Inside The Manor

Chapter Eight

I woke up with an immense headache. It felt like my lung couldn't support my need for oxygen and I was choking on air. While coughing like a madwoman, and probably worsening my condition, I went to check my chest area. More importantly the zone where the bullet had hit me. I skimmed my hands all over my torso, expecting for the outcome of Claudia's madness, but I didn't find a hole in my chest.

My breathing gradually turned normal, and I let my body flop back into the mattress. The dark red mattress I had picked for my bed. I didn't have to check my phone to know that I was finally out of that nightmare, which had felt so real I couldn't have helped but have a panic attack at my wakening.

I coughed again and closed my eyes. Good God, two out of the three nights I have spent in my new home have almost left me ready for a psychiatric ward. I couldn't with this house.

I took a quick shower and got ready for the day, happy to finally be out of those damn workout clothes, and wore my formal attire. The reason why I found myself putting on lip-gloss in front of my mirror was because I was going to pay a visit to my office today.

I went down the stairs and headed to the kitchen. Some more memories hitting me like damn truck.

That lover guy.

I would have fainted again at the memory of him disappearing in thin air, if I hadn't been a ghost myself less than two hours ago. That guy was probably like I had been. Who knows, he could have even been from the far future?

I cooked myself some waffles and then replayed the events of last night on my head.

The weird guy now seemed completely harmless compared to what I had witnessed between Claudia and Anne. The uncanny similarity between Camilla and Claudia was what had me worried the most.

'It feels like there are two different Camillas though, doesn't it?'

Damn you, Trey.

Quickly fishing my phone out of my pocket, I wrote him a text telling him I wanted again and that he should pass the manor. I then wrote in bold letters the part where I specified him not to tell Camilla. But, my insecurities got the best of me at the last minute and I then proceeded to save the message as a draft.

I would send it to him as soon as I had verified my theory.

With that last decision, and of course after washing the dishes, I got in my car and drove to the office...

I had never liked the secretary of my boss, Lucy something. Yes, we used to talk sometimes over coffee when we were with other colleagues, but I never found her as a friend. Even though, now I could remember Cam telling me to always try and befriend her. Great, now my paranoia is most likely gonna show through the whole day.

Just have a short conversation with her and get the f**k out of her sight. Keep it casual, don't show her that you might hate, and most importantly, don't mention Cam, who Lucy always liked to bring up in almost all of our exchanges.

I plastered on my most convincing fake smile and made my way to her desk.

"Hi Lucy" I called her as soon as I was sure she could hear me.

Lucy lifted her head from some papers she was reading, a look of annoyance covering her face, but it soon changed into surprise as soon as she saw it was me.

"Elora? I mean, Elora." From a questioning tone to a fake happy one, did she really expect me to be fooled? "What are you doing here? Your vacation isn't over yet."

Really b***h, tell me about it.

"I recently moved some of my stuff to the new house, but I'm having some problems and it'd really like to verify the paperwork" I simply said, all too soon realizing I might have said too much.

I bit my lip and tapped my fingers against her table, fooling her into believing I was nervous.

"Why, what happened?" she asked trying to sound genuinely concerned, and I would have believed her if I didn't use the same tone and face expression when faking kindness.

"There's apparently a problem with the installation of the water tubes, or something. I don't really know much about these type of stuff, but what I do know is that I don't have water at all times and when I do it's never hot." I forced my eyes wide open and let out a gasp, improving my act.

Lucy believed it almost immediately because her shoulders sagged in relief.

The f**k is this b***h hiding?

"Oh well, I'm sorry, but I don't think you have to give up on such a beautiful house just because of such a small problem" she said as she putted her hand over her heart. She was trying too hard to convince me and it only made me more suspicious.

"Have you gone mad? I'm not giving up on the house. Except for the water problem everything is perfect. The place has a lot of space and so many rooms. You know, one of these days you should really come over" if she showed her face at my doorstep I was gonna sue her ass for trespassing, but my facial expression didn't let that show. I hope.

If possible her shoulders dropped even lower, a real smile graced her lips and she nodded ecstatically.

"Of course. How silly of me. The paperwork should still be on your desk, the boss hasn't collected it yet." She said, but I had started walking away before she had even finished her last words.

"Thanks" I said hastily and made my way to my office. Digging my keys out of my purse I unlocked the office door and walked in.

Everything was in the same place I had left them. The room was messy like always, but I could always make my way through it and for some reason I found it to be more comfortable this way. On my desk were the papers I had come there for. Carefully picking up the file, I started going through it searching for something very particular. After flipping page after page I finally found the information I was looking for.

Smiling to myself, I took a photo of the page and left the file back on my desk. I moved to one of the drawers of my table and took out one of the emergency chocolate bars I kept in my office just in case I skipped a meal.

But, as I was ripping the shiny wrapper of the white chocolate bar, a knocking sound echoed inside the office.

"Come in" I said and took a huge bite out of the snack in my hand.

The door opened and I almost chocked on the spot.

"Oh, hi Cam" I tried to say, but I'm sure it must have come out as something incoherent.

Cam smiled warmly and for a moment I forgot what I was even trying to do. Cam was my best friend, she had always been there for me. And here I was, doubting her when she had actually done nothing. For a mere moment my brain tried to recall all the reasons why I was being suspicious of her. The only reason was a dream. A silly dream was making me doubt my reality. This was insane.

"What are you doing here?" I said as I quickly finished the chocolate.

"I passed by your house today, but the gate was closed and you weren't picking up the phone, so I thought of dropping by your work. Lucy was nice enough to let me in without warning you beforehand. After all, we are best friends, we don't have anything to hide from each other."

I smiled and then looked at my phone to check her missed calls.

"I'm sorry for not answering. I..." I checked the calls and oddly enough, dating from last night there was a wrongly formed number. It had been me trying to call the police when that guy had showed up at my place. The guy who was also a ghost. "I... I've been busy. I'm pretty sure Lucy has already told you that I have been having problems with the water."

"Yeah, she did. But, why did you have to come here? Isn't that a bit weird?" cam asked and arched her eyebrow.

That didn't seem suspicious at all. At freaking all. Immediately I checked my phone and turned the camera on, my old habits kicking in.

"I just wanted to see if there had ever been a similar problem like this, before calling a professional." I justified my actions. And luckily Cam seemed to have bought it.

"And..."

"Apparently not" I said and then started acting like I was fixing some of the mess on my desk. "The house seems to have been kept in perfect condition. It's weird actually, cause the nephew was really pressed to get rid of the house. I just don't understand why."

"Maybe some things are better left unknown" Cam replied as casually she pressed herself against the door.

"Yeah, I just feel bad for the old lady, you know. She must have put a lot of effort in keeping the house to herself" as I said that I subtly put the phone that was still recording to hang against the side of a huge pile of files, trying and succeeding at catching Cam's face on it.

Time to drop the bomb on her.

"What kind of ungrateful nephew would discard something that clearly mattered so much to Anne?"

Considering my back was facing her face I could still smirk without her catching me.

"How do you know her name?" It could've been my paranoia but Cam's voice had a hint of menace.

As I turned I also noticed that she had walked closer to me.

"I think her nephew told me, after all can you believe their names? Billy and Anne? Please, some parents really need to start getting more creative." I said dismissively and grabbed my phone, carefully hiding the screen from Cam's view.

"Right" she said and looked at the ground thoughtfully.

A moment of silence passed before I decided to break the ice.

"So, do you wanna go back to my house? Wait, why were you looking for me. Aren't you supposed to be taking care of your cousin?" I asked as a theory as to why she might have been here formed in my head.

"Right, oh no. I gotta go" And just like that she left.

I followed immediately after try, almost having to jog to keep up. Cam turned to head out of the building, but not before rolling her eyes at Lucy, who only lowered her head in what I presumed was shame.

I went back to my office and locked the door, which proved to be more difficult than I had originally thought because of my shaking hands.

Cam probably hadn't even gone to my house. She had come straight to the office. Because Lucy had warned her I was acting suspicious and rummaging through the files.

Meaning that Cam might really not be Camilla.

I looked at my phone. Only one thing could truly prove it and I had it taped.

It was time to watch the video and take action.