A New Estate - Crimson Peak

Chapter Thirty Three

The next morning, I woke up alone in bed with the sun shining onto my face and my pelvis aching.

The flickering seconds between waking and becoming fully alert was a short moment of beautiful bliss, for once I felt content and the silence of the manor allowed me to get distracted in my thoughts of the previous night.

The short moment of reminiscing led to the grim reminder that I still needed to get up and wash after falling asleep with Robert at my side, along with Lucille, who had remained forgotten for a second of pleasantness.

Rather than lying there and letting the giddiness of last night turn into bitterness, I decided that it was time to break out of my stupor and threw the covers away from my legs.

Deciding that today would be the perfect opportunity to get some washing done, I started work on stripping the linen from the bed, China assisting by standing on the middle of the bed and nipping at the corners of the sheet as I tugged at them.

Once the bed was cleared, I set the bundle of dirty linen beside the door and discarded my tousled clothes from the night before on top and ran myself a bath.

As I soaked in the warm water, I let myself get lost once again in an imagined world of a married life with Robert.

A blissful existence with a fixed home, no ghosts and Chine, who in reality was snoozing on the floor by the open bathroom door.

That was until I got out of the tub, which was when she decided that attempting to knock me over as I went to step over her was a better idea than any dream she was having.

After the attempted murder, I got dressed in a fresh set of clothes, pinned up my hair into a messy bun to avoid the collar of my clean dress getting wet and picked up the dirtied cloth from the floor.

China trotted out of the room in front of me as soon as I opened the door, her tail wagging as if she didn't have a care in the world and hadn't just tried to kill me.

Finding the empty washing basket inside my parent's temporary room, I set the dirty items inside and pick it up to start a detoured route to the kitchen, intending to check the men's rooms on my way and pick up any dirty clothes.

It had been an agreement upon arrival that they would leave any clothes that needed washing in the left corner of the room, nearest to the door, so that it was easy for me to spot and grab without imposing on their privacy.

By the time I had reached the fourth room, my basket was already nearing full capacity.

So, after dumping Jonathan's load on top of the pile, I backed out of the room and closed the door to start my way to the kitchen.

Splitting a load this big would be considerably easier than attempting to carry it all down by myself in one go.

As the door clicked shut, an unpleasant shudder coursed through me as I felt something brushing past me.

Goose bumps raised on my arms and the back of my neck prickled at the contact, my grip on the basket tightening to stop it from dropping from my hands.

Turning on the spot, I try to see what had grazed past me, entirely expecting to see Lucille back to torment me and ruin my good mood.

Instead, I was surprised to see Thomas stood at the end of the corridor, his figure of pure white and rustic colours standing out amongst the darkness, his sunken eyes boring into mine.

We stayed this way for a heartbeat until he gave me a somber smile and turned to continue around the corner at the end of the corridor.

"Thomas? Wait," I called after him as he stepped out of sight.

Setting the basket down outside of Jonathan's door, I ran after him with China's bark bouncing off the walls as she gave chase with me.

Turning the corner myself only led to more doors and no Thomas, but I was determined to find him again.

I had questions that I believed only he could answer.

My eyes flittered over the empty walls and closed doors as I tried to decipher where he had gone.

Slowly, I continued down the corridor, my pace picking up as I headed for the stairs that lead to this split-off corridor, two sets of stairs were set on either side and headed up with a lift between the two flights that I knew led up to the freaky toy room and Lucille's bedroom.

In my haste, I almost ended up colliding with George as he unexpectedly stepped out of one of the rooms I thought to be locked.

"Whoa," he exclaimed, catching hold of the top of my arms to steady me, "careful there, what's the rush?"

"Sorry, it's nothing."

"A whole lot of nothing to have you racing 'bout like that."

"Honestly," I smiled, trying to protest.

Though my answer was cut off by the metallic clank of the lift.

Both of our heads snapped to the noise, China was stood in the alcove, barking and looking at us almost expectantly.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go."

I gently wriggled my arms out of George's grip and rushed down to meet China, just barely catching that man's bemused look as I left.

"Hey, if you see Robert, tell him to get his ass back to work!" He called after me.

Stopping beside China, I looked towards George and gave him a nod, which appeased him enough for him to leave and head back outside, leaving me alone with the dog once again.

I turn my full attention to the lift, resting a hand on the back of China's neck in an attempt to settle down her excitement.

To say that I was surprised to see Thomas waiting inside for me would have been a liar, though I had almost half expected him to have been fooling around with me.

"Was there any need for you to run off like that?"

Thomas only smiled, a strangely enchanting look on a ghosts' face, and held his hand out towards me.

"Please, come with me, I have much to explain."

I looked at his hand and suddenly felt hesitant about my initial want of getting questions answered, China on the other hand seemed more than happy to traipse into the contraption and sit at his feet.

"Traitor," I hissed at her, she only wagged her tail and stared at me with her cute brown eyes.

Thomas stood waiting, his hand outstretched and his expression patient.

I took a hesitant look over my shoulder, making sure that George had truly left and that the area was clear of any other living human, then I nodded and took his hand, stepping into the lift.