Strings Attached

~Chapter 13~

When I get downstairs, there's no one in sight, and I'm a bit afraid that they've all been kidnapped along with the maid and a few more equally silly thoughts that I don't find worth writing about.

Thankfully, when I get to the kitchen, I see Mrs. Reynolds packing up for the day. She's a small thin woman with hollow cheeks and sunken features. She's a grown up, nevertheless and Uncle Jabbar has fixed her up. I had the notion that she'll be staying in the house, but apparently, she isn't. "Uh... you're leaving?" I ask her and she starts in fear, proceeding to clutch her chest to slow down her heart rate. I ignore her weird behaviour.

"Didn't Uncle Jabbar tell you to not leave us alone?" "Miss. Jabbar wants me to leave and come back in the morning, ma'am. I must be getting on now or she'll be very angry," the woman says, looking at the door the whole time. Her breathing has come to normal by now.

"You can't go," I state definitely and severely. "Oh, but I must, ma'am. Miss. Jabbar warned me that you will ask me to stay when you come to know about it, and that I must not listen to you at any cost!" I'm outraged at her audacity, but I don't show it. "I said you won't go!"

"I can't stay, Miss. She has threatened me with... things. And there are ghosts in the house too; they come alive at night." She says these things as if she's talking about the weather. It's only her eyes that carry a haunted look in them. And every next sentence of hers makes my eyes go wide in disbelief. What a ton of crap that girl has fed her.

"Nonsense! She has made it all up. There are no ghosts in this house," I tell her, not so very convincingly, by and by recovering from my state of incredulity. "I know you haven't lived here long. She told me. There are ghosts here." And as if to confirm her fears, a loud thumping comes from the uninhabited part of the house. The woman jumps up, scared, and I must admit that I shake a little too.

"See! I told you. I'm not staying here a minute more. I'll come back in the morning." "You're not going anywhere until I tell you to," I inform her decidedly and clutch her hand to prevent her from leaving. "Stay here while I go and check. One move and I'll tell Uncle Jabbar that you're a stealer."

I'm sure she won't stay but I have to go and see what the two of them are up to. I quickly run upstairs towards the sparsely lighted part of the mansion. I have never been here before. Though it's a part of the house, it's not very frequented and hence, the lighting is pretty bad.

There are four rooms here, mostly guest rooms. As I get to the mouth of the corridor, I see Ayaan slipping into one of the rooms. And I have my culprit. After a lot of bribing, threatening and sugar coating my words, I manage to drag him out and eventually, squeeze out a confession from him too. It was all Hiba Aapi's idea though.

No need of a detective to figure that one out.

And by the time I come back down with the little mischief-maker, the maid has left. I'd thought as much. Stupid woman! I lock the door anyway.

After this little adventure of ours, I push Ayaan into a chair and make him eat his dinner. He'll have an excuse to skip his meal if nobody notices. And although Hiba can do that too, I don't think she's in the mood today, else she'd have been badgering him by now. And after putting him to bed, I repair to my room.