Chapter 16
Monster in the walls
'Charles be careful. Charles, are you ok? Charles, this.
Charles that. That's all you ever thought about.'
Seated alone on a garden bench in the middle of a
garden was a beautiful woman and in her hands was a small
flower pot with a plant inside. She tenderly smiles while
looking at the plant and she holds it closely to her as if it was
an important gem.
"Ma'am, your tea is ready," said a voice, snapping her
out of her thoughts and daze. She looked on as the maid
placed the tray she was holding next to her and once she
was done, Beth thanked the maid and told her to leave.
When the maid was gone and well out of sight, Beth took a
few leaves from the plant and placed them inside her teacup.
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After placing the leaves, she then picked up the porcelain
teapot and poured some tea in the cup.
When the tea and plant leaves were all mixed properly,
Beth carefully picked up the teacup and brought it towards
her face. Once she smelled the wonderful blend of herbs and
tea Beth smiled to herself.
"One cup per week as you prescribed…"
"Welcome to the Amar'e household. We don't usually
get new employees here, but please feel free around the
mansion," said the woman with a beautiful voice with an
infectious smile that could drop any man
The big house was oddly quiet and there was no one in
sight. At first it seemed like no one was there, just a big
house being maintained for the sake of keeping it.
Mark had recently found an article about a new job
opportunity as caretaker of an estate in Kelsus. He would be
the one to take the position of butler and head overseer of
the property. When he saw the article, he was ecstatic as
these jobs were quite rare and also paid good money as most
rich families had only one person for that position for many
years and generations. A person for that high position
would be specially chosen and trusted by the family and
serve them for many years till their death.
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He was quite happy with the idea of the job but he was
not sure if he was ready to dedicate his entire life to it.
"Everyone here is very much open and I'm sure you
won't have any issues. As the new butler I assume you will
be taking your duties as soon as possible."
Mark had once made further digging into the family he
was going into as well as its history so that he would be well
versed with them before going for the interview. It left him
with more than second thoughts about the job. And to make
things more unsettling, no one was applying for the job
except for him, and he was the only one who got a
proposition.
That newspaper article was only available on the
newspaper that was delivered to his house, no one else. He
even asked a few people about the article but no one knew
anything about it.
That day he felt the most uncomfortable chills he had
ever felt in his life. It was as if there was a calling to that
place that was only meant for him.
As he was being shown around the house he couldn't
help but ask about the previous butler who used to work in
the mansion. But the woman tried her best to deflect the
question and sweep it under the rug. Soon he was
introduced to the other people who resided here, only a few
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members who rarely came to the mansion and left as fast as
they came.
He couldn't help but question why they didn't formally
stay here. It was a very beautiful mansion yet it was almost
empty and none of the family members lived in it.
Time went by, one day he was passing down a corridor,
when he saw an old portrait which was scratched so that the
appearance of the person was not visible. The portrait was
very old as the clothing that the person wore was that of an
older setting.
Mark removed his white gloves and touched the marks
on the painting. The scratches were so deep that they almost
shredded the portrait. The face of the person in the portrait
could not be seen but there was something that gave a clue
as to who he might be.
It was then that Mark realized that the house had a lot of
paintings and portraits of previous families who used to live
here and people who were involved with the family. But
there was only one person's portraits which were locked
away and not displayed. He didn't know who the lady was
but he decided to keep his questions and curiosity to
himself.
In the days that followed, Mark had been getting an
ominous feeling since he started looking at the paintings.
There was no one to ask about the paintings as the people
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who worked at the mansion also did not know anything
about the owners of the mansion or the Amar'e family,
which was very odd.
As someone who was working under someone else, it is
better to know at least something about them, but it wasn't
the case here.
As time went by he seemed to want to forget about the
things he was seeing in the mansion, however, his own
curiosity was pushing and pulling him from wanting to
know more. He wanted to shut it out but the intense
pressure to know more was sometimes too much. At times
he felt like he was being watched or followed when he tried
to snoop around the rooms in the mansion, and he didn't
have anyone to share this with.
He was scared that if she told Beth she would ask why
he was snooping around places he wasn't supposed to be in
and most likely scold or fire him.
One day as he was walking his usual rounds in the
mansion, Mark heard a creaking sound ahead of him. It was
a door opening. He wondered if someone didn't close the
doors properly in the upper attic and it made him a bit
upset. Dust easily gathered in that part of the mansion and
he didn't want any more work added to the already busy
roaster.
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That place was where some old things of the family
were kept so it had to be kept closed and safe at all times. He
walked towards the door to close and probably look for a
lock but something caught his attention.
He didn't know how, but that day Mark found himself
in a rabbit hole while reading about the family's history. Not
only the Amar'e, but a lot of families who were involved
with them. There were old papers and journals telling about
different stories that took place over the years. One that
really got his attention was between the Amare family
against the Sinclair and Castilla family
Mark found a long envelope, which was sealed closed to
make sure no one would open it without damaging the
envelope and the papers inside. For a moment Mark thought
of leaving the envelope and continuing reading the old
letters and journals, however, his curiosity got the best of
him and he tore through the envelope. He was already deep
into the family lore and there was no going back.
While going through the papers, Mark's eyes widened
with each word that he read. He quickly flipped to the other
pages and things just got more absurd and corrupt for his
understanding.
"Why hasn't the truth come out yet," mumbled Mark,
reading through the last page, "this is terrible, especially for
the Amare family."
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Mark's time in the attic was cut short because he heard
voices in the corridors and he decided to leave before
anyone saw him in there. But before leaving he took the
papers he just read together with the envelope.
"It would be more believable with evidence," said Mark,
hiding the papers in his jacket and then he left the attic.
Beth was walking around the house when she noticed
that she wasn't the only one who noticed the butler has not
been present lately. Everyone was asking and whispering
where he could have gone. Out of curiosity she went to
check where he stayed, but he wasn't there. All of his things
were in place and nothing had been taken or moved.
The room was neat and in good shape as always,
however there was something out of place that was barely
hidden underneath a pillow.
Beth's heart almost jumped out of her chest when she
saw the envelope, she quickly recognized it by the material
and seals that were now torn and broken. She already knew
what had happened and now she had to act fast before
things got out of hand.
His new name was now Walter, he completely left
everything and everyone that might remind him of his past
and what he knows. When he left Kelsus his aim was to get
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as far away as possible, but he knew that soon they would
catch up to him and it was only a matter of time till it
happened. The past few months after he left work at the
Amar'e mansion he was always on the run. He thought that
someone might be following him and would surely drag
him to his grave after what he saw and knew.
He buried his head in his palms as all these thoughts
crossed his mind. As he was deep in thought he heard a
creaking sound outside his window followed by what he
was sure were footsteps.
He quickly stood from the couch he was seated on and
looked towards the window where the sound was coming
from and the sound was increasing and getting closer by the
second. He waited for a moment while staring at the
window to see what it was. When he saw a shadow crossing
by, that's when it registered in his mind he was in danger.
There was no one to reach out to or available to help him, so
he prepared to defend himself, someone was certainly trying
to break into his apartment.
After all that time of hiding and running away, he was
finally found. He looked around hoping to find something
that he could use against whoever was trying to break into
his apartment, and on the table was a glass vase he could
use. Without wasting time, he quickly went to grab it.
He stared sharply at the window as he took a few steps
closer ready for anything, and a few moments later the
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window was abruptly broken into scattering glass pieces all
over the floor. It seemed that whoever that person was failed
to quietly open the window and were now using force to
enter.
When the time was right, he lunged towards the broken
window where the person was trying to make their way
through the window. He raised the vase above his head and
struck whatever that was at the window and it fell down
with a thud as the shattered vase fell everywhere.
After Walter, as he now called himself, was
apprehended by some officer, he was finally sat down and
asked exactly what happened during the time he was at the
Amar'e mansion. He suddenly disappeared with no trace
and no matter how much they tried to track him it was
difficult.
Meanwhile, detective Tanyah was helping Louis with
his head that was struck with the vase when he was
breaking into Walter's apartment. He was the one who
proposed the idea to sneak in through the window so as not
to scare the man away. But all that got him was a brutal
assault and a pending trip to the hospital. Luckily, he didn't
get badly hurt or a bad concussion from the assault
otherwise the ambulance would have carried him away.
Despite his awful condition, he still wanted to stay
behind with Tanyah and hear what Walter had to say.
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As they were both seated in the back of an ambulance,
Xander, a fellow colleague joined them. He was in charge of
the operation to locate and apprehend Walter after he was
reported missing and his involvement with the Sinclair
family.
"Have they found anything yet from Mr Sanders?" asked
Tanyah as she shifted her attention to Xander.
"Unfortunately, not. He seems to be in bad shape and I
doubt we will be able to make an arrest. The only place he
will be going is a mental hospital to get some help because
he really needs it," answered Xander, and then he turned to
Louis whose head rested in one hand while the other was
holding a bottle of water.
"I don't know if I should be surprised or scared at such
stupidity, detective," he said as he laughed at Louis, "don't
tell me you expected him to give you a cup of tea and
muffins when he saw you breaking into his home."
Xander broke out laughing and this was Louis' final
straw. Ever since he gained consciousness Xander has made
it his mission to troll him to the maximum capacity on each
opportunity he receives.
Having had enough, Louis raised his head and sharply
glared at Xander, who wasn't fazed at all. Louis quickly
opened the bottle of water he was holding and splashed
some water at Xander. His attempts to pour water on
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Xander failed miserably because of his head injury which
made him not see clearly.
This seemed to make Xander's day as he erupted into
more hysterical laughs to completely annoy Louis.
"I should come with you guys on missions more,"
laughed Xander looking over at Louis, "it seems so
interesting with people having their heads cracked open for
not thinking straight."
After Xander informed her of Mr Sanders' state, Tanyah
went inside the apartment to talk to him herself. There was a
lot she had to ask this man about the gardens and their
connection to the moor and Amare family.
Was he the one who killed Charles? Or did he at least
know who it was and why they did it? Why did he do it?
Why?
As soon as she entered the apartment, her ears were
greeted by the screams of Mr Sanders who was being placed
in a strap jacket and it seems he was going more and more
insane by the minute. He was yelling incoherent words and
asking for help and to be set free.
Despite the man being in a hysteric panic, Tanyah still
got close and she took out a photo from her pocket and
showed it to Mr Sanders, and he immediately went still and
kept looking at the person in the picture.
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"Mr Sanders, I need you to tell me what you know about
this man."
The room was dead silent and Mr Sanders didn't say
anything but look at the picture of Charles that Tanyah was
holding before him.
"This man, what do you know about him?"
Moments passed, and that's when she realized that
there was no hope in getting any information from Mr
Sander. She stepped away from him and let the paramedics
take him away
Louis was now feeling much better as he now had an ice
pack on his head. He saw detective Tanyah from a distance
and decided to talk to her. However, the paramedics told
him to sit down, but he kept on insisting. He slowly
approached her and was about to joke about how Mr
Sanders is making everyone deaf.
"I failed Anderson. I failed my mission."
Louis just froze as she has never used his surname when
addressing him, unless it was something that was really a
really serious situation. He sighed as though of any ways to
somehow make this right.
"It's not your fault, detective. We just jumped into this
without knowing exactly what we were dealing with," said
Louis as he tried his best to console her.
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The atmosphere got a bit silent. He couldn't see her face
as she was looking ahead and he was behind her.
"I'm so sorry about Nicholas. I know you tried your best
to protect him."
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