m******e Mansion

Chapter 7- Saturday Night: 11 p.m.

     Before we left the room that had once provided sanctuary, we raided it for any means of light such as candles, or spare batteries. To our avail, all anyone found was a single match upon the pristine fireplace. Nathaniel held it up and we signalled him to put it down, for it was no use. And what if it got cold and that was the only match in the mansion? He put it down the exact way he found it and stepped away.

    "So are we gonna leave our stuff here or...?" Caspian questioned, motioning towards our belongings that we had piled in a corner.

   "We should put all necessities in one single bag, then have someone be the keeper of it. So, like, flashlights, some snacks, some water, and some extra batteries," Lidia explained. She walked over to her turquoise backpack, which was surprisingly almost empty, and unzipped the black zipper. "Now, everyone come get your bags and put the likes of which I just listed, but keep at most two flashlights out."

    One-by-one we grabbed our bags and looked through them. I grabbed the silver flashlight and extra batteries, leaving the snacks and water behind because anything could happen and I wanted to be ready. Before I closed it, I saw the picture I had smuggled with me. I pulled it out and tears started to blur my vision. Everything had been so perfect before dad died, it was even getting better before Kadince and I came along this trip. Now it was all one big mess, and I didn't know if I would even get out of it alive. But at that moment I made a promise to myself, I would do everything in my power to protect Kadince. I wasn't going to let her die.

     I quickly wiped my eyes, put the picture carefully back inside, and put my flashlight and batteries inside Lidia's bag. Miranda kept her flashlight out as well as Nathaniel. Everyone else put all they needed into the bag.

  "Now, since Miranda and Nathaniel have their flashlights out that leaves Mark, Lewis, Caspian, Kadince, Klarissa, or myself to carry the bag. Let's have Kadince do that job, she seems responsible," Lidia spoke while handing Kadince the bag. Her ice blue eyes lit up as if she were a child seeing presents on Christmas. She happily accepted the bag and put the straps on her shoulders.

     "I'm going to assign the rest of us jobs. That'll help this whole ordeal be more organised and we might have a higher chance of living. So...let's see," Lidia said, with her hand beneath her chin while she tapped it and looked around at each of us, "Mark, I'm going to have you lead us. You seem to have the best sense of direction and appear fearless enough. I'll be opening and closing doors along the way so we don't miss anything important. Caspian, you're going to look for anything suspicious or out of place. Lewis, you're going to start conversations to kind of keep our minds from getting too imaginative. And Klarissa...well. I don't quite know yet, how about you do a combination. You're good at multitasking," she finished. 

    Then the multi-colored headed girl put us in an order. Mark and Nathaniel were to be upfront. That would allow light to illuminate his path. Lewis and Kadince were supposed to stay around the middle, and Caspian and Miranda were to be in the back. Lidia could wander from place to place to open the doors and such, and I was allowed to go anywhere as long as it was near everyone else.

   It seemed as though the second Luke disappeared Lidia had her old self back. It was strange how much one person could change you. Especially Lidia since she was a very hard-headed girl. 

   We all filed out of the door in the order that we were told, and began navigating the halls of Ferdinan Mansion. With the flashlights illuminating bits of the house it looked even older and creepier. Even with Lewis trying to remain bright and cheerful as he talked, his voice was starting to waver. At that moment I was looking around to spot anything unusual when Lewis asked the question we had all been wondering.

   "So, uh Lidia, what was it that Luke did to blackmail you?" He carefully questioned. She released a sigh and slightly slumped down as she walked. "B-but you don't have to answer of course!"

   "No, it's fine. I'm sure you all want to know anyways. The question would have been asked eventually. Well, me and my mom have been coming on hard times. We don't have much money, and we're barely making it. We hardly even have enough to eat. So I decided to try and find a job to help out, ya know. No one would take me because I looked like a trouble maker, and my school records didn't prove otherwise. 

    "That was, until late one night when I was trudging home from yet another decline from a business. A man dressed in a nice suit walked out from the Strip Club from downtown and saw me. I don't recall wearing anything flashy that night or anything that could have caught his attention, but the moment he saw me he rushed over. He must have been French because he spoke it, and it was clear with his word choice. He asked why I had such the long face and I explained my situation.

   "That's how I got caught in this mess. He offered me a job as a stripper. I accepted because I knew it would pay nicely and I was desperate. So everyday I went to school in the morning, then to the Club at night. My mother never asked how I got the money, nor did I ever tell her. It paid the bill and that's all that mattered. I could have kept living like that if it wasn't for Luke. He had somehow gotten pictures of me at work, and at that time he had a crush on me.

   "At first I told him no, until he pulled out his phone and showed me the dirt he had. He threatened to let the pictures leak and ruin my reputation. He would even tell my mother! I couldn't believe the nerve he had! But I couldn't let my poor mother know, and I wouldn't be able to face school if he told everyone. So I agreed. Then just like that my life became a living hell. He told me that if I was to be his girlfriend and a stripper, I had to dress like it. Hence my dresscode for the past semester. He told me I had to act mean and basically shun you guys. I didn't want to. But he made me. Then one day when I did something that he must have not liked he....he....did numerous vile things to me without my consent, and I never disobeyed him again.

    "That's what got us all into this mess. He told me that I had to get you guys to agree to this whole thing. I don't know why. And now we're paying dearly for it. I'm so sorry," Lidia finished, eyes glimmering from tears that were threatening to fall.

    "Oh, Lee Lee. We're so sorry, we didn't know. We always knew that boy was a shady character," I told her, walking over and engulfing her in a hug as the rest of the group stopped.

    "None of this is your fault, Lidia. You did what you had too. If anything, it's that damned Luke's fault!" Kadince said in understanding.

   Mark had kept walking until he reached the Grande Staircase. Miranda had been shining her light over there and he went to check it out.

    "Hey, I know that you're all caught up in her sob story right now, but I don't think now's the time. We haven't even checked out the second floor yet. We should keep moving," Mark said with no sympathy. He was so two-faced. One moment he was all caring and the next, he was as emotionless as a brick.

    Kadince glared at him, but no one said a word against him. We started walking again, this time towards the stairway. I walked up to the front in between Miranda and Mark. As I took a step up onto the first step, Mark put his arm in front of me to block my way. He then put a finger to his lips as I opened my mouth to question him. His head then tilted like a dog as if he had heard something. That caused me to listen closer as well. If one were to listen very carefully they could hear the sound of something heavy being dragged across a floor from above, footsteps going back and forth, and small, almost silent bursts of laughter.

     This caused me to get a look of fear on my face, as well as the others once they heard it, too. I immediately grasped the closest thing to me, which happened to be Mark's arm. I didn't care at that moment, the noises were too much. I had stayed strong until this moment, I just couldn't take it. The moment I buried my face in his arm the noises stopped, and everything grew deathly silent. I wouldn't release my grip so Mark wrapped his free arm around me and pulled me closer.

    "Hey, you're okay, little lady. There's nothing to be afraid of. All the noises stopped," he softly spoke to me. I just started shaking more thinking about them and how wrong it had sounded. I soon felt the presence of more people around me and more arms that enclosed my shaking shoulders.

     Eventually I let go, as did everyone else. I attempted a weak smile to show everyone I was okay and I got many other smiles in return, even Mark smiled back. It was a warm, and comforting smile. It definitely opposed how he was acting earlier. Kadince hadn't left my side, and she grabbed my hand. With that small breakdown out of the way, we began our climb up the creaky stairs. It surprisingly didn't take too long. The first door we saw was to the right of us. It looked like it was made out of white wood. Lidia walked over and put her hand around the silver handle, pushing. It opened to reveal what appeared to be a room entirely dedicated to family photos. All of them being of the Ferdinan family.

    It started from early paintings, to black-and-white pictures, to colored pictures. This house must have been here for generations. I walked over to what appeared to be the latest family photo. It included a beautiful, golden blonde haired women with painted red, full lips, doe-like amber eyes, and a gentle smile. She was sitting on what looked like a throne. To her right was a skinny man with a small smile who was looking down at her like she was a trophy. He had dark purple eyes, with a full head of light brown hair. He had one hand around her shoulders, while the other rested on the shoulder of his son. The child sat on his mother's lap while she held him with what appeared to be a great amount of love and care. The little boy had striking eyes. They looked as though they could see straight through me. The eyes of the boy had an amber ring around the outside, with a dark purple filling. He had a head full of golden hair like his mother. The child could have been no older than four.

     To the right of that picture was another with only one person. Judging by the looks, it was the same person as the child in the last picture, but much older. From that child to this picture, he had grown strikingly gorgeous. He had pale vampire-like skin, and that caused a few freckles that sprinkled his nose to show. His golden hair had grown in shine and would make any girl jealous for his hair seemed so natural. His eyes though...they hadn't changed. He had large eyes like his mother, but they were anything except innocent. They held a cold, malicious intent in them. His smile was all the more frightening. The lips of the man were a light red, and they parted to show perfectly straight teeth that shined like the sun. Altogether the male looked sinister. It was the face of a man who showed no mercy. At the bottom of the frame were the initials O.F.

    "Well, well, well. I think we've got our guy," Someone said from right behind me, causing me to jump and turn around.

     "Caspian! Don't sneak up on me like that!" I exclaimed, hitting him in the chest to which he only caused him to chuckle.

     The rest of the group piled around the picture and murmured quietly amongst themselves. It all summed up to; a hunk of a guy, but being the fact that he's psycho is such a turn off, and that he definitely looks like the kind of person to be behind this.

    "Well, now that we know more about this O.F. guy, we should probably get going once more. We've found all that we could in here," Lidia concluded. She began walking out of the room, and the moment she stepped out, she remained deathly still while I stared at her curiously. I was snapped out of the moment as time slowed and her shriek filled the room. 

   We rushed out to her, only to find a mutilated corpse across the carpet outside the door. I instantly shielded Kadince's eyes as Miranda almost threw up. From first glance it was Luke, but who could tell? Lidia instantly kneeled down next to him, and stroked his face. I guess even after all he's done, she still liked him at least a little bit, or that's what the toxic relationship made he believe. She sat there as the tears came running down her face, ruining her makeup even more. She rested her head on his shirt, or what remained of it. It was mostly warm, wet blood, and it ended up all over her face. 

    I had a look of disgust as I stared at it. Everyone else was looking away, but I just couldn't. How could that handsome boy from that picture have done this? Why? After Lidia had calmed down I walked over and knelt beside her.

   "It's going to be alright, Lidia. He's in a better place,"I said while rubbing calming circles on her back and hugging her. Sure, I got blood all over me, but I didn't care at that point. What mattered was comforting my friend. I glanced over at what used to be the face of Luke, but something seemed off. It didn't look right. His eyes, were they always grey?

    "Hey, Lidia? What color are Luke's eyes?"

    "They were hazel, why?" She asked, looking up at me curiously.

    "Correction, they are hazel. This isn't Luke."