I held my breath in the silence but the petrified sobs I’d expected from the new girl did not come. Eventually, mine did. They shook my bed and burned my throat, making my thoughts hazy and dull. Mingled with my tears of sadness were the faint stirrings of relief that I tried desperately to rid myself of; after Olive’s disappearance I shouldn’t be thinking of myself and the fact that for tonight at least, I wouldn’t die.
Then the anger came. How dare Goliath and Dane kill such a fragile, defenceless girl? This rage made me sit up and light a candle with unsteady fingers. For even with a clouded mind, I knew what I had to do.
The light from my single candle illuminated the room. She was eyeing me with large, guarded eyes- Olive’s replacement. Her face was pale, but not as scared as it should have been, and she was biting worriedly at the corner of her lip. I wiped my eyes on my sheet and without introducing myself I hissed June and Abriella’s names. Slowly their shadowy faces appeared from under their sheets, gazing at me blearily.
“What?” yawned June, not noticing our new roommate.
Abriella saw her though. Her reaction would have been laughable in any other situation, but not this one. Her fragile hands fluttered to her chest and faint words, whispered in Italian, crossed her lips. She had understood immediately what the appearance of the blonde girl meant. June’s eyes eventually followed Abriella’s. Olive’s replacement was cradling her head in her manicured hands, as if she was trying to keep herself together.
“Oh hello,” June said, still too tired to register much.
“June! Olive is gone!” Abriella cried, jumping out of bed with uncharacteristic suddenness. “They’ve murdered her.”
June’s strangled sob of realisation coincided with our new roommate’s gasp.
“We don’t know that for sure though. Maybe they let her go.” June said quickly, holding on to her last shred of hope.
“No.” I said, thinking of Ashley’s reaction every time I broached the subject. “They don’t.”
June closed her eyes tightly, her tough and confident exterior threatening to crack. Abriella’s expression, on the contrary, was one of remarkable acceptance to the situation and it made me realise just how brave she actually was. Her hands steady, Abriella lit the candles in the room so that it was plunged into light and I could see Olive’s replacement properly for the first time. Her pretty face had adopted a haughty, unemotional look. She was what one would call beautiful, I noticed irrelevantly, even with smudged mascara and her long hair a static mess. But there was no time to be analysing her look, I had to take control of the situation.
“What’s your name?” Abriella asked before I could speak.
She held out both of her tanned hands and grasped the other girl’s comfortingly. The girl stared warily at Abriella but didn’t snatch her hands away. Perhaps this was her way of dealing with the shock, I thought.
“Victoria.” Her voice had a controlled, hard edge to it. “Tori.”
“I’m sorry for what happened to you, Tori.” I told her truthfully, although she didn’t look me in the eyes. “And I know you probably just want to cry for the people you’ve lost tonight. But we don’t have time to mourn.”
With these words I fixed June with a hard look too. We couldn’t afford to mourn Olive at the moment. Not if we were to succeed with the plan that was forming in my head. The logical side of my brain was telling me only one thing: We had to escape. But I was beginning to wonder whether I should rely on my logic anymore; my logical thinking hadn’t done much for me so far. It hadn’t helped to explain the mystery of Dane, or the mystery of Elizabeth Sancruor’s portrait....
I gasped, realising how truly stupid I had been. All of the time it had been staring me in the face and I had been too distracted to see it, too idiotic to add up simple numbers.
“I know how to escape.” I told them and even as I said the words they were slowly becoming true. Puzzle pieces were clicking together in my head. “And I’m leaving tonight. I know it would be wiser to wait until tomorrow but I can’t, not after what they’ve done to Olive.” And what they nearly did to me, I added silently.
My announcement hung in the air of the small room. The elongated shadows that touched the walls were still, apart from mine. I was stuffing my feet into my boots when I realised that nobody else was moving. All three of them were staring at me in bemusement, as though I’d gone crazy.
“June,” I snapped. “Come on. We need to leave now.”
“I can’t,” she told me and tears were sparkling in her eyes. “I have to stay.”
“Why?” I asked incredulously.
“Because I’m in love.”
The words sounded especially weird coming from June’s mouth. Her eyes were swimming with emotion and independent June, June who needed nobody else, was announcing that she was in love.
“With who?” I stuttered, disbelievingly.
“With Joe. I’m in love with Joe,” She said, louder this time.
I tried not to flinch at the word ‘love’. It turned my mind to Ashley. I’d have to leave him behind as well.
“Joe can come too. Now get ready.” My voice was impressively composed.
“Joe will go back home when we get out of here!” Her voice was edging on hysteria. “I’ll not see him again.”
I could empathise with her. I had to choose between my own safety and the boy I was in love with too. I was in love with Ashley. I could admit that to myself now. It was easier, I discovered, to admit how I felt when I knew that I was going to lose it. Lose him. But this was best for both of us.
I needed to convince June to come with me. There was one last, desperate weapon I could use against her. One bomb that would weaken her enough to follow my instructions. It all came down to whether I cared about her safety enough for her to hate me. But the emotional damage it would cause...
“Joes not in love with you.” I announced, hating myself. “If he was, he wouldn’t be flirting with other girls. He wouldn’t have kissed me.”
June’s face crumpled. Her whole body seemed to shrink and be possessed by a look of heartache. I felt sick to the stomach, knowing that I had inflicted this.
“Well then,” She whispered icily. “When you escape, ‘Lizzy’, you won’t be able to seduce Joe. You’ll be gone and Joe will be left here with me.”
The hatred in each word was like a sword. I hadn’t intended my words to work like this. I’d wanted her to come with me and, once we were safe, then I could apologise for my hurtful words. As long as June was safe. But I couldn’t blame her for feeling this way, hating me. After what I’d said, it was understandable. Being able to understand it didn’t make the words any less hurtful.
“Abriella?” I asked, offering her my invitation of escape.
“Elizabeth, I have nothing to go back to.” She smiled sadly. “The people I love are all here.”
I didn’t have anything to go back to either. I had no family left. For a moment, the hugeness of my decision made me sway. What would I do, providing that I did escape from here? I’d be alone in a world full of dangers that, up until two months ago, I knew nothing about. Wouldn’t it be better to stay here with the people I loved and face the dangers? But then I remembered Ashley, and what my being here was doing to him. I was putting Ashley in too much danger being here and I couldn’t continue to be that selfish.
I swallowed hard and nodded before turning my head to Tori. She was remarkably calm. A firm, almost confident look graced her face. She looked undecided as I met her green-blue eyes. But then her eyes looked down at her hands, which were still encased in Abriella’s, and she gave a half-hearted shake of the head.
I stood there in shock for a few seconds. I’d been convinced that they’d come with me. If not June and Abriella then surely Tori, who had no reason to stay here. But she was biting her lip, looking as though she could fall apart any minute, despite the arrogance on her features.
“I guess this is it,” I said.
My voice cracked on the last word. Although I knew it was unwelcome I hugged June, hugged her hard. After a second her arms wrapped around my shoulders, her tears wet on my neck.
“Please Lizzy, please don’t get hurt.” She begged desperately.
“I won’t.” I said, taking on a bit of her confidence. “I shouldn’t have said the thing about Joe, I’m sorry.”
“Enough with the apologies. Don’t you have an escape to conduct?” She smiled sadly.
I nodded, moving to hug Abriella. The smell of the kitchen clung to her, bringing tears to my eyes. I couldn’t believe this was the end. What was I meant to say in a situation like this? When it was likely I’d never see her again.
“You keep safe. Yes?” She asked.
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. Then, because I didn’t want Abriella’s last memory of me to be like this, I grinned at her.
Finally I hugged Tori. I didn’t know her, of course, but the situation we were in made inhibition stupid. She had a slender body, but her arms were not totally unresponsive to my hug.
“Listen,” I whispered in her ear. “You’ll probably be expected to be Goliath’s maid. If you can, try and work for Ashley. He’s... he’s not bad at all.”
I rummaged beneath my pillow for the white lily brooch. Finally I’d found a use for it.
I took a last look around the room. Tori’s confused face, Abriella’s arm around her shoulders, and June just looking at me. Somehow I had the strength to walk away from it.
“Good luck,” I whispered as I shut the door on them.
They were gone. I had to put their faces behind me.
My own face, I knew, was sombre and emotionless as I crept into the adjacent boys’ room. I didn’t want to see them because I worried that if I saw their faces I’d lose the will to leave. However, I couldn’t leave without giving them the option of coming with me. The mere thought of how cruel that would be made me nauseous.
When I pushed open the door I didn’t even have to wake them. Joe was sitting on his bed, pulling off the waistcoat I’d seen him wearing from the window. As he looked up the sad creases his face had had disappeared and he broke out into a disbelieving, joyous grin. He sprinted over and pulled me into his warm and familiar grasp
“Oh God!” He yelled, loud enough to wake the others. “You’re meant to be dead!”
“No need to sound so disappointed.” I joked, although I couldn’t bring myself to smile.
Joe’s shocked smile was reflected on the faces of Callum, Daniel and Mark who were blearily sitting up in their beds.
“But...but if you’re not dead then why did that new girl come? Why have we got a new member of staff?” Joe squinted
“Olive is gone.” I whispered.
I didn’t keep my eyes open to see their responses. I could hear them though, murmuring and gasping. I didn’t know how much more reactions I could take to Olive’s death, especially as I still couldn’t deal with my own reaction.
“What are you talking about?” Callum asked.
“I...” I started to speak before being interrupted by Joe.
“Yeah, Olive must’ve gone.” His eyes were more serious than I’d ever seen them. There was no grin on his face any more. “The new girl must have replaced someone.”
It was odd seeing Joe so serious and sombre. It made me doubt his carefree attitude. Perhaps his whole attitude to living in this place was an act and his cocky smile was a mask. Perhaps he was as distraught as everyone else with this whole situation.
“I know this isn’t the time, and all, but new girl is pretty hot.” Joe added.
There goes that theory.
“No, this is not the time.” I told him. “Now’s the time to escape."
Mark, Daniel and Callum stared at me open-mouthed. Joe, on the other hand, was stifling an eye roll.
“Lizzy, you think that you can escape?” Mark asked sceptically and I could tell he didn't believe I could.
I took in his ginger hair, his burly figure and sighed with desperation. He was nineteen too, just as Olive had been. How long did he have left?
“Yes! And you need to come with me, Mark.”
There was no response from anyone. It was obvious that they thought I was crazy. But I did know how to escape. At least I hoped that I did. Looking at Daniel’s innocent face, Callum’s unreadable expression and Joe’s sad-tinged smile, I realised that like the girls, they wouldn’t be coming with me. Maybe it was because they thought escaping from here was impossible, or maybe they had their own, more complicated reasons tying them to this place.
“I’ll be in the entrance hall if you change your mind.” I said as my voice broke, close to tears once again.
“Goodbye! See you in the morning.” Joe yelled at my retreating figure, not instilling much confidence in me.
“Oh, Joe?” I remembered turning round. “If you do anything to upset June then I will come back here and personally murder you.”
“I’m terrified,” he said, managing to keep a straight face for a few seconds before cracking a grin.
I’d come back for them, I promised myself. But first there was a more pressing and wholly more terrifying matter; I had to tell Ashley that I was leaving.
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What do you think of the cast I've made for my characters?? :)