Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.
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As I tried lifting the now unconscious boy, I realized why Corrine was so intent on receiving my help. He was very heavy and neither Corrine or her newly hired midwife would have been able to drag him away.
"Where would you like me to put him, Corrine?" I asked as her and Martha struggled to place a now very pregnant Cathy upon an old mattress lying in front of the large East facing window.
"The trophy room." Corrine grunted her response.
I nodded and dragged Chris down out of the attic through the second passage way that Corrine had just recently showed me.
While I dragged the seemingly lifeless form to that blasted room I wondered what became of his younger siblings. I had never seen any graves dug or anything of that sort. But then again, Corrine knew this house better than anyone and could have found a dozen places to hide two small bodies.
And here was their brother, soon to be joining them. After what seemed a long time, I had finally brought the boy to the trophy room.
It was with great happiness that I closed that door for what I thought would be the last time. I had spent all my life searching for peace. And in my own way I hoped that the boy...no Chris...would find it now too, if only in death.
I retired to my rooms after locking the door. Ready to forget this past unpleasantness. Ready to let whatever life Corrine had envisioned for herself come to fruition. Although, knowing Corrine, I doubted it would turn out much like she hoped it would.
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My mind couldn't take anymore and I stumbled towards the door. Just trying to get away. I needed to get away from this house.
But first, Cathy. It was the thought of her that kept me going. I finally reached the door and almost let a sob of relief escape as I realized the door was unlocked.
Without much heed as to how much noise I was making, or where I was heading to, I bounded out of the room.
Just happy to be free for a moment before the harsh reality of the situation came crumbling down upon me.
Cathy and I were now, utterly alone in the world. The deep faith I had tried to keep inside for my mother was now completely lost. How could she have let her two youngest die? I asked myself as I ran haphazardly through the winding hallways of Foxworth Hall. However, my mind refused to let me only chalk up the deaths of my siblings to some neglectful actions of a well meaning mother. No, I knew she had murdered them intentionally. 'How?'... I didn't know. But it was the answer to the 'why' of it all that had me so upset. Even without being told I knew that the deaths of her children were set up because my mother loved money and grandeur more than her own flesh and blood.
I continued to run through the halls, opening up random doors. Trying to find out exactly where in the mansion that I was. My midnight wanderings did next to nothing to help me orientate myself.
I opened another random door to my right. Fully prepared to shut it once again, expecting to see yet another guest room or perhaps a music room. Or even some kind of weird torture chamber wouldn't have surprised me that much by that time. But what I did see, did surprise me. It was a hospital room, or looked very much like one. I could still smell the pungent odor of cleaning solutions. The white hospital bed was empty and looked as if it had been vacated long ago.
With flash of insight, I realized this must have been where my grandfather spent his last years. Which of course meant he was already dead. And if he were already dead, why would momma still want hide us? Her Dresden dolls that she seemed to love so much, not that long ago.
I slammed the door shut. Wanting all of these hurtful revelations to end. I continued running down the corridor and thankfully finally made it to one of the main hallways. Looking around and trying to figure out exactly where I was, I determined that the attic entrance was over to the left of me. I jogged down to the other wing of the mansion, finally getting some idea of where I actually was.
After flinging open several doors, I finally reached the hallway that our room was located in. Without even really thinking, I opened the door to our old room. The room looked exactly as it had before.
Ignoring the rest of the room, I dashed up the attic stairs to the last place that I saw Cathy.
At first I thought no one was there, it was deathly silent. Then a second later the damp attic air was pierced with a scream.
But it was not what I expected, it was a baby's cry.
My heart stopped in my chest and I had to make a great effort to move forward. But suddenly my legs were carrying me swiftly to the back of the attic.
As I passed through the large entrance way that led to area where we usually sunbathed, the smell of blood assaulted me.
I almost retched as I saw my Catherine doll laying almost lifelessly upon that old mattress. A rush of guilt flooded my veins as I ran over towards her.
I kneeled down besides her, noticing the sheets around her were soaked through with blood.
"Cathy?!" I cried, shaking her gently, willing her to wake up.
Slowly her eyes opened, only a little more than a slit. But it was enough for me and I reached down to hug her to me.
"Cathy, are you alright. Tell me what happened." I urged as I hugged her to me. Suddenly she tensed up.
"Chris-behind you." Cathy warned feebly, but the fear in her voice was still evident even in her weak state.
I whipped around to see what she was looking at.
Momma was trying to walk discreetly back down to the attic entrance. I hurriedly stood and went to block her exit.
It was then that I noticed the bundle in her arms.
As I stepped in front of her, her head snapped up. Her blue eyes flashing indignantly before being quickly replaced with her usual plastic smile.
"Oh hello, Chris." She said calmly, only her nervous hand fluttering to her string of pearls belied her nervousness.
But what her other arm was holding drew my interest. All of sudden I realized how wrong I was before. She knew the whole time about Cathy's pregnancy! She had wanted the child for herself I realized.
She tried to side step me again but I stepped back and blocked her once more.
"Chris, what are you doing? I have to take care the baby. It really was foolish of you to not tell me about it before."
"I think you've been having enough trouble caring for your own children before worrying about another." I almost screamed at her. I wanted to push her, hurt her, anything for what she did to Carrie and Cory. But first I had to get my child from her arms.
"What do you mean, Chris? Everything I have done was for your own good.-"
"I've seen what 'good' your meddling did to Carrie and Cory. I know, Yes I KNOW. And I am Done Trusting you Mother. Now give me My Child!"
She suddenly started backing up as if she just realized that her pet kitten had turned into a panther while she hadn't been looking.
"No! I gave up everything for you. And now I can't have the one thing I want, a child. She's mine now."
"I swear, give her to me now or-"
"Or what? You'll go to the authorities? Who will believe you? You have no one else in this world, Chris. One day you'll come to believe what I told you years ago: 'money makes the world go 'round, not love'. And you'll learn that lesson the hard way if you ever try to go against me." Mother laughed bitterly at the very thought.
Oh it hurt. My heart constricts even now to think of that moment. To hear her verbally confirm what all of the past evidence had led me to believe. That my mother, momma, the one I had always tried to please, the one I had always loved, had betrayed me. She had killed my siblings, allowed Cathy and I to be beaten and was now attempting to take my child away from me.
Suddenly the rest of the world seemed to fade and all that mattered was getting away from this god forsaken house with Cathy and our child.
I pushed her up against the nearest wall and as gently as I could I grabbed the baby from her arms. Luckily she was very surprised that I would do anything against her so I was able to get the child from her quite easily.
She suddenly lunged back at me but I stepped behind a trunk and darted away from her. I had to focus on out maneuvering her since my arms were busy holding the new born baby.
As she lunged at me again, one of her heels got caught on one of the ribbons of the numerous paper flowers that covered much of the attic floor.
It caused her to fall forward and with a surprising smack, her forehead connected with the metal corner of one of the trunks.
I stood there staring down at her, not quite believing that she was unconscious upon the floor before me.
"Kill her."
I turned around to see Cathy leaning heavily upon one of the large armoires, a bloodied sheet draped around her. She could barely support her own weight and her face was extremely pale.
I looked back at our mother lying on the ground.
"Cathy, I can't-"
"Do it, Chris. I haven't the strength or I would do it myself. She took our lives from us Christopher doll. Even now we don't even know where the twins are because of her."
I swallowed a lump in my throat. I knew what had happened to the twins but I highly doubted that the knowledge of their deaths would in any way dissuade Cathy from what she was proposing.
"I hate her just as much as you do, Cathy...but I can't. I promise I'll come back with the proper authorities and make sure-"
"I heard what she said, Chris. It's true...no one will believe us!"
By this time, Cathy had collapsed back down to the ground. I walked over to her and tried to help her up.
She snatched her arm away from mine.
"You still love her don't you? More so than even me?" Cathy screeched, now crying.
"No, Cathy. I love you, it's just even now... I can't... Please can we just leave here? She will be dealt with later. Besides, it's still dangerous and the grandmother is still out there." I tried to reason with her. I couldn't explain to her that although I wanted our mother to suffer, I still couldn't bring myself to murder her. No matter how much she hurt us.
But Cathy only bowed her head and started crying on my should in earnest. I helped her up. It was awkward trying to carry my child and half-dragging Cathy down to our old bedroom.
Half way down, the baby started crying again. Finally I was able to get both of them into the bathroom.
I quickly set Cathy into the bathtub and started to wash the dried blood from her body. I was afraid that at any moment the grandmother or momma would come and lock the attic doors again.
After drying Cathy off, she started to wake up a little again. I ran to fetch her some clean clothes and helped her to dress.
"Cathy, we have to leave now. Can you make it, can you walk?" I asked worriedly.
She nodded absently, but I could tell she wasn't really there. Her eyes were glazed and numb, but at least she could walk.
I ran to get our meager clothes and another blanket to wrap the newborn baby in. I sighed as I looked down at our meager supply of cash. At least it would be enough to get a ticket out of this area and then we could...I didn't know. Tell someone what mother had done to us but the future seemed so foggy. I had to focus on getting us out of here first.
I gave Cathy a couple of our suitcases while I carried one and our child. I warned her to be quiet as we walked down the first corridors, it was unnecessary though. She didn't even seem to have the presence of mind to breath loudly.
Thankfully the hallways were all empty. I tried to walk as quickly, but slow enough for Cathy to keep up.
Finally we made it to the main staircase. Looking around and still seeing no one there, I began to get nervous. It seemed all their employees weren't working today. Was it Thursday? With a jolt I realized I didn't even know what day it was.
Trying to shrug off the uncomfortable feeling, I silently descended the stair case. Praying the whole time that the baby wouldn't start to cry again or that Cathy would fall behind me.
Thankfully we made it to the bottom of the floor and there I saw the large double doors that led to the outside world.
I had never walked through them before, the first night we had arrived through a back door. But that didn't matter to me. That door was what my dreams had been made of for a very long time.
Looking behind me I saw Cathy looking at the door with similar interest. Taking her hand I quickly guided her towards it.
Lucky for us, the doors were kept well oiled and didn't make a sound as we left. Cathy and I trotted down the long driveway before hurrying towards the cover of the forest. Collapsing down on the ground of the forest floor, Cathy stared back up at the house that we had been captured in for so long.
The defeated look had returned to her eyes, but it was still less disturbing than the cold numbness she had displayed before.
With an effort I helped her to her feet again. And we set off towards the train station. Still unsure what the future held for us.
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Next Chapter will focus more on Cathy and will most likely be the epilogue. And then we move forward onto the sequel. Well thanks for reading. Please let me know what you thought of it. All your reviews are very much appreciated, thank you!