Tiny Crown

Chapter 10

As Emilia changed out of the pajamas and into the clean clothes, she almost fell and held onto the chest of drawers to keep herself standing. Sighing, Emilia passed it off as stress and headed downstairs.

Evan was leaning against the counter, opening some letters. Hearing the creak of the stairs, he turned to look at her.
"Good morning," he said before turning to look at his letters. "How are you feeling?"
Emilia stared at him for a second as she walked down the stairs. Another wave of light-headedness hit her. "I don't know," she said honestly.

He frowned at one of the letters before setting it back down.
"Are you doing anything for breakfast?" she asked quietly.
He shook his head. "Not today. What do you want?"
"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Toast or something will do fine."
He nodded. "Okay."

As Emilia was finishing her toast, there was a knock on the front door. Evan froze up and stared off for a moment. There was more knocking and he snapped out of his daze.
"Go upstairs into your room and shut the door."
Emilia just stared at him for a moment. "What?"
"Upstairs, into the room and shut the door," he repeated, sounding a little angrier. Emilia grabbed the toast from the plate and rushed upstairs. She shut the door before setting the plate down.

Another wave of light-headedness hit her as she turned too quickly. She walked back over to the door and pressed her ear against the crack between the door and the floor. Emilia couldn't hear much other than a few muffled voices.

"Mom told me what she was doing the other day, Evan," she managed to hear. It was the same person as before, Evan's younger brother. Nathan. "Are you going to tell me what you did the other day?"
"I didn't do anything," was Evan's reply. Yet again, it seemed devoid of emotion.
"I know she's here, that's what Mom said," he said. "Why did you have to get in the way? It would have worked if you hadn't gotten involved."
"I haven't done anything," insisted Evan, his voice getting a little louder. He was getting angry at his brother.

What did his brother know? What did Evan know that he wasn't telling her? And what did their mother have to do with any of this?

There were footsteps.

"Is she in here?" Nathan's voice again. He was standing outside of the door. There were more footsteps. "It's not locked."
"You know I don't like that room." Evan sounded tense and angry. "Nathan, please, I don't have Emilia. Why would I have her? I have my own problems, I wouldn't want to deal with a teenage girl as well."
"You should have just let Mom do what she was going to do."
"I don't even know what you're on about."
"Mom told you when she came here and she yelled at you for interfering the day she vanished. I know you know something, Evan. You can tell me, do you have her here?"

There was silence.

"No."
"I don't believe you."
"You don't have to," said Evan. Now it sounded like he was trying to hide his anger. "Please leave."
"What if I don't want to?" Nathan asked sharply. "What if I open this door and she's behind it?"

"You're not opening that door, whether it's locked or not."

There was something different about Evan's voice. Something beyond anger.

There were footsteps and then a door slamming shut downstairs.

Nathan had left.