Before Time Runs Out

Chapter 24

It had been a strangely sizzling summer and an extremely frigid fall. Ethel had taken one of the fire pokers and broken a large pane from the window, just enough for her to fit through it. The window whipped around her along with the snow, as she stood on the edge of the stone foundation of the house, a ten-foot drop below her onto the stone pavers. The outside of the house was iced already, and she slowly shuffled her feet to the side, hands pressed against the walls as she made her way around the house. The drop increased due to the house being built on a hill, and anxiety churned in her stomach as she continued at a slow pace. Her face stung from the chilly wind, her fingers feeling numb as she grabbed onto one of the metal drains attached to the side of the house. She had to get to Carmelita faster than this. She had to.

"Ah, you decided to show up. Thank you for at least seeing me without an appointment. I would have been very disappointed if you had said no," Matthias stood with a smirk on his face, a revolver in his hand. "I'm surprised you healed so well. I would have expected to hear of your funeral with where I hit you. Although this time my aim will be better."

"You're not walking off my grounds with your life, I can promise you that." Carmelita hissed, grasping her rifle tightly in her hands.

"That is quite a lovely rifle. M1893, I presume? Although I don't quite remember if they still make cartridges for those."

"I guess you're about to find out." She positioned her rifle, finger already on the trigger.

"Hm. I would love to talk for quite a bit longer. How is that curse of yours going?" Carmelita froze at the question, and Matthias knew he had caught her. "You know, I know how to break it. You wrote it in that letter to your dear poor girlfriend. She did not even notice that I had opened and restamped it. Seems as though she didn't care enough to read it."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Or maybe she just doesn't care about you. Ever thought of that?" Carmelita went still at his question. "She's never said I love you, didn't even try to check on you on the train."

"You're a liar."

"Am I? I remember her there. She did not even look at you when you were about to die. She was only focused on herself, defending herself from me. Not helping you. If she truly cared she would have done that."

"She does care about me!"

"Hm, or she cares for your money. That family name of yours, she's seen your wealth," he motioned to the house and the grounds around her. "She doesn't care about you Carmelita. She wanted you to die. She knows her name is in the will already, otherwise she would have tried to save you on the train. Save you from the curse." He took a step forward.

"But she did not, and she hasn't. You're already running out of time, and she hasn't even solved a simple little riddle of yours that requires a simple phrase that if she did care about you, she would have said a long time ago." Carmelita lowered her gun slightly a mix of emotions on her face. Was he right? No, he could not be. But what if he was? This is Matthias! He is a liar!

"And somehow after everything you have put her through and done to her, she's still pure. She does not deserve someone, something like you. You are tainted with that darkness, the same darkness as your parents. I have seen it in you before. I remember when Emeline passed. When you saw her bloodied body on the floor, the tiles soaking in the red of her. You liked what you saw."

"How dare you."

"You enjoyed seeing her bleed to death on the floor of your house. I was doing you a favor by getting rid of her so that you would not get rid of her yourself. Admit it, no one can ever, will ever, love a person like you. Carmelita Elikia Lorraine! forever alone and unloved. Born unloved, died unloved. It is quite sad actually. I'll make sure to have it engraved on your tombstone." Matthias had been taking a step towards her with each sentence, and he tore the rife from her hands and threw it off to the side, before grabbing her by her throat and pinning her to the ground. She tried to reach for the dagger in her dress, but one of her arms was pinned under in back, and the other under Matthias's shoe. She felt him press harshly against her throat with his hands, her airflow being cut off. She struggled and gasped for air, trying to get some sort of traction against the frozen ground with her shoes so that she could find a way to throw him off, but with no luck.