It was the morning after the cops came over, and Jonathan was getting ready for church once again. Branden was making himself eggs for breakfast while Jonathan put on his tie, and they conversed about whatever came to mind. Jonathan tied his shoes and announced that he was leaving. Branden said goodbye to him and watched him leave through the kitchen window as he ate his breakfast.
He went about his day as he normally would, feeding the dogs at 12:30 and messing around to combat the boredom. He was watching TV when the home phone in the kitchen rang, and Branden went to go answer it.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Hey! It's Jonathan. I'm gonna go out with some of my friends for a few hours. Just thought I'd let you know before you wonder if I'm dead," he says, chuckling. The sound of a radio playing and people talking and laughing come from the background.
"Oh, alright! Have fun," he responds, slightly smiling. "See you later."
Branden hangs up, and goes back to the living room to continue watching TV. About an hour later, a slight headache hits him, and he goes to Jonathan's bathroom to get some Advil. As he leaves with the bottle to go to the kitchen, he steps on a section of the ground that creaks more than the others. The board appears discolored, like it didn't belong.
He crouches down to look at it more closely, and attempts to remove it from the ground, unsuccessfully. He looks around the room for anything that might help him open it, and finds a toolbox sticking out from under the bed. He opens it, and finds a hammer. Using the nail remover on the back of it, he succeeds in taking the odd board from the floor. Underneath it is yet another obstacle, a locked box.
He observes the keyhole, which is painfully common. It would be impossible to narrow it down to one specific key. Branden decides to put it back in its spot and try to find the key. He spends about a half hour looking in all the spots he'd expect a key to be, but only manages to find two that don't fit in the hole.
He decides to give it a rest and go back to the living room, where he mindlessly scrolls on his phone through news articles to entertain his mind. He comes across one that peaks his interest more than the others, whose title reads: Woman Found Dead in Hospital Bed, Possible Murder Case
The article tells of a young woman who was suffocated with a pillow in the safety of her bed after surviving a car accident. The picture shown looks suspiciously similar to the woman Branden saw being wheeled into an ambulance on Saturday. Her name was Willow Spencer, and she had been missing for 3 weeks before she was sent to the hospital. This sets off many red flags in Branden's mind about Jonathan. He worries if he has more sinister things going on in the barn than he's willing to admit.
The article didn't have very much information besides that, which left more questions than answers. Branden decided that he'd wander around the house and look in some of the rooms he hadn't gotten a good look at before, like the office and library. The office was mostly unused, shown by the many dust covered books and a desk. There were two large dressers to the right of the room that seemed out of place. Besides that, there was an old painting of an empty field with an antique frame above the desk, and a small window to the left side of the room. It was an average size room, large enough for about 4 people to comfortably stand in.
In the slight gap between the two dressers, he saw what he thought was a closet door. He thought it might be too heavy to move them out of the way, but figured they didn't have anything incriminating in them, though he had a feeling the dressers were put there for reasons besides storage, as he discovered on closer inspection that both of them were empty. He wasn't sure if he would ever get this much time to try and figure out what was in the closet, though, so he decided to try and pull one of them out of the way. It wouldn't be as difficult, he thought, since they were empty.
He pulls one of them away and makes enough room for him to fit between the two and open one of the doors. Inside is nothing special, just a few old and wrinkly shirts and one box on the top rack in it. He closed the door and moved the dresser back in place, like it never happened.
While he was still suspicious of Jonathan, he decided to test him. He planned on telling him of the news article he read to see how he would react, whether or not he would be worried that he knew of it. If he acted suspicious, he would know to be wary of him. If not, he was probably just being paranoid. It was quite cliche for a farmer to be the one that kidnaps and murders people, and all the media villainizing them probably influenced him a bit too much.
*****
Jonathan arrives home a little past 5PM, with leftover takeout for Branden to eat for dinner. He eats in the living room with Branden while they chat, and Branden decides now is the perfect time to bring up the article.
"I found a pretty interesting article today while you were gone," He starts off.
"Oh? What was it about?" Jonathon asks, mildly intrigued.
"So you know when we heard that scream the other day and I went to go see what it was about? Well, the girl that I saw getting put in the ambulance was suffocated in her bed today. They think she was probably murdered."
Jonathan's facial expression turns from interested to worried in seconds, and Branden knows exactly what to think. "Everything okay?"
"Oh, yea. I'm fine," He replies, smiling awkwardly. "So, did anything else happen while I was gone?"
"No, that's it. Well, I'm gonna go shower. Be right back."
*****
Jonathan knew he had to upgrade the padlock on that trapdoor. Branden knew too much, he was just too close to figuring out what he shouldn't. He'd go to the hardware store tomorrow, get the best locks they had. He'll hide the keys better. What else has he figured out? Did he find the box hidden under the floor? Surely not. He can't be that observant, unless he was looking for it it's nearly impossible to notice.
He needed to calm himself. Maybe he should take a shower, too. He should feed the dogs dinner first. Feed the dogs. Shower. He'll sleep on it, make a plan tomorrow. If he just clears his head a bit, he'll be better in the morning. He can put everything back in its place, just like it should be.
Branden was out of the shower. He could hear the water turn off. He went to feed his dogs, and took a quick shower. He sat on his bed, his wet hair dripping over his gray robe, contemplating everything. Contemplating if he should cut Branden's visit short. No, that would just make him more suspicious. Contemplating Brian. Where was he now? Living a better life, free of guilt. He's paid for his wrongdoings. His sins, forgiven. His life, on the right track. Probably with a family and children of his own. Unlike Jonathan, such a disappointment to his family.
The shower clearly didn't help.
*****
Branden spent the rest of the evening in the living room, watching TV as the sun set through the window. The hue went from bright to dark, and Branden went to his room to call Maria.
"Hey, Babe!" He says when she answers.
"Hi, honey! How are you?"
"I'm good, how about you?"
"Oh, I'm fine. Missing you, though," she responds, and he can feel her smile through the phone.
"Aw, me too, Marie. I'm really glad we were able to do this, though. It's probably a good thing for us to be away for a little while, anyways. It'll help us be more used to it later."
"Yeah, you're right. I can't wait to see you, though. How was your day?"
"It was good. Nothing too interesting happened, though. How about you?"
"Good! I visited my friends today and we had lunch together at the park. It was nice."
"That sounds good," he replies, smiling.
"Well, I've gotta go now, I need to get into work early tomorrow so I'd better get to bed. It was nice talking with you. Love you, goodnight!"
"Bye, love you!"
___________
Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Huge thanks for getting this to almost 80 reads! Be sure to vote and comment if you enjoyed it, I'd love to hear your thoughts so far (:
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The Harvesting (ON HOLD)
Mystery / Thriller** Huge thanks to @fairsair6 for editing! ** Branden, who is soon to be married to his fiancé, Maria, receives a letter from her father, Jonathan, that invites him to stay at his home and assist him with the harvest. Wanting to get to know him bette...
