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Rolling from my stomach to my side, I placed myself in a sitting position, legs now hanging off the side of the bed. It was centered against the same wall the main doorway sat off. Directly across from the foot of it one of the doors leading to the balcony had been light slightly ajar. That’s where the breeze was coming from.
The sheer drapes fluttered silently as another brush of wind blew gently through the room. Everything in here was simple in a refined wealth sort of way. I had expected Alaric to have a bit bolder of a style. The black furniture all had a chevron type pattern engraved into them, the dressers, and the thick upper portion of his bed posts.
A deep burgundy chaise was caddy corner near the footboard.
On the back of it rested a familiar, neatly folded robe. I got up and pulled it on. As I was tying the silky grey sash, I spotted my cellphone face down on one of the nightstands. I lowered my arms and took another glance around the room. Was this a test? I couldn’t remember the last time I saw my phone. Alaric hadn’t outright taken it away but with what I knew had transpired between us, I thought he would have…
I could see from where I was standing that he’d gone as far as plugging it in to charge.
It felt like a taunt of sorts. A man concerned about how I would react to his confession wouldn’t freely give me access to my phone knowing I could call the police. He was right, I wouldn’t. There wasn’t any visible proof I could show to back up any of the accusations I had against him. On the tail end, Alaric had money which alluded to certain connections.
If I challenged him off or threatened his livelihood, I’m sure things would go very badly for me.
I could still get help, though. At least I hoped. With one last glance at the closed bedroom door, I rushed towards the nightstand. I yanked my phone from the charger and quickly entered the unlock code. I realized right away that the phone had been tampered with. The call log was entirely foreign. I scrolled and scrolled seeing only Alaric and my mother amongst a few unrecognizable numbers.
There was so much wrong with this. I could count on one hand the number of times Alaric and I had spoken on the phone since before my arrival and after. The repetitive logs of my mother were more believable. I clicked into my contacts and found more of the same.
The complete absence of Chloe’s information and texts solidified someone had somehow gotten into my phone.
I never would have done this. Chloe was my best friend, my only friend. I re-checked the door as I pulled up the keypad and entered the digits I knew by heart.
Almost immediately an intercept message carried through the speaker. "Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and try again."
I hung up and did just that, getting the same message. After my third try, I quit and made my way out into the hall more confused than before.
Why wasn’t her phone working? Did she not pay the bill? That wasn’t like her at all. And her cell being off wouldn’t erase contact information from my phone. I didn’t have any explanations to make sense of this. My mind raced with theories, nothing it presented was logical.
Hearing Alaric’s familiar baritone voice carry from below, I stopped and placed my hand on the wall, feeling a chill skirt down my spine. I wasn’t ready to face him, but I didn’t have much of a choice. The alternative was hiding out upstairs until he came to find me himself and I really didn’t want that. So, with bare feet padding softly over the polished oak floor, I made my way down the stairs while keeping a death grip on my cellphone.
Following the sound of his voice, I located Alaric in the kitchen, his phone pressed to his ear. A mug of coffee was resting on the counter beside him.
His striking blue eyes met mine and anything I thought to say fled in a state of turbulence. How did I begin confronting him? What would he do in response?
I’d already accused him of having a room of horror down in his basement.
He’d laughed it off leaving me to believe that my mental woes had gotten the best of me. But now? I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure if what I saw was real or not.
One glance at the door leading down to the lower level showed it was armed and secured as always. Alaric continued his conversation, his eyes still trained on me. I swallowed, anything I thought to say failing to come out of my mouth.
