Beguiling a Bookworm

Chapter Eight

As soon as I get home, I dig into the internet with his name. Every search leads nowhere but I don't give up. Hours pass by and the most I have is his name origin. How old could he be? Would that be relevant? Possibly one of the firsts? I think over all the options and dive a little deeper.

Another couple hours later and I give up for the night. I have to figure this out but I don't even know how to go about finding somebody that barely existed. There has to be a trace of him somewhere. People are always looking into this stuff and putting it online, right? I run my fingers through my hair and they get caught in a developing knot. As I work it out, I walk over to turn my shower on. A nice hot shower might relax me enough to sleep. I can feel my thoughts rushing through my head a mile a minute. I couldn't stop wondering what happened. He didn't tell me a single thing. I knew nothing besides his name. This is going to take some time.

I woke up shortly after the sun rose. My eyes flew open and I felt like no time had passed at all. Although, I felt relatively rested. At least enough to pad over to my coffee machine and start my morning necessity. Once I get my cup, I sit down at my computer, open it and stare at the search engine. I wait a few moments, type a single letter and then stare at it some more.

"Okay, Sena, what do we know?" I breathe aloud and take another sip. "The origin of the family name is German, but the first name was Greek. Could one be a fake? I doubt he would use a fake family name though. I wonder if I could upload an image and the family name at the same time?" I mess around for a little bit and finally get all the pieces figured out. A popular site produces a single result. The name and insignia relate to a royal family from Germany that resided in an abandoned castle. In searching the castle, I found an article stating how there was an incredible storm that finally tore down a quarter of the fortress. "The castle had been crumbling for years after the family and staff disappeared one day over three centuries ago. A man by the name of Evraud Vahl and his one hundred and twenty-nine servants had lived in the castle for over two decades. That has to be him!" I rose up a little in my seat and continued skimming."The family was well known and the loss of the inhabitants was a major mystery...wow it doesn't seem like they really put a lot into searching for them though. Nobody really went out of their way. Although, at that time, I guess what could they do?" I stand up and start pacing.

Okay, I still really don't know what to do with this information. If this castle is all deteriorated then there is no way he's living there. Maybe? He could have decided to move back? What if someone was after him? Or that thing in the forest scared him off? Although he didn't really seem very distrubed by that creature. What to do...what should I do? I stop pacing. Should I...go there? What if, just the slightest possibility, he's there? Do I sound like a stalker? No, I have missed out on who knows how many opportunities at this point. I have had to deal with the wrong guy over and over again. I finally found somebody that has shown me what's possible. I don't know you well Evros but I think you're the type of person I have been waiting all my life for. There's this feeling...am I really going to do this?

I run over to my calendar and look at my work schedule. I'm scheduled for full shifts for the next three weeks. Just enough time to gather everything and make my departure. I had been saving money for emergencies but this seemed to be a much better use of the funds, hopefully. I remember only three years ago, the horrible mess my life was in. I never thought that I would get to a place where I was content and felt safe in my life. Three terrible relationships, one after the other. The first one taught me about the legality of what a person can get away with and the last showed me how horrible a person can act while still maintaining a certain charm to strangers. Each one put me further and further into a financial and mental terror where I thought there was no escape.

Shortly after the end of the last one, I left town as fast as I could. My family was sad to see me go but they understood the need for me to leave the shadows and ghosts around each corner. When I walk into a building I see people that aren't there or I jump when someone gets too close to me. The effects of what happened to me kept bleeding out and taking over my reactions or responses. I take a long breath thinking over the pain and fear that would float across my mind constantly.