Blood Land, J.R. Lawson [electric book reader .txt] 📗

room that they were standing in, “This is the living room,” he spoke as he held his hands out and gestured to the room. “Through there is the kitchen,” he then pointed through an open archway to the right that led to a small kitchen area, “But who hasn’t’ seen one of those?” He smirked as he said this last line and Nora couldn’t help but smile as she also rolled her eyes.

“Well, then upstairs are the bedrooms.” Rogan then began to walk to their left to a set of stairs that went to a second floor. “Come on,” he then beckoned as he began ascending the staircase, “Let’s find you a place to stay.”  Nora didn’t hesitate but immediately followed.

Once they were at the hallway at the top of the stairs, Rogan instantly turned to the first doorway on the left and opened it.  Nora followed him in and noticed they were both now standing in a small study.  There was an old fashioned roll top desk in the far left corner and a few book shelves filled with books lined the walls.  A green wingback chair sat in the right corner and many pictures of different artworks hung in different places.  Rogan went to where the chair sat and turned on a small lamp that sat on a small end table right next to it.

“Well, I think this could do as a bedroom for now.  Of course, we’d get all this stuff out of here, but I might have a cot you can sleep on tonight and then tomorrow we can bring your bed here.” Rogan said as he looked around the room.  Nora on the other hand, barely listened. “Yeah,” she politely responded as she found herself gravitating toward the old fashioned desk in the corner.  She ran her hands over it.  It was dusty, she realized, but that still didn’t take away from its beauty.  She couldn’t help but wonder what Rogan used it for.  She put a hand on the handle of the big drawer at the center, but before she could think of doing anything further, Rogan spoke loudly and startled her. “Don’t touch that!” he shouted.

Nora jumped and looked over at him, “Why not?”

“Just don’t.”

“Oh, I get it,” Nora now turned away from the desk to face him, “It’s o.k. for you to snoop around my stuff at my house, but when it comes to you, I’m not aloud.”

“That’s right,” Rogan just stated seriously.

“Ugh,” was all Nora could let out in frustration as she then crossed her arms.

“Anyway,” Rogan then spoke, attempting to change the subject, “You hungry?  I might still have some stuff in the pantry here.  Some non-perishables, that kind of thing.  We can always go grocery shopping later and get some other stuff, but I might have enough for lunch.”

“Yeah, o.k.” Nora reluctantly responded.  Rogan then gave her a slightly stern look before he then exited the room and Nora heard him descending the stairs.  It was then that she quickly turned back to the desk and decided to try something before following Rogan to the kitchen.  She put both hands back on the desk drawer handled and excitedly pulled.  However, to her disappointment, the drawer didn’t open and when she looked closer, she noticed a small lock in the middle of it.

“Damn, locked,” Nora whispered to herself as she bit her lip slightly in dissatisfaction.  It was then that, with a small sigh, she let go of the drawer and decided to leave the room.  She only glanced back at it once before finally heading down the stairs.  She was indeed curious as to what was in that desk.  Rogan had found out some of her secrets, it was only fair, especially now that they were stuck together for the time being, that she start to find out some of his.

CHAPTER 17

 IT WAS LATER that evening when Nora had gone upstairs to try to get into the mysterious desk that Rogan had locked in his study.  However, she was still unable to break into it and so instead decided to spend the remainder of her time rummaging through all of the things she had brought with her from her old house while Rogan tried to find something to cook for dinner downstairs.

Nora sat Indian-style on the cot Rogan had set up for her earlier and pulled handfuls of books out of a duffle bag and onto her lap.  She looked through them, trying to decide if she wanted to read one or two until she noticed a small weathered book amongst them.  She picked it up and chuckled as she realized it was an old diary of hers that she must have just grabbed amongst the books when she was packing to leave.  She cracked it open and attempted to read the horrible handwriting she had put on the pages when she was a young child.  She smiled widely as she noticed some scratching in Will’s childhood handwriting as well.  She flipped through, reading about her memories when suddenly there was a knock at her door that caused her to awake from her nostalgia.

“Come in!” she announced as the door then opened to reveal Rogan standing there.

“You o.k. with spaghetti?” he asked, hand still on the doorknob.

“Yeah that’s fine,” Nora answered, looking back down at her small diary.

“Whatcha got there?” Rogan then asked after a couple beats of silence.

“It’s an old diary I found,” Nora chuckled a bit as she spoke, looking up at him for a second and then continued, “I guess I grabbed it along with some other books I had decided to bring with me.”

“Oooh a diary huh?  Some secret stuff in there?” Rogan then joked as he now walked into the room and sat in the wingback chair that now sat diagonally to her cot.

Nora lightly chuckled. “Not really.  Just some dumb stuff Will and I wrote.”

“Like what?” Rogan asked.

“Well, I don’t know,” Nora started, looking down at the book while shifting her position a bit on the cot, “Like at the beginning of this diary it has a sort of questionnaire thing where you answer questions about yourself and Will and I filled it out.  It’s funny how much I’ve changed since I wrote in this.”

“Huh,” Rogan shrugged as he sat back in his chair a bit, looking over at Nora.  He noticed a sort of look in her eye, almost a glow as she glanced down at her little diary.  He knew it was because she was thinking about her friend.  He almost felt a tinge of jealousy at this for maybe only a second but then it was gone as he swept it away from his mind in an instant.

“Well, actually,” Nora then started, breaking the slightly awkward silence that was there for a minute, “Maybe I should let you know my answers.”

Rogan laughed at this.  “Why would I want to know some stupid questionnaire answers that you wrote when you were a kid?”

“No, not these answers,” Nora half scolded, “The answers I’d give now.”

Rogan just stared back at her silently and when Nora realized he wasn’t going to respond she spoke up again, “Look, I feel like we should sort of get to know each other a little better.”

Rogan still just quietly stared back.

“Come on, Rogan,” Nora urged, “Would it really be so bad?  I mean, we’re gonna be stuck with one another for a while so we might as well.  Besides…” Nora then looked down at her hands in her lap as she said this next part, “I know I’ve been a little…difficult lately…with everything.  Fighting you the whole way, questioning your motives for things.”  Nora now looked back up at Rogan who was still continuing to look over at her. “And I realized I never actually thanked you for saving my life.  So…I wanted to apologize for that and…maybe let you into my world a little bit more.  And maybe in return you’ll let me into yours?”

Rogan finally pulled his gaze away from Nora and looked to his right, shutting his eyes and sighing in a frustrated way.  “I…I just don’t know, Nora…” he started, but Nora didn’t let him finish. “Come on, they’re just stupid questions.  Nothing too deep.  It’d just be a little insight into each other.”

Rogan still didn’t look at her nor did he respond.

“Please…” Nora then said in almost a whisper as she looked over at him with saddened eyes, “It would make me feel better.”

Rogan then rubbed his forehead nervously before then turning back to look at her.  He let out another sigh, this time slightly more relieved and answered, “O.k. fine.  Tell me your answers.  But that doesn’t mean I’ll tell you mine.”

“Fair enough.” Nora smirked at Rogan and then looked down at her diary to read the first question, “O.k. first question, ‘what’s your full name?’ Well that’s easy, it’s Eleanora Wells.”

“Eleanora?!” Rogan then reacted with laughter.

Nora looked up at him slightly annoyed, “Hey!  I don’t like it either!”

Rogan continued to chuckle, “Look I’m sorry, I just never pegged you as an ‘Eleanora’ that’s all.”

“Yeah well,” Nora slightly smiled, “Will was actually the first one to call me ‘Nora’.  He didn’t much care for the name either.”

Rogan lightly scoffed at this comment.  He then turned is gaze away for a second until Nora quit looking at him and went back to reading the next question on the list. “Number two: ‘What are your favorite and least favorite foods?’  Well, that would have to be sushi for me even though I haven’t had it in ages.  My least favorite food, though, is pizza.”

“Pizza?!” Rogan now surprisingly exclaimed, “How can you hate pizza?!  Everyone in the free world likes pizza.”

“I know!” Nora laughed a bit. “But I hate it!  I always have!  I’m probably the only person on the planet who hates it but I’ve never liked it!”

Rogan shook his head and smiled slightly, “You hate pizza, but you’ll eat raw fish?”

“Yeah, I guess that makes no sense,” Nora laughed.  She then looked back down at the diary again, “O.k. number three: ‘What is your favorite time of day?’” Nora now looked up and slightly toward the ceiling as if she were focusing on a memory as she started to speak, “I’d have to say, dawn.  I love that time when it’s really early in the morning and the sun is just barely up.  That time when there’s just enough light in the sky but you can’t see the sun yet and you aren’t really sure where the light is coming from, but it’s so peaceful.  It’s so quiet and still and you can just…think.”

There was a pause of silence as Nora now turned her gaze to Rogan who seemed to be almost observing her in a way.  She felt slightly uncomfortable at this, although she really didn’t know why.  So instead of speaking further, she looked back down at her book and cleared her throat to read the next question, “Um, question four: ‘What is your favorite thing about you?’” Nora sighed slightly before looking up and continuing, “I actually don’t have a favorite thing about myself.  But I do have a least favorite thing and it hasn’t changed since I wrote in this book.  It’s my hair.”

Rogan’s