Captive of the Light - Lily Ramsay (ereader iphone txt) 📗

I offered. But she only shrugged and pursed her lips. I had ruined the moment. We stared at each other a moment longer before she gathered her bag up and headed towards the door. “Can I see you again?” I asked a little desperately. She merely shrugged and stalked out of the room, her head held high.
Later that afternoon, after re-reading Caro’s story over and over again I decided that I needed to consult my father about these long lost aunts and if I had any cousins. I wandered down stairs, preparing what I was going to say. When I reached the den, I lifted my hand up to the door to knock, when I heard and tired “come in Lauren”. It was like he knew what I wanted.
Standing in his office waiting for him to say something, I took in all the mementos. My father had never seemed a sentimental man but here the shelves were crowded with pictures of Tom, Grace and I from the time we were babies.
“So, Lauren, what is it that you were after, hmm?”
“Well”, I began nervously, “I was wondering about the old ladies, you know that used to live here...”.
“There’s a book in the library about it, off you go now, I have work to do, sorry”.
As I meandered through the halls that would hopefully take me to the library, I took in the portraits covering the walls from bottom to top. They stared at me with their knowing eyes, having seen the families moved in and out for the past centuries. The dramas that had occurred . They held long lost secrets in their eyes, secrets that I would never know.
When I reached the library, I was overwhelmed; there were books from top to bottom. Where to start?
There were countless titles about the town and the history of it and even a few on Pembrooke manor, but nothing stood out. I continued skimming the bookcases, clambering up old ladders to get to the higher shelves and continually running my finger along the fragile spines of the old books, collecting a cloud of dust on my fingertip. Just when I was about to give up, I came across an old battered copy of Pembrooke a History. I retrieved the book blew off the dust and settled into an old arm chair ready to commence my reading. Just as I was about to open the book to the first page when I heard approaching footsteps.
I tucked the book behind me and tried to look casual (as if that was going to happen, here I was in a library with no book) as my mother walked in. She had a pensive look on her face, like something was troubling her. I smiled at her as she walked in wishing that she would go away and leave me to my reading, but no.
“Lauren”, she began carefully, “you know that girl who came over today,”
“yeah”, I answered carefully, wishing for her to go and find something else to do.
“Well she didn’t seem like the kind of girl who you would, you know, become friends with”.
“She’s fine mum; honestly, she’s had a hard life and is just a little shy that’s all...”
“Well I’ll let you get back to your reading, I’m going into town for a little bit, could you look after your sister?”
“Yes mum”
****
Later that afternoon, after my mum had returned, I finally snuggled up in my big arm chair in the tower and settled down to my book. The first page I opened to had a map of the manor and the grounds. It hadn’t changed at all considering the amount of years it had been here. The next page I turned to had a floor plan each of the levels, from the basement right up to the attic. It showed hidden rooms of which I was sure to explore. Just as I was about to turn the page, I noticed words scripted in with heavy ink just above the attic diagram. I pulled the book up close to my eyes and squinted, trying to make out the words but they were too small and blotchy. With an exasperated sigh, I set down my book and bounded down the stairs to my father’s office.

“Dad, please tell me you have a magnifying glass” I pleaded. He reached into his draw and pulled out a very expensive looking one.
“Be careful with it” I sent him a grateful smile and raced back up to my room. Once I had calmed down, I gathered up the book and turned to that page sucking in a deep breath I placed the magnifying glass over the script; it read;
“This is place of danger where the unimaginable comes true and the real world is lost...”
My mind backtracked to the weird attic rule that none of us understood. Was this somehow connected? I put my head back down to study the notation. Something was familiar about it. As I lowered the glass to it, it hit me. I knew this writing; it was Caro’s, it matched the other notes.
It was late, but I had to find Caro. I ran out of the house at full speed dodging questions from my family. I ran the whole way to the village centre when it occurred to me that I had no idea where Caro lived. I ducked into the local pub and asked some old guy. “Up on the hill” was the response I got but it was better than nothing. Standing in the town centre I got a good view of the surrounding areas, to my left was a hill and too my right was another hill except on that one stood my home, Pembrooke manor. So I headed off to the left, my eyes fixated on the tip of a roof I could just make out peeking over the hill.
When I reached the top of the hill I could see down below a little house nestled in the forest. Sucking a deep breath I made my way to the door and without time for a moment’s hesitation I knocked loud and clear.
Just when I was beginning to think that I had the wrong house, the door edged open a crack. Peeking from behind I could make out one focused green eye.
“Caro, it’s me, Lauren, could I come in? I have something really important to tell you”. The door creaked open a tiny bit more and a hand gestured for me to come in.


6.

The house was bright and warm hence the roaring fire. When Caro came back into the room she was holding her leather notebook out toward me. As I peered over to see what she had written I noticed that she had fresh pulsing lines on her wrist. I tried to ignore the fact. On the notebook she had written:
“Why are you here? Is everything ok? What do you want from me?
I nodded and said “I need to ask you something, I found something that you had written today”. Was it my imagination or did I see a flicker of fear dart through her eyes. Well if I did it was gone as quickly as it came. She nodded and turned on her heal, disappearing round the corner. I stayed where I was my feet planted to the ground until Caro returned wearing a frustrated look on her face. She stared me up and down and then pushed me from behind toward the stairwell. She led me up the stairs and stopped at a door. From her hand motions she told me that this...was her bedroom.
The door flung open and I gaped at what I saw. Her room was not like anything else I had seen. It was an attic that had been turned into an Aladdin’s cave. Hanging from the ceiling was lanterns. There was a huge canopy bed and she had a huge Moroccan tent in the far corner. Of course there were the ordinary things like a desk and bookshelf. As I observed the room I discovered to my horror a carving block of knives sitting on her bedside table. When she caught me staring she walked over and stood in front of them while staring down angrily at me. I merely shrugged and hoisted myself up to her bed. Eventually she resigned herself to the fact that I was staying and sat down opposite me. With Caro staring fixedly at me I started to explain what I had found.
****
By the end of my tale Caro was shaking uncontrollably. I was at a loss as of what to do. Something I had said had obviously meant something to her. In the end I went down and fixed her a hot cup of tea and left it by her bedside, only hoping she wouldn’t start slicing herself to shreds.
When I opened the back door, preparing to go home, I was shocked that sun was peeking up on the horizon. I hadn’t realised in the least that I had spent the entire night with her. I didn’t even feel tired.
The village was deserted. Everyone tucked up in their warm beds as they should be. I picked up speed as I neared Pembrooke hoping that mum wasn’t up baking or dad hadn’t spent the night working.
When I slipped through the door the manor was eerily quiet. I snuck up to my bedroom and pulled on my pyjamas hopping into bed and waiting for sleep to come and take me away to a place of peace. But I couldn’t sleep, it was morning and soon my parents would wake and everything would be happening as normal. I was worried about Caro, I wondered what had a struck something so deep in her. I knew that she was sensitive about the subject of Pembrooke but she had never acted like that before. Urggg, I might as well get up. With my mind going in circles like that sleep was a distant dream.
The sun was completely up when I came downstairs. I was so so tired but there was no way I could sleep now, not with everyone up. Mum noticed straight away, “didn’t you sleep last night Lauren?”
“no mum”, I replied irritably, “I didn’t”. To that she had no come back and left me to finish my breakfast solo.
For the rest of the morning wondered around the house like a zombie. Picking up little tasks and then leaving them when they became too complicated. All I wanted to do was go and see Caro but for some reason I was scared to. By about mid day I finally gave up and retired to my room. As soon as I flopped onto the bed I was asleep, prisoner in deep sleep...
****
I was awoken when I felt a weight on the foot of my bed. The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was that the afternoon sun was streaming in, I couldn’t have slept that long. The next thing was the shadow a figure sitting on the end of my bed. I blinked profusely and pushed myself up, right into the face of Caro.
We stared at each other for a moment before I actually registered that she was here sitting at the end of my bed. “Did mum let you up here?” I asked. She shook her head and walked to my window. She gestured to the vine leading up. “You climbed it?” I asked incredulously. She nodded like it was no big deal. Then she started scribbling on her notebook. I waited patiently trying