Love between classes

Chapter Fourteen: The Old House

Maya

The drive to the old Carter house was quiet.

Too quiet.

I sat in the back seat beside Ethan while Lucas drove through the dark countryside.

Ethan kept looking at me.

“You okay?”

“I don't know.”

“That makes two of us.”

I gave him a nervous smile.

He reached for my hand.

I let him hold it.

Whatever we were walking into, I didn't want to face it alone.

After nearly an hour, the car slowed.

The house appeared behind a line of tall trees.

It was enormous.

Old.

Beautiful once, perhaps, but now covered in shadows and silence.

“This is it,” Lucas said.

We got out.

I looked at the house.

“Your family lived here?”

Ethan nodded.

“When I was little.”

“Why did you leave?”

He glanced at Lucas.

“After Ryan died.”

We walked toward the front door.

Lucas unlocked it.

The door opened with a long creak.

Inside, everything was covered in dust.

Furniture stood beneath white sheets.

Old paintings hung along the walls.

I shivered.

“This place feels like nobody has been here in years.”

“That's because they haven't,” Ethan said.

We entered the hallway.

Lucas turned on a flashlight.

“Where was the blue star?”

Ethan looked around.

“I don't remember.”

I studied the walls.

Then I noticed something.

“Wait.”

I walked toward an old wooden staircase.

“There.”

Carved into the wall was the same blue star.

Ethan stepped closer.

“This wasn't here before.”

“Maybe it was hidden.”

Lucas examined it.

“There must be something behind it.”

He pressed against the carving.

Nothing happened.

Ethan tried.

Still nothing.

I looked around.

Then I noticed a small wooden panel beneath the stairs.

“Try that.”

Lucas opened it.

Inside was a narrow compartment.

There was a small metal box.

My heart began pounding.

Ethan carefully lifted it out.

The box was locked.

Lucas searched around the compartment.

“There's no key.”

I looked at the box.

Then I noticed a small symbol on its lid.

The blue star.

And beneath it were two initials.

L.B.

My breath caught.

“Those are my mother's initials.”

Ethan looked at me.

“Laura Bennett.”

I nodded.

Lucas stared at the box.

“Then she left this here.”

Ethan gently touched the lock.

“We need to open it.”

I searched the compartment.

Nothing.

Then I remembered something.

“My mother had an old necklace.”

“What kind?” Ethan asked.

“A silver one with a tiny star pendant.”

Ethan's eyes widened.

“Do you still have it?”

“No. She gave it to me years ago, but I lost it.”

Lucas looked at the box.

“Maybe it wasn't a necklace.”

“What do you mean?”

He pointed toward the lock.

There was a tiny star-shaped opening.

My heart raced.

“The pendant…”

“Could be a key,” Ethan said.

We looked at each other.

Suddenly, a loud noise came from upstairs.

All three of us froze.

Someone was in the house.

Lucas immediately turned off the flashlight.

“Stay here,” he whispered.

Ethan moved closer to me.

“Don't move.”

Footsteps sounded above us.

Slow.

Careful.

Coming down the stairs.

I held Ethan's hand tightly.

The footsteps stopped.

A shadow appeared on the wall.

Then a voice whispered from the darkness.

“Maya…”

My blood ran cold.

I knew that voice.

It was my mother.