Rosie made certain that Charlie and her friends saw every part of Davenport. Every landscape, every shop, every restaurant, every neighborhood, Charlie thought that each sight was either beautiful or just cute. She wanted to explore them all and get a closer look but for now she had to focus on her book. She would experience the fun of those sights later.
"Hey Rosie is there any horror themed stores around here?" Angel asked.
"I do believe that the boardwalk has a VHS shop." Rosie answered.
"A VHS shop? Those are still around? I thought they were extinct."
"Well apparently one still exists in our little town. Would you like me to drop you off there?"
"Is there any other place that sells things relating to the horror genre?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Then I guess it's better than nothing"
"Angel you told me you used to watch VHS tapes all the time when you were a kid." Vaggie said. "In fact didn't you used to idolize an actor from one of those tapes?"
"Oh yeah Baxter Holloway."
"Who?" Charlie asked.
"Baxter Holloway. When I was a kid he was a famous actor who played a monster hunter and a demon slayer. In all his films, he traveled around the world fighting supernatural evil in an intense battle of blood and gore." Angel said. "He was my first exposure to horror fiction. I still remember the first film I ever saw, Slaughter of the Demons. I was eight years old and my brother accidentally rented the wrong movie. We pissed ourselves and screamed til our lungs were soar but it was one of the greatest experiences of my life."
"You saw that crazy shit when you were eight?" Vaggie said. "No wonder you're so screwed up."
"Hey that did not screw me up. In fact it made me mature early."
"Right."
Rosie drove down to the boardwalk and Angel stepped out of the vehicle to seek out the VHS shop. After that she drove back to the mansion where the ladies shared a small lunch of finger sandwiches that were prepared by Niffty and then adjourned to the library. It was an eight-sided room that appeared to be a study. A dark wooden desk sat in the middle of the room. A seemingly endless supply of books lined the walls.
"This is where I do all my writing." Rosie explained. "It is quiet, peaceful, and the books I read provide excellent inspiration and grammar checking."
"I can see why." Charlie remarked, impressed with the room. "This is every author's dream location for writing."
"Indeed. I don't know if I would have ever made my novelist dreams become a reality if Alastor hadn't of gifted me with this room. I do hope that this room can help you reach your literary goals just as it did for me. Now shall we get started?"
Charlie produced her manuscript which she and Rosie looked over together. Vaggie tried to spend her time reading the books in the library but she just couldn't ignore the paranoid feeling in her gut that something was not right about this entire visit.
"Really Charlie I can't see why your work hasn't been published." Rosie said. "It's truly amazing."
"You really think so?"
"Yes. Why it's a downright sin that so many publishers have rejected it."
"Well the last one who turned me down said it was because the concept wouldn't appeal to today's readers."
"Oh dear, that old chestnut." Rosie chuckled. "Darling let me tell you a little secret about publishers like that. They don't actually know the first thing about good literature or what's appealing, they get their knowledge from media such as bogus talk shows and blogs. That's what makes them believe their experts on what's entertaining and what's not. But to be a real expert, you need to expose yourself to all types of literature. Even the ones you're not fond of."
"Have you ever done that?"
"Plenty of times as a matter of a fact. Before I began my writing career, I read many books that I enjoyed or despised. One I especially hated wasThe Catcher in the Rye, painfully droll if you want my honest opinion. But nevertheless I would still re-read it to get an understanding of what others found to be so entertaining about it."
"Wow I never thought of doing something like that."
"And I'll let you in on another little secret. My first story was rejected fifty times."
"You're lying."
"No I'm not. It was considered by many to be utterly ridiculous but I just kept on searching and searching until I found the right publisher. And I promise you Charlie you'll find the right one for your book eventually."
"Miss Parish." Vaggie said. "What is your story about anyway? I'm not very familiar with your works."
"Well my very first book Of Forbidden Love and Freedom was a gothic, supernatural love story. It told of a slave and his master's daughter who was a secret abolitionist, the two would work together to help slaves use the Underground Railroad and escape up to the North. The master's daughter was born with the gift to communicate with the dead and she would rely on knowledge from the spirits of the slaves who died on her father's plantation, to give them warnings of slave catchers and secrets to the Underground Railroad. Throughout their crusade, the slave and master's daughter fell in love."
"You really should read it Vaggie." Charlie said. "It's incredible. It's my favorite book ever."
"I have countless companies in my room. I'll give you one as a complimentary gift."
Rosie quietly yet elegantly stepped out of the library. Once she was too far to hear any chatter from the library, Vaggie decided to finally voice her honest opinion about their stay so far.
"I don't like this Charlie." Vaggie said.
"Like what?"
"This vacation. This place. These people."
"Why? What's wrong with them?"
"Something just doesn't seem right about them. Especially their 'master' I mean have you not noticed the way he stares at you all the time?"
"Well you're not wrong to be suspicious about that. He does look at me a lot but he looks at you and Angel too. It's because he's not very social and we're pretty much strangers to him. He's probably anxious about us."
"He doesn't look at me and Angel the way he looks at you."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't think you were invited here for your book."
"Well why else would I be invited here?"
"Well I have a theory. You mailed them your picture, he's rich and secluded, you're a very attractive young woman, I think he and his cousin are running a secret sex trafficking ring."
"Oh really Vaggie."
"Think about it. He doesn't usually allow visitors but the sight of your picture convinced him to make an exception for you. He likes how you look, he has money, and he is secretive. Three common traits in sex traffickers."
"I seriously doubt a sec trafficking ring would take place in a small town. You know where the people know each other and are prone to gossip. It's not like in the city where it's full of strangers and you never know when someone goes missing right away."
"You're saying sex trafficking can't happen in a small town?"
"No but it's very rare. Running something like sex trafficking in a small town would be extremely risky and Alastor doesn't strike me as the reckless type. Or the type to abuse women."
"You don't even know him. You don't know anything about him. Or his cousin or anyone else in this house. What makes you so sure he's not trying to exploit you or something?"
"I can't really explain it Vaggie but for some reason I feel completely safe in this house and I feel like that I have nothing to fear from Alastor, Rosie, Husk, Niffty, in a weird way I feel like they could become good friends to me. Good friends to me like you and Angel are. My instincts say that in their hearts they're good people."
"I think you're being way too trusting."
"I'm not a child Vaggie. I can take care of myself."
"But what if your instincts are wrong?"
"What if your instincts are wrong? Isn't just as likely for you to be wrong about them as it is for me?"
"No because my instincts are realistic."
"Oh so that means mine are childish and stupid."
"That's not what I said."
"But that's what you meant. Vaggie you always do this."
"Do what?"
"You always assume that you know exactly who a person is right away and that I'm too naive to make it on my own. Well I'm not. Why do you think I wanted two people I trusted to accompany me to a place I had never been to before to meet strangers? Is that something a naive person would do?"
"You just don't understand Charlie. You don't know how evil some people can be."
"Because I didn't grow up in the slums like you did? Because I was born into a family with money? Because apparently my life was easier than yours? Vaggie you have no idea what I have experienced growing up. Having money doesn't mean you'll never know pain or sadness."
"You know what I'm done with this conversation." Vaggie said. "I have made you upset and there is no chance of common sense reaching you when you're upset. Talk to me when you're ready to actually see reason."
She walked off in a huff.
"You know you're not always as sensible as you'd like to think!" Charlie called. "Sometimes you can be completely irrational!"
Charlie took a deep breath to settle her anger and then calmly proceeded to look over manuscript for what must've been the millionth time, checking for an errors or any improvements she could make. Once again not knowing that she was once again in the sights of a shadow.