Here is a house.
Here is a home.
Here there are memories and ghosts.
Here there is peace.
Here there is love.
[[Go to the front door|The path]]
[[Go to the garden|The pond]]
Beneath lily pads
lurk orange torpedoes
tails swishing a spiral
rippling the surface
[[Visit the shed|The Shed]]
[[Go indoors|The Kitchen]]
Paving stones
worn smooth by so many feet
[[Enter the house|Living room]]
Walls lined with pictures
gifts, heirlooms
junk shop trophies
family photos:
cherubic schoolkids
[[Go to the kitchen|The Kitchen]]
[[Go upstairs|The Stairs]]
Around the kitchen sink
the room an exoskeleton
spices, plates, pans,
rows of mugs
[[Go upstairs|The Stairs]]
[[Go outside|The pond]]
[[Finish exploring|Farewell]]
Carpet faded
to a muddy pink
a familiar creak
[[Go upstairs|The bedroom]]
[[Go downstairs|Living room]]
[[Finish exploring|Farewell]]
Hulking wardrobes
surround the bed
refuge
[[Go downstairs|The Stairs]]
Cobwebbed shelves
rusting paint tins
on the floor, the bait untouched
-rats defeated
[[Go indoors|The Kitchen]]
[[Finish exploring|Farewell]]
The house is empty now
Sterile
Without the pulse of life
It waits
Ready
The end
Martin Locock