The Hidden Room (Kratos and Marie)

[Marie Massacre]

When her mother had passed three years before, Arianna knew that her father wouldn’t be far behind. He had never been very good at living on his own. He was far too dependent on her mother to make it, especially with Arianna gone to study abroad. So when she got the word that her father had passed, it came of no real surprise. She had just finished obtaining her Doctorate in Child Psychology from the University of Cologne in Germany. She had decided that seeking a degree outside of the United States provided more opportunities and a much broader learning experience.

Now she was coming home to plan her father’s funeral. While it wasn’t an exciting prospect, she’d get to see all of her old friends from school. People she felt like she hadn’t seen in ages, which was probably true. She hadn’t been home since her mother’s funeral three years prior… Sure, she felt bad, but she had been working on her thesis and trying to make sure everything was just right. She didn’t have time to plan a trip back to states. She had to make sure everything about her thesis had been perfect and ready to present, and it had been.

She was now Doctor Arianna Caldwell M.D.

She looked up at her childhood home, this home held so many memories… Good ones, bad ones… Even the ones that had drove her to enter the field of child psychology. She stepped up the front steps of the house and unlocked the door, it still had the same smell after all these years. It still smells like the year her mother burnt that apple pie and they couldn’t the apples uncrusted from the oven, so every single time they used the oven if smelled like burnt sugar and apples.

She laughed a bit and headed up to the library, this room… This room was what had caused her to go into child psychology. Every time she went near this room as a child, even as a teenager, something about it made her skin crawl. She had avoided going in there for years, and she just couldn’t place what made her feel this way. There was nothing wrong with the room. It wasn’t any different than any other room in the house, it was just the library…

 

[Kratos]

Some people were addicts to living life on the edge; others were addicted to drugs or money itself but Jason... well he was different. Growing up he never really showed much interest in many things, almost apathetic in nature until a certain day almost nine years prior to this current day. That was when everything changed and he found (met) what he considered his reason for living. Everything since then up to this point had been all for a purpose, a greater goal. It was then where he began acting like a normal member of society, hiding away his deeper darker side. From being in what seemed like normal relationships, and working standard jobs. Only a few close friends knew the true person that was Jason Barnett.

It had been a rather cold day, mostly miserable and from what Jason mostly remembered; gloomy and the sky thick with clouds. But the day itself was very important to him, her name was Arianna Caldwell, at least that is what one of his friends had told him. It was at first just a passing glance but something about her caught his eye, his undivided attention. He used to trail her sometimes back then, trying to find out more about her. All the while maintaining his distance and trying to maintain an oblivious and unnoticed persona.

The hardest parts of the preparations and his overall plan was when it came to building her shrine that showed his dedication to her. After many favors, some of which ended up being rather expensive, he had managed to over the years accumulate images from the first day she was born until the point where he had started to stalk her himself personally. Sometimes though he still got a friend to take some of them though, since after all they were the type to not ask any questions or say no to money. Granted each friend only knew part of the story and obsession, if they knew the whole ordeal they would probably call him somewhat of a lunatic and someone with issues.

Then lastly, he managed to out do even his own prepared plans, of which when he had heard the mother of his target had passed, he started to look into the infrastructure of how the house was built. Studying it's blueprints he was surprised to see it was rather old fashion, the library housing a hidden panic room, a staircase hiding in complete secrecy granting access. Slowly but surely he worked his way into emptying out it's original contents and replacing it with his fanatical shrine, eventually he even set it up so that it was his bedroom, spending most of his time there due to her father at this point being rather easy to sneak around, probably death and blind. The kicker was when the old man finally croaked, and she was back. The one that meant everything to him... in her old house, he had originally found this house when he had followed her home once when her and her friend Jennifer had visited quite a few years ago. But this was the first time where he had infiltrated it and she was finally here.

One thing his friends had all mostly said to him, was they never would probably understand his obsession, as commonly numerous women approached him hoping for more, only to sometimes get some quick fun and then be shoved to the side. They did not excite him, they simply were only good for a quick fuck and then simply forget they even existed. Opening up his laptop he quickly checked that the hidden cameras throughout the house were operating correctly before placing it into the cupboard he had within his 'bedroom' locking it afterwards. Laying back on the bed within the room, he stretched, still rather excited the day had finally come. Arianna.... I have waited so long... and I will finally make you mine.... You will see... yes... yes you will see my dear

 

[Marie Massacre]

Arianna shook her head, she hated this room. She closed the door and moved out the library. She didn’t intend on spending much time in there. Though she was intending on moving back in to the family how, now that she had graduated. She could start a practice and help the locals. That was what she had wanted to do from the start, help people.

Her red hair was tied back in long braid, she’d forgone her usual businesslike attire for the long plane ride back from Germany for something a little more comfortable. A pair of yoga pants that she often used when she did yoga at home to keep in shape, a tank top, and a pair of running shoes. Something that she could easily work out in later if she decided to do some yoga to stretch out after her flight. She did tend to get rather knotted up during those transatlantic flights. She’d do it after she cooked something, airline food was awful and didn’t adhere to her diet.

While it wasn’t really a diet per say, it was a high maintained way of eating. She ate small portions, at least six times throughout the day, as opposed to only eating three larger meals. It helped to maintain a faster, more regulated metabolism. Small snacking was allowed in between, but it had to be healthy snacks. Fruit, nuts, vegetables, yogurt, things of that nature. It kept her healthy and kept her fit. Her fitness had been something she had come to greatly appreciate since she had moved to Germany. Much more so than she had when she had lived at home.

She moved into the kitchen to try and find out what her father had left behind to eat, she opened the fridge and sighed. Beer, expired milk that was…. Yikes… A month past the expiration date… What appeared to leftover lasagna that was growing things. Well, this was going to be harder than she thought…

“Guess I’m ordering pizza….” Arianna said softly.

 

[Kratos]

A hint of excitement was upon Jason’s face, an expression that would not be seen. Soft footsteps could be heard within the house, they were barely noticeable but due to no one else being present at the property, they had to have been her walking around. Jason wanted to see what she was doing, and ensure that he had the footage recording. Within barely moments the laptop was back out, the screen facing back. After all he had a decent amount of storage to fill with footage, it had been casually waiting for her to return back to her roots. Taking a moment to ponder he wondered if later down the track have to purchase more seeing as he was not the type to discard anything when it involved Arianna. For now though Jason figured there was enough storage. Each video recording, every photo having a deep meaning to him, and if something of which was misplaced he would most likely feel lost inside, probably similar to if a small piece to a large puzzle had been removed.

He watched his screen closely, fixated as Arianna wandered into the kitchen, from when her father had passed the fridge still containing the same contents. This was mainly to ensure that it was not obvious that someone else had been living here in secrecy. For food storage Jason relied on a small bar fridge, that was when he did not simply go out to eat or occasionally order in. Placing an earphone into his left ear, he heard her voice, it seemed like she was going to order pizza, a small grin crossing his face. This would prove to be interesting as there had been a few times where he had actually ordered to this house, never in his own name though. If she called them it would be more than likely an interesting conversation as they would probably ask if she would like the usual order. A temptation crossing him to order for her as a surprise. After all he already knew her favorite foods, Her usual schedules, everything.

Deciding to hesitate for now Jason simply decided to simply watch, there would come a time to involve himself, but for now a burning curiosity of how the conversation alone would suffice. A name would be mentioned that she would not recognize having ever ordered or even visiting this house in the past, which would be enough to get the ball rolling. To get her to start questioning just what might be going on. It was going to be subtle things initially before he would start being more obvious, initially he was going to have to tread lightly, not wanting her to panic to early. The last thing he needed was the police involved before he had at least managed to meet her directly, to get his way at least once. He had dreamed about it, fantasized, and even commonly in the past when he had his way with other women, imagined them to be Arianna. But nothing would be as good as the real thing, he had waited a long time so far for this moment after all.

Knowing not much else would happen for now he placed down the laptop, setting it just to the side for now and removing the earphone. Flicking through his collection he touched some of the more recent photos, one in particular his pride and joy where he had managed to snap a photo where she had been changing, the most recent in his collection. It would soon be time where he could feel that soft flesh beneath his own fingertips, the time where he would ravage her and show her what he had been looking forward to. One thing was for certain though, he was not going to let her go this time, he had considered taking action a few years back, but the timing had not been right, now on the other hand nothing would get in his way.

 

[Marie Massacre]

Arianna picked up the phone. She hated ordering pizza... It didn't fit into her diet plan at all. So she had do light on things. She ordered a thin crust pizza, with white sauce, light cheese, spinach, cherry pepper, roma tomatoes, and an extra container of marinara sauce. She would pay in cash when the order arrived. For now she needed to work on getting her business set up until the pizza arrived, she'd go grocery shopping tomorrow.

She pulled out her laptop and sat down at the kitchen table, she wasn't going to go to the library, even after all these years that room still gave her the creeps....

She began to file the paperwork to get her business license to practice in the state. She knew she'd need to get certified and get all the other paperwork as well, but for now she just wanted to get this part of the paperwork done. She also had to consider burial plans for her father, dates for the funeral and so many other things on her mind. She just sat back and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I need a drink...." She said softly to herself.

She didn't really drink all that much, it wasn't good for her body and she knew it. Especially if she wanted to keep in shape. Every now and then though, it was okay to let go and have a drink... She couldn't help but wonder if her father still kept all the good stuff down in the cellar...

 

[Kratos]

A small sigh escaped Jason as he glanced over at his laptop, he wondered if he had set his wireless to hidden. Something to change later if that was the case. For now it was low on his priority of plans, what was going through his mind now was how he would approach Arianna. After all he had to at least make sure she would see the shrine setup in her honor, but doing such a thing would seem to be difficult. If he was correct, she would not simply stumble across the hidden entrance within the library by accident since it seemed like it was an area she deliberately avoided.

For now it was just patience that was needed, Jason was going to let her settle in first a little. At least wait until she had eaten and that he would have time to make the suitable preparations. Knowing that pizza alone would take about thirty minutes to arrive he decided to lay down for a little, leaving the laptop to record.

~~~~
The usual delivery driver rocked up to the house, somewhat surprised by the order that he was tasked to bring. He rang the doorbell tapping his foot slightly impatiently just partially wishing this day was over so he could go home and enjoy the next few days he had off. What surprised him more though was whom greeted him at the door, a slight look of shock on his face as he presented her the pizza and spoke “… Hmm never seen you before... are you that younger guys girlfriend or something?..” it seemed that this girl did not know whom he was talking about before he shrugged, taking the cash handed and giving her the change “… I must be mistaken… thought this was the normal house I saw him… enjoy your pizza and have a great night..” slowly he walked off, knowing that he definitely had the right house, but as he had been told, no one else was currently there and it was honestly above his pay grade to pry any further.

Hearing the doorbell ring a smile crossed Jason, glancing at his laptop and changing to the front doors camera he was relieved to see it was the usual delivery boy. Good… this will definitely help with getting the ball rolling… unfortunately for Jason he had not actually set it up for the front of house camera to have audio so he simply watched instead, trying to guess what had been said before changing the camera so that he would be able to see Arianna as she closed the door, pizza in hand. Watching intently at her reactions the smile turned into a grin Perfect… I might be able to have her find this room sooner than anticipated…