Pinehouse Apt.

Early in the morning I heard a loud knock on the door.

"Miss Lewis! It's Frank here. Wanna take some measures for ya new panels."

Rubbing sleep off my eyes, I opened the door to find Frank grinning broadly, carrying a rusty blue toolbox and a brown paper bag.

"Ah I see I woke ya up? Maybe a lil too early for ya?"

I mumbled a no. "That's okay, I'm fine, come in..."

"Oh that's right," he said as he walked in. "Ya work night shifts at Rice's. That must be hard to wake up early from once it became habit."

I mumbled something I don't even understood, rubbing my eyes and feeling really drowsy.

"I come early so you'd get your paneling done quickly. The quicker I get them measurements, the quicker I get them fixed," he explained, observing the broken panels near the living room. "Standard wood paneling, lucky you. All this would cost you... hmm... probably $80 to $120. This damn wall needs fixing too it seems..."

"That's great...what about the paint job...? How much would that be...?" I slurred, leaning against the sofa.

"Small place like this? $150 will do, don't tell Billy though," he winked. I felt my cheeks burning from that and looked away. He went back to observing the wall. "Most of the wall's rotting and the ceiling needs a fresh coat... this house been long ignored, Miss Lewis."

"Yeah, it is. The landlord told me that at first this isn't for rent. He said most residents in Pinehouse had a big extended family and on occasions when they'd come over to visit the residents would call him up and ask him if they could have those family members stay in here. It's like a guest house of sorts, people renting for a day or two, visiting their families here in Toucan. But then it kind of decreased, the people coming in Pinehouse, so he decided it's time to rent it out. He knew it looked bad, so he said I should call someone to fix the wall and he'd pay me back when it's done."

Frank nodded, and was quiet for a few minutes. Probably thinking about something. Elsa maybe? I think I know what's on his mind : Those 'extended families' aren't really their families, if what Frank told me last night is true. Maybe they're travelling pagans and they had taken Elsa away with them.

What blue eyes. I caught myself staring at him but I didn't stop. From afar he seemed to have brown eyes. It makes me feel something inside that stings, though. It's painful.

He shifts his eyes, slowly looking back at me, but didn't say a word.

"Move out if you can. Don't stay here for long." Grimly, he whispered each word to me. "Don't get their attention, but don't stay here long." He placed his measuring tape back into his toolbox quietly, and locked it shut.

"I'll come back with Mike later with the stuff for your wall. Leave some space for em out here, I think we'd only be able to finish all of it in 3,4 days, so ya house will be a little messy." Frank didn't even look at me when he walked towards the door. "Oh I brought you some breakfast, it's in the bag, almost forgot. Sorry for waking you up so early."

And he left.

Toucan may seem a huge, but everybody knew everyone to some extent. The Bohn family is no exception. They're a small family, really. Arnold Bohn, Frank's father, used to help Dorothy out with the cotton farm she owns, and Dorothy gave him a piece of land as a thank you gift. Ody told me this on a tour around her factory. Arnold had a brother Jo, who married Ody's distant cousin and had a child -- which could only mean Elsa. After Arnold, Jo and their wives passed away from old age, the only Bohns in Toucan are Frank and his cousin. It would only be understandable if losing Elsa gave Frank a great deal of sadness, she was all the family he's got -- and now she's gone.

Pinehouse is really creeping me out now, but there's no other choice for me. Everything else is out of my budget. Uncle did offer to pay for anything I ever needed, but I don't want him to. I want to earn everything myself. I mean he'd already given me more than the other waitresses in his bar by a margin, so asking him to pay for rent is just too much for me personally.

At least Frank's house is near...right?