Man of the Year (Drake Story)

Chapter To

“Oh, yeah…I should have known.” I murmured. “What are your names?”

Again, the long-haired girl was the one to speak up. “I’m Keziah. This is Bell, formerly Belphoebe. That girl over there is Alison, and these three gentlemen are Michael, Joshua and Isaac.”

I waved to all of them and they waved back weakly. This was how things went throughout the whole breakfast session: Belphoebe was silent, and Keziah held interesting conversation with me the whole time. She told me about where she was from and how she met my uncle (she worked at an office building he owned in New York, her hometown). We spoke about the normal things people who are just meeting would talk about, and I half-expected her to say something about Jeffie or about the hidden evidence in the attic, but instead she kept talking about regular things.

When we were finished eating I left the dining room, telling Keziah I would see her later and walking toward the little case of stairs. Haley was waiting to run me a bath upstairs. As soon as I took five or six steps, I felt someone nudge my shoulder roughly. It was Belphoebe.

She walked ahead of me quickly, so I took this as a sign to follow.

“Slow down, will you?” I called. She did slow to a stop in the middle of the corridor, but didn’t bother turning around to face me. I walked around her and forced her to look at me. “What did I do?”

“How did your house burn down?” She asked.

“I dropped a cigarette on a plant, the plant touched a wall, the fire spread.”

“Why were you smoking cigarettes?”

“Just stress.”

“Oh. Well, I’m going to the attic today. I need to see what else is up there to show me how fishy things are here.” Belphoebe said.  

“Can I come along or no?”

“You can,” She replied, “but not now. You’d have to wait until evening time. It only makes sense. If I’m going, I have to leave right this minute. Otherwise things will get too crowded and someone will see me.”

“Wait, you’re not allowed in the attic?” I asked.

“No. It’s only accessible from the East Wing, and nobody is allowed in the East Wing.” Belphoebe said.

“Okay, so how do I get there?”

She sighed as if I was bothering her, or holding her back from doing something important—which I was doing, anyway. “Ask somebody to take you to the library. One of the workers will take you. The library is in the East Wing; it has the heaviest security in the whole mansion. Go to the very back of the library, look through books for about ten minutes, and then escape through a glass door to your right. Then you go up the stairs and into the room that you’re facing. You’ll see an attic door in that room. Go into it.”

“Thank you,” I said. She shrugged. “Why were you upset with me earlier?”

“Because you woke up too late. If you were up earlier, we would both be able to go up there at the same time. But now, you have to go much later to avoid suspicion.”

“It seems like everyone was mad at me just now,” I told her.

“They’re just jealous of you because you get better treatment since you’re Drake’s nephew. That’s all. Look, I’ve got to go. See you later.”

I didn’t even get to ask her about the maid’s quarters with how rapidly she marched down the corridor and made her way to the other side of the house, the east side. Now I knew that the maid’s quarters couldn’t be in the East Wing. I’d have to just ask one of them where they slept. The only places it could be were the West Wing and the mini-mansion below the house, embedded in the dirt. It wasn’t that mini—I’d been to it before as a child. It was just like one of the wings, which were as big as some other people’s mansions anyway.

“Aubrey boy! Good afternoon, kid,” Uncle said as he emerged from a hallway wearing a plum-colored velvet robe and slippers that matched my own.

“Hello, Uncle. I’m sorry I woke up too late to have breakfast with you.” I told him.

“Oh, it’s alright. We’ll be having lunch shortly, outside of the mansion. Go upstairs and notify all the new guests for me about the lunch plans, alright? I notified all of them except for you and Belphoebe, but I can’t seem to find her anywhere. I’ll be looking for her while you are.” He told me. Then he patted my back and walked off to talk to one of the workers about something.

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling, knowing that the attic wasn’t there but looking anyway—kind of like looking up at the ceiling or sky when we pray, knowing that God isn’t there but doing it anyway. Officially, this attic mission was going to be a disaster. I couldn’t go up to the attic to warn Bell now, anyway: she said it herself, that it would arouse suspicion. She’d just have to stay up there and wait until my arrival in the evening, if I would even make it then.

Until that time, I’d have to ask the questions I wanted answers for from down here.