Rhénee Johnson: Emelda's Sapphire (Book One)

Chapter 11

It took Rhénee almost half an hour to comfort Miss Griselda. She was soon fast asleep on Rhénee's bed with a help of a sedative. When Rhénee was sure that she was deep in her sleep, she left Miss Griselda's side and headed out for the door.

She found Kevin waiting in the hall, outside Miss Griselda's room with Sophie right beside him.

"How is she?" Kevin asked as Rhénee got closer to him.

"Not good," Rhénee answered. "Whatever's in that bathroom, it really terrified her."

"It will make you terrified too."

Rhénee gulped as she stared at the door of Miss Griselda's room. Did she really want to go in there? Miss Griselda told her not to. But she wanted to know.

"Do you want to go in?" Kevin asked. He saw the look on Rhénee's face.

"I have to know. I'm curious."

"I hope you don't mind, I called Malcom and Greta over. This may concern them too."

Rhénee knew for Kevin to call them, they were dealing with something serious.

"It's okay," said Rhénee. "I better go in there."

"I'll come with you."

Rhénee smiled at Kevin. She was glad she was going in with someone. Who knew what she would find.

Kevin led the way into the room and Rhénee followed with Sophie trailing behind her. The cat didn't seem afraid about the whole thing. Rhénee admired the courage the black cat portrayed. For a minute, she felt she would trade places with it.

As they neared the bathroom, Rhénee took in deep breaths, hoping that she wasn't going to see some gruesome scene. But she was counting that she would.

Kevin reached the door of the bathroom and slowly turned the handle. He drew the door open and he looked at Rhénee.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

Rhénee gulped. She looked down at Sophie who was also looking back at her. Rhénee went back to looking at Kevin.

"Yes, am ready," she answered.

Rhénee went round Kevin and before she could even step inside the bathroom, she stopped. Straight from the door, was the bathroom mirror directly facing her. But this time, Rhénee couldn't see her reflection as it was covered in red ink, or was it blood?

Rhénee gasped as soon as she noticed that it was blood. Large droplets of it also covered the sink below the mirror. What shocked her even more was what was written on the mirror. The message read:

"You know what you did! I'm coming for you next!"

"Oh my goodness," said Rhénee as she backed away from the door, her hand covering her mouth. "Does that mean Miss Griselda is in danger?"

"I'm afraid so," said Kevin as he came to stand beside her.

"But who could do this?"

"I feel we're dealing with one and the same person here."

"Do you mean the stranger whom I talked to over the phone?"

"Yes."

"This doesn't seem right. I mean, he's already troubling me with this nonsense about the cottage. Why would he trouble Miss Griselda? And with blood for that matter."

"I don't know. But the way I see it, it seems Miss Griselda knows what the message is all about. She seemed tormented by it."

Rhénee went back to looking at the bloody message on the mirror. This time she made sure to read it more carefully. "You know what you did" was the first sentence. Could it be that Miss Griselda had done something? For that message to be up on that mirror, the person must know what Miss Griselda had done.