CHAPTER ONE
Shit! Shit, shit, shit!
I couldn't help cursing as I ran home. It was the only thing I could do after realising it was the my turn to cook dinner. After having to deal with a tonne of paperwork for uni, sort out two essays with the same deadline (come on, who does that?), and do all that presentation before handing the piece in… I had lost track of time and before I knew it, it was six in the evening.
By the time I reached our place - a Victorian manor that looked like it came from a horror movie - at least it looked like that from the outside - it was dark and I struggled to get the door open. And damn, I can't even do the simplest of things today after realising that our door was always open. Don't ask me why I put the key in. Or why I even have the key.
When I burst through, I immediately went to the kitchen, shoving my bag on the table. There was no one around.
"Hey, I'm back!" I yelled, "Sorry I'm late."
"Welcome back, Alice."
I froze before turning around at where it came from. It was Mattie, one of guys I had met when I was younger. He is also the owner of this huge manor. As for the other guy… I don't know if I even met him again after that first encounter.
His brown hair was tossed like he had just got out of bed and his emerald eyes just pierced through anything he saw.
At least that's how I felt when he looks at me. All the time. He looked like he was in his mid thirties but in reality, he was much older. He wouldn't tell me his actual age. Like why?
He was walking towards me with just a bathrobe on and just stopped on the other side of the kitchen island.
Mattie's manor was just called 'The Manor' - there was no proper name for it. It was situated in a small town and surrounded by modem housing. If you looked at it from outside the gates, you wouldn't have thought anyone would have lived there. Some of the trees that lined the area had been dead for a while, and the grass hadn't be cut.
Contrary to its appearance, the interior was modern. I remembered when I first arrived here with my brother when I was fifteen, that for a man as old as Mattie, he liked the modern taste of life. I suppose I had stereotyped him.
The kitchen was nearly all silver. It was small which was a surprise considering this is as manor, but I had never been in other manors to be able to compare. I just assumed that all the rooms would be large.
So here I am feeling ashamed when my more selfishness thought came to mind:
Oh… he had just… with Caim… who is most likely sleeping now.
And: Damn, he's hot. If only I could see a bit more of him...
"Caim ate already. We had to go out earlier." Mattie said.
Caim is my older brother, who's in a relationship with Mattie. Which is why I should stop having these selfish thoughts.
Nothing came to mind as I just blinked at him him a few times so I just said "Eh…"
Leaning down on the island, he picked an apple from the fruit bowl and took a right chuck out of it.
"How was today then? Did you manage to get everything done?"
"Ah yeah…" I said sauntering off to the fridge to check if there was anything I could eat. I finally find a leftover sandwich and ate that.
"Somehow I got them all done."
"So you're pretty much free till the end of the term?"
"Pretty much." I shrugged.
"Hm." I looked at him trying to gauge why he was even thinking about that. He had folded his arms, the left over apple on the table. Was there something wrong with what I said? What did I even say that was wrong?"
"Tomorrow we have to go out again. We might be late out so don't bother making dinner for us."
"Sure."
My brother and Mattie work during the night and with my uni work, I don't cross paths with them. I should know though. It's why Caim is sleeping now.
As he headed upstairs again, Mattie said he's going to go out for a while leaving me with my sandwich.
He does that to me. Makes me remember the questions I should really ask, but never get to. Part of the reason is that I doubt I'd get a straightforward answer.
What the fuck do you and Caim work as?
"Mattie…" I started to turn toward him and before I knew it, Mattie stood next to me, a finger on my lips.
"Don't, Alice. If you do, I'd have to kill you." He whispered a teasing smile playing around his face.
What? Is he… he's not serious, right?
I think my brain stopped working. I couldn't think of anything to say. For the first time I was pretty scared of Mattie. His gentle finger on my lip may as well have been something lethal and threatening. I know he's different to Caim and I, but I never really… thought he was capable of doing that. I keep thinking he was 'normal'.
"Hey, I'm joking, Alice! Calm down!" Patting my shoulder, he walked back to the island sighing. "But there will be a time when everything will be answered and when that time comes…" Mattie trailed off lost in thought.
All I could think of was "what the heck is he thinking?"
"Ah, I'm talking about nothing again. Forget what I said." He dismissed it with a wave of his hand as he walked back upstairs leaving me with a brain that didn't seem to work, and a half eaten sandwich.
We didn't always live here. Caim and I lived with our parents, Maggie and David Darling. I'm not sure what happened though. I had arrived home after walking from uni to arguing from the dining table.
"You're making a decision that'll affect the rest of your life with so little information, Caim! Plus your father and I do not approve of this man you're with."
I dropped my bag on the foot of the stairs once I got through the front door and tried to creep past the room.
"Alice, do you know anything about this?"
Damn.
"About what?" I froze in the middle of the doorway.
Our kitchen was pretty small. My parents were sat around the table, different shades of concern pasted on their faces - my dad's probably bordering on anger. Caim was stood before them looking exasperated.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." I said.
"I told you she wouldn't know anything about it!" Caim yelled. "Why are you asking her that question?"
"Because you just said she is involved." Maggie said. "Caim, honey, you don't really have a leg to stand on. This Mattie you talk about… we only know him as your boyfriend and to say you decided to plan a future together at seventeen, without your father and I knowing where you are and what you're doing… for the rest of your life is downright disrespectful!"
The sound of silence dwelled upon the room. I didn't want to move. I felt that if I swallowed this huge lump that developed in my throat because of my nervous, meant I got jabbed with another question.
It was my dad who broke the silence. "There is always the option of leaving this house."
What. The. Fuck. What the fuck is happening here?
Maggie turn towards him her face livid. "Are you crazy? I'm not letting Caim out of this house without any means of survival!"
"You know what…" I said nervously. "If you don't know what's happening then maybe you should ask Mattie." From the course of the conversation I've heard, the man who plays such such a large role in Caim's life has the answers to all of our problems.
"He won't say anything about it until I've signed up." Caim said. He wouldn't look at me.
"Caim…" Maggie started to say something before she was interrupted by David:
"Then leave. Your mother and I share the same idea, Caim."
"I absolutely do not! David, why did you say-"
"I'm leaving then." Caim said. It was like he had no emotion. "Alice, come on." As he walked toward me, he took my arm and started to guide me out of the house.
A million thoughts ran through my head. "Where are you taking me? What were you talking about? Why are you dragging me in this?" I tried to pull my arm out of his grasp but it was too tight. "Caim," I said in a louder voice. I needed to get to that part of his brain that wasn't shut off from everything. He had dragged me out on the front garden. "Caim, let go of me!"
That was when he stopped to look at me, a somber look his eyes. He looked like someone older than seventeen. He took my shoulders and looked at me in the eye.
"I'm not going to let you go, Alice. Right now you are all the family I have."
Shortly after that we arrived at this manor, welcomed by a Mattie who didn't ask any questions. He hasn't even asked those questions relating to that day to date. We've stayed there for four years now and since then we haven't seen our parents.
After that encounter with Mattie in the kitchen I headed up to bed. But that night, I wasn't sure of the time exactly, I woke up to something loud which left me staring wide eyed at the ceiling wondering momentarily where I was.
It was like fireworks so I didn't think too much about it, but after a few moments I rolled out of bed when they just seemed to get louder and more frequent. At this rate I know from the hours I spent watching crime shows, that they were gunshots.
Alarmed, I crawled over to the door slowly turning the handle to see what was going on. I hadn't even opened it an inch when it shut on me like the wind grabbed and pulled it shut. I heard Mattie shouting.
"Stay there, Alice and don't open that door no matter what happens!"
Just then a huge bang ripped through the air and pieces of the door and the dust rained all over me leaving a hole right in the middle. If my adrenaline hadn't kicked in I would probably be standing there a while longer. Running to the corner was all I could do, right next to the wardrobe and stayed in a foetal position.
If I had stood up I would have died.
I felt hot, a sweat soaking into my pajamas and confused.
Everytime I blinked I remember the scene in the hallway from the top of the stairs. There was a layer of dust where chips of wood from the railing had been blasted off with the shots. It covered the air and floor. What little was left hanging. Holes marked the walls and I could see Mattie, with a gun in hand, shooting away from me at the foot of the stairs toward the door.
Dear God, where the fuck is Caim?
The thought flashed through my mind. They're together, right? Mattie will protect my brother, right?
These thoughts mixed in with every single question left unanswered, along with my surroundings was not a good potion.
Two more shots hit the air and I covered my ears. Tears streamed my eyes. I had never been so scared in my life. Where was Caim? Caim would help me. Heck, is Mattie friendly toward me carrying that gun? He was pointing out the door… but he said he would kill me if I asked questions... Caim has known him for longer, surely his judgement is wrong?
Shit, shit, shit.
The shootings lasted for a while as I stayed where I was. I don't know how long had passed before they stopped. Silence hit the air for a good few moments.
I felt I should crawl out but I didn't.
"Alice?" A voice. It was followed by a creak of a door. "Hey, are you alright?" It was a calm voice - Mattie's voice.
I couldn't move. I tried to move my hands away from my ears but they just wouldn't move. Finding that out, I started panicking. My breath as hot, I could feel it on my cheeks.
"Calm down, honey." His voice was near me. He had probably knelt down. "Breathe slowly."
I felt something on my wrist. It was cool but against my heated skin, it felt alien. I screamed.
"Don't fucking touch me!"
It was then I could move, backing up to the corner as far as I could away from him. It was dark in my room but with the little light that came from the landing, I could see him covered in blood, a large smear covered his cheeks and across his mouth. His white shirt was ripped but the sleeves still retained their rolled up length on his arms. The shirt was just dyed in red. It matched his eyes that were otherwise a beautiful emerald colour. But it was a strange sensation to see that those blood red eyes held some sort of kindness and concern.
He had his arm stretched out as if he was going to touch me again but when he noticed me looking at that hand, he dropped it on his side.
"Alice, it's okay. Everything is fine now but you have to listen to me." He spoke with authority, slower than usual and exaggerated each word without accent. "I need you to grab your 'go bag'."
After a few weeks staying with Mattie, he had asked Caim and I to get a bag that contained all the necessities so that if needed, we can just grab it and go. At the time I didn't understand why we even needed one but after tonight I realised that if we wanted to stay with Mattie, we'd have to take on the danger that it brings. I always thought that danger was because of what Mattie was but after seeing what happened just now...
I nodded and I crawled out to the bed. It was a medium sized bag and every month I would look in it to check if there was anything I had missed. It included an empty water bottle, toiletries, some packet food you needed to add water to, some basic clothes, money and my spare phone.
With shaking hands I took the bottle out and after finding out out couldn't really walk without almost tripping over, leaned against the bed over to my bathroom. From the corner of my eye Mattie's eyes never left me.
After filling the bottle I washed my face of the tears I could taste.
"Alice?" Mattie's voice was gentle but with the same authority and he came up to steady me from behind. I didn't want to smell the blood on him so I tried to push him away but he just stood there. "There's also something you need to know. Could you please sit on the bed?"
In the mirror above the sink he was looking at me. I turned to him trying to see what he could say about what happened. But something clicked.
"Mattie, where's Caim?" It took me a few tries to find my voice and even then it was pretty quiet but I'm sure he heard me.
He took a deep breath. "It's what I need to tell you. Please," He gestured to the bed, "sit down."
No. No. No. No! Something happened. Something bad.
Tears pricked my eyes again.
If anything happened to Caim, what do I do?
My legs felt like lead as I walked the short distance and planted myself on the bed. Mattie followed, took the bottle out of my hands and placed it next to him on the floor. He knelt before me taking moth of my hands in his.
"Alice," he said. "Honey, Caim is dead."