𝐔𝐍𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘 (𝟏𝟖+) √

04

ROSE

The first two nights I had spent in Tobias' house were sleepless. The phone call with my brother, from the day I arrived here was constantly on my mind. Of course, Ryland never called me unless it was to rub something in my face or bad news. This time, it was both and I almost went on a rampage.

He had sent me a recording of my mother and father talking about how much I embarrassed them, though the world had long forgotten about it. It was mainly my mother talking shit about me and trying to convince dad to bring me home immediately, give me forty percent of the money they were supposed to give me and to make me work for them.

Now, my father might have hated Louise, as she was also a bad mother-in-law, but he seemed to be the only person in my family with half of a functionable brain cell. He declined the offer, knowing I have shit ton of dirt on both of them, considering that the public didn't know how they treated their children,

They weren't abusive by any means, but they were neglectful, and forced both of their children into a religion that they did not want to be a part of.

Ryland probably thought I'd call home and start an argument, which was the reason for sending me the recording. But, as my anger slowly died out, I began thinking of what to do next, and how to carefully approach the situation.

Mother was a lost cause and my best shot was to win over father, though it was a tomorrow problem.

Tonight's problem was... different.

Tobias and I didn't spend a lot of time talking today. He was busy with some repairs that took place at the church, which left me with a lot of free time alone, and after snooping through every corner of the house, I couldn't find a single trace of the woman in his photo.

It was almost as if she only existed in those photos.

Nothing else was there, no women's clothing, nothing that would indicate that a woman ever lived there.

Well, at least I tried to snoop through the entirety of the house. His room was sadly locked, as well as the door of the bathroom that was connected to it. I was bummed but decided to go down to the basement, to the forbidden room.

Luck was definitely not on my side, as it was locked as well.

It was around midnight that Tobias returned and I was bed already, watching a movie on my laptop. I heard some noise coming from downstairs and I assumed that he would come up and go to his room.

Instead, I heard the squeaky noise as he walked down the stairs, into the basement. It was then silent for around twenty seconds, before a melody began playing.

Tobias was playing the piano.

I basically ran downstairs, and then tried to be as quiet as possible. He didn't want me to go down, instead, I took a seat at the top of the stairs that led to the room. I leaned against the wall and my eyes caught something.

A pack of cigarettes. He must have dropped them and didn't notice. I opened it and saw a single cigarette with a lighter.

I smoked for a while in university as cigarettes helped me focus on studying, and suddenly, I began missing its taste immensely.

I lit it and brought it closer to my lips. My lungs filled with smoke and as I released it out, it felt as if a part of me had been found, almost as if I was complete.

My eyes closed on their own accord and now I had only one thing to do – sit there, in silence, and listen to the soft melody that he played.

Though, the soft tunes didn't last very long. As seconds went by, it was much more aggressive, much more force was put into the sound. His emotions were all over the place and the most dominant one was definitely anger. He was mad and his melodies were only an enhancement of his true feelings – it made me scared to my bones.