I was out of the house this morning by six. I'd written Jim a little note yesterday which I left for him on the table. I thanked him for his help and kindness and also confessed to borrowing his map which I planned on returning one day if possible.
The sun was nowhere near rising but it was still quite easy to see where I was going because of he snow casting a brightness. I couldn't help but think that when I arrived the snow stopped me from seeing whereas it was now helping me.
I crossed the bridge, very carefully as I only had the use of one hand this time. I completely never thought about this until I got to the bridge. Thankfully the boards were mostly clear of snow now. I don't think much snow must have fallen since I was there the other night as I could still see some of my footprints, and also where I tripped up over the wire cable. There were also some other prints which I am going to assume were grandfathers from yesterdays visit as they led through the trees and to some vehicle tracks just out of the wooded area. The vehicle tracks made things easier for me as I had something to follow. Because of the snow the rough track that Jim told me about was well and truly buried.
I must say that the going wasn't very easy although much better than the other day, at least it was level and once the sun came up the scenery was nice. Just hard work because of the depth of snow. I tried keeping to the vehicle tracks as much as I could but they tended to be more slippery.
I noticed when I woke up that I had a bit of a sore throat but then thought no more about it. However, as the day wore on I began to feel quite drained. I pressed on though and I'm reckoning that by lunch time I was somewhere near to where we left the Land Rover when going to the cabin. It was hard to say exactly as everything looked so different today. There was quite a wide area of land here between the base of the hill and the trees by the river so I'm thinking this is where I was wandering around the other day. I could see roughly where we climbed the hill and on to the track. I felt a bit stupid that I got lost in such a place, but that day I could hardly see for any distance around me whereas today I could see forever.
At this point I knew I wouldn't be walking to the Durness road, not that I ever really was. It must have been around lunch time although I wasn't sure as I had no clock of any kind to go by, just guess work going by the sun. Now that I was drawing closer to my destination I got to thinking more and more about how I was going to handle my reception. I was pretty sure I wouldn't welcomed as a hero, and definitely not as a prodigal grand daughter. The more I thought about it the more my Durness road plan seemed like a good idea! Mainly just for a bit of fun and to pass the time I started to think of how I could make it work. For sure it was something that I would need to do tomorrow and not today. I'd need somewhere to spend the night in that case. I thought of all the out buildings at the house and the best by far would be the boiler house. I would need an early start to give me time to reach the road and to get away before anyone spotting me from the house. Then I thought of the little room at the end of the east wing, it even had a bed in it unless someone took it out since I was there. By now I had reached the junction of tracks. To turn right would take me to the Durness road, to the left was the house which I could see in the distance. I sat a while to rest and whilst doing so formulated my plan to infiltrate the old butlers room at the end of the East Wing passage. For sure it was a crazy plan that would never work but it did appeal to my sense of fun. It's not like I would be breaking in to someone's house, I live there. If I walk in now I'm going to be slated so what's to lose? I persuaded myself I had to try it just for the fun of it. What's to lose?
I sat there until the sun went down before making a move so as not to be seen from the house. I needed to do this in case I carried out my silly game. It was fully dark when I reached the front entrance so if I hadn't been seen approaching it's unlikely that I would be now as I made my way around to the back door. Between the front and back drives there is a mound of earth on which grows trees and shrubs. I worked my way through these until I reached the a place where I could see the back door. I was really up for it. The thought of spending the night with grandfather was not at all appealing. To walk in and be met by everyone was not appealing either. I'm not sure what I was looking for but I watched all the same. They would all be having dinner soon so I couldn't really do much within the house until sometime after that. I didn't want to sit here all that time if I could help it was it was bitter now the sun was gone. Everything looked clear outside so I went down to the back door and looked through the keyhole to see if I could see anyone in the passage, it looked clear to me and there were no lights on in the laundry room so I quietly opened the back door, stepped in and softly closed it behind me. I was totally exposed now, it only needed Cindy to need something from one of the pantries, or anyone just using the passage, there would be no time or place to hide. So I just had to move fast and quiet, there was nothing to be gained by sneaking around. The laundry consists of three rooms, a drying room with a glass roof that was open to the back door passage. Then off that room was the room with the machines and another which was used to store the cleaned items. I chose the store room to conceal myself which I did on one of the racks between the wall and a pile of sheets. I reckon in the unlikely event that someone should come in I wouldn't be seen unless they took the actual sheets I was hiding behind.
I lay there for ages listening and waiting for everything to go quiet. Cindy is usually the last to leave and I can tell when she goes as she turns off the radio. When it had been quiet for a while I crawled out my hiding place. I was pleased to leave it as it became a bit uncomfortable after a while and I seemed to be there for ages.
I opened the door into the drying room and couldn't hear anything except for the fridge's in the kitchen and the only bit of light was coming through the glass roof. I crossed the drying room to the passage that led from the back door to the house. From here I could see to the kitchen door and whilst there was a dim light coming from within, I assumed it was from appliances such as microwave clocks and what have you. I didn't hang around and just went straight up the stairs and on to the first landing. Here I stopped and put my ear to the forbidden door which I needed to pass through. I could hear nothing. On cracking the door open though light came in from the other side, I hesitated. Thinking back I remembered the arch with the buttress and how it protected the view of this door to some extent. I decided to open the door a little more, it was a nice door, the catch was smooth and silent and there was no creaking or anything so as long as you didn't slam it back against the wall or anything it was fine. I could see with the door opened a bit more I could see that the light was coming from somewhere down the big staircase, the upstairs was in darkness. I passed through the door and closed it behind me and then wasted no time in passing through the door on my left in to the unused east wing. I knew there was nothing to fear about opening this door as there was only junk behind it. I breathed a sigh of relief, I felt safe now. I did have to be careful navigating the passage though as it was dark and as I remember it there was quite a few bits and bobs dumped here and there which I would need to negotiate. I made it to the end, turned sharp left and went as far as I could and there was the door to the room I was looking for, the room that was to be my sanctuary for the night.
I entered the room and from what I could see nothing had changed since my last covert visit - except back then it was much warmer. Tonight it hardly felt any warmer than it was outdoors. I lay on my back on the bed and immediately started to question the sanity of what I had just done. It was designed as I fun exercise to pass the time and not to be a reality. I think grandfather is right, I am a blithering imbecile.
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