Introduction:
I walked into the room not knowing what to expect. I glanced down the hallway and gasped when I saw him through the window. He was outside, waiting for the end. I had fallen in love with him, but he lied. The disease had taken over him and changed his brain. Seeing the door made me shudder. I took a deep breath and slowly twisted the old glass doorknob.
"Don't delay, my darling, we must have our last dance,” his seductive voice purred. How could I have been so stupid? No one was there but us. No one at all.
I was walking into the room that I was to die in.
Chapter 1
The white floor of marble was cold underneath my bare feet. The walls were a cream color and the ceiling was painted like a night sky. It was dark blue, with silver stars scattered over it as if someone had a handful of them and had just tossed them there.
I sighed as we whirled around the dance floor. I completely forgot the crash while dancing with him. I looked up at Raul’s face. His golden hair drooped over his vibrant, emerald green eyes. I blushed as he smiled at my embarrassment. He chuckled in my ear.
“Let’s get back to the corridor, Raul. I don’t really feel like dancing right now,” I whispered back. He took my hand and guided me away from the crowd. My silver dress swished against the floor and my pinned hair was coming loose as we ran down the hall.
He knew that I hated the fact that I had to act normal, but now we could escape. He led me to the library were we had spent many days reading, and talking to each other. Usually while we were there nowadays we would read stories to all the children that lived here with us.
See, me and Raul lived in a mansion where our “father” took in children off the streets and from orphanages, and brought them here. He gave us all a good education and taught us good manners. The only thing that we ever called him was Father. He never let us know his real name, or why he had so much money. Everyone was sure that he had once had a wife who passed, but he refused to tell anyone.
Then there was Maria. She was our governess, who was the closest thing we have to a mother. She was the one who taught us our rights and wrongs, and how to act, and which fork to use when. She tucked us all in at night, young or old. And once you were eighteen our father gave us the opportunity to work for him as a teacher and you would live there unless you decided to leave or he would let you live there for three months time to find a job and move out.
I was seventeen, and so was Raul. Father had already invited us to be the new ballroom dancing teachers. The previous dancer instructors had been planning to move out for years but they could never find a replacement. The only people who ever work at the house are former residents, except for Maria. Maria was the mother of a baby, Mark, who had passed away right after she had brought the baby here. Father adopted Maria to work with the children that had been around Mark’s age and now she just works with everyone.
But Father had agreed that once we are both eighteen he would hold a wedding for us. We were already planning. So we were very separated from the other residents except for balls, lessons, and meals. We had a ball four times a year, and we had just escaped from the winter ball.
I turned around to face him as we entered the library. Whenever I saw the mass of books I lost my breath. There were so many to choose from. There were old books, new books, books in different languages. I had learned Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Irish, and Spanish so far. I had been learning since I was three, when I first came. I would come here with Raul and we would read the tales of pirates and fairies and wizards and anything you could think of.
Raul smiled at me right before I kissed him. His strong arms wrapped around me. My muscles tensed and relaxed at the same time. He broke away from our embrace and looked down at me.
“I know you’ve been through a lot, Oak. You need to sleep. Let’s get you to bed,” Raul said. He worried too much.
“I’m okay, Raul! Everyone keeps expecting me to freak out and break, but I’m fine, really.” I said, waiting for his argument.
“I don’t expect you to crack, or anything. I just wish you would sleep. It’s been three days since the car crash and you haven’t slept at all. You just spend all night in the nursery and just watch the children sleep. You need to get some rest,” Raul said, as if I didn’t know what I had been doing the past three nights.
“Raul I just can’t sleep. We used to share a room. And we weren’t just sisters, we were twins. Honestly, Raul. Going in that room is something I won’t be able to do for a very long time. It’s too hard.” I told him. He didn’t understand that if I went in there I… well I don’t know what would happen. I just knew I couldn’t go in.
“Then you and me can set up camp in here, like we used to when I was little. I’ll get both of our things and come back in twenty minutes. Sit down and read a book.” He agreed.
I nodded and sat down. I didn’t like it when I had to talk about the crash and I liked it even less when I fought with Raul. Frustrated, I picked up Pride and Prejudice and opened it to random page. Fifteen minutes later he returned with blankets and pillows.
I took the blankets and laid one of them on the floor and put the two pillows next to each other, I laid down on one of them and Raul laid next to me. He put his arm around me and I rested my head on his muscular shoulder. I looked at him and saw his smile until I slipped into a long awaited slumber.
When I woke up Raul had changed and was sitting in a chair in the corner. I smiled at him and he chuckled under his breath. Since we were little it had been me who had woken up first.
“I win this time, Oak. Maybe next time you might win.” He joked, hoping to raise my spirits. “I am glad you got the sleep, but just to let you know, it’s three o’clock in the afternoon. Let’s go get you some breakfast, sleeping beauty.” He suggested. I sat up and stretched, but soon enough realized my empty stomach growling. I nodded at him and walked hastily to the kitchen. We knew that Maria wouldn’t be there, so we didn’t need permission to go in.
I grabbed bread, cheese, and some grape juice, threw them on a plate and sat down. Raul ate nothing. I looked at him, perplexed. This whole time he hadn’t talked about the crash yet. Tomorrow was the day I was to tell the police exactly what happened to my twin sister, Ivy, and I. The thought terrified me.
I watched his expression the entire time but his face never wavered. So I rattled on about something unimportant things until he gave up listening. I could tell, so I decided to freak him out.
“So yesterday I found out that I’m pregnant and obviously its not yours because we’ve never had sex it’s actually Father’s. His boring dimeanor really turns me on,” I said, testing him.
The look on his face was priceless. “You can pick your jaw up off the floor any time now, Raul. I was only kidding. I could tell you were bored I just wanted to see if you were paying any attention,” I said, fighting back the smug grin I had been hiding for the last half hour.
His face turned beet red and I could tell he too, was fighting back a smile. I looked into his eyes. They looked suddenly sad as if he was remembering a passed relative.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t listening to you, Oak. It’s just I am worried about tomorrow. I’m scared for you, because I know how hard it will be for you. I just want the best for you. I want to see that smile on your face, that mischievous look in your eyes, how your hair turns red when we swim in the pool, how your body moves when we dance. I miss it, Oak. I want this to be easier on you, but I don’t know how. Tell me, Oak. How do I make it better?” he asked. I sighed at the desperate tone in his voice. I didn’t deserve him.
Why did he have to go through this? Why? I didn’t want him to suffer just because of something that had happened to me, and least of all something that wasn’t his fault.
“Raul, I know I’m not doing my best right now, but I promise eventually I will be okay. It might take years, or it could be later today. There’s no way anyone can tell, least of all me. You couldn’t possibly do anything better.” I said.
I looked to me left and saw a little boy around the age of eight running in. I recognized him at once as Simon. I read a book to him and his three roommates every night to help out. There was a system in our house; you take care of anyone if you can. Everyone lived by those standards, and it was wonderful. It helped Maria not get swamped with work.
Simon came over to me and hopped up onto my lap. I hugged him and he turned his head and kissed me on the cheek. He was very shy, and I liked to think that I was one of the few people he talked to. Simon was probably the sweetest eight year old you could find in the world. He picked flowers for all the girls whenever he went for a walk, he played with all the boys, and whenever Maria or any other one of the staff needed help, he dropped what he was doing to pitch in any way he could. Sometimes he felt like a son to me.
I looked over at Raul and smiled. I could live like this forever. And for a moment, I had almost forgotten the crash. Then I remembered that the next day was the day I had to tell the police exactly what had happened on those earth-shattering hours of darkness.
“Hey Simon, guess what?” I said, tickling the youthful little boy as I spoke.
“What?” he asked, seeming excited.
“Everyone is going down to the lake to swim today. Why don’t you go ask one of the older boys to help you get into your swimsuit?”
“Yay! Swimming! I’ll see you in a little bit, Oak.” He hurriedly said as he hopped down from the table to run and find someone.
I glanced at Raul waiting for his reaction to the newest bit of information. His face glided into a playful smile.
“So we’re swimming? I’ll bring our swimsuits down here so we can change in the bathroom” he replied cheerfully.
Half an hour later everyone was in their bathing suits with towels and goggles galore loading into the bus. I was wearing my favorite dark blue bikini, and I had my towel with me. Swimming just let me relax. The longest time I had ever been under water was around two minutes.
The first bus Raul and I were in charge, and on the second bus two boys around our age, Rick and Tom, were in charge. Maria and Father never came swimming; Maria was taking care of the younger children while Father was… Well he never left the house except to walk the streets looking for children and visiting orphanages. No one ever saw him other than when you were first brought to the house.
When we arrived at the beach everyone spilled out and raced towards the cool water. I walked over to a patch of sand far enough away from the shore and there threw down my towel and took off my flip-flops.
Raul knew that whenever there was a large enough gathering of water I would be swimming, no matter what. Once he had tried talking to me while I was about to swim. Let’s just say that things didn’t end well for him.
I dove into the water and felt the silky material run over my skin and through my long curly hair. I swam up to the surface facing upward to keep my auburn locks out of my face. By the time I was tired from laps everyone was ready for dinner.
I happily walked over to the pavilion and plopped myself down next to Raul, kissing him on the cheek. “Hi, there,” I whispered.
it grabs you straight there as soon as you start reading that there is a darker edge to this story. I love it!
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