, every year it ate into his savings. He's raised the prices this year to accommodate his new cooking and his Cook.

Noah sat down his notepad for a moment, the pen rolling off into the floor with a dull thump as it hit his bedside rug. He changed into his pajamas, well he tried to. He had managed to get his pants on before he heard the scream. One of the women. Unless one of the men had a surprisingly high pitched girly scream. He looked down at his phone for a moment. He'd been planning on making a phone call. He just wanted some sanity and may the gods forgive him for asking for sanity in the same sentence as Abaijah Oak.

Noah rushed down the stairs, business management and social phone calls could wait at least a little while longer. Maybe. Either way, he went down the stairs while looking ever so worried about his guests and not so worried about his shirtless state. He arrived at the bottom of the stairs, the young man, Patrick was rushing up them looking upset, Rich was questioning ...Lotte, it looked like.

And there was Lotte, wearing nearly nothing and ... cuddling into Joshua's arms. He twitched as he came down the stairs. Well so much for... He made himself stop thinking and tugged his pajama pants back up from where they were riding low on hips. He crossed his arms. "Miss Charlotte? Did you scream?" He raised a brow, knowing full and well she'd say she saw something.

Noah even had a good idea as to what she saw. It liked women. Especially pretty ones. But inside the house, she'd be safe. He'd never say that out loud though. Not unless the problems increased. They wouldn't though. He'd make sure of that.


 
It took her a moment to calm down, and then the calm didn't last very long. She shrieked again, her voice carrying through the lower part of the house. Her hands went to try to cover herself as she stepped back, panting and looking around, skin blushing darkly.

"There was a thing! Something outside! It had claws and... and it was at the window!" She looked around like a frightened animal, stumbling back and sitting with a thud on the fourth stair up. "It had blue eyes, and claws, and horns, and was huge and it was trying to get in!" Shaking her head and trying to collect her thoughts, she continued. "I'm not insane. I really did.. I thought... I thought I saw something." She looked up at Noah, eyes and expression begging for some explanation or denial.

For a moment, she'd once again forgotten her unclothed state, and now she remembered acutely and tried her best to huddle into the shadows. "May I please have a robe or a blanket or something?" She would have just gone up to her room to get dressed, but she wanted nothing more to do with that room and the window beast.
 
Just then, the door knocked frantically. Becca stood outside, her shirt and jeans tattered and torn, and her body shivering. She was terrified, and needed someone to let her in.

She had had a terrifying experience on her way along the street, as some sort of monster had attacked her. It had ripped at her clothing with sharp, rough claws, and bit her several times on the legs. Blood oozed down, and she felt weak. However, she managed to limp to the nearest place - a Bed and Breakfast which was just down the street.

She banged on the door, frantically looking behind her to check that she wasn't being followed.
 
He supposed this did look questionable from a third party point of view... But Joshua wasn't much worried about anyone's feelings or misled thoughts at that moment. Charlotte had been spooked by one of the Bed and Breakfast regulars it seemed. The ones that liked to lurk and creep out the guests. But it wasn't so much those ones that bothered Joshua, and it wasn't even because he didn't quite believe they even existed. Sure, many a guest had told wild stories about their experiences here at the Bed and Breakfast but Joshua had never really seen anything the others had. And those things never really seemed to be able to get into the house. It was the shadows that bothered him.

They'd first started lurking near the tree line. Then the back yard. Then all around the property. And now Joshua was imagining them inside the house. It had to be his imagination, right? Noah was one hundred percent certain of this house's safety. Also, Josh was beginning to think that Noah couldn't even see the shadows. Did that make him crazy? Or just paranoid?

Giving his head a little shake, the cook snapped back to reality. He moved away from the near-hysterical guest and paused next to Noah. "You're better suited to handle this, I think. I'll go get her a robe and check her room," he said, leaning close to the bearded boss to speak softly and still be heard over the roll of thunder. Pulling away, the cook offered a gentle smile and a lingering touch to the shoulder. As he headed for the doorway, his hand fell from Noah's strong shoulder, back to his side, head turning to cast a neutral look Rich's way for the briefest of moments before he'd disappeared out into the hallway and up the stairs to the second floor.
 
Everyone seemed to either gone crazy or hold some nonsensical dislike for his presence. Rich's skeptisim was increased, by the claims. From what she described, some sort otherworldly being was trying to get her. He tried to be open minded but that very far-fetched. It didn't help that she was....unveiled with her dramatic scream/storm in. Though, it was hard to deny the seemingly genuine fright. Josh and Noah were taking care of it, so Rich saw no reason to press the subject further. At least, not until later. Not to mention, Josh's looks are really kind of bugging him.

"Since you guys are doing that, I will be here." he said politely.

Looking over to the other guy and calls back up the hallway.

"With this guy...." Rich added.

Finally turning, he had a warm hankshake ready.

"Hello there, my name is Rich. What's yours?"
 
Becca was shaking, but she shook his hand anyway. "B-Becca." She was terrified - the monster had been large, and had had orangey fur, and a nose like a dog.

"What is this place?" She asked, as she tried to calm down.

(the monster was actually just a large fox by the way which attacked her, but her overactive imagination turned it into a monster.)
 
'I'm not insane, I really did' echoed around in Noah's head. He'd been living here for years and doing this Bed and Breakfast thing for almost as long. He'd never had so many people drop in at once and it was wearing on his nerves. Like an ill pitched violin. He wanted to stop back upstairs to his attic and shut the door and hope to whatever god that would listen that they'd all just go away and leave him alone.

That wasn't very professional now though, was it? Noah gave them a little smile, running a hand through his hair and musing it even more. He looked a lot more like Rich probably remembered now, an irritated man with a playboy attitude with too much money. "Miss Charlotte... I'm sure it was just the shadows." Another comforting smile. "Nothing to be afraid of but if you'd like another room I can arrange that... It's alright, this storm is rather terrible and it's playing with all our minds." He just wanted the evening to be over! First night of the opening season had never been so hard. At least he'd gotten Rich out of it. Family...

Noah whirled around when he realized that the door was not only open but there was another girl in the doorway! Another one! "What the hell, is it raining women?" He muttered softly and looked over the bleeding girl with narrowed eyes. No way. Drenched women in weird clothes proclaiming to be mediums were one thing.

"Excuse me miss, who are you and how the hell did you get in my House?" Noah snapped irritably, hands resting on his sun-bronzed hips and his shoulders squared and lips pressed tightly shut in an irate line. Hazel-brown eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Around the house the storm shrieked and groaned, shaking the trees and the house. It rattled the bushes and churned the B&B's fountain until it was almost empty. The storm was leaving though, one final huzzah before the wind calmed and the rain gentled itself and fell neatly to the ground. The storm was over, the rain light. It certainly wouldn't last all night.
 
Becca was now terrified and didn't know what to think, or where to go. She stammered out, "I', B-B-Becca. I was attacked out there, and this was the closest place. A guy called Rich let me in."

She wished that she could just sit down and weep on her own - somewhere safe.
 
Lotte blinked in confusion. From where she was, she'd not seen anyone let the girl in and suddenly there was this bloody mess in the front hall. That along with the patronizing attitude of the owner was enough to make her start to actually cry. She dashed the tears from her face with the back of her arm.

"It wasn't the shadows," she said imperiously. Rising to her feet, she looked at the men, then at the strange girl. "Something obviously got her. Or are you going to write that off to shadows, too?" She snorted softly, a habit her mother had always found deplorable. There was something very wrong with this place and she should just leave, but the same thrill that had held her captive to ghost stories was starting to ring through her blood now. Whether or not the owner wanted to admit it, it was clear to Lotte that something was going on. She was determined to find out what. In the meantime...

"Is there any hot chocolate or anything, so that I can get back to sleep?"
 
As more people gathered around Lotte and Joshua, Patrick faded to the background during the commotion. He wasn't going to be much help, even if he had misunderstood what was going on between Lotte and Joshua. There were just too many freaked out girls, and Patrick couldn't help but be spooked by the shadows himself. Just now he thought he saw one get up off the table in the front hallway and wave at him!

So while the owner, Noah, dealt with the new girl blown in and bloody, Patrick played nice with the new guy. That new girl definitely had a worse experience getting there than Patrick did, so he figured he should let Noah handle it. He seemed like he could handle all sorts of things, although this late his temper appeared to be short. Not Patrick's fault, exactly, but he would definitely stay out of Noah's way.

He nodded at Rich and shook his hand. "Patrick," he said. "I just sort of showed up, like that woman. My car stopped in the middle of the forest on the way here." He paused and overheard Lotte's remark. "What do you think of that hot chocolate idea, Rich?"
 
Becca looked at this girl, and she managed a small, weak smile. "Thank you for believing me." She whispered, and then had a dizzy spell, and promptly sat down on the ground before she could faint.

She just wanted to find somewhere to spend the next few nights until she felt up to leaving for home.
 
"Nothing here..."

Just as he'd thought. But even though Joshua believed Miss Charlotte had dreamed up her peeping creature, the thought of something sinister lurking close by was enough to make him uncomfortable, alone on the second floor. Lifting the candle in his hand higher, the cook quickly left Charlotte's room and headed for the second set of stairs leading up to the attic. As he climbed higher, he found the air around him was becoming thick, sitting heavily in his lungs, making him light headed for lack of oxygen.

With a hand on the wall to brace himself, Josh arrived at his room and quickly searched his closet for a spare robe. He couldn't have completed the task any sooner and once his feet hit the bottom floor's polished hardwood he found it much easier to breathe. Quietly he handed Charlotte the robe as she was busy talking to yet another new face, offering them both a gentle smile up until he noticed the nameless girl was injured. Without a word, Joshua sought the first aid kit, crouching beside the girl who was now sitting on the floor.

She looked a little weak and she was scratched up pretty bad. Probably from falling. Joshua didn't blame her. These woods were terrifying even without the tricks that night played on a nervous mind. And her wounds were littered with little pebbles, dirt, and splinters. A dying bush's spindly branches could easily be mistaken for teeth or claws of a creature. As for the bite marks? Well, to Joshua they looked more like she'd been punctured by a sharp stick. But that was just his opinion. Maybe she really had been attacked by some creature. There were foxes around and the odd wolf could be heard howling from time to time. Whatever it had been, this girl, "Becca" he'd heard her say to someone, was going to be fine.

His handiwork had taken all of two minutes, since nothing needed to be sewn up and after spreading the last bandage, he rolled the gloves off of his hands and took care of any garbage. Once he returned, he simply sat himself down in the nearest chair and waited for Noah to resolve these matters, ready to do anything for the boss should he be asked.

With the storm fading, the gentle drumming of the rain on the house was soothing and it steadily lulled Joshua closer to sleep. In a matter of minutes, the cook was quietly sleeping, legs folded at the ankle and stretched out, hands clasped in his lap, head rolled slightly to one side.
 
Becca just let this new guy patch her up and when he was finished, she smiled gratefully up at him, and whispered, "Thank you very much." He was soon asleep though, so she lay her head back on the table behind her, and tried to calm herself.
 
Noah hid the snarl under his breath but gave his dear cousin Rich a look that could boil blood. Why on earth had he let her in? What if she was some sort of crazy murderess? He calmed himself and took a deep breath. It wouldn't do to explode but he was getting close. He was tired and it had been a long day. Luckily Joshua was on it and for that matter, so was Rich.

"Yeah, there's hot chocolate in the kitchen. Rich, if you want to make some please, go ahead. Joshua is tending to the woman, Becca." He narrowed his eyes a little. "Why don't you three go to the kitchen, yeah? Just calm down, have a snack and get a drink. The storm is over, the power should be on by morning." Noah said and looked out the door, trying to think of what could have attacked the woman.

There wasn't anything in the woods that would have attacked the girl. Well, that wasn't true. Nothing otherworldly would have let her live though. Mad dog? Angry dog? Feral dog? Any animal with rabies and it was the summer, rabies was in high gear. He winced at the thought, it sobered him up and allowed his head to cool. He'd had the rabies shot after a bite once, it was unpleasant but it was better than being dead.

Noah watched Joshua clean out the woman's wounds and considered the day and night, so many drop-in's and then the storm and Charlotte's little encounter...

"Becca... Can you tell me anything about what attacked you? The color and size would help us identify it... I'm afraid you might have gotten bit by a rabid animal and if we know what to look for, we know what to treat, alright?" He gave her a little smile. After all, it wasn't her fault. He knew who was at fault, the weather for getting everything riled up.

As Noah calmed himself down, the house seemed to lose the tension it was carrying and he opened a few of the windows. The air was wet and cool and smelled of rain. It was refreshing after the too warm and slightly smokey air inside the house. Noah could feel the atmosphere in the house change with his thoughts and mood.

"Joshua?" He looked over to the man and chuckled softly, he was already asleep.


With Joshua asleep, Noah considered his options. He pulled his cellphone out of his pajama pocket, he always had it near or around him. It was part of him. Plus he could watch his stocks... Noah had half the town on speed dial as well and made a short quick phone call to the hospital to come and get his bleeding and most likely rabid unexpected guest.

It didn't take them long, not with how Noah described his situation and soon the quiet ambulance pulled into the drive and two E.M.S.'s were at the door politely knocking. Noah let them in and let them gently escort the young lady outside. He watched them help her into the ambulance and pull away. There. That was taken care of at least!

No more bloodied weird girls in house, thank you very much. He had plenty of weirdness without adding in girls who walked around in the middle of nowhere and get themselves attacked by something rabid.

Noah stared down at the time on his cell. Three AM. With more guests arriving in the morning, all the man wanted to do was to sleep. He decided that Rich and Patrick and Charlotte could fend for themselves before he looked over to Joshua who was asleep on the couch. Noah couldn't help himself. Besides, it wasn't like Joshua could sleep downstairs on the couch, anyway. He walked over, gently touching the man's shoulder.

"Josh? It's time to go to bed." No, he couldn't help himself at all. He wrapped his arms around Joshua, lifting him from the couch easily. He made sure Joshua's head was supported by his chest and if the man woke up, he could disentangle himself rather easily. Or at least Noah hoped as he walked to the stairs and started the ascent so very very carefully.

If all went well he'd just deposit Joshua into his own bed and then head for his bed as well...
 
Without a word, Rich went to the kitchen. The intent was to fix up some heated cocoa. He could exchange polite pleasantries and such, more effectively, in the morning. People were in need of something hot and chocolaty. Rather easily, the proper ingredients were found and throw together. Before long, there were three steaming cups of brown goodness. One at a time, Rich handed one to Lotte and then to Patrick. Methodically, he moved so that not a single hot drop came over the brim.

Noting that Noah had carried the neutral Joshua off, he sat at the table.

"So where do you guys --crap!" he said suddenly.

"Marshmallows." he added.

In a sort of controlled panic, he went to the freezer and pulled out marshmallows. Thank the sweet-tooth gods that Noah had a bag of the mini ones. He loved them so much. The bigger one always made him feel like a big, when eating more than four. Placing the bag, on the table, Rich grabbed a few and plopped them into the hot chocolate. Now everything was right. No one was attacked. People were properly being taken, to the hospital. Tomorrow would be a better day. Right?
 
Strange dreams worked their way into his unconscious mind but they weren't uncomfortable ones. Truth be told, Joshua felt safe from nightmares for the moment; the reason unknown until he slowly cracked open his eyes to find himself in Noah's arms.

Being carried like a bride was just a little embarrassing, though the honest truth was that sleep still had its claws in him, refusing to let him go completely. His thoughts were sluggish, his limbs felt far too heavy. How was Noah even managing to carry him? And seemingly with little effort at all! Wasn't he heavy? He wasn't exactly "skin and bones" afterall. No, Joshua was very much in shape, and probably heavy.

He really didn't have the energy to worry though, gazing tiredly up at Noah's face as together they reached the attic. His heart was beating just a little quicker than it should have had his feelings for the boss been completely platonic. At that point, he felt guilty for taking advantage of the free ride and squirmed a little in the other's grasp until he was set down on his feet.

He could only assume that the situations downstairs had been resolved and mumbled an apology to Noah for falling asleep on the job. "Thank you for tending to me as well," he added, offering the B&B owner a classic, gentle Joshua-smile. "Goodnight."

He parted ways with Noah then, disappearing behind his bedroom door, leaning his back against it for a moment while he sighed and closed his eyes, head rolling back against the wooden surface. What a long, eventful day. Dead cars, abandoned brides, long lost relatives, disappearing mediums, fox food... What kind of guests would tomorrow bring? Joshua didn't even want to think about it. All he had to worry about was cooking breakfast. If the weather behaved itself tomorrow, it would just be him and Noah for lunch and dinner. They could get some clean-up done and then be able to put up their feet for a little while. Ah, he could feel his face heating the moment he realized how much he sounded like some kind of wife. "Get a grip," he grumbled to himself, rubbing his face tiredly. He needed sleep, and after changing into a pair of sleep pants, he intented to do just that.

The attic was hot and stuffy, what with the power lost and the air conditioning along with it.
So he shuffled over to the window and opened it, letting in a rush of moist, cool air and he was thankful for the rain letting up.

Then the tired cook crawled into bed and closed his eyes.
 
Once they got to the attic, Noah noticed Joshua's squirming and sat him down easily. Noah was certainly stronger than he looked. Not that he looked weak. He gave Joshua a little smile. "It wasn't a problem to tend to you, don't worry. Ah. Goodnight." He nodded, perhaps a little awkwardly. After all, he'd just carried the man upstairs on a whim. A really nice whim though, he told himself.

He watched him shut the door and Noah made his way into his own sticky warm room. He quickly opened a window, checked on the bird, and was about to get into bed when he realized he didn't give Rich or Patrick a room. He pinched the bridge of his nose and quickly and mostly silently made his way back to down to the kitchen, peering in at the 'guests'.

"Rich. Patrick. You two are sharing a room. Same floor as Charlotte, room is at the end of the hall on the right. Beds are already made." Noah caught himself in a yawn and rubbed his eyes blearily. "Goodnight Charlotte and Patrick. Night, cousin." he gave them a nod and an offhanded wave of dismissal before tiredly climbing the stairs again for the umpteenth time that evening.

Noah barely felt his head hit the pillow once he fell into his bed. He was out like a light though he did somehow manage to get the covers pulled over him.
 
The robe did much to soothe her, and the hot chocolate even more. With the young woman who had stumbled in being taken off by an ambulance and the storm slacking, Lotte began to wonder if maybe she had just drifted off and dreamed the entire encounter with the strange monster on the window sill. It would certainly make sense, and as she stared into the cup with it's bobbing marshmallows, she started to think that perhaps she had overreacted. She'd certainly made quite the fool of herself. Her mind was overactive after a stressful day, leading her to create trouble where there was none to distract from her own pain. That would obviously be what her shrink would say if she'd called him afterwards instead of acting like a frightened child. Still, it was hard to be overly upset when drinking hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. She gave a thankful smile to Rich before turning to look at Patrick.

"Funny, I did my best to scare you earlier and ended up frightening myself." She uttered a tired laugh. "It must be this place. It has a certain feeling to it, like it is the only safe port for miles, like everything outside is assaulting it, though. I guess that's strange, but it just... it reminds me of being in bed at night as a child and knowing that as long as you stayed tucked in, you'd be safe from whatever shadows crept along the floor." Lotte reached up and ran a hand through her short, tousled hair.

"I think perhaps I made a mistake. Tonight was to be my honeymoon, and I decided that I might as well go on it, even if I had to go alone. But that bed is too big and the room is so pretty and romantic and it just..." She wouldn't break down, not in front of these strangers, not again. "Anyway, I'd be appreciative if we could just forget about my little panic attack earlier." She set her mug down, fingertips resting on the sides of it. A brief instant of thought was given to the wonder of where her love was right now. It was a recurring thought anymore, but one she did her best not to linger on.

"I have all these prepaid things to go do in nearby towns. Rock climbing, horse back riding, reservations at sumptuous restaurants. Anyway, if either of you want a free meal or a free horse ride or opera ticket, let me know. I don't really need them. I'm just planning on staying in my room and reading or walking around the grounds."
 
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