Six Months Later
Mia
I was back home, on a visit to my mum. It was my leave period and I decided to spend it at home. I didn’t know that I was going to miss my mum and Albert as much as I did but I did. Maybe it was the attachment from being with my mum Al through childhood but I certainly ached with her absence and calling he every night before I slept became a remedy for me, a cure for my loneliness.
Even with the guys I went on dates with and Sasha there to keep me company, I still missed my mum. I missed Albert.
I missed what it was like to have a full family at a table when I had to eat. I missed what it was like to have someone to walk through a garden with when I was bored and had to take a walk. I missed hearing sounds of people talking, laughing, walking and going about their business when I felt my apartment was too silent. I missed a lot of things about home and I wondered if this was because I didn’t go far away from home when I was in college.
Maybe if I had done, I would have gone through all these phases and be used to them instead of just going through them now – after everyone already did – and feeling like a lost child.
I had thought that it wouldn’t be nice working from home that I would feel caged but I was surprised at how much freedom was left for me after work and especially on weekends and I had no one to spend it with, not even guys.
I couldn’t keep going on dates every weekend. I knew some ladies do that but that wasn’t me. I wasn’t used to that. I wasn’t going to start doing what I wasn’t interested in. I preferred my own solitude and moreover, with all the dates that I had been on, I wasn’t really able to get in the mood. There was always something missing, like there was something I was searching for and couldn’t find in the guys even though I had no idea of what that was.
The moment I got notified that it was my leave period, I was excited and had packed my bag for the vacation ahead. My mum was more excited than I was at the holiday and couldn’t stop calling to remind me of it, even till the D-Day. I had snorted and found her hilarious anytime she did that. As if I could ever forget about the holiday when I had been the one to plan it.
Albert had sent a car for me and I was glad to be back home. I breathed in the air as the driver parked and I stepped out of the car. It was good to be home. Yes, this was home. I had thought dad’s house where I had grown up was home but the truth I found recently was that mum was home to me.
It didn’t matter where she was but anywhere she was was home.
Mum and Albert were already outside before I got home, waiting for me and both rushed to embrace him as I stepped out. I went still, shocked at the sudden impact of their bodies colliding with mine but I couldn’t help the smile that was on my lips.
I was pleased to be home too. I grinned as I moved closer to them, wrapping my arms around the two of them.
I settled in quickly when I got home. The food was nice and I smiled at the taste of it. I missed the taste of good food. It wasn’t that I couldn’t cook but I ate a lot of deliveries rather than cook for myself when I was at work. Moreover, Albert’s cooks were very skilled and I didn’t think that I could beat that. The holiday was going on smoothly but I guessed I was beginning to miss being back at work as I was already getting bored with each day that passed. I couldn’t wait to be back at work though I knew and ached with how much I was going to miss my mum.
A day to the end of my holiday, I spent it all with mum, talking and telling her stories, all what had happened to me while I was away and listening to all what had happened to her as well. We spent the day talking, knowing that we would have to depart soon that there wasn’t much to talk about when it was night. Moreover, Albert was back home and not surprisingly, mum preferred his company to mine. I wasn’t jealous or mad at that. After all, I had her all to myself for the whole day.
During dinner, I was quiet all through, rushing through my meals so I could get back to my bedroom.
I got back to my bedroom and hated how the rest of my night went. I couldn’t sleep. I tossed about and turned on the bed, trying to find a comfortable position but I just couldn’t get the relief that I needed. I even closed my eyes but I didn’t sleep too.
I glanced at the sky and scowled. It was a full moon night and there was something eerie in the atmosphere. I wondered if anyone else could feel it.
What was it about the night that got the hairs on my skin up? I snorted as I made the connection. I knew I was living in a mansion owned by a werewolf and the full moon night was making my imagination run wild.
Albert wasn’t going to hurt me even if he had to shift and those who could hurt me weren’t at home. I was being unnecessarily ridiculous.
I shoved away the images of the triplets from my mind. I wasn’t going to think of them. I wasn’t. I had done well pushing them out of my mind all these months and I wasn’t going to let my guard loose because I was at home and something in the night reminded me of them.
After ten minutes more of looking at the ceiling in hopelessness and still finding it difficult to sleep, I got out of bed and decided to take a walk in the castle garden.
The night was windy, and l heard l a howling sound reminiscent of wild beasts which sent shivers down my spine. That sounded too close to the way the triplets used to growl in my nightmares and for a moment, I thought that they were back without anyone knowing and tormenting my life.
I shook off my fear. That wasn’t possible. Even though the mansion was big, I didn’t think that there was a way for them to be around and no one would be aware. There wasn’t much space for them to hide and I chose to believe that they would have grown with the mission their father sent them on and wouldn’t still be acting like the immature boys that they had been.
Well, who knew? With the triplets, no one could predict how they were going to behave.
I didn’t believe that they would be around and their father wouldn’t have sensed them. I had to stop letting my imagination taunt me. I shrugged off the eerie feeling frightening me and wrapped my hands around me to chase off the cold I felt.
Maybe I should go back. The house was well secured with its fences and gates towering more than high of the house itself and that was what made me feel safe that I could walk in the garden even at this odd hour of the night and not feel threatened.
I was beginning to feel bad about my decision to take a walk and turned, heading back to my room. If I was going to stare at the walls all night, then so be it. That was better than me getting freaked out of my skin, alone at night with no one having an idea of where I was.
A bat flew by, startling me and I jumped. I hissed and swatted my hand at the dummy when it came back and hovered around my head.
It still kept hovering around me despite how much I tried to flick it off and I got terrified. I had read a lot of frightening stories and they all decided to come to my mind at that time. I began to run, desperate to avoid the bee, my heart thudding in my chest.
The horror movies I had watched came to my mind and I started shivering as I imagined myself being used as a sacrifice with the bat hovering around me and the full moon in the sky. I wasn’t going to wait till I started to hear chants before I wondered if it was real or my imagination.
I had to run now. Wait, I shouted to myself in my head. I couldn’t let the bat get to the house. What if it was evil and just waiting for someone to let it into the house?
Albert could take care of himself but what of my mum? I couldn’t do that to her. I veered away from the entrance of the house, looking for someone else I could hide in that the bat wouldn’t be able to get in with me. I didn’t mind staying out there all night till it was dawn and safe if it meant that my family was going to be safe.
I stumbled on an exit to an underground passage and I was surprised. I had no idea that something like that existed in the house. Maybe the twins could really be in the house and no one would know that they were around.
I wondered if they knew a place like this was in the house. The door was well hidden beneath the foliage and I knew I wouldn’t have found it if I hadn’t been running like I was and pulled off the camouflage when I fell.
I was curious and knew I had to find out what was in there. I already knew that the men were werewolves and I wondered what other secrets they had which were lurking in the shadows.
What else were they keeping from us? Was that where they kept the bones of animals and people they killed when they shifted to wolves? Was that the cave they tied themselves up in so they wouldn’t get loose?
I shuddered at the thoughts in my head. I wasn’t going to find the answers if I stood at the door without going in. I looked back and found out to my surprise that the bee was nowhere to be found. I thought of going back without going in but I knew that was impossible. I wasn’t going to sleep this night until I knew what was there.
I was going to keep on wondering and end up here again when I couldn’t deal with it again. Why not deal with what I had to deal with? I swallowed as I pressed down on the knob and opened the door. I blinked in the darkness as I entered the underground chamber.
I was about to turn back, deciding that there was nothing there except dust and cobwebs when I heard the voice of a woman and I was shocked.
I moved forward and saw a lock in the cave and tried to open it. It was old, rusty and hard to open but eventually, I succeeded in prying it free. With my heart banging in my chest, I moved forward with caution, feeling my throat run dry.
To my astonishment, I discovered a secret in the villa – a crazed woman. She looked unusual and I couldn’t believe that the house had a being like her in it.
The woman must have heard my footsteps because she raised her head.
“Please help me.” She said, looking pitiful.
I was stunned and could only stare at the stranger imprisoned in a silver cage, locked and sealed with a talisman.