Windwood Farm (Taryn's Camera) Read Online Free Page B

See?”
    Taryn looked around and indeed, saw the two sturdy wooden staircases in the two corners of the room. “Where do they go?”
    “One goes up to one bedroom and one goes to the other. Oddest thing I’ve ever seen. You’d think maybe they was added separately but they weren’t. House was built at the same time except for the back. After the Bowens died off, nobody ever really used the place. Not for long anyway. Just farmed the land.”
    Taryn nodded absently and then wandered over to the nearest staircase and studied it. It was simple and sturdy, but not ornate. Something one might find in a farmhouse. A ray of pale light fell down through the steps, suggesting there might be a window upstairs. The fireplace mantle was decorative, however, with carvings and decorations adorning it. Why spend money on one and not the other?
    Taryn was so intent on her musings she didn’t notice when Reagan wandered out of one room and into the next. Suddenly, a wave of cold air blasted her and she staggered, caught off-guard. Cold needles pricked her skin and as she brought her arms up to cross in front of her protectively, the room began to swim. As if seeing it through a wave of water, she blinked her eyes, and watched as murky shadows began to manifest. Scared at first, she couldn’t help but be a little intrigued as well, and she experimentally reached out her hand to touch a nearby passing shape. As her fingers made contact, a flash of lightning struck them. “Ouch!” she cried out in pain.
    “You okay in there?” Reagan’s voice was faint, as if coming from a well, with a slight echo. She could hear his footsteps coming toward her and she closed her eyes again. When she opened them, he was standing before her and the room was once again empty.
    “Sorry, splinter,” she tried to laugh. “From the staircase.”
    A puzzled look flickered across his face and then it was gone. “You gotta be careful in here,” he shrugged. “This place is falling apart and you don’t know what all you can get into. The floor’s sound as a rock but I don’t keep insurance on it. I should, but I don’t. So don’t get hurt and sue me.” He flashed her a million dollar smile and winked. Taryn smiled back.
    With shaking legs that belied her outward appearance, Taryn tried to compose herself. Am I losing my mind? she asked herself worriedly. What the hell is going on in here? Reagan appeared easy and comfortable; an owner simply walking through the rooms of a house he had no use for. How was it possible he didn’t feel something a little off? Or did he?
    The next room, a smaller parlor, was similar to the front room and also boasted a fireplace, this one missing a mantle. Otherwise, the room was dark and bare, with little to distinguish it from any number of empty rooms Taryn had seen in other homes from the same time period. The darkness was throwing Taryn off, but she wasn’t surprised Reagan had boarded the place up; this was definitely the kind of place that teenagers and rounders liked to use for a party pad, except for the fact that Reagan said he didn’t have a problem with that.
    “You wanna go upstairs?” His voice echoed and bounced off the walls, a lonely and hollow sound in the darkness.
    Taryn nodded and they began their ascent up the plain staircase. “Do you think anyone was ever going to replace these staircases with something more permanent and just never got around to it?”
    Reagan shook his head. “Don’t know. Kind of ugly for the house, huh?”
    They both laughed.
    “Still here though,” he added. “So many of these get vandalized and ripped apart. Guess nobody wanted this one. My uncle sold some of the mantles. My daddy runned an antique store for years. People like those old mantles. Them and the bannisters are usually the first things to get ripped out of these old houses. But not this one. Easy to see why.”
    It was a surprise to find that the stairs opened up right into the bedroom. No hallway, no