MAD MARY

💀 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | SECRETS

The air was embraced in the decent smell of petrichor when morning arrived and the wooden mansion remained still in silence at the early hours of dawn.

Rain drops sat on leaves and soaked the earth. The chill that danced within the wind's unseen streams, gave the green forest an illusion of winter in autumn. While brown, maroon and orange kissed the leaves of trees and entirety of once lush shrubs, George Beckham lay on his bed wrapped up in a blanket like a sausage in a hot dog.

George's eyelids hurt and a sharp pain on the left side of his skull was a testimony to his sleepless night.

"Curiosity will kill the cat and it will do so slowly George Beckham." George mumbled to himself as he tried his best to sit up.

After a brief tug of war with a rather heavy blanket and over-sized pajamas, George sat up, left with the battle against his numb legs. The cold had seeped into the epidermis of his skin and an all-night shiver left his limbs feeling inferior to his body.

He stared at the door and counted the steps it would take to exit his room. It seemed like a terrifying ten steps to his slothful personality this morning.

"You're not an old geezer George. It's not even winter yet. Work you, stupid things!" George beat his legs with clenched fists.

He made an attempt to stand but his left foot sent a stinging pain on every nerve of his left lower limb. He looked down.

The big toe on his left leg was swollen and with every little move came excruciating pain. While a hundred pins played tag on George's left foot, his knee also ached a bit.

George limped towards the door but stopped after three steps. He turned right and gazed at the huge hole on the wooden wall.

The rays of sunlight quite dimmed by shut curtains, lingered on the edges of a very vivid dent in George's room.

"Shit! If he sees that, I'm dead." George told himself.

In a second no less, he recalled his escapades a while after midnight. Like one possessed, George threw the blanket out of his bed and rummaged the bedsheets.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he cried loudly.

He thought of the grey box he found hidden in the once sturdy wall, now shattered. A brief recall of the content he discovered in the box sent him on an early rampage.

"I took the photos out of the box...but before that I crawled over here and I...I fell here..." George muttered to none while he paraded the room in short prances of madness.

"Todd and I have to go quickly love!" Richard's voice echoed from down the stairs.

"It seems what you lost in the forest is quite valuable but it's way too early. You haven't even had breakfast yet!" Alice's voice echoed in a firm reply.

George looked up at the red and black themed 'Atasuki' wall clock a few inches above the door of his room. It was the seventh hour of the new day. His mom was right it was way too early for a hike.

"What I left is truly valuable Alice and I need to get it back. Hopefully it's not been washed up by last night's ghastly storm." Richard replied.

"Tell George I didn't want to wake him up. I'm sure he had a hard time yesterday. He needs to rest up." Richard voice vanished and so did its echoes after a deafening bang.

Richard's last words and the sound of the huge door at the main entrance, slamming loudly shot a zap of fear down George's spine. He recalled the theft he committed in his father's room the previous day. The grey box found within the wall was not the only item in his possession a few hours ago. He'd also stolen a grey box from his father's room.