Ruby ran for hours, her legs aching, pumping as fast as they could, her lungs tight and burning.
She ran miles, all the way back to her home town.
She shared the stories of her nights in the mansion.
Decades later, the mansion still haunts.
[book tw...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER TWO
"Isaac, I have to go right now."
Sophia grabbed her coat and began pulling it over her arms. Isaac looked at her with concern.
"What happened?" he asked.
"The museum! It caught on fire! There were kids there, Isaac... I really must get going."
Isaac glanced at Kylie. She was already staring at him, though, with alarm swimming in her eyes.
The museum was home. Their home. Only Sophia didn't know this. Sophia was a nurse who cared about any human being she'd ever known about. Sophia was good. Only good. She was the purest person Isaac had ever met. He loved her. She loved him. And yet, she didn't know anything about his past. About the museum. About his home.
"Let me come with you," Isaac said.
--
Kylie heard the door close. She sat up, slowly and painfully, wincing at the burns on her skin. She took in everything surrounding her. The colour of the walls, the paintings, the water damage on the ceiling and finally, the clothes. They were spread out a little everywhere, a worn out shirt wrinkled on the dresser, a pair of overalls sticking out of the drawer, socks on the floor... Kylie remembered how messy Isaac could be in the mansion, but Parker always told him to clean up. Sophia probably didn't mind it. Her accessories were scattered a little everywhere too. The place gave off a cozy, carefree vibe. Kylie almost felt at home.
She started to search through drawers, rummaging through folded clothes, searching for something, anything. She needed to know how close they really were. Was Isaac really marrying her? Were they planning on having kids? When she found nothing she searched through the lining of Sophie's dresses. She felt something poking through. This peaked her interest. She began feeling through the fabric, feeling things that were metallic and potentially precious. Finally, she tore it open and gold necklaces fell out. Gold. Real gold.
Kylie had hit the jackpot.
She started searching for more.
She dug through the piles of clothing, sliding her hands through shirts and overalls and even undergarments. She needed everything she could find.
And then she found a ring.
It was real, realer than ever. Beautiful, even. She had no idea how Isaac could have possibly afforded it.
Carefully, she slipped it onto her finger, watching it move and glimmer against the minimal reflections of light. Her heart stopped. She could feel her adrenaline pumping. It consumed her.
And then, she heard the door unlock. In a hurry, she quickly grabbed the golden necklaces and shoved them into her pockets. She looked around the room. The door was an option, but not a safe one. She'd likely encounter Isaac or Sophia on the way out, which was too risky. She glanced at the window. It was an option that was probably safer and quicker.
And alas, she covered herself in whatever clothes she could find, wrapping sweaters around her head and pulling socks over her hands. Then, she scrambled out the window. She heard her name as she ran, her legs moving as fast as they could. It was Isaac's voice that was calling her. He was yelling her name in a kind of desperate way, and she knew that he was running after her. He must have stopped eventually, though, because he never caught up.
