I woke up, maybe a little too eager to climb out of bed and put the glass in the greenhouse. It was the simple things that got me up in the morning.

I pulled out the glass from the tool and placed three in the greenhouse. I beamed as I got two shattered glass in return, and the greenhouse was back to normal. This greenhouse as well would take 0/15 glass to upgrade. I placed the rest of the glass in the first greenhouse. It was time to finally start upgrading that greenhouse.

As it was a time to restock, I put fifteen more baked clay into the tool to give me a nice cushion of resources.

I went through my morning routine, giving Darla a hug as I took the half gallon of milk that appeared next to her, then moved to the chicken coop to get the eggs from Daisy and Buttercup.

Gathering food felt amazing, picking tomatoes and potatoes, gathering lettuce and carrots. I was getting quite the collection of carrots now.

The storage room needed to be painted. I was pretty sure this was the last step. I moved into the garage, choosing white. Maybe it seemed silly after insisting on a rainbow color for the barn, but I wanted the storage room to match the rest of the house.

I then slipped into the kitchen and made a few more base salads before sitting down by the fire, prepared to cook a lot of food.

I almost started when the storage room gave a sheen. Ten minutes had already passed. Despite the storage room on the outside remaining the same size, it was bigger on the inside. Before I could only place one item on each of the designated spots, but now I noticed baskets. In each spot, I could hold up to ten items of the same kind. That gave me way more space, on top of being an already bigger room.

Nice. Now I really needed to buckle down and start storing items.

With all the meat, I did a pork roast, another chicken tenders and fries, and a few hearty soups. I suppose this came with the upgrade of everything being at level twenty, but I noticed that once I looked at the hearty soup, I could tell that this would give me an hour of heat on a cold day. That was a huge upgrade from the fifteen minutes a basic potato soup gave me.

The heartier meals took longer to cook. It was fine, because I now had the time. I pulled out my to-do list, just to be certain.

Repair all damages done by them

Build a barn

Purchase a cow

Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building

Build a trap

Set trap in your foraging area

Clean the blackness in the house

I also had fifty more dopamine points to work with, so that felt nice.

The fire went out at an hour, and I gathered the food in my inventory, heading toward the storage unit. I was able to place all the food in a basket, too. I was worried I could only store the same food, but it looked like that wasn’t the case.

I walked back outside when I saw Theo coming through the trees. A part of me relaxed. It was always nice to see my brother, and when he smiled at me, I was relieved to see he was doing better, too.

“Hey,” I said, walking over to him.

“Hey.”

Once I got toward him, I gave him a hug. “You okay?”

“I’m doing better,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing what killing a bunch of monsters can do for your mental health.”

I smiled. “I suppose it does. Have you leveled up?”

Theo let out a sigh, the worry flickering across his face. “Twenty-four. I’m so close, yet I don’t think I’ll be close enough to create a teleport ring. I…” His gaze rose to the house. “I might…”

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“It’s completely different,” I said. “Especially the kitchen. Only the floors are the same.”

Theo flinched. “I… um…” I waited, not wanting to interrupt. Theo finally gave a sigh. “The covered back porch holds some good memories. Despite us being poor, my grandma always had a stock of ice cream sandwiches in the freezer, and she snuck one to me every day. I… can stay in the covered back porch.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s great. As long as…” I glanced at the screen door. Right at that moment, Killie jumped through the torn screen before giving a full body stretch. I sighed. “Alright, I better repair that screen door before the wolf comes. That’s not going to protect you.”

Theo chuckled. “Fine by me.”

My cleaning clothes leapt onto me, and I squinted. “I’m going to need four scraps of metal to fix it.”

“Will you need anything for the other door, too?” Theo asked.

I glanced at him, confused. “Other door?”

Theo nodded, then walked toward the covered back porch. I followed him. We passed the screen door, then moved around the storage unit before he pointed at the other side of the covered back porch. I stared at where he pointed, unsure, until I realized that behind the huge overgrowth of weeds there was, in fact, a door.

“How did I miss that before?” I asked. I tried to open the door, but the weeds kept me from opening it more than an inch. Inside I saw the collection of cleaning instruments that I had used, or had yet to use. The vacuum, the mop and bucket, the broom. That must have been covering the door on the other side. The covered back porch was a place that was still quite messy. It might do me some good to clean it today, too.

“Well,” I said, hands on my hips. “We can repair the covered back porch and get this cleaned. If it isn’t enough, though, and the wolf still manages to get through, you can either come through the kitchen, or you could hide in the basement.”

Theo’s head jerked around, his eyes confused. “There’s a basement?”

“Yeah.” I let out all the incredulous show in my voice. “I was surprised to discover that, too.”

Theo’s eyebrows lifted in pure surprise as he stared again at the covered back porch. “You think you know a place…”

I laughed, heading around the storage unit. “Do you want to see it?”

“Yeah. Just… make sure the door to the kitchen is closed.”

I opened the screen door then nodded at Theo. “It’s closed.”

Theo held his breath, then walked in. He gave the door to the kitchen a hard look. “That’s new.”

“I told you. I’m working on it.” I knelt down to grab the board and moved it away from the hole. Theo raised an eyebrow.

“Fascinating. I remember that board being there, but I didn’t think it could move.”

I stood up, brushing my hands. “I want to go gather some meat from the traps and set them again. Then I’ll work on cleaning this place out.”

“My curiosity begs me to explore the basement, but once I’m done, I’ll go gather more scrap metal,” Theo said.

“Is there anything foodwise you want to trade for it?” I asked. Theo scrunched up his face as though ready to refuse, but I plowed ahead. “We’ve set up a barter system, Theo, and I intend to honor it. It doesn’t just have to be applesauce. I can make sure I catch a lot of fish and make sure you’re stocked with some fish and chips. Even fried fish, if you want it. I’m not sure what a comfort food will look like on your side, but I’m starting to get more food stocked.”

Theo nodded, then glanced at the hole in the ground next to the house. Theo was a lot taller than me. It was going to be uncomfortable for him crouching in that basement.

“Alright. I’ll go get some scrap metal soon, then prepare this place for hiding out in until the corruption comes tonight.”

“I think the best thing I can do is make sure the covered back porch is clean. That seems to deter the haunts from happening on the first floor.”

Theo glanced at me, then looked as though he was struggling with something. “Okay, I’ve let it slide a few times, but I’ve got to ask. Haunts? As in ghosts? In this house?”

“Yeah. I call them ghosts, but I think they’re more… recreations. Recreations of a few nights at your house. Including…”

“Ah,” Theo said, looking away.

“Your child self has a lovely singing voice. If a bit creepy,” I said.

Theo tried to smile, but instead he focused on the hole. “That settles that. I’m not entering that house until a proper exorcist comes and cleans it.”

I shrugged, then pointed at myself with two thumbs. “I think that’s what I’m doing, honestly.”

“Yeah, okay. Um, thanks.” I smiled as Theo moved the board further from the hole. He started down the steps. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

I chuckled as I turned around and headed out of the covered back porch. In a half an hour I had gone into wolf territory and returned with the meat. I would have to finish the cow box trap sometime, but I’d probably wait until after their attack.

Theo was gone collecting scrap metal when I returned, so I started working on cleaning out the covered back porch. I had only partially swept the floor in order to find the board, so I finished sweeping. I had gathered bags of old leaves, ready to place in the dumpster. Since the covered back porch wasn’t nearly as big as the other rooms, it didn’t take as long. Once the leaves and the dirt were all swept away, and I got a few dopamine points for the bags, I went on to cleaning the walls. Most of it involved sweeping old cobwebs, but I was surprised how much better it looked once the floors were swept and the walls were wiped down.

It was honestly a charming little covered back porch. There were huge windows on either side of the storage unit, giving a fair amount of natural light. I’d never seen the potential of this room because I was too focused on the rest of the house. Once the walls were washed, I walked to the garage to get the primer started. The 3d model of the house now had the covered back porch, and I had to believe that was a good sign. True, I wanted Theo to get comfortable enough to enter the main house, but that would be a journey. And honestly, he was already taking some pretty amazing steps by agreeing to be in the covered back porch. I didn’t want to force him in any way.

If the covered back porch was here, maybe it meant Theo would be protected from the wolf tonight. We had a plan, and Theo was determined to get his information. I was starting to feel confident that he would be able to be protected in the covered back porch.