Chapter 8: Aftershocks and new disbelief

Steve woke up with a shock, like he had just had a nightmare or some loud noise had awoken him. However, he couldn't remember dreaming and the house was filled with silence. He looked at his alarm and saw it was only seven in the morning. He sighed, because it meant that he had only had a few hours sleep and he would be unable to sleep again now. Ellen would probably be asleep for a few more hours and the servants were allowed to have a lie-in today too.

Then an idea sprang to his mind. No one would be walking around the house now, so he could do whatever he wanted. This morning was a great opportunity to go and find out more about the hidden room in the attic. One second after he had decided this, he climbed out of bed, pulled on some cloths still lying in a corner and started heading for the attic. Ten minutes later, he stood in the narrow corridor in front of the door that had held its secret for already many years. He opened it, walked inside, closed it and looked around at everything that filled the room.

All the walls of the room were completely covered with shelves upon shelves holding videotapes, except for the left wall, where there was a little space cleared for some screens and a few recorders taping everything that was happening in the house. The videotapes on the shelves were all labelled telling which camera it was and which time and date. Steve had already watched some of them taken in the period where he had lived here while the were researching the house and even some showing him the real Ellen and John Rimbauer with their children. Shocked he was when he noticed that here were actually many recordings of murders and disappearances, which could be very valuable information for the police. Therefore, he had decided to tell no one about this room and forbidden his son to do so either, because deep inside he wanted to find out Rose Red's secret himself and get a way to end the time of terror. The only thing he was still wondering was how it could have kept on recording every day, while no one came here to change the tapes every so often and keep it all in right order.

For this morning, Steve had decided to watch some of the video's from last night. In this way, he might find out what had happened to Sharon Smith, and may be even something else. Otherwise, at least he had the feeling that he was going to find something useful. He was just searching for the right tape showing him the staircase where he had found Sharon, when he had the feeling that someone was watching him. He turned around but saw nothing had changed and he was still alone in the room.

'Hello? Is anyone here?' Steve asked the empty room.

Thinking he had only imagined, Steve turned back to his search. However, only a few seconds later he turned around again quickly. Again, he had that feeling, and again no one was there. He turned back, grabbed the right tape and put it in a recorder to watch it on one of the screens.

At first, he saw only the stairs, five minutes later nothing had changed. Steve winded the tape to go through it quicker. Finally, after a long time, Sharon appeared into view. She was indeed looking around as though she had lost her way. Then she looked straight into the camera, her eyes filled with fear. However, Steve had barely time to realise this when the tape suddenly turned black.

'Damn, stupid tapes,' Steve muttered, while he tried to get it working again.

After a little time, the screen still showed nothing but darkness even though the timer told him that it must have taped something. However, Steve noticed he did see something. Through all the dark he could see a vague pale white figure, but is was too unclear to make out what or who it was. He sighed and gave up on it.

Steve looked up at the still black screen on which he should have seen nothing but his own reflection. Still that wasn't all; the pale white figure hadn't disappeared. It was still standing behind him, which could only mean that it was really there, right behind him.

He gasped and turned himself around as quickly as he could. There now floating in front of him was no other than the woman he had seen before, here in the same attic. The woman who hunted his nightmares and who tried to capture him in his dreams. It was the pale white ghost from Ellen Rimbauer.

'Steve… Don't try to conquer Rose Red. You know you can't and I can't allow it. Just let yourself in her power and live happily like your wife. Please Steve… Don't do it, don't kill yourself. Save your family and spare them the suffering,' Ellen's ghost spoke to him with a voice as if she stood in front of him in flesh and blood.

At first, Steve was too stunned to move or speak a word, but after she had begun about his family, he regained his ability to speak.

'I will do as I want and my family will not suffer! I will find a way to stop you and Rose Red. One day you will be gone and Ellen will be all mine again. There is nothing you can do about it!' he said angrily.

'Stop fooling yourself, Steve. It's is too late already again. You've gone too far, now you will pay and you will suffer…' Ellen spoke and then she slowly disappeared into thin air.

'Come back! Come back, you hear me! I will win, no matter what it takes!' Steve shouted to the already empty room. 'Trust me, Ellen Rimbauer. There comes a day where you will die forever,' he whispered after it.

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'STEVE!'

Steve nearly flew out of his chair from shock. His wife's voice had carried so loud to the small hidden room that it was nearly as if she was standing right beside him. Another thing he noticed was that her voice had sounded worried, nearly scared.

Momentarily forgetting everything that had happened so far this morning, Steve quickly cleaned up the room a little and hurried to get downstairs while not trying to be seen coming out of the attic.

'I'm coming, Ellen! Where are you?' Steve said; once he was somewhere save on the second floor.

'I'm in the kitchen!' Ellen yelled back.

Steve thought he now also heard a note of anger in her voice. Therefore, he went to the kitchen as fast as he could, because he was really wondering what had happened. There was only one thing he hoped it was not, and that was that it had something to do with the inaugural from yesterday evening.

Finally arriving in the kitchen, which took Steve quite some time due to the size of the house, he faced an awkward scene. Ellen stood on his left side with her back to the Solarium. Her irritated features contrasted with the colourful flowery background. On Steve's right, stood all the servants with their backs towards the kitchen wall. All of them looked frightened and pale white to their light grey surroundings. Standing right in front of him where his children, who looked as if they wished to just blend in with the wall and disappear. Steve also had one more second to realise that it was in the middle of January, while the whole Solarium was filled with blooming plants, before Ellen started to shout to him.

'Where have you been?'

'I – just wandering around the house.'

'Next time you start wandering, make sure I know it and that I can reach you if I need you and that I don't have to shout your name for half an hour!'

Steve decided to ignore this. 'Why did you need me then?'

'Because we have a crisis due to your stupidity.'

'Before I ask you to explain this, do all the servants have to be here with us? Moreover, do the children need to be here too?'

'Yes, because it's got everything to do with the children and the servants!'

'All right, explain. But please lower your voice, I'm only a feet away from you.'

'It's is not your decision to make how loud I speak! However, I will explain to you,' Ellen said in a more quiet tone. 'You told me one nanny would be enough, and against my will I agreed with you. Now since yesterday evening we're are left with no more than zero nannies. Apparently, she had enough of it and she run away. This however, can't be confirmed by the rest of the servants, because none of them saw her leave or noticed that she was planning on leaving. Well, there you have the story.'

'Okay, I get that, but then why are the children here?' Steve asked cautiously.

'I thought they might know a little more about it, because the nanny should have been with them the whole night,' Ellen answered, as if she was explaining one and one made two.

'And, did they know more about it?'

'They say they don't, but I don't believe them. How could Emma otherwise get downstairs during the inaugural?'

'I don't know, however, Emma did tell me that the nanny went for a drink here in the kitchen with the other servants,' Steve replied calmly.

Ellen just opened her mouth to ask for a confirmation from both her daughter and servants, when the phone started ringing.

'Ellen, please wait before you threaten anyone until I get back. No, I will answer the phone,' Steve added to one of the servants, who was already on his way. Then he left the kitchen without another word.

'Good morning, this is Steve Rimbauer.'

'Good day, Steve. I'm so happy that I reached you. By the way, I'm Julie Waterman, Emery's wife.' Julie said in a hushed voice.

'All right, what can I do for you?' Steve asked politely.

'It … it's, you know,' Julie answered in a watery voice. 'We were on your inaugural last night, and I went home after a while. This morning I woke up, but Emery still wasn't back! He has disappeared on his way home, I guess,' she ended with a sniff.

Steve remained quiet on the other side of the line. There was one thing he knew for sure, Emery had not disappeared on his way home. Emery had vanished here in Rose Red. The only trouble was that Rose Red made women disappear and murdered the men. So where was the body of Emery Waterman now?

'Don't worry, Mrs. Waterman. I'll try to find out where he is and what has happened. Don't inform the police just yet, please,' Steve replied after a while.

'All right, please let me know as soon as you find something.'

'Don't worry, I will…'

Steve stopped in the middle of his sentence. There echoed a scream from the kitchen…

Chapter 9: Dead gardens