The Red Wing Mansion

Chapter Four

That afternoon I go to grab my phone from the master bedroom. It was the end of my duties. But I had... admittedly, decided to leave the master bedroom untouched.

It wasn't cleaned this time, but I would do it next time.

I walk toward the closed white door, and grab the grey handle.

Fontaine had been absent in his haunting, since our tiff in the garden and the laundry.

Now I open the door, with a plan simple in mind.

It was dusk and I knew how quickly the light faded, so... I was leaving immediately. I wasn't going to linger.

Even if Fontaine and I repeat last week... when he cornered me up here.

I suck in a breath and I open the door.

My phone is on the floor, and it's slid... just under the master bed.

The – the bed. It wasn't a master bed. What a stupid way to phrase it.

Nothing about the room is out of the ordinary – which makes me oddly disappointed.

Time to scoop up that damn phone and get out of here. I take a few steps forward, and then I do notice a difference.

There's a riding crop on the bed.

At the edges.

The door behind me creaks, and I spin but it doesn't shut.

I look around, turning in two circles, waiting for Claudius to appear. When he doesn't, my phone buzzes and I face it once more. It still had battery, but it was low.

I walk over and lean down, my eyes level with the bed sheets and the riding crop, as I pick up the phone and stand back up.

I check the message that just came through.

Rob.

Hello, Alix. I know you're backpacking before college, but I would like to make the offer anyway. Please consider a full time position of caretaker for the Red Wing. I need help for 6 months. If you can accept, you can even stay in the Red Wing – the master bedroom is all yours. Let me know if you'll take up the offer. Rob.

I look at the master bed – which I decide to call it. And I stare at that riding crop.

I have a little smirk on my face, as I lean down to touch it.

Realising at the last moment that it's not clean – and it's actually dotted with dried brown blood stains.

I stumble back from it and I turn around, feeling a chill pass through my entire physical body.

Out the window, the beige sky is turning amber.

Time to bolt!

Claudius Fontaine is not here – or at least, not showing himself.

Heart clenching from the view of blood on that dusty old crop, I power walk out of there.

This time I make it to the car safe, with no rolled ankle.

I turn the car on and the head lights, putting it into drive before I linger any longer.

I pull out – and I decide to think about all this when I get to my accommodation.

****

After another week walking around town, I'm half way through my stay and in just one more week I'll be going home... to begin college... or, if I push college back one more year, I could be... yeah, I'm thinking about it, alright?