MARRIAGE CONTRACT WITH THE MONSTER

CHAPTER THREE:THE FIRST SECRET

The house was really quiet when Elara walked into the study. Elara liked the study because it was so peaceful. The study was in one of Elara's rooms in the house. It was quiet, like the rest of the house when Elara walked in.

She knew all the paths. She was familiar with the doors and the floors that she walked on every day. The paths and the doors and the floors were all very familiar to her now.

The woman moved without making any sound. She was really quiet when she moved. The woman did not make a noise as she moved.

Dante was already there.

The man did not look up.

The man was looking at the papers that were on his desk. He was really focused on those papers, on his desk.

The man told me to sit down. He did not look at me when he said it.

Elara did that. Her chair made a creaking noise. The sound of the creak seemed to echo around her in the empty room. Elara felt this sound strongly.

Dante said to me "You are quiet today." His voice was really low. It was calm too.. It sounded kind of dangerous, you know, when he talked like that. His voice was like that when something was not right.

Elara said "I always am". Her voice was shaking. She was trying to keep it steady.

He finally looked at her. Her eyes were really dark, like two pieces of glass. They looked empty. They were also very sharp. The dark eyes of her were pretty scary.

He said to me "Do you really think you can make it through this place?"

She said that she has to do it. She does not have a choice when it comes to this thing being what she has to do so she has to do the thing.

He looked at me. Said "Do you really think the choice is yours?" He leaned back in his chair. "The truth is that everything that happens here is my decision. It is all because of my choice. My. Nothing else."

Elara swallowed. She just did not say anything.

He looked at her like she was a puzzle that needed to be figured out. His hand moved slowly over a paper that was on the desk. The paper was just sitting there. His hand was moving over it.

The man told me that I am learning fast.. I am still making mistakes because I am not being careful. He said that I need to be more careful when I am doing things because being careless is not good. The man said that I am learning fast which is good. I need to work on not being careless.

Elara said, "What did I do?" She really wanted to know what she had done. Elara was asking this question because she needed to figure out what was going on with the things that she did. Elara asked what I did. She was waiting for an answer about her actions.

The man said to me "You came into my office this morning without asking if you could come in. You were walking fast. I could hear your heart beating loud."

She said that she is trying to learn. The woman wants to survive. Learning is very important to her. She really wants to survive.

He smiled a bit. "That is good. You really must be careful. There are things in this house that can hurt the person badly before they even know what is happening to them. The things in this house can kill the person before they even see the things."

Elara nodded. She did not want to ask what he was talking about with the things he said. Elara just. That was it. She did not want to ask him to explain what the things he said meant.

Dante said you should know something. He got up. Walked closer to me. The thing is, not everything, at this place is really what it seems Dante said. He meant that things are not always as they appear and that is what Dante was trying to tell me.

Elara looked up. She said "What do you mean by that?"

He told me that not everyone is my enemy. Not everyone is my friend either. He stopped talking for a moment. Then he said that the war is not the reason for everything the war people do. The war is not the thing on his mind, he said. Not everything he does is for the war.

She said "What do you mean?" again. This time her voice was higher. She was scared. She also really wanted to know what was going on. Fear and curiosity were all mixed up inside the woman.

Dante leaned against the desk. "I have to follow some rules, " he said. "These rules are really old. The rules are older than Dante is. Dante cannot break the rules."

Elara looked unhappy. "What are the rules you are talking about?" she asked. Elara wanted to know about the rules.

The man did not say anything. The man walked to the window. I looked outside. The rain had started coming down. Big drops of rain were hitting the glass hard.

He said to me "You think I am a bad person. A man who does not have feelings. The kind of man who is never scared or sad."

Elara said that I am a bad person. Lots of people tell me this. Everyone says it. I am a monster that is what everyone says. Elara knows it. So does everyone else.

He laughed softly. This was really weird. It was not mean. It was not funny either. The laugh was just weird.

The man said "Do you want to see what a monster is?" He really wanted to know if people were ready to see a monster. A monster is something that people usually do not want to see. The man asked this question because he wanted to show them a monster.

Elara swallowed. "No, " she said. Then she said "I mean yes.". That was not right either. She tried to say something but she just could not think of the right words. Elara stopped talking because the words would not come out.

Dante said "come. Then he opened a drawer. Took out a little black box. He held the box out to me. The black box was small.

Elara shook her head. "I do not want to touch the thing " she said about the thing being what they were talking about and Elara did not want to touch the thing.

He told me that I have to do this. If I want to know about this house and the life that goes on here and understand him then I really have to. He said it is the way to understand this house and this life and what he is all about this person, him.

Her hand shook when she picked up the box. The box was heavier than it looked. The box felt cold. The box felt smooth.

Dante watched her. "Inside " he said. "There is something I want to show you that I have never shown to anyone before. This thing will help you understand why Dante is the way Dante's. It will also help you understand why Dante married you."

Elara opened the box slowly. What she found inside was a picture, a photo of something. The photo was just sitting there inside the box that Elara had opened.

She looked at something. Her heart actually skipped a beat. She looked really surprised. Her heart skipped another beat because she looked so shocked.

The little girl was around her age. She had bright eyes and she was laughing. This little girl was not like Dante at all. The little girl seemed happy.

"Who is Elara talking about?" Elara asked her friend. She really wanted to know who this woman was. Elara was very curious about her.

Dante said my sister died when I was fifteen years old. He was talking about his sister. His sister was very important to him. Dante's sister died when he was a teenager.

Elara looked up. The face of Elara did not change. The eyes of Elara were dark.. Now the eyes of Elara had a shadow. It was something. It was something that seemed dangerous. The eyes of Elara were still dark. They looked different now.

"Your sister?" she whispered quietly.

"Yes," he said. "I am the way I'm because of her. She is the reason I became this person. This monster that you see.

Elara felt her chest get really tight. "You are not born to be mean?"

No Dante said. The world was really mean to me. It took her away from me. People I thought I could trust they were the ones who killed her. They did not leave me with anything. So I had to learn how to fight back. I had to learn how to survive. I had to learn how to protect the things that I still have like my life, my family, my friends, the people I care about because I do not want to lose them like I lost her.

Elara put the photo down. "And what about me?" she asked. Her voice was really quiet, you could hardly hear it.

Dante said "You?" He took a step closer to the person. The person was his responsibility. The person was his insurance. He stopped for a moment.. Maybe the person was also something he needed to learn from, his lesson.

"What lesson?" Elara asked. She was really trying to stay calm and not shake.

He told me that not everything has to be lost. Someone can still fight when things are really tough and everything seems dark. He said that someone can still keep going even when it feels like everything is falling apart and that is what he meant by fighting that someone can still fight for what they want for the things that matter and that is what the fight is, about the fight to not lose everything the fight to keep something and that something is what makes the fight worth it and that is what he said that the fight is worth it because someone can still fight and that someone is the person who will not give up and that person is the one who will keep fighting and that is what he meant that someone can still fight and that fight is what matters that fight is what makes the difference and that is what he said.

Elara did not say a word. She was not sure if he was being nice to her or if he was actually telling her to be careful. Elara just did not know what to make of what he was saying.

Dante turned away. "This house is always watching you, " he said. "The world outside is watching you too. You are not safe in this house or outside.. I did not hurt you. I let you live because I see something in you that reminds me of my sister. You have courage like my sister had. I see the courage in you.

Elara looked down at the floor. She said "I am not a person. The truth is, I am scared of something every second of my life and it is really frightening to admit this about Elara."

Dante said "Good". He told me that fear is what keeps you alive. It is what makes you think before you do something. Courage is what keeps you moving forward, it is what makes you do things even when you are scared.. Dante also said that I should not forget something very important. He said that even courage can disappear if I trust the person if I put my faith in someone who does not deserve it.

The rain fell outside. It was really cold in the room. I saw shadows moving around in the corners of the room. The shadows were moving because of the rain outside. The room was dark. The rain made it feel even colder.

Elara looked at him. "Why are you telling me this now?"

Dante stopped talking for a moment. "The thing is " he said, "if you want to make it through this thing with the monster you have to know that the monster is not something that is outside. The monster is also inside the person. I mean the monster is inside you.

Elara just did not get it. She was really confused about the thing. Elara thought about it for a moment. It still did not make sense to her. The more Elara thought about it the more confused she became.

He told me that he is a monster. The monster is what he calls himself.. You are figuring out how to deal with the monster. The monster is someone you have to get used to that is what he said.

Her hands were shaking badly. She felt like screaming at the top of her lungs. The thing she wanted to do most was run away from everything. Her hands shook and she wanted to hide somewhere safe like her hands were shaking and she just wanted to get from it all her hands shook.

She just nodded.

The woman said that she will survive. She really means that she will survive. The woman is talking about herself. She knows that she will survive.

He looked at her. This was the time he did not say anything. He just stood there. I watched the woman. He kept looking at her. Did not say a word.

Tomorrow he said at last. You are going to meet the person who will test the person you're. This person will decide if you can stay in the house or if you have to die. You need to be ready for this person. The person you will meet tomorrow will change everything for you.

Elara's stomach did a flip. She said "Who?"

Dante said that you will figure it out by yourself.

The words felt like stones to her. She could feel the weight of the words. The words were, like stones that were weighing her down.

She knew that her life was going to be different. Her life was about to change. This was not the time her life was going to change and she was not sure what to expect from the life that was about to change again.

She also knew one thing: that the Coffee Shop was a place she really loved going to. The Coffee Shop was a place where she could always find something to do and the Coffee Shop was a part of her life so she knew the Coffee Shop very well.

This monster, Dante Russo, was not done with her yet. Dante Russo still had things to do to her. She was not going to get from Dante Russo that easily.

And neither was she.