Governess Eve is an original character I've come up with whilst everything else belongs to Yangyang Mobile. Greatly inspired by The Cat Lady game.

Bye, Bye, Governess Eve

"Remind me why we've come back here?"

"To find Governess Eve!" Luke snorts. "I want to know what she's done with Kylie. I want to make a deal with her and make sure nobody else in Luxbourne gets hurt."

"Who is Governess Eve?" I ask. I've never met or heard of the woman until Kylie was reported missing.

"I've never met the woman," Luke confesses. "But from what I've seen from her online and from the letters and phone calls she makes… I can tell she's a nasty woman. I'm an excellent judge in character, Buttercup. You know that."

"We should have gone straight to the police about this!"

"The police won't do fuck all. You know you're free to leave anytime. I knew bringing you along was a bad idea."

"I just wanted to help."

"You're too kind."

"I can hear a noise upstairs."

Luke and I followed the noise. It sounded like a television blasting some tedious cheesy soap opera. With every second, the hope of finding Kylie alive dwindles. Luke stops when we reach the first floor, crawls over in ball and sobs.

I crouch down. "Luke what's the matter?"

"We're too late!" he wails.

"There could still be time."

There's only one open door. We can hear the adverts crystal clear. "What If Kylie is in that room? Maybe you can have that deal with The Governess."

Luke wipes his eyes with his sleeve and jumps up from the ground. He cups my cheek. "Hannah…you really did not have to come you know."

I kiss his cheek. "I came because I wanted to. Now let's go and face Governess Eve together."

"So, you're Governess Eve?" Luke bursts into a hysteric laughter mocking the crippled woman in bed. She wears nothing but a black amulet around her neck and the blood of her proposed victims. "No!" His voice deepens. "It can't be. I'm disappointed. I expected a lady with more class than this."

The way Governess Eve gazes at us as if she was pumped up with drugs. It wouldn't surprise me. All these broken pills on the floor. I can't believe how much Ermengarde Mansion had changed since Luke and I moved out. Marianne made the place so beautiful, she was truly one of the best interior designers we've ever had. Now it's a shadow of it's former self. Broken windows, carcases decorated with dust and spider webs.

"SPEAK FOR FUCKS SAKE WOMAN!"

Governess Eve breaks her silence with cackles and slams the laptop down. "Well, well, we meet at last. What would you like to talk about today?"

Luke seethes his teeth. He makes no hesitation to take out his gun and point it at her forehead. My lips tremble, but the words won't come out. My chest aches. He lied to me: he promised me that nobody would get hurt. He even swore it on his mother's grave. I want to beg Luke to put that gun away, but no matter how hard I try, the words are struck in my throat. Until…

My eyes dart to the pile of gadgets piled on the side of her bed; gas cylinders, cigarette packets, alcohol and oh god…is that a suicide belt or a bomb. Oh, what's the difference? Those cylinders aren't being stored properly, it can leak gas. One bullet will be enough to blow this whole room up.

"Luke put that gun down!" I say, straining my throat.

"Hannah! This beast killed our goddaughter!"

"You don't know that!" Kylie's alive: I could feel it in my gut. I can smell her favourite parfaits coming from the right-hand corner of the room. I could picture her running into the room begging Luke to put the gun down. He would listen to her: her sweet voice and puppy eyes makes it hard not to.

"Have you seen all the dead bodies scattered around this place?" Luke fiddles with the trigger. Sweat pours down his cheek. "An unharmed child like Kylie never stood a chance." His cheeks shine red and his forehead's pale. The gun slips out of his hands, but he clings to it again and aims it at Governess Eve. "Tell me what you did to Kylie's body?"

"Pull the trigger and you'll found out!"

Luke charges to the edge of the bed and rams the gun in her chest. "Don't mess about with me, Governess. I will do it you know. Normally I would never harm a woman, but you're an exception."

The Governess smiles. "We're not so different you and I!"

"I'm nothing like you!" Luke roars, slamming her head with the gun. "I've done things that I'm not proud of. I've even killed more people than I would like to admit. I would never under any circumstances hurt a child."

"Why don't you kill me then?" The Governess winks. "Don't I deserve it?"

"Don't you have no shame?"

"Luke!" I cry. "Look at what's around you?"

He looks at me and smiles. "Look, sweetheart it's okay. She wants to die and I want to kill her. You're the maths expert Hannah."

"I'll give you some maths!" I raise my eyebrows at him and try to slap the gun out of his hand. I know it's a silly move to make and one that could have got me shot, but I had to do something to get some sense into him. He's so stubborn at times. "Look at those gas cylinders on her bed and that…suicide belt. You put all that together, plus one bullet and bang, it will BLOW US ALL UP!"

"Then leave," Luke mutters under his breath. He holds onto my arm and embraces me tightly, putting the gun back in his pocket. "You've been the one of the two women that I've ever truly loved."

"Wait! Who's the other one?"

"My mother of course…"

"Oh!" I'm caught by surprise. Given his track record of cheating, I expected it to be some mistress. Now it all makes sense. We've been married for twelve years, but he's never talked about his mother until now. Then I remember the lighter he kept close to his heart. It has the name Elanor engraved at the front…she must be his late mother.

"Tell me one thing about your mother," I beg. Anything to get him to take his mind of pulling the trigger. It may work, and it may not work. We could all be dead in a few minutes. But I want to try, try at least. Even if we survive the explosion, Luke might…go to jail. The mere thought of seeing him in jail is enough to make me gag.

"She was nothing but a drunk prostitute," The Governess announces with her arms folded. A sly grin slapped on her face with nothing but malice intentions. "She died to AIDS!"

"SHUT UP!" Luke throws me out of the room and strangles her neck. "My mother was a great woman."

"Don't kid yourself."

"Luke, is this true?"

"Weather or not my mother was a prostitute or not is irrelevant." He looks at me with a stern look at my face. "Why aren't you leaving?"

"Because I want to stop you!"

"Stop you from what?"

"MAKING THE BUSINESS MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE!"

"Hannah," he stammers. "Please, just leave this place. You have so much to live for. You have your friends…McCollough and Steele? And the twins, they need you. You out there and live your life. Don't worry about scummy old Luke."

"Luke, what are you talking about?" He's given up. He's ready to die. I have no idea what's come over him. I know it's not the alcohol. I wonder if it's the influence of The Governess or the ghost that lurked around the mansion. Either way, I hate it. This isn't the Luke I know. My husband would be fighting for survival right in any other situation so why now has he given up?

"Luke, you're going to die if you pull that trigger."

Luke huffs. "I don't care anymore. If it means taking this evil witch out, then I don't mind sacrificing my life. I don't have much time in this world anyway."

"What do mean you don't have much time in this world?"

"Cancer!"

Just one word. But it's enough to send me tumbling to the floor as if I'm the one that's been shot. My chest, my head, my legs…everything just hurts. "In the liver?"

"How did you know?"

"I told you about your drinking problem. Hey! Put that bottle down."

"Please Hannah, let a dying man fulfil his wish."

"Why didn't you tell you me?"

"Because I didn't want you worry you!"

"You waving a gun, being prepared to waste your life on this monster!"

"Hannah," Luke hisses, and then looks at me lovingly. All the wrinkles in his face caused by his anger melt away. I know many faces of Lucile Mitchell Wright and out of all them, this smiling face in front of me is the one I love the most.

"I locked Kylie up in the cellar," Governess Eve admits. "Maybe she had a dignified death. Perhaps the ghost snapped her neck. Or maybe… she died of hunger or dehydration."

"YOU'RE DISPICABLE!"

"No Luke!" I continue to plea. "Think about this. Would Kylie really want this? She wouldn't want you to become a murderer!"

"It's too late…I already am a murder. Have been for a long time. Hannah, I beg you, please go! Save yourself!"

"No let her stay! I'm sure she'll love to see the woman who killed her goddaughter to have her brains blown up. Dearie me Luke, if only you had payed me the ransom."

"I don't owe you anything."

"You killed many people," Governess Eve announced. "And you made my brother's life a misery."

"Any last words Bitch!" Luke's dead serious. There's nothing I can do now.

"Fine." I hold back the tears. I've lost this one. Maybe's there more I could do, but it's clear that Luke's made up his mind. "Kill her!"

Luke takes a deep breathe as I feel my body being dragged out of the room by a mysterious force. "MOTHER! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" He turns his head towards me and smiles. "AND HANNAH! I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART. THANKS FOR MAKING LIFE SO EPIC!"

He pulls the trigger. The bullet lands in the left eyeball of Governess Eve. Within a blink of an eye, I see the blood splatter up the wall. Her legs give way and everything on the bed now smashes onto the floor. Then…

KABOOM!

The whole room is consumed in flames. The ceiling collapses in as my husband is swallowed by the flames. Just as the fire is about to claim me. Two ghostly figures charge towards me and grab me by the arm. The ghost on the left resembles a maid in tattered clothes and the spirit on the left resembles Charlotte Ermengarde.

The fire spreads, all around the mansion, but thanks to these ghosts, I've made it out here alive. I land outside the entrance to my former home. Somehow I barely escaped with just a few scratches. The heat dies away and the ghosts simply look over me and smile. They merge together and grin. The last thing I hear from them is sincere whispers.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of him."

I wake up surrounded by friends and family. Tales of the Anslem Butcher have finally come to an end. The curse of the mansion is no more. I burst into tears. Luke makes lot of stupid mistakes. Now he's dead, they can't be fixed. It's not like me to have a mental breakdown in front of crowd of people who have come to see me. But I'm sure they would understand.

I've just lost my husband. And right in front of me is Kylie, the very person Luke was trying to avenge. She was alike the whole time. She was able to escape. She's so lucky. If Luke knew Kylie's alive, I wonder if he would have changed his decision?

I'll never know.

Zachary and Marianne visit me whenever they can. We talk and share stories. Sometimes it's silly and simple, but simple is nice. I like simple. I like it when Zac brings his friends along, especially Rebecca. Everyone calls her Becca nowadays but she will always be little Becky to me. Their company is more effective than the painkillers pumped inside me.

Even through my streaming eyes, I still find the time to smile. With Luke dead, there will be many people trying to make a claim for his estate. Of course, I'm his next of kin, and everyone will get the money that they are entitled to, but Luke has already left me the greatest treasure: my twins. Our twins: Henry and Annalise.

I smile through the tears. It's all I can do for now. I have a company, family and house to run. I have to recover, and I will recover.

When I come home, I will cover the whole house in daffodils.