He arrived to the property, letting the car door close behind him with a dull thump. He looked up and down the road as he realized for the first time that it's nearly a half mile to his nearest neighbor. He shook the images of a dozen horror movies out of his head and took a deep breath of the cool country air. It smelled sweet, like lavender and roses.
He took a moment to survey the property. There was a house, sitting at the far end of what looked like a garden, a cobblestone path lead either left or right from the road, winding through the planters and garden boxes of freshly tilled potting soil before converging at the front door of the small house. Both sides of the garden were flanked by a seven foot tall hedge, providing almost complete privacy for the property.
The house wasn't much to look at by modern standards. Old bricks, a simple shingled roof which is in desperate need of some new tiles, a splintering wooden door, even some vines and vegetation growing up the south face of the structure. He knew it might need some work, but for his first place out of school, he wasn't too picky and it seemed much more his speed than another noisy apartment.
He'd heard of the cheap place through a friend of a friend who had recommended that he contact the landlord about renting out the small home. It was nearly $500 cheaper than anywhere else he'd found so it was an easy choice, and now he knew why.
He began to slowly walk the cobblestone path towards the house, feeling a gentle breeze creep through the thin shirt and chill him ever so slightly for just a moment before the bright sun warmed him back up again. As he passed between the planters, he could smell the sweet scent of flowers even stronger, but by the time he reached the front door the smell had once again dissipated. He grabbed the old brass knob and turned it gently, the old mechanism squeaked and then popped free of the door jam with a quiet "thunk". He swung the door open and slowly revealed the interior of the house.
Much like the outside, the inside was simple and old fashioned. The walls were made of a sort of rustic barn-wood, a small table and two chairs sat to the right of the door by a small window, directly across from the door was a small kitchen and butcher block counter tops, to the left was a wall with two doors in it.
He set his bag on the small table and closed the front door behind him. Immediately he opened the first interior door, behind which was a small bedroom with a double bed, a wardrobe, and a small bedside table. Reaching his hand over he opened the other door, which revealed a small bathroom, complete with a claw-foot tub that had been wedged into the space clearly not designed for it.
"Well I don't know what I expected, but this is probably good enough." he muttered to himself as he tossed his bag onto the small bed. He spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning, dusting, and then unpacking the rest of his things from his car. Every time he crossed from the house to the car and back, he smelled that same sweet aroma of flowers coming from the yet-to-be-planted garden. At first he thought maybe someone had dropped an air freshener or something, but he quickly realized the scent lacked that tacky sticky aroma that synthetic scents tended to have. This was something sweet and silky and natural.
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He flopped down in the small chair beside the table, setting down a small cup of tea as his gaze began to drift out the window. He watched the small patch of woods that sat on the north side of the house. The sun was beginning to set, casting the scene in a sort of pale purple light. He watched for a few minutes as birds emerged from the trees, snatching bugs from the air as they emerged for their evening scavenging. For just a moment he thought he saw something bigger walking between the trees. He swore he saw the shape of a person walking through the forest, swinging their arms and practically dancing, but as he looked closer he saw nothing but the small birds swooping and chattering. He relaxed in his chair, taking a sip of his drink as the sunlight slowly degraded from a dull purple to darkness. He got up slowly, placing the cup in the simple metal sink and heading to bed.
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He slept fitfully for a few hours before he awoke in the middle of the night, finally unable to pretend he was resting. He sat up in bed throwing the covers back, clad only in his boxer he climbed up out of bed and looked out the window. Through his hazy, tired eyes he saw the form of a woman wandering through his front garden. His pulse began to race, he blinked, rubbing his eyes, then looked again. Only darkness and the faintest outline of the empty planter boxes.
He swing his legs over the side of the bed, feeling the cool floor of the house against the bottom of his feet. He clicked his phone on, the bright screen informing him that it was just past midnight, however the scare at the window left him wide awake, and his unfamiliar surroundings left him somewhat anxious. He stood, stretching a bit before pulling the wardrobe door open. He reached blindly inside, pulling out a zip-up hooding and pulling it over his exposed torso. He opened the door to the front room of the small house. For just a moment, he smelled it again. The sweet scent of flowers, the smell of a beautiful sunny summer afternoon. Then just as quickly it disappeared again.
He pulled the front door closed behind him, feeling the cool air tickle at his exposed legs as he began to wander. He made it as far as the road, listening to the quiet chirps and squeaks of insects and birds from the woods all making the night their own without any knowledge or interest in him. He looked down the long dusty gravel road he'd come in on, then to his car which was already collecting a thin layer of dust after just a few hours being parked on the country road. Then he smelled it again, the sweet and smooth fragrance as if a fresh bouquet of flowers had passed just beneath his nose. He turned back towards the garden and house where he finally saw it with clear eyes.
Standing right in the center of the garden was a woman. He could only see her outline in the dark, she was made of gentle curves, her hips and thighs pulling in to her tummy which protruded just a bit out before her, her breasts which even in the dark he could see were large, but her body held them in such a way they seemed almost light to her. Her round face was flanked on both sides by curled hair which flowed from her head in a way that felt free and yet well cared for and properly cultivated. She bent down, seeming to not even notice he was there, completely unbothered by his presence as she grabbed a watering can from the ground beside her and lifted it up, tipping it away from her and sending a small shower of water dribbling into the soft tilled soil.
