m******e Mansion

Chapter 13- Sunday: Hide and Seek

       "For this round we will be playing a common game I'm sure you've all played in your childhoods known as Hide-and-Seek, but there's a twist. You will be playing for your lives. The first person I find will be eliminated, so you must hide well. As I'm sure you've all figured out, I have cameras watching your every move. So to make things a bit more fair, I will shut off select cameras. You will not know which cameras I have disabled, nor the ones that I have deactivated the audio. If you are wise, you'll figure out a way of communication that discludes speaking. I will give you fifteen minutes to find hiding places, but once that time is up the match will start. Once you're down to five players I will make an offer for Klarissa once again. Now, any questions?"

        "How do we know you'll stay true to your word? You tend to be dishonest," I pointed out. I didn't believe for a second that he would shut off his beloved cameras, or at least not find a loophole.

         "Oh how you wound me, my Little Lady. I already said that I'd never lie to you. Now if these buffoons weren't with you, that'd be a different story. But hear me out, I swear upon my mother's grave that I'll stay true to my word. Any other questions?"

       "Why is Luke working for you?" Caspian voiced. This was surprising news for me for I had known nothing of Luke's whereabouts or what his case was. I don't know how they found that out.

          "I know no one by the name of 'Luke' that's working for me. Oh dear, you seemed to have confused my angel as well."

        "While you were gone we watched the video that Lidia had, and Luke appeared stating he would get revenge on Olivander," Mark explained. It was still shocking, but it made more sense now. I had forgotten that Lidia had that recorder on her when she....died. Just thinking about it got me emotional once more. She died only a few hours ago, but it felt like ages. So much had happened.

          "Hmm, I'll look into that. If that's all then the fifteen minutes begin...Now."

          With his final words the deep toll of the grandfather clock signified it being two o'clock. We only had fifteen minutes to find a hiding place. If luck was on our side, we would pick a room that had the camera and audio both disabled. Sadly, the chances of that seemed very slim.

          "So...should we stick together?" Lewis questioned. 

          "Of course. We can't leave anyone alone, or split off in small groups. There's safety in numbers, and our numbers are dwindling," Mark stated.

          "What are we going to do then? We can't stay here. He'll find us. Our time is running out," Kadince frantically said.

          "Ok. Let's just stay calm. If you think about it logically we can figure out which rooms are activated. He knows we're in this room, and that we'll most likely leave, so this room has the camera disabled as well as the audio. The hallway we would exit into would be off as well because it's the only place we can go out of this room. The audio would still be on of course so he would know when we left and if we left. So if we entered a room in this hallway he would know due to the noise. I'd think that he would figure that we would stay within the first two floors because they're the only ones we've explored. So, all the floors above that will have the cameras on. So, to stay safer we should stay within these two floors," I explained. It made sense of how he would set everything up. In all reality we would be safe nowhere because of how everything was arranged. There would be an audio working for every main area, and he wouldn't need the camera. 

            "But what if you're wrong and everything is reversed?" Caspian asked. "What if he is lying and he disabled nothing?"

            "We don't know. We just have to hope and pray that Klarissa is right. Or even if it is reversed, we can still get through it," Lewis said with determination. 

             "Exactly. That's the point of hide and seek. You just have to be lucky and choose a good place to take cover," Mark pointed out. 

            "We won't be safe no matter where we go because Olivander has the upper hand. We just have to trust each other. I don't want to lose anyone else," I said. 

            "Well whatever happens, we'd better get going fast. We've wasted enough time already," Kadince replied.

          "What do we do with Miranda? She'll only slow us down," Mark said. Miranda had been peacefully resting on the couch this entire time. 

          "She can stay here. Olivander won't notice she's missing if we get caught. We'll just hide her in here," Kadince stated. There were so many things that could go wrong with that plan, but we might have to risk it.

        "I'm not leaving Miranda's side. I'll stay here with her," Lewis said, walking over to her and gripping her hand. It was such a romantic scene. You could almost see their whole life together just from the care and tenderness his eyes showed upon looking at her sleeping form.

        "No, we're all going. I'm not leaving anyone behind," I said. It was true that she would slow our progress with her injured leg, but she was my best friend. I couldn't leave her here to suffer a terrible fate.

        "Are you sure, Klarissa?" Lewis asked. I nodded my head as the others started chattering in objection.

        "Wake her up, Lewis. She's coming with us and that's final," I said. The others quieted a bit while Lewis shook the blonde awake. She awoke groggily looking confused about her surroundings.

         "Did I sleep in?" She mumbled out causing me to slightly chuckle. Her pale blue eyes shone around the room before she rubbed her face and swung her legs over the edge of the purple couch. She winced after she had moved her injured leg and a look of realization came across her face as her lips formed an 'O' shape.

          After she had been given a brief description of what was happening she smiled up dreamily at Lewis. I think the medicine was making her thoughts a little scattered. She attempted to stand so we could get moving, only to end up falling into Lewis. Blushing, she looked up and with wobbly legs she stepped back. 

         "Ok, we've definitely gotta get going pronto. We've wasted more than enough time," Mark said. He was seemingly agitated for some unknown reason, but it was understandable. Kadince clung onto my arm as I gave Miranda a small smile of reassurance. Lewis wrapped an arm around her to keep her upright and Caspian walked to the door, looking behind at me. He held a hand out to me, and I took it. Mark gave him a dirty look and continued forward. Caspian carefully, quietly, and gently pushed open the door. Somehow against all odds the door made no creaking noise. We all tiptoed silently out the door and began walking at a fast pace. Caspian, Kadince, and I took the lead. 

        We came to the stairway and I shook my head signifying that we wouldn't go up those stairs. I got a few questioning glances, but I paid them no heed. We walked down the left hallway that lead to the ballroom. As I went to open the extravagant door Caspian pulled my hand back.

        "What are you doing?" Caspian whispered. I pulled my hand away and put a finger to my lips. I placed my hand back on the door and gently pushed it. The door quietly opened like the other, but I quickly tiptoed to the shadows because I had no idea as to whether this room would have the camera and audio on or not. The only problem with this room was every tiny breath echoed off the walls. I only hoped that if there was god out there that this room would have the audio off. 

        I continued to walk around the outskirts as the others kept looking at me like I was insane. I eventually made it to my goal. While I was stuck with Olivander I had been studying the cameras without his knowledge, and I had noticed a nearly invisible stone staircase that descended into the dark. The camera that showed the staircase would also give us an advantage because it moves to scan the entire ballroom, and I knew exactly where it was. Glancing towards the camera while the others gaped at me I saw that it was facing the complete other end. I quickly ushered the others to go down the stairs as I waited back, squinting my eyes at the camera to make sure it wasn't near us. Lewis and Miranda went down first, followed my a wide-eyed Kadince, then Caspian who looked at me with an indistinguishable gaze, but Mark didn't go down. He looked at me as if waiting for me to go down...down...down....down I fell. Landing on a cold, hard surface. I felt as if I had broken something in the fall. I felt around me, only for a sticky liquid to coat my hands. I brought one hand to my nose, only for a wave of a familiar metallic stench to hit me. I tried to sit up, but it felt like invisible straps were holding me down. 

       I glanced around the room only to see white walls, coated in red substances. I felt a wet hand stroke my face as I began to struggle. I attempted to yell for help, only to have a face covered in blood enter my vision. The eyes glowed while looking down at me. They changed from purple, to green, and back again. I struggled more only for the red stained lips to land upon my own in a feverish dance. I tasted a metallic liquid on my tongue as tears left my eyes. I tried pushing the person away, but they grabbed my hands and held them down above my head.

      I looked to the side to see a blurry woman. Her skin was covered in purple, blue, and green veins. She was wearing a beautiful white gown that reached the floor. The ends were soaked in the blood that pooled across the floor. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a high bun, and her face was blurred out making her features indistinguishable. I could see her head shaking in what appeared to be disappointment.

      "I warned you to stay away," a soft, high voice spoke out. "You poor, poor girl." The sound was coming from the woman as she continued shaking her head. A sigh was heard from her. "I'll help you, little one. I don't want you sharing the same fate."

       I continued staring at her as the mystery person who had been assaulting my lips pulled away and stroked my hair. I looked up at them and their eyes were now amber. The lips began moving as if talking to me, but I heard nothing. Then an ear piercing screech filled the room as it faded away.

       "WAKE UP!" A voice screamed at me while shaking my body back and forth. My eyes slowly opened to be met with the frightened face of Kadince. She pulled me into a tight hug as my eyes adjusted. I could see everyone looking down at me while I felt a strange sense of deja vu. 

       "I thought I'd lost you," Kadince cried out into my shoulder. Her red hair was an absolute mess.

       "Where are we?" I questioned as Kadince continued mumbling into my shoulder. This room didn't look familiar. I didn't recall ever seeing a camera that depicted this place.

        "After you lost consciousness Mark carried you down here and we found a door. It was like an old medieval dungeon style door. But anyways, we decided to go down here, and right now we're under a dirty tarp. Luckily we found a flashlight," Miranda said while flashing the beam of light at me. 

         "So why is Kadince clutching me like I came back from the dead?" I asked next.

        "It really seemed like you did. You started coughing up blood and stopped breathing. Your heartbeat even disappeared for a couple seconds!" Caspian exclaimed. I looked at him with wide eyes and then glanced at everyone else to confirm what he said. Even though Mark had a tough look about him I could see a tear running down his cheek. 

        "So how long has it been?" I inquired. It must have been more than fifteen minutes by now.

        "Well, just after we were about to shut the door we heard Olivander speak over the intercom. He told us the fifteen were up. Well, he actually said 'Ready or not, here I come', but that's basically saying our time was up," Miranda said with her usual cheerfulness. 'That girl deserves an award for her cheeriness,' I thought while chuckling to myself. Kadince had finally stopped crying and was just holding onto me. 

         "I think we even have him stumped! He said it himself that we're excellent hiders," Lewis said with a triumphant smile. Everyone seemed to be in better moods now that I came to. That 'vision' ,if I could even call it that, hadn't made sense. Was my mind merely toying with me? I'd have to keep this to myself. I shouldn't worry them.

         "He might just be giving us false hope. We should stay quiet just for precautionary measures. Kadince's screaming didn't help us," Mark grumbled, slightly glaring at my sister.

        "Don't be so harsh on her. She was only scared. You'd do the same if it was your family," I told him.

       "Well I'm sorry. I totally wasn't paying any attention to the fact that we're hiding for our lives," he retorted.

       "Come on, guys. I think we're all just a bit tired. That's probably why we're all a bit crabby," Miranda intercepted. 

       "Yeah, you're probably right. I think we should take shifts. A few people can sleep, and the others can stay on watch duty," I said. "I've slept enough today, I'll stay up."

       "I just woke up a little while ago too. I'll be on watch with Klarissa," Miranda volunteered. 

       "I guess the rest of us can sleep then?" questioned Caspian while scratching his neck. I nodded and the people standing sat against what I presumed to be a wall through the tarp. Miranda sat beside me near where I assume we entered. Lewis came over near Miranda's side and layed down. His head rested in her lap as she stroked his blonde hair. It seemed like they had grown a lot closer over this whole adventure. I loved to think that they would make it out of this mess and start a life together when we graduated, if we graduated.

       Kadince still hadn't left my side. She shifted so she was leaning against my shoulder and quickly fell asleep. I would have to do something about that rat's nest on top of her head when she woke up. I smiled at seeing her sleeping face. The red head was still my little innocent sister through my eyes. She looked like such a child. 

       I hadn't seen this room in any of the cameras, but what I could see wasn't much. I was behind a tarp, and that wasn't much to go by. From my examination though there were no cameras that showed what room lay past a door that lead down the stairs. I just hoped we would be safe. 

       After what seemed like another twenty minutes I heard someone shift behind me. At this time I had already made a little pillow out of fluffy stuffing I had found laying about and laid Kadince on it. Miranda had fallen asleep despite her best efforts not to. The noise didn't bother me any because I had heard it before and I knew the only people behind me were Caspian and Mark. I didn't think anything of it until I felt two arms wrap around my stomach while two legs splayed out at both my sides. This surprised me greatly causing me to jump and bang my head into a jaw.

       "Ow," I heard the gruff voice of Mark mumble from behind me.

      "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to," I caringly whispered so as to not wake anyone while attempting to face him.

       "Shh, just stay still. I guess I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that, huh?" Mark chuckled while resting his head on my shoulder.

      "So what are you doing?" I questioned. I'd never had anyone hold me like this. Luckily it was rather dark under the tarp so as to hide my blushing face.

      "I couldn't sleep," he mumbled out. I felt his nose nuzzle into my neck, tickling me.

      "Oh," I giggled out. The green eyed male just tightened his hold slightly in reply.

      "So why are you holding me?" I asked. It was rather confusing. I had never known a friend to hold another like this.

      "I thought you might like some company seeing as Miranda fell asleep," Mark replied. 

      "You avoided my question, but that's okay. I didn't need the company. It's fine," I said while squirming.

      "Stop moving. I wanna hold you. You're like a teddy bear. So soft and cuddly," he mumbled into my ear while squeezing me lightly causing my blush to darken. I stopped squirming and decided to just enjoy the warmth. It was surprisingly cold under this tarp. It was getting a little awkward for me, though, so I decided to break the silence.

     "Aren't Miranda and Lewis the perfect couple?" I asked awkwardly. I was met with silence to which I sighed. After another minute I received a reply.

     "Klarissa....if we ever get out of this hellhole, do you think we could be like them?" Mark asked softly. I didn't know what to say, and after awhile of my silence he must have taken it as a rejection. He began to loosen his grip and move away as he spoke again.

     "I see. I'm sorry then, Little Lady. You're probably better off with Caspian anyways," he quietly said. The way he said it was so sad. Just his tone alone was enough to bring me to tears. I quickly turned around and hugged him close, breathing in his lemony mint scent.

      "No, I'm sorry for being so blind all this time. I never even realised that you cared for me. I only ever thought of Caspian as a friend," I told him. To that he wrapped his arms around me and buried his head in my auburn hair. I felt warm and safe in his embrace. For the time being I completely let all my worries wash away. All that mattered was our two bodies, and a shared heartbeat. 

      "Please, Cherry, could a life together ever be possible?" Mark spoke while lifting his head to reveal two brilliant green orbs staring into my own. I completely melted at the sight.

      "Of course. If we ever escape I'll be yours for eternity," I softly answered. I could see our life after this. Him and I could be happy and never have to dwell on what happened here.

      "Oh, my gorgeous Little Lady. You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear those words come from your lips," Mark said, relieved. My face blushed once more as I saw him glance down at my lips. I smiled at him, recalling the memory from the dance we shared in the ballroom that lay above us. He glanced down at my lips once more before slightly leaning in, looking back up at me as if asking for permission. I granted it as I leaned in the rest of the way.

      I saw sparks fly as our lips molded together in a gentle, sweet kiss. He held onto me tighter as if thinking I would disappear and he would wake up at any moment. I wanted to savor this moment for as long as I could. I could hear our hearts beating in time with the others. His lips were cold, yet soft against my own. I loved the strange combination. I never wanted to let go of this feeling, but all good things come to an end.

      He moved away eventually without releasing his hold. I stared dreamily into his eyes as he pulled me closer and stroked my long hair. Looking past his shoulder I saw the white cat swishing her tail around while seeming to smile once again. For a few seconds she stayed like that, but then her tail stopped and she seemed to be telling me that something bad was coming. She turned quickly and trotted over to a barrel that was beneath the tarp with us. She then rolled it and pressed her paw onto a section of the wall. She looked back at me with her familiar amber eyes and pressed her paw again, then turned her head quickly towards the direction of the opening of the tarp with her ears perked. I realised what she was trying to tell me, and urgently tried to get out of Mark's comforting hold. Nowhere in the mansion was safe forever.

       "Wha-"

       "Not now. We need to go. Wake the others," I said while unwrapping his arms from my form. He looked at me with a confused face. "Just please, do what I ask." I said frantically. He moved away as I quickly crawled over to Claire. I scratched behind her ears as her gaze welcomed me, before she turned back to the tarp. I lifted up the tarp and saw a metal wall. She nodded her head as I pressed my hand against a wall and pressed for the seventh time. It opened just like I expected it to, and the others were looking around sleepily.

        "What's going on?" Caspian asked.

        "We've gotta go. Now, through the opening," I said while pointing at the hole in the wall.

        "Wha-" 

      "We don't have time for questions, just do what Klarissa says," Mark said while cutting Miranda off. Claire went through opening first, then followed Caspian, Miranda, Lewis, Kadince, and Mark. Just before I went through the opening I paused as I heard a door creak open.

       "Oh, Klarri~ Come out, come out, wherever you are~" the sickeningly sweet voice of Olivander spoke into the dark.

        "I know you and your little friends are in here. There's no use hiding anymore. Just give into me and I will give your friends a quick, painless death. How does that sound?" He asked. I would never succumb to his desires. I turned and quickly went through the opening just in time to see Olivander remove the tarp as his purple eyes gleamed in joy at seeing me. The opening slammed shut just as he raced towards me. A loud thud was heard crashing into the wall.

         "Now that was a nasty trick, my darling. No matter. I'll just press right here and......what? It must be jammed. Don't worry, I'll come find you," I heard Olivander's muffled voice through the wall. 

      "GO BURN IN HELL!" I yelled at him to which a loud thud was heard. He must have punched the wall. A loud curse was heard as footsteps faded away.

        "Let's go," I said as I speed walked to the front with Claire. She blinked at me and trotted ahead. Following quickly behind, everyone kept questioning me. All the noise was beginning to get on my nerves. Did they not realise that as soon as Olivander got into these tunnels he'd be able to hear all the noise?

       "Shut up! It doesn't matter! If you don't be quiet then the second Olivander gets in here he'll be able to pinpoint our location!" I shouted at them. That seemed to shut them up as we continued on our way. 

       We finally stopped at what appeared to be another dead end. Claire looked at me expectantly as I stepped forward and pressed the wall. Another opening was made and we stepped through into a new room. Claire followed and I kneeled down to her level.

       "Thank you so much, Claire," I spoke to her, and patted her silky head. She purred in response and turned back into the opening before it shut. The others were looking at me like I was crazy.

        "What was that, Klarissa? I think we need some answers," Caspian said as the others nodded.

         "I know you're all going to think I'm crazy, but I've been following a cat. The cat was what lead me out of Olivander's lair, and the cat was what lead me here. Her name's Claire. She's been helping us," I tried to explain.

         "Then how come we can't see it?" Lewis questioned.

        "Does it matter? We're alive because of her once again. If it's a cat that's helping us so be it," Mark replied.

        "Let's suppose there really is a cat that's leading us around. How come it hasn't gotten us out of here yet?" Miranda asked.

        "I...I don't know. Maybe it's not time yet," I said.

        "What does that mean? Do more of us have to die? Is that what you're saying?" Lewis asked aggressively which was out of character for him.

        "I don't know," I said while glaring at him," But I do know that we're not going to get out of here if we don't cooperate with each other. There's no reason to be angry with each other."

         "Fine. So what are we going to do now?" Lewis questioned.

        "You're all going to stay there nice and pretty while I come and retrieve you. It seems as though I wasn't the one who needed scolded for cheating. That wasn't very kind of you, Sweetheart."

      "I DON'T CARE! I'm not yours! JUST GO TO HELL!"  I screamed at him.  

      "Gladly, as long as I can take you with me."