Project GoldCrest ✓

Chapter 7

Charlotte

A young woman was sitting on a brown leather sofa. Creams, golds and bronze tones surrounded her living room. With a few dashes of floral pinks here and there. Personally, I thought the decoration was elegant. But the expression on her face, and the feeling in my chest, probably meant that she didn't care.

She stood with an angry expression on her face, as a young man entered the room and sat down on the opposite sofa.

"Why did you marry me?" She asked. That is when I pieced together that the guy was probably the other suitor. I would have been stunned that she really did get married to the other guy, if it weren't for the fierce anger that isn't mine stuck in my chest.

The guy grunted. He moved closer to the woman, and held her hands in his lap. "I had no choice in the matter. Your mother was aware of that, yet she still forced me to take you as my wife."

The woman scoffed. "Let go of my hands," bitterness coated every word. The guy took the message and stood up.

His beautiful features twisted into an unreadable expression. "I should leave you to become accustomed to your new home. But I do hope that you will come to realize that this is for the best." He said and went out of the room.

I felt the anger dissipate, as immense heartbreak took over. The woman's composed face suddenly crumbling. Images of her and her previous lover floated before my eyes in my mind.

I woke up. But all I could see was black. That's when I realised that my eyes were closed. When I opened them, I was hit by the rays of my nightlamp. I realised that I'd fell asleep on top of my covers. And I felt cold. The heart I could hear beating fast in my ears, started slowing down to a normal pace after a few minutes had passed.

I was still in my t-shirt and shorts. My phone was still in my hand. When I checked the time, it was 23:55. I entered my password, and found that I was still on the instagram page of Michael McCartney.

Before I dozed off, I'd been researching his social media accounts. I wanted to see whether I could find bits of extra information about him. Maybe a clue as to why he could have been spying on Luke and Chloe. All I found was this recently posted picture of Mickey and Chloe. I knew it was taken when I saw them earlier today at school. They were still wearing the same clothes.

That raised a red flag. Are they dating? Or is he playing her? Maybe this was just another way of spying on her. If so, then Michael was one wierd person. Actually, not wierd, but creepy. What kind of teenager spied on others? This was not some spy show.

Although stalking, I guessed, was much more worse than being creepy. I shook my head immediately, this was not the same thing. Mickey is spying on those two, and he's probably stalking them too.

A part of me felt that they probably deserved it. I couldn't get over that warehouse and the whole different energy I felt there. That place gave me weird vibes, and inside I was scared of it.

The more I got engrossed in this, the more stunned I became. It raised all kinds of questions. And I didn't think that the answer would be pretty. Finally, I made up my mind, I'd had enough.

I got out of bed and pulled out my tracksuit and suited up along with my sneakers. I snuck out of the window and left a little space for my fingers under the window for when I came back.

After I slid down the pipe, I reached the gate. I was already a few meters away from it, so I started running towards the bars. I climbed over and down to the ground again. Thinking that I had no time to waste, I ran over to Mickey's house.

I tiptoed across the driveway, over to his house. That's when I started looking through the windows to see if I could distinguish his room.

After a few minutes of going around the house in circles, I finally decided on a room. I would've sworn that it was his bedroom, but the problem was that no one was in bed. Actually now that I've thought about it, I didn't see his truck either.