I placed my hand on top of my heart, feeling it race. Pausing on the staircase, I knew I wasn't ready to see Cody. Not after what happened the day before.
No matter what his words hurt, but I also felt bad about what I said. Cody seemed offended and the sight was permanently stitched into my mind. But sighing, I knew there was no way I'd apologize. Not when I could still hear his laugh clearly, making me wish I could disappear.
Walking down the stairs, I went to the kitchen and saw that Cody and Rosalie were already seated at the dining room table. There was a pot of pasta at the centre of the table and I internally groaned when I saw that there was an empty plate beside Cody, where I would have to sit. Going to my seat, I made sure not to look at Cody.
As I sat, I could feel his eyes on me. They were drilling into me, willing me to look at him, but chose to look at Rosalie instead. She smiled at me immediately and I couldn't help but smile back.
"Hi Charlotte, how are you?" she asked.
"I'm good," I said. "How are you?"
"Great," Rosalie answered. "I-"
Rosalie went on to tell us about her family and how they were planning on moving to a nicer house. I tried to listen, but I couldn't when I could see Cody glancing at me continuously. Trying to ignore him, my eyes went to my food and remained there as Rosalie continued to talk.
"Okay, what's going on between you two?" Rosalie asked. "Charlotte, why won't you look at Cody?"
I blushed and wished Rosalie wasn't so blunt. I didn't want to talk about what happened.
"I'm just eating," I mumbled. "Why do I need to look at Cody to eat?"
Rosalie stared at me, her eyes questioning what happened. I averted my eyes back to my food and kept eating, but I noticed Cody had stiffened.
We all ate in silence for a bit. The silence was painful because usually, we were deep in conversation when we had dinner, but with the tension in the room no one was willing to cut it. I sighed, realizing how awkward the next month and a half was going to be.
"You know, there's a legend behind this mansion," Rosalie blurted out, bringing our attention to her. "Do you want to hear it?"
"Sure," Cody said.
"Apparently, Charlotte's ancestors were a family full of secrets," Rosalie said, looking at me. "They used to do a lot of illegal things that no one knows about, but there's hints about what they did hidden around the mansion."
"That's... morbid," I said, frowning. "What if we stumble upon a body?"
"I don't think it was that bad... I hope so, at least." Rosalie frowned. "But anyways, if you are interested you two should look around the house and try to find out what they did."
Cody and I didn't say anything to that. The idea of finding my ancestors' crimes sounded morbid and we were also adults, which meant playing scavenger hunt wasn't as thrilling as it would be to younger people. So staring at Rosalie, we didn't know what to say.
"You two aren't interested in finding out what happened?" Rosalie asked. "Don't you love a good mystery?"
Cody and I still didn't say anything, which left Rosalie huffing. I felt bad, but searching for clues for a crime my ancestors did didn't sound exciting. Especially when it would mean I would have to spend time with Cody, who I wanted to avoid. So staring down at my food, I was thankful when everyone remained silent as we finished off our meals.
*****
There was a knock on my bedroom door and I frowned, knowing Rosalie had went home. My heart dropped when I knew it was Cody, who I didn't want to see.
"Come in," I said, pulling my blankets around me protectively.
The door opened and Cody stepped in. He stared at me for a moment and I stared back, waiting for him to say something. It made me feel vulnerable as I remembered the way he had hurt me by simply laughing.
"You know the mystery Rosalie talked about, I think we should check it out," Cody said. "It sounds interesting."
"I'm not interested," I said flatly.
There was an awkward silence for a moment as I looked down, hoping Cody would leave me alone. I felt petty and immature, but I couldn't help the way I felt. That was a curse and a blessing - the ability to feel.
"Charlotte, why are you mad at me?" Cody asked. "What did I do?"
"Jason treated me like trash yesterday and you did nothing about it," I blurted out, unable to contain it. "I thought we were friends. I thought... you cared."
Cody looked pained as I stared at him, my eyes sad. He gulped and then sighed.
"I'm sorry, seriously Charlotte," Cody said. "Jason's my friend and he... can be a jerk sometimes and I don't comment on it because he's my best friend. It's wrong, but... I'm not perfect. I make mistakes."
I didn't know what to say to that. No one was perfect, but I hated the idea of letting people hurt me because of that. It didn't seem justifiable.
"How about this, let's search for the hints together and see where that takes us," Cody said. "I know you're mad, but let me try to make up for it... somehow."
Cody's eyes pleaded with me to agree. There was a sadness written across his face that made me give in. Even though I knew I should stay away from Cody because I would only end up hurt in the future, I just couldn't say no to him.
"Fine," I said. "Okay, we'll search together."
Cody lit up and I stared at him, my eyes narrowed. He deflated at that and I got up, walking past him. He followed me as I climbed down the stairs.
"I have no idea what we're looking for, so how should we start?" Cody asked once we were downstairs.
"I guess we'll check each room," I said. "I don't know."
Cody and I went our separate ways as we began to look at the rooms nearby. As I looked, I moved furniture, checked the walls for hidden passageways, and the floors for hidden doors. I couldn't find anything, however, which left me deflating. There seemed to be nothing unusual in my house and I wondered if what Rosalie told us was just a tale.
"Did you find anything?" Cody asked once I was in the kitchen. "Because I didn't."
"No, I didn't," I said, sighing. "What if it's just a tale? What if someone made it up because they hate my family?"
"That would suck, but... let's not give up yet," Cody said. "How about we look in your basement?"
"I've never actually been to my basement, but sure."
"Really?" Cody's eyes widened. "That's perfect."
Cody and I walked to the basement door that was attached to the kitchen. He held the door open for me and I raised my eyebrows, making Cody laugh.
"Okay, I'm a kind of scared of the dark," he said, smiling sheepishly.
"I'm the complete opposite of you," I said, walking down the stairs.
"Really, what's there to like about the dark?" Cody asked, following me.
"I don't know... I find it comforting. Sounds weird, but I like how nothing can be seen in the dark."
"That's exactly what terrifies me. The idea that you don't know what's in the dark."
I turned on the light and Cody relaxed. Giving him a small smile, I found myself softening up to him. It was hard to be mad at Cody. Something about him made you want to be on good terms with him.
Looking around the basement, I took in that it was practically one large room full of boxes. There was a door attached to the room and my eyes remained there, wondering where the room led to. Walking there, I was glad to hear Cody was following me.
"Yeah, something seems off about that room," Cody said. "Great minds think alike."
I shook my head, but smiled at his words. Going up to the door, I became surprised when I saw there was a lock on the door that involved me inputting the password.
"Okay, something's hidden here," Cody said, frowning at the sight of the lock. "Do you know the password?"
"No, but I can try inputting what I think my dad would use as a password," I said.
I began inputting passwords in and groaned each time they didn't work. Cody stood beside me, waiting anxiously for a password to work.
"Who lived here before you?" Cody asked.
"No one that I know of," I said, frowning. "But, I guess from Rosalie's story my ancestors did."
"There's something off about this entire thing. I don't know what, but-"
The lock opened, leaving us gasping. I had inputted my sisters' birthdays and it had opened, leaving me both happy and hurt. Pushing the feeling away, I opened the door.
"My dad put this lock on for sure, so he's hiding something," I realized, stepping into the room.
The room turned out to be a closet filled with boxes. I wasn't sure of how to feel about it, but Cody immediately went to the boxes and began to look through them. I joined him.
"There's just a bunch of papers," Cody mumbled, looking through paper after paper. "Are these from your dad's work?"
I looked at a paper Cody held to me and frowned. The papers were bills, but not ordinary bills. They seemed to be payments for something, or someone. I stared at them, wondering why my dad would keep them in a locked room.
Taking one from Cody, I stared at the crusty paper that had a name, a price, and a schedule for the person. Flipping the paper over, I became surprised when I saw a photo of a man. He had raven black hair, a large moustache, and dark eyes. He looked rugged and I stared at him, wondering if I could remember him.
"Who is that?" Cody asked.
"I don't know," I said. "Not someone I know, I think."
"Do you think it's one of your ancestors?"
"No, the name isn't part of our family tree, but... I don't know."
I stared at the box Cody was searching through and saw that there were a couple more similar bills. They all had the same format, but different people on them. I couldn't recognize a single person on them however, which made me wonder who they were and what my dad was doing with them.
"Well, I call this progress," Cody said. "Could you believe we actually found something?"
"Honestly, I thought we were looking for something that doesn't exist," I said. "I'm not sure if I should be glad we found something though."
My mind was racing with questions. My dad had never been an open person, but I wondered what he could possibly be hiding from me if he needed to lock it away. It made me uneasy, so I began to frown.
"Your dad is a lot of things, but I doubt he's a bad person," Cody said. "Whatever he's hiding, it won't be a big deal. Trust me."
I looked at Cody and saw how sure he was, which left me relieved. My dad was a lot of things, but Cody was right. He wasn't a bad guy. There was nothing to be afraid of.
"You're right," I said, smiling at him.
Cody smiled back and I felt more confident. I felt more excited to figure out what was going on however, which left me prepared to dig deeper into the mystery hidden within the mansion.