Lilas welcomed us into her home. We had been sent there by a distant relative who thought Lilas would be able to fill in a few blanks on the family tree my mother was reseaching.
White haired with a pleasant face, Lilas sat in front of the tele in a leather chair. We sat opposite on a three seater lounge. My 80 year old mother, my older brother and me.
“They’ve all gone and left me here all alone” she said.
Her eyes were blue and clear and bright. She prattled on, a constant monologue. I tuned out of what she was saying and looked around the room. The carpet was a riot of colour and pattern, next to her, perched precariously on a card table was an assortment of glasses and cups. All around her was a city of cardboard boxes filled with plates and kitchen utenstils. It seemed to me she was a little eccentric. I tuned back into the conversation ...
“They’ve all gone and left me here all alone” she was saying again.
I looked at the other two and they were showing signs of concern. I looked back at Lilas. In front of her on a leather pouffe were five cups, or rather 4 cups and 1 glass - which had been carefully arranged, upside down. She picked one up and pointed it towards me. Engaging me with her penetrating blue eyes.
“Very clean” she said. I nodded in agreement.
Although she appeared to be quite lucid, it was becoming increasingly obvious that Lilas was not of sound mind. Lilas didn’t stop talking, it was a constant narrative.
We were engaged in a conversation that kept looping and short circuiting. She offered me a glass of water. Lifting a two litre bottle of water that was next to her chair. She picked up a glass.
“It’s very clean, you see” she said again.
She attempted to put the bottle back on the table next to the high-rise of glassware, and I half got up to assist her, worried that it would topple over and smash into the boxes below, but she managed without me.
We sat looking at one another, unsure of what to do next. And then a floor board creaked, onimously upstairs and I realised instantly, we were not alone...