The Tower

Chapter 18

"Sarah! Hurry!" Mary hissed as she ran in front of her. "I'm sorry, Sarah. This is all my fault." Amelia's eyes remained fixed on the floor as she spoke. Sarah smiled at the half- limp woman she was carrying. "It's alright. I was worried about you. She's out to kill you because of me, I should be the one to apologise." A silence followed her words as they ran in silence. She still hadn't told them what she had seen in Laura's room. It's now or never, she decided. "Mary... Amelia.... There's something I have to tell you about." Mary stopped running. She didn't turn around. She sighed and instead of responding, she began running once again. "It's.... about why she, Laura might be doing this." Mary kept running. Amelia kept her eyes on the floor. At least they aren't shouting at me. "I think.... no, I know, Laura isn't our enemy." Mary stopped.  "She is, Sarah. She tried to kill us. If you want further proof, look at your sister's leg."She didn't look back not once. Sarah sighed. "At least, hear me out. I know what happened to my sister's leg. but I think what I saw in Laura's room might help us figure out what happened to her, to your uncle, maybe even why she is haunting this place. So will you please listen to me?" She begged.

 "Amelia? What do you think? Should we listen?"                  

"I think so." Amelia nodded. "Kay." Sarah felt her heart lighten. At least they agreed to listen. She set Amelia down. She smiled and quickly retold what she had seen. Laura running away, coming back, the room, the man, the maid, the lights.  

As soon as she was done,  Amelia nodded. "It's possible. No, actually it could be true. It is said that Laura was caught red - handed. So it could be that she was framed. The lights. They were most probably the villagers. The one who framed her probably informed them that she would be killing that day. The people, so very ready to end all bloodshed, probably didn't stop to ask." She nodded. "That might explain why she's haunting this place. She wants to let the truth out. I guess that is the curse. She wasn't the killer. Yet they killed her for it. It's sad what humans can do."

Sarah nodded. She turned to Mary. "Mary?"The girl stood a few feet away, her fists clenched. "Explain to me one thing, Sarah. Why on Earth would my uncle go investigate this? Obviously, this wasn't assigned to him. He came in far too late. So who dragged him into this?" 

Amelia looked guilty. "You-?" She shook her head. "No, not me. Daniel. He asked for Charlie's help. Said he couldn't do it himself. Your uncle took it up. Always confident of himself. Hubris was his flaw." 

"Why did she kill him?" In a second Sarah was pinned to the wall. Mary's eyes shined with hurt. "Since you're defending her, TELL ME!!" She yelled. Sarah couldn't face her. "You don't know, do you?" She asked as she let her go. She stumbled back and covered her face. "Mary, I-" She reached forward. "No! Don't touch me!" The girl yelled as she slapped her hand away. Her eyes shone with anger, fear, and... hate. "I... Why would someone kill an innocent person? The rest of us.... We aren't like you, Sarah! She won't kill you! But she will kill us!"

  Sarah remained silent. Shocked. She stood there staring at Mary for the longest of time. Then, she shook her head. "I don't know, okay? I don't get it myself. I... won't help her, no matter what, if she hurts you. Either of you. About your uncle... I think she was scared. Like you are.  I can't pretend I know everything. Neither can I say that everything she said was right. But.... Regardless of everything, Laura is still a little girl, you know. I thnk there's only one way to find out for sure, to be precise, for confirmation, we need to meet her." Mary shook her head but didn't say anything. Sarah reached forward once again. She caught her arms with both of hers. She didn't pull back. "Hey, I get it. You don't have to trust her. Trust me, kay?" 

Mary nodded as she pulled away. She began walking down the hallway. Not another word from her. Sarah sighed. She looked at Amelia who gave her a sympathetic look.  She walked over to her and picked her up and followed the redhead who walked a bit ahead. Slowly, they picked up their pace.              

                                                       Creak..................

Sarah skidded to a stop. "What?" Amelia demanded. Did you..... any of you, hear that sound?" Mary froze on spot. She turned her head to Sarah. Fear gleamed in her eyes. On three, Sarah mouthed. 

1, 2, 3. Run!

And off they sped off at top speed. It was a bit hard running with Amelia, but she ran as fast as they could. A high pitched shrill filled her ears and threatened yet again to black her out once more. But they ran like their lives depended on it. ( Well, it kinda did. Since Laura didn't really know that they knew she had ben framed... you never know what she could do to you if you got caught. Maybe fried on a stick or turned into one of her blood drained dolls or something of the sort.) 

They dashed down the hallway.  They took a right, a left, kept running, next left, next right and so on till they reached a door. Mary quickly yanked open the door and ran in. Sarah followed her in and shut the door. She placed Amelia on the floor and sat down,  leaning against the door. She was panting very hard. She placed a hand on her heart. Her heart beat was faster and louder than the raindrops drumming on the roof of the Cachtice Castle. 

She closed her eyes and began breathing deeply.  She probably would have remained that way had not a gasp caught her attention. She opened her eyes and looked around. Mary was standing a few feet away, hands over her mouth, eyes wide. She got up and walked over to her. 

Then she saw him.

The corpse of Charlie Lanoff.