Chapter 7

Mariah's first day was a complete nightmare, the only person she talked to was her teacher, which wasn't the best of company.

Her teacher was strict. She was a tall woman, with short black hair and looked in her early forties. Mariah wasn't enjoying college at all, the building gave her the creeps and she had no friends. At least it was the end of the day.

Waiting for her outside was Grayson. Mariah jumped in the car.

"How was your day?"

"Just great, you didn't tell me I was going to be on my own"

"Ah, terribly sorry, one to one teaching is the best way of learning"

"Yeah really, in the class I was put in first there was 3 other people, not exactly an army"

"Princess, I want you to have the best possible education"

Mariah rolled her eyes and just sat there for the whole journey.

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The whole week went just as bad as the first day. There was nothing but homework to do at breaks and lunchtime. Mariah had to spend all her time in the library just reading anything. There was nothing else to do. It was either that or walk around the buildings like a loner.

The days seemed do draw on and on, the weather got very miserable as the weeks turned into months. It was December before she knew it. Then something interesting happened on a Saturday afternoon.

Mariah was watching TV, when the phone rang. Grayson answered it. Then after he finished he put on his coat.

"Princess, I have to see a client, its urgent"

"Sure, go ahead"

Grayson then shut the door on his way out. Mariah cautiously looked out of the window and saw him drive off. It was her opportunity.

Mariah jumped up and turned the TV off. Mariah was going to have a look around the house, see if she could find anything out about family.

Mariah first started in the living room. She opened the cupboards but all she found was bills and old cases that Grayson had been working on. She was spending ages, almost half and hour looking through drawers.

Then Mariah decided to head upstairs, look in Grayson's room. Mariah knew she shouldn't be in here. The room was on the other side of the house and was a lot bigger than hers, The view from the window looked out towards the front of the house. The driveway was still empty.

The walls were painted white and there was a double bed, wardrobe and dressing table. Mariah looked through his wardrobe, there wasn't anything but clothes and shoes. Mariah knew she had to be careful about touching things, if anything looked out of place when he returned, suspicions would arise.

Mariah decided to look in the drawers to the dressing table. Mariah was hoping to find at least something after 45 minutes altogether of searching, it was no use though. All she found was more bills and letters to various companies. Something did catch her eye though, it was a letter from a casino.

The letter was dated late 2006. Mariah began to read:

Dear Mr Sinclair

We thank you in deciding to join our casino. Enclosed is your casino membership card. All of benefits of becoming a member are listed on our enclosed leaflet. We have also included our events brochure. Don't forget your membership never expires.

Yours Sincerely


Paradise Casino

Mariah didn't understand. The letter was clearly addressed to Grayson, but he told her he wasn't a gambler. Perhaps he used to be. 2006 was a long time ago, two years before she was born.

Mariah decided to hold on to the letter. She folded it up and put it in her jeans pocket. Mariah then shut the drawer, and made sure everything looked like it did, when she came in.

It was a wasted opportunity though. Mariah sat down on the floor outside the bedroom, thinking. "It was a rare opportunity for me to have the house to myself, I probably won't get another go for a while".

Mariah looked around the corridor and stared. Then something caught her eye, a trapdoor in the ceiling. It was the attic. Mariah smiled and jumped up. "Great." Mariah was going to try and get up there, until she heard a car arrive and a door slam.

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Mariah hurried downstairs and ran to the kitchen. She thought of something. Mariah brought down some coffee cups and waited until the kettle boiled.

The door opened and Grayson entered. "Mariah"

"Hey dad," Mariah went to see him.

"I'm so sorry about running off like that, it was important"

"Its fine, just been doing my homework"

"I'm glad to hear it"

"Dad, why don't you sit down and watch some TV, you look like you could do with a rest, I'm making coffee"

Grayson didn't know what to do. "Well, if you insist,"

Mariah made sure he was sitting on the sofa, before she continued. She went back into the kitchen and found the kettle had finished boiling. In Grayson's cup, she put the coffee in a filled it up with water, then Mariah dropped something into the cup. They looked like pills. Mariah put three into the water and stirred around.

To make everything look normal, Mariah made her cup of coffee and drank. She then handed Grayson his cup.

"Drink up dad"

"Thanks, princess"

Mariah just stood there and watched while sipping her coffee. After ten minutes Grayson had fallen into a sleep. "Excellent," she thought.

Mariah turned off the TV. Grayson would be dead to the world for a few hours. This was her chance.

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Mariah went upstairs and opened the trapdoor to the attic, a ladder came down. Mariah climbed up. It was pitch black up there. Luckily for her there was a light switch, it was a dim light but good enough to look around,

The attic was medium sized. Mariah could tell not many people went up there, it was dusty. To carry anything that she might find, Mariah brought her rucksack with her. To begin with it looked like the average attic, boxes everywhere full of old stuff nobody used. There was boxes of old books, games, toys and clothes.

"Damn," she muttered. Mariah found nothing. She must have been half an hour looking. Then when Mariah was going to give up and accept Grayson wasn't hiding something, she decided to look in the far corner of the room.

There was a old wardrobe, armchair covered in dust and a chest. Mariah opened the wardrobe, fortunately there was no lock, it opened without trouble, being as it was very old.

Mariah was surprised at what she found. It was female clothing. The woman who wore the clothes must have been a smart dresser, being as the clothes in there were suits, shirts, smart dresses and shoes. It didn't seem like the sort of thing her mum would wear. Perhaps it might have been from even before Grayson moved here, it wasn't unknown for things to be left behind in attics.

As Mariah brushed through the clothing, she felt a silk dress. The material felt thick. As Mariah pulled it towards her she realised it was an old wedding dress.

"Strange," she whispered to herself.

Mariah thought this because women usually loved to keep there dress, it was their big day. Mariah wondered who it could have belonged to. Mum had never been married. Perhaps dad was married after all. Mariah had enough of looking through this wardrobe, she closed the doors and decided to look through the chest.

The chest was slightly harder to open, it wasn't locked but just a bit stiff, this couldn't have been opened for a long time. After much trying Mariah finally got the thing open. Dust came out in a cloud. Mariah brushed it out of the air by waving her hands.

A cloth covered the top of the chest. Mariah lifted it and found many photo frames stacked. "What the hell," Mariah didn't know what was going on. Mariah turned the photo round, she had to wipe away the thick dust first. In the photo was a woman, she had medium length black hair, she looked in her forties and had a pale complexion. There were many photos of her.

There was no name, by her photo, not a clue of who she was. Mariah decided to put some of the photos in her rucksack. Mariah dug deeper and found another picture, this one wasn't framed. It was the woman, she looked younger, and she was wearing a long white dress, it looked very like the wedding dress in the wardrobe.

Then there was a book, Mariah opened it. She could tell it was old, she knew the smell of old paper. Mariah sat in the sofa and began to read.

August 2007
Why won't her believe me, can't he see she is trying to kill me, nobody believes me only Matthew

It was somebody's diary. The writer seemed desperate. The writing seemed feminine. She had heard that name Matthew before, but where. Mariah wanted to read more, then she remembered the time. She had been up here at least an hour and a half. Mariah put the diary in her bag and the wedding photo. Mariah zipped her bag up really tight, put everything back to as it was, turned the attic light off and climbed downstairs.

Mariah closed the attic trapdoor and made sure it was secure. Mariah then went into her room and opened her wardrobe and safely put the rucksack in there.

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Mariah went downstairs and went to check on Grayson. He was still asleep but she could tell the sleeping pills were wearing off, he started to move.

Mariah took his cup way, washed and dryed it. Mariah decided to make herself some beans on toast. It was the most she ate in a while. Mariah sat at the dining table. As she was eating, Grayson appeared.

"I must have slept for hours," he said

"Oh yeah, I noticed you drift off, didn't wanna disturb you though," Mariah said innocently.

Grayson nodded

"Is that all you're eating"

"Its all I feel like"

"No wonder you're so thin, you don't eat properly, I haven't seen you eat a proper meal since you got here"

"This is proper"

"You call beans on toast proper"

"It fills me up"

"As you wish, but tomorrow I'm cooking you something"

Mariah just nodded and continued eating.

All over the weekend, Mariah read more of the diary she found in the attic. There was another entry

August 2007
I caught her in the act, trying to poison me. Its these pills she has, malaria pills, what for I don't know, she's not going anywhere. She's been mixing my pills with malaria ones. No one will believe me, only you diary. Matthew understands me, diary, he's going to rescue me from him and her.
I bet it was her who murdered Tom, the old witch, anyway I must go someone is coming

Mariah wanted to read more and more, she turned a few pages

She admitted she was trying to get rid of me, I got her in the attic, she said she hated me and I was not fit to be a wife. How dare she. It was her with the baby clothes. Then she said I was hurting her, the old witch. He believed her, they both did, he had me sent away. Diary my only true friend, I write to you from this place he has sent me. Only Matthew can help me

The writer was getting more and more desperate in her writings. Mariah would love to know who she was and the others she spoke of. She couldn't ask Grayson, she needed to know from someone else, but how.

If only she knew that the information was closer than she thought.

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