"Beep beep beep beep!" The alarm went off, scaring me wide awake from my abhorrent dream.
"Gah! Lem, that's not my...!" I shouted as I fell off my couch from the scare, "Wah, I had that dream again..."
Dammit, I've been having the same repeat dreams over and over again. A replay of the first date with Lem, an imaginary kiss scene (again, with Lem), and this one... I-I'm not gonna go into detail what happens there! Eugh, just thinking about it drives me up the wall! This is all his fault, if only he never put the idea of the two of us going out, I would have slept peacefully these two months!
Ah, now that I think about it, it's already the first day of the new school year—A whole 2 months since we came back to Simpleton. I told him we'd stop dating and just go back to being ordinary friends once that happened, but I must say he's been a rather convincing actor when it comes to pretending to be obedient. Seriously, I'm always on edge around him, but he really does sometimes feel like he lost all interest! Which is good, mind you, cause that means I can peacefully chase after Meil, but it's really annoying nonetheless! Like, I thought when he announced to everyone what we did for summer break in that transport wagon that he was only gonna get more serious about me, but no! After that he just went cold, like we never dated in the first place!
"...Sigh, I miss getting called cute." I rubbed my Eyes as I turned the alarm clock off, "W-Wait, what am I saying!? He's just a friend, come on, Nelly! Geez, and besides—If I wanna get called cute, I can just ask Meil to call me that~! Ah, but it's not the same when you tell someone to compliment you..."
Gah, forget this! Today's the first day of school, Nelly! You gotta pull yourself together! No more worrying about self-imposed love dramas, now is the time to study, cram and learn!
"Ah, but first, a lady has to get some sunshine in." I said as I raised the blinds, "Huh?"
An old man. Rather, quite the terrible looking geezer indeed. His rugged dark Gray clothes that are covered in the surrounding sand, his long White beard that goes to even beneath his feet, which I imagine can't be comfortable to walk around with, and two boney hands sticking out from within that beard to tightly clench the walking stick that looks like he pulled it off of the nearest tree trunk he found on the road. In any case, it's not his appearance that's making me nervous, but his actions, or rather—The lack of any. He's just standing there, looking straight at me.
"Is he a pervert or what?" I quickly hid under my window, "Staring at cute teenage girls at his age, how despicable!"
Or wait, he doesn't look healthy. I can't quite make out his face from the beard and the cloak covering his bald head, but his bushy Eyebrows look to be a tad drooped down. Maybe he's just lost? An old coot who thought to adventure from his home a little and ended up here? I guess it doesn't hurt to ask...
"Hey!" I opened the window, "Hey, old man! You lost?!"
"...." He didn't move a muscle.
"Old man, you deaf or something!?" I raised my tone a little louder, "I'm gonna go call my guardian over and we'll try to help you find your way, so stay there!"
Oh geez... that was TERRIFYING. W-Was it me, or did his mouth start to move at the last second before I closed the window!? I don't know what he wants, but one thing's for certain—I DEFINITELY gotta get Meil to settle this! I feel safer with him, and it IS his job to protect me. Ah, but I'm scared—What if that old man moves closer while I'm away from the window? Is it like those Angel Statues from that one book I read, where they get closer while you're not looking!? Ahhh!!
"I can't keep my Eyes off of him..." I peeked from the bottom of my window, "But then how do I call Meil for help?"
Do I just shout? No, that's bad, cause it might frighten the old man and get him to start moving. Well, I can't run to his room, cause then there'd be no one to check on this grandpa. Ugh, what to do...?
"That's right! The WiCom!" I looked at Meil's wireless communication device he had made for me, "He always has his own one with him, which means he can always pick up! Ah, but I'll have to move away from the window for a split second. Eh, nothing's gonna happen in such a short time, right?
"Meil! Yo, Meil, wake up!" I hastily ran to get the WiCom from the bedside table, "You there? Meil!? Some scary old dude is staring at me just outside my window and I don't know what he wants! Please, sorry for waking you up if you were sleeping, but could you come over to my room...? AHHH!"
H-He's...! T-The old man is... gone!!! Where'd he go!? He couldn't have traveled far with such old brittle bones, but there's just no other explanation for why I can't see him! Oh Gods, oh no...!
"Yah!" I yelped at the top of my lungs once I heard the doorbell ring, "N-No, he couldn't be...?"
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The old man somehow managed to make it all the way around the house and to the front door in that short space in time I went to talk to Meil! This is wrong, there's no way he's that fast! B-But if he is, then I'm done for! Hell, if he means harm, then he might already be in my room! Oh no, please don't let that be the case!
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"...Wait. Nelly, you're scaring yourself." I composed myself through the panic, "Right, it's probably just Lem. Since it's the first day of school, that means he'll also be coming to pick me up so we can go together. After all, we're neighbors in Simpleton."
It sure was awkward getting used to that fact again once we came back from vacation though, who'd have thought I already got accustomed to wishing him a good morning over breakfast in just a month of living together... Wait, now's not the time, Nelly!
"M-Meil~!" I anxiously called out to him from my room, "S-Someone's at the door, could you please answer them?"
No response again. Seriously, what the hell is his problem? He would usually come running at the first scent of danger, but Meil's being unusually silent today. Maybe something really is going bad...! No, I need to calm down. He's probably out grocery shopping or something, as he usually does when we're out. Ah, but he only does that on Fridays, and it's Monday now... W-Whatever! I'll just have to go see if he's really in his room myself, then!
"The doorbell only rang once." I noticed the eerie quietness of the hallways, "Maybe whoever's at the door got bored of waiting and left? Even then, you wouldn't just ring once and leave, right? If it's Lem, then he'd definitely spam the button until someone eventually answered."
But if it's not Lem, then it's gotta be the old man, right? Ooohhh, I don't like this...! Especially since if the old man stopped buzzing after one doorbell ring, then he might've actually... Entered the house!? N-No, that can't be, calm the hell down, Nelly! The front door is locked twice, as per usual! There's no way anyone without the keys can enter! Then again, if someone as young as Lem knows how to lock pick a door open, then a grandpa with what looks to be decades of life experience might as well...
"Brrrr, why do I have to keep scaring myself like this?" I shivered as I stepped barefoot out of my room, too scared to even waste the time needed to put on my slippers, much less get dressed into my school uniform, "Helloooo~? Meil?"
Behind each of these countless corners could be the scary old man, waiting to jump out at me. What did he plan to do then, I don't know. But I don't plan on finding out! Dammit Meil, did you really have to splurge on this damned mansion of yours!?
"Here I am. Finally..." I gulped, "Meil's room. Y-You better be in there Meil...!"
Slowly, the door creaked open. The room was dark, with barely any sunlight peeking through the blinds. I was closer to the light switch than the window, so I fumbled to turn them on as quickly as I could. The bed had a human sized bump in it covered up by the blankets. The WiCom device was making a scary screeching sound, indicating it had been broken and thus couldn't relay my cries for help. But who cares, he's here! Everything is gonna be...!
"...fine?" I yanked away the covers to find nothing but pillows where my guardian Meil should be, "No..."
Just as I saw this, I could hear the front doors slam open downstairs. It's over. This is usually the moment in the horror novel where the girl turns around to get jumpscared by the killer. Dammit, I didn't think this is how I would go out... I always thought myself to be smarter than the average bimbos in these types of stories, and yet here I am completely helpless. But wait, the girls always turn around to get killed by the killer (in this case, the old man), so what if I just... didn't turn around? I know, I know—It sounds stupid, but what do I have to lose? If anything, I at least won't get to see the person who killed me, so I won't be as scared. Right, you never know, it might throw the damned geezer off so much that I went off script that he lets me live? Psshhh, yeah right. I just hope he doesn't spin me around himself, otherwise I might piss my pants.
"Just so you know!" I decisively raised a finger high above me pointed up, "I'm not gonna turn around! I'm just gonna keep walking back slowly and-HAIYAH!"
Eh? No one was here after all? But I was certain...? Meh, I guess not everything is as exciting and climactic as it is in the books. Still, it would've been a mighty fine throat chop I would've served had someone actually been standing there. Right, but then there's the possibility of the person I hit not being the old man, but instead Lem or even Meil. If that happened, then the situation would've turned comical right away, and I'd even go so far as to say I'd prefer that. Man, thank goodness no one was actually standing there, otherwise I would've been super embarrassed...
"Ack!" I heard all sorts of plates and tupperware crashing onto our marble floor downstairs, "Gods, is there a fight going on down there? Does that mean Meil was here the whole time? Is he beating up that grandpa as we speak? If that's the case, go get him Meil!"
Hey, hold on a second, I shouldn't be saying that. If Meil, someone who has been recently outed as not being afraid to kill anyone he deems dangerous, happened to say, hear my WiCom cries for help and sprung up to action whilst thinking to ask questions later, then he might actually be beating up an innocent old grandpa! Still, he wouldn't be beating him up so bad that I would hear all this crashing... Are we getting robbed? M-Maybe I should get dressed and check it out. If I remember correctly, the room at the very end of the hallway should be a weapons shed Meil made for these kinds of situations. I better strap up and help him, then!