Connor's POV
I walked down the hall and I came into the living room as I had predicted it to be. I turned to my right and I spotted the kitchen there. It looked almost like the kitchen (Y/n) and I had only there were older models of everything that were covered in more dust and it was slightly larger while being a little bit above the living room thanks to the fours steps there that you had to walk up first.
I then turned to the living room. The back of the couch was mostly facing me. I was kind of at a behind side angle. Two large darker brown wooden shelves were on either side of the living room directly across from one another. Each had its own arrangement of pictures and trinkets.
The TV sat on a large stand in front of the couch. The TV was fairly large and the TV stand set also had shelves on either side. They were mostly trinkets with maybe one or two smaller pictures. The shelves all had three layers and were connected by metal legs. The other shelves that were across from each other were the same way only longer than the one surrounding the TV. The carpet was white and it looked very soft. It looked very clean aside from the thinner layer of dust there.
There were three painting hung up in different spots on the walls as well. They were very pretty actually. I liked them. There were all painting of different types of flower, but all of the flowers were cold colors, matching the cool colored mixed with brown and black themed living room. It was very nice, but I knew what had happened here. I could almost picture the bodies there, but I shivered, not wanting to taint the image before me and I moved on, heading down the other hall directly across from me.
The walls were painted a light grey and there were more paintings of flowers or flowing designs in picture frames on the wall. I couldn't help stopping and admiring a few. This house seemed so peaceful on both the outside and the inside. It was hard to comprehend such a horrid crime happening here. It seemed as if this place was unable to host any sort of violence no matter how untrue I knew that actually was.
About five feet down the hall the rooms started. One of the rooms didn't have a door. Directly across from it was a staircase that led upstairs. I would go there later. I wanted to finish exploring the bottom floor first.
I went into the doorless room. It was an office room. It looked more femininely decorated so I assumed it had been her mother's. I walked over to the desk and I found a picture. I picked it up and I saw four people in the picture. I saw (Y/n), her mother and father, and then a younger boy as well. I was stunned. She was an older sister? What happened to her brother? I wondered. I set the picture back down and I left the room having nothing left to see in that room.
I went down the hall about 3 more feet and came across another set of doorways directly across from each other. One of them looked like a guest bedroom and the other looked like another office room. I went into the guest bedroom first. I looked around. I noticed that the room had been changed into a guest room due to it having two layers of paint and clear signs that things had been moved around and such. I felt I knew why the room was changed. Maybe it had previously been her brother's room. I left since I had nothing else to look at.
I then observed her father's office room. It was simpler than her mothers. The walls were less decorative, but his desk still had plenty of clutter on it of either work or personal decore of his own. I spotted a small wooden dragon that had clearly been hand carved and painted. I sensed a small bit of history around it, but there was no way for me to learn. It was like a story erased in time. There was nobody to pass on their memory anymore. (Y/n) had been the last one that could. Valentine might know tidbits as well, but even she would not know everything. Why would she? She hadn't exactly struck me as the curious type. I doubted she knew many stories of the family outside of the ones she lived through.
I walked out and I looked at the room at the next two rooms. One of them was the master bedroom. Her parents' room.... I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. I didn't want to. There was no point. I turned away, trying my best to ignore the tiny urge implying me to go and see it.
I looked at the other room there. It was a gaming room. A smaller TV with there and there were shelves and cases filled with games and in the space under the stand where the TV was sitting were multiple gaming consoles. It made sense that they were able to afford them. Her parents had been high-status workers at Cyberlife, after all. I chuckled at some of the little kid games as they progressed to more adult of family types of games like Lego games or something called 'Uncharted'. I walked out. The last room at the very end of the hall was a bathroom so I felt no need to explore it.
I had finished looking around downstairs. I walked upstairs, going up the first set, doing a U-turn and going up the next set. I made it to the second floor and I began to look around. It was another hallway leading to more rooms. I hadn't expected any different, but I suppose anything could've been there.
I first came across an art room. I was astonished. The paintings....they had been done by her mother? It was extraordinary. She must've visited Carl quite often. As I looked around I saw that some of them were done by (Y/n). They were just as beautiful. I wanted to see the memories that happened here. I scanned over the painting and I analyzed how long ago it was worked on and I began to reconstruct the events. I saw a teenage looking (Y/n) with her mother and father behind her, praising her work. She looked so happy and I smiled, my heart warmed at watching the memory play out before me.
I was about to leave the room, but I paused. I spotted a small hand-held size canvas on the table. I picked it up. It was by (Y/n) and it was so pretty. I smiled at the item, already cherishing it. I wanted to take it with me. Something to give to her as a gift. Something to keep the memories alive. Something to remind us of the beauty in her past. I knew she'd love it. I grabbed a paper towel that was laying around and gently wrapped up the small item before slipping it into my pocket.
I walked down the hall and found another bathroom. Since this one had a window I could see into it as I walked by. It as very nice, but I still had no interest in exploring it.
I kept going and I saw a workout room. There was another TV there with a DVD player and exercise programs on the shelves. I assumed her entire family also used this room. There was a treadmill, a bench lift with different weights stacked nicely along the sides next to it, and many other exercise equipment there that consisted of sizes both large, medium, and small. There were also matts and I even saw a thermos knocked over on the ground. I picked it up. I frowned. Everything had just been left here. Why had (Y/n) left it all before? I sighed. It was a question that might not ever be able to be answered.
I left the room and moved onto the next. There was another guest bedroom there, one like looked like it had always been a guest bedroom. It was very neat and simple, but still nice and cute. I kept going and I came up a room that had instruments and other musical things around it. I saw that the paintings on the walls were all made by (Y/n). I smiled. She could play? I wished I could've seen it. I walked in and I looked at the drumset. I wondered if her parents played too and some of the instruments were there's and not hers. I ran my hand along the symbols, leaving finger streaks thanks to the dust. I brushed my hand off and I began to leave, but something caught my eye. I walked over to it and gently brushed it off, my fingers running over the strings. It was beautiful.
I knelt down and gently picked up the beautiful electric guitar, holding it in the correct position. I gently strummed it. Shockingly, it still sounded like it was brand new. I smiled a little. I started to set it back down when I saw words written in cursive on the side. 'Smile for those who listen, play from your soul, and sing from your heart.' I almost teared up at it. These were good people and they had been dragged into this horrible situation. (Y/n) had been orphaned and abandoned to finish growing up alone. It broke my heart to think about it. It made me keep asking myself one simple question. Why? Why had this happened? Why to her parents? Why to (Y/n)?
I set down the guitar, regaining my composure and leaving the room without looking back. I couldn't look back. I had to move forward. Maybe that's why she left it all. She didn't want to look back. She just wanted to bring justice and then move on. I thought. I walked out and I turned. Instead of a room, there was a ladder at the end of the hall. I was confused. Wait...where's (Y/n)'s room? Isn't that the attic? I asked myself. I walked over and I noticed there was no hatch to cover the hole. I climbed up the few rungs and I pulled myself onto the highest floor of the house. My eyes widened in shock. It was her bedroom.
(You can make it whatever combination of colors you want.)
It was simple, but it was amazing. I looked around. I felt like I should've wanted to smile, but this was it. This was (Y/n)'s old room. The place where she likely spent most of her time. The place that was her past. I wanted to run away from it, but I also wanted to explore every inch of it. The conflicting urges made me feel a huge pit in my metaphorical stomach. I turned and walked into her walk-in closet. Her old clothes were still there, her shirts and dresses hung up neatly and her pants, skirts, shorts, undergarments, PJ's all folded neatly in the dresser pressed up against the wall. I ran my hand over one of her old shirts. It was cold just like the entire house from having the heat not turned on in years.
I pulled my hand away and walked back out of the closet. I looked around her room. I found a large and rather long trunk under the shelf that was under the window. I opened it and I found a plethora of stuffed animals of all kinds. I smiled as I picked up a skeleton wearing pink slippers and a blue hoodie. He was very soft. Next, I found a stuffed cupcake with blue eyes and a single birthday candle on top. Next to it was a ballerina with her eyes closed and a clown girl. I dug through and found a llama a rainbow narwal, a black and white wolf wearing suspenders, a guy with blond hair wearing a soldier uniform with a green cap on, some pokemon animals, a sea snake, a turtle with a mask on, and many, many, other animals and creatures.
I shut the trunk and I looked at her bed. Two other stuffed animals were there. One was a medium-sized green eyeball and the other was a box with arms, a face, and pink mittens on that was the same size as the eyeball. I decided to also take them with. I felt they had importance. Maybe one day I could come back with (Y/n), and she could retrieve what she liked from her past. For now, I had to leave everything else there, letting it remain untouched for the most part. I walked out through the front door and back through the snow, following my previous trail as best I could. I set the items in the front passenger seat of the car, walked around to my own side, got in, started up the car, gave the house one last long look, and I drove away, heading for home.
I had been there for longer than I thought. Nearly 3 hours had passed while I was in that house. I shook it off and looked at the time. It was 7:30 at night. It was going to be dark by the time I got home. The sun was already starting to set behind me. I hoped (Y/n) wouldn't be upset with me. I pushed the thought aside and kept driving. I would get home at about 9:00 if I was lucky. It was time to start my journey home. I looked in the rearview mirror as I drove away, watching the house grow smaller and smaller until it disappeared from my view, almost as if signifying how it had disappeared over time for so many years before.