The Tower

Chapter 2

Knock! Knock! Came the sound as Sarah rapped on the door of the highly peculiar house of the Marrows. She stared at the knocker and sighed. A ruby red knocker shaped like a flower with leaves sticking out everywhere.

The door opened and an auburn-haired woman appeared at the doorway.

"Sarah!!!! how are you? As pleasant as ever I assume?" she asked as she smiled at her fondly. "Fine, ma'am.", Sarah responded gaining herself a whack on her head. "Why so formal? You've been coming here since kindergarten! You are another daughter to me. Mary is in the garden. She's been waiting for you."

Sarah nodded and thanked her leaving the woman sighing. 

As Sarah made her way over to the garden she went over the text Mary had sent her once again:

Come 2 my house @ 2. Need 2 tell u something. Hurry!!!

Just as dad came home too... Couldn't she pick a better time? She sighed and she began contemplating what it might be that Mary thought was so very urgent. Maybe an ice-cream factory was shut down forever? 

Sarah nimbly leapt over the variety of "artfully arranged branches" with a skill that only the initmatedly familiar have. She had no interest in falling face first over these as she had done many times before.  A sudden shout brought her out of her thoughts. 

"SAAAAAARRAAAAHH!!"  She quicky jumped aside,just in time to avoid a Golden - Spaniel that came sprinting at her.

 "Awww.... how's my good little Pie? Being a good dog, arent ya?",  She gushed as the little dog licked her.

"You have a really cute dog". she said as she patted Pie. The puppy's owner stood a little away under the shade of a tree,  her hands on her hips and annoyed. She was a short 5'4" redhead, with a slender build and a smile that could light up the Earth. Her eyes spoke a dozen words all at the same time. They always had a little twinkle in them that had never vanished since the day they met. Presently, the girl was wearing a flowy red dress that had a bit of black here and there with knee-length stockings. The sleeves reached up to her fingers and her hair was tied up in an elaborate bun. She could pass anywhere under the planet as lolita. Quite the believer in lolita fashion. Only fashion. 

"You're late." She said and turned around and signalled for Sarah to follow. "Come on in."

Sarah followed her into the house with the dog following them. soon they reached Mary's room - a big room with a four-poster bed, a dressing table, a nightstand and a cupboard the size of an elephant. It still amazed her that Mary could have so many clothes. According to Sarah, all you needed was a comfy and acceptably pretty set of clothes.  Mary's more tastes were more extravagant. However, they are better left undescribed.

The room was painted midnight blue from top to bottom as a result of one of Mary's many late-night whims. Mary and Sarah looked quite out of place in the room.

Mary walked over to the bed, fell on her tummy and pulled a big trunk out from underneath. She frequently kept her most precious things in it and mostly never took it out. "Umm... Mary? Is something wrong? Did something happen?", Sarah asked, not really wanting a reply.

Mary turned towards her with a soulful expression. Alright..., I guess we can cross the ice cream factory off the list. "Sarah. Listen.. so for a while now I've been really worried about something." She seemed happy enough, Sarah wondered, momentarily forgetting that Mary was by far the best actress she had ever met.

"It's about my uncle, Uncle Lanoff. He went to Slovakia last month for a journalist expedition. Around some tower, some disappearances were taking place. It was supposed to be this big 'scoop' for him. He was pretty excited." she said. "So what's wrong?"Sarah asked. If he's happy, let him be. 

"The thing is, he used to sent me letters every Thursday and Tuesday but for the past week he hasn't sent me any." As much as she wanted to, Sarah couldn't stop listening. A sense of foreboding had filled her. 

Those - Were those tears? "Maybe they got lost in the mail. You know these stuff happen. Nothing big. It's okay." She panicked. Mary never cried no matter how hard things got.

The last time he sent me a letter was last Tuesday. I got worried. I- " Her voice chocked but she composed herself and forced herself to go on. "I called his phone. International calls are expensive that's why I didn't call earlier. but now..... Anyway, when I called the person nobody picked up. I tried again and again. I just wanted to hear him, you know.  Make this fear go away. I knew I was being irrational. Mum told me so many times but- but... It didn't matter to me, I just wanted to know he was okay. So I thought I would keep calling till - Until some did..."  Mary
trailed off slightly. Almost as though she couldn't keep going. 

"And finally, someone did pick up. It wasn't him though. I-, They said that he- "

The next two words she uttered seemed to crush her. Forever probably.

"He died."