The Red House

Chapter 15

Matthew stared deep into Feather's mysterious sad eyes. They gave off a message that screamed for help.

Feather was just a poor girl who needs someone to help her who claims that she didn't want that help she needed desperately.

She must've noticed how Matthew was looking back at her, turning away from his gaze. She turned herself around, but Matthew took hold of her hand before she could get away. She forced him to turn back to him, and she did.

"Trust me." Matthew whispered, "It's about time you did."

Feather rolled her eyes and clicked her lips at Matthew's stubbornness. "Matthew..."

"Feather, please." He said. "You deserve a better life than this. I know that, and you know that too."

She took her time and weighed down her thoughts. She had nothing too loose, yes. And Matthew was right. She used to have goals and dreams. What happened to those? But her life, right now, doesn't have room for those kinds of things. But why should it have to be that way? It has been years and maybe it's about time she grew up and fought. But should she really get Matthew sucked into this mess?

She looked up at Matthew's gentle eyes and saw the sincerity in them. Matthew was too nice for maybe, just maybe, the right reasons. But who was Matthew to her anyway? And who was she REALLY to Matthew? They've only been "together" for two weeks. Matthew seems to have grown a bond to Feather. But she doesn't feel it. She wasn't supposed to feel any sort of development towards a client, never. But with Matthew, it wad different. He looked on to her as a friend, and deep down, she does too. There were times that she felt comfortable around Matthew that it was easy for her to vulnerable. Why was that? Maybe... maybe Matthew was supposed to mean something in her life. But what? Her savior? Maybe...

"I so badly want to get out of this house, Matt." She finally admitted. "But I can't."

"Why not?" he asked.

She sighed, bracing herself to tell the whole truth. "Matt, this place is like a mafia: once you're in, there's no way out."

Matthew's face hardened. "Would you like me to talk to Patricia?"

She shook her head. "It's not Tricia." She paused as she bit her lips. "Tricia's just the house mother-in a way. But she's not the total head."

"Who is?" he wondered.

Feather stared to pace back and forth in front of Matthew with a shaken face. She was toying with her fingers as she told him more.

"No one knows, but Tricia." She said. "All we know is that it's a he."

"That must be one perverted man." Matthew concluded.

"Are you sure there's no way out?"

She winced, bobbing her head from side to side. "There is one way."

He nodded, waiting for her to say more. He was willing to do anything and everything to get Feather the life she deserved.

"A lawyer." She shrugged. "But a really good one."

"Oh..." Matthew turned away from Feather, hiding his sudden shame.

A lawyer. He couldn't afford that at the moment. He JUST got two new jobs and he hasn't had his first pay yet. This could take sometime for both their parts.

Feather saw Matthew's dismay. "But I already know one." She added.

"You do?" Matthew turned back. "But if you already have one, why are we having this conversation?"

She winced again. "That's the other complicated part." She gulped.

"The lawyer's my father."

"You said he was dead." He pointed out, confused again.

"I lied..." she admitted with blush on her cheeks.

Matthew shook the new off and got back to the real subject at hand.

"Okay, so let's get your father to help."

"We can't..." she bit her lips. "That's the other, other complicated part."

"What? Why?" he asked. "So, what if you haven't talked to him in years, he still loves you. I'll find him for you."

"Because there's another, other, other complicated part." She confessed, watching Matthew get agitated. "Matt, I'm sorry. But there's a reason why I ran away from home-away from him."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can deal with it" he assured with a forced smile. He was getting worried and panicked.

She sighed. She licked her lips and got herself ready to tell the final distraught part of her long tale. This part was the one that started it all. This was the biggest puzzle to her game.

She bit her lips, before telling herself to just get it over with.

"Because... I think, well, we both think..." she took in a deep breath, "... that.... I killed my brother."