The Red Wing Mansion

Chapter Twelve

7 days later

The next week, there is a package dropped off at the door. Claudius Fontaine has been ignoring me, and in a way, it feels like we broke up. It was so stupid. All of this. He was just a ghost and a dangerous one at that; I could realistically never have a relationship with him.

I'm sure that's exactly what he was considering also.

I was getting used to being normal again, with normal expectations.

However, I didn't expect a package to arrive.

I wait for Claudius to appear without saying anything but he does not, so he isn't interested in the delivery. I take it outside on the back porch where I sit cross-legged to open it up. It was from Robert. I open it up, and inside is a wooden box. Inside that, is a single bone. A leg bone?

It's old, it's creepy, but I pick it up, feeling a foreboding sense about all this. This was a femur bone.

I think about the skeleton in the closet... Claudius called them his bones.

So why did I suddenly feel that was a lie? What if this was about Aelia's bones?

I had my suspicions.

I turn back to the mansion, femur in hand, and I stride back inside. I don't delay now. I head straight to the closet and the creepy skeleton left in a pile. I immediately look for a femur bone, and I find only one – the opposite of what I'm holding. The same size. What I confirm, is that this skeleton had been missing this other femur. But not anymore. I was holding it in my hand right now.

I place the bone down in the pile, and I shut the closet door.

When I turn around, I half expect Fontaine will be there to explain, or to scold at the very least, even after a week of being absent.

Instead, it's still empty nothing air.

It's like Claudius Fontaine doesn't exist anymore.

****

5 months later

I stayed the entire duration of my contract. I pulled through. For one reason only. Money. Yup, Robert paid me on time every month, and it was enough to stay. At the end of it all, I got in some great footage and I had some amazing moments to myself.

And I had honestly convinced myself Claudius just ascended into heaven, or hell – and just moved on from this world.

To not even show himself once in half a year, was odd. To not even feel his presence, was just another confirmation. He was gone-gone. I don't know where, but he wasn't coming back, either.

I fall asleep on the last night of my stay with all my belongings packed away.

It was time to say goodbye to the Red Wing.

That night, everything changes.

I dream vividly of absolutely nothing. It's probably the only strange thing at first.

I loved to dream, and I always dreamt, but this night it's different.

And when I wake up?

The first thing I feel, when I open my eyes – is I have a sore throat, and a burnt smell of ash up my nose.

I sit up, sneezing and coughing violently. Although nothing is expelled from my nose or mouth – I can taste the acrid smell inside my body.

It's like I'm dying. I don't even have time to notice all the colour and all the strange noises around me. I've rolled out of the fresh sheets to collapse on my knees, coughing repeatedly – until abruptly all the smell and pain fades at once.