CHAPTER 9

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It was the first time I was this close to the statue. It carried an air of sadness around it. The bowed down face of the angel felt like it was tired after seeing so many things. It looked like it had given up. I edged closer to the fountain and strained hard to get a good look at the statue. Yes, I was right the last time. Little streams of water were flowing from the statue's eyes. It really looked like it was crying.

"Who built a statue like this?"

"It didn't look like this before."

I got startled and turned around, only to find Richard standing right behind me. I didn't notice him walking up behind me. I looked at him with anger and disbelief as it was really rude of him to do that.

"What are you doing?" I asked, anger still evident in my tone.

"Haha, no need to be angry. I didn't mean to startle you. The angel, it didn't look like this before. This happened after David was born."

"What do you mean happened? Did someone carve the statue again?" I asked, forgetting my initial anger at Richard.

"Nah, she bowed down herself." he said with a sly smirk. I thought he had a limp in his brain just like the one in his leg. No other reason was there for someone to utter such nonsense and actually expect people to believe it. I stared at him for a minute or so and decided to walk away. Just as I turned towards the lake, he said, "She looked just like you. So be careful."

"What?"

Without answering my question, Richard just walked back into the castle. His actions and words created a lot of confusion in my mind. I wanted to dispose of my suspicions by thinking he is crazy but I couldn't do it. His words caused the effect a stone would have on a calm lake. Just like the endless ripples on the lake, my mind was clouding with an avalanche of questions.

"Did he have an ex-girlfriend who looked like me?" I asked myself as I walked towards the lake.

I don't know how but somehow I ended up right in front of the lake. Even though I came in the direction of the lake, I didn't quite know the way because I had never come by myself. And because of that I was pretty shocked when I found myself standing in front of the lake. A cold wind swept by as I looked around the lake. The sudden wind felt like it turned a page as it passed by. I was no longer troubled by the nonsense said by Richard, I suddenly felt calm and centered. I felt like I belonged here, in this small lake surrounded by nothingness. The book which was earlier left on the stone still sat there untouched.

"It might be dry by now."

But the book was still dripping wet. I wondered why it didn't dry even after being left out for so long. I flipped the book and noticed the corner of the page folded like a bookmark. A sentence was underlined in pencil on that page.

"Then you lower yourself, inch by inch, till the water's up to your neck." The paragraph was about how the main character in the book, Esther loved hot baths as they were like meditating for her. I had read this book back in college for a book review assignment. I shuffled through the rest of the pages to see if anything else was written. As the book was very wet, it was really hard to split the pages. Some pages even had their ink faded out. I felt annoyed at how carelessly Amanda took care of the book.

"If she had to dry it, why didn't she take it back with her. How is it going to dry itself outside in this cold?" I carefully closed the book and decided to take it back with me. I thought of giving it back to Amanda after drying it. Anyway it's a book, she isn't going to be annoyed.

I turned around to walk back to the castle. That is when I noticed movement in my balcony. I squinted my eyes and looked harder to see clearly. Something was definitely moving in my balcony but the light wasn't enough for me to see what was happening. I took a few steps forward and peered at the balcony again to see who it was. Just then, the same fabric I saw in the lake earlier, fluttered in the balcony. This was no hallucination. I could clearly see the blue ombre fluttering slowly in the wind and a pale slender hand held the railings of the balcony. This was enough to alert all my senses. I tugged the wet book into my coat pocket and ran towards the house. I sprinted straight into the kitchen and found Amanda bent over the table cutting vegetables.

"I saw someone in my room." I said loudly panting and trying hard to catch my breath. Amanda and Mrs. Ben looked at me shocked.

"What?"

"I saw someone in my room from the garden below. You should come and check."

"Sure" said Amanda and got up from the chair to follow me. We went to my room, only to find David crouched by the foot of my bed drawing.

"Why are you here David?" I was surprised.

"I came by with my mother. She asked me to draw those trees that can be seen from your balcony."

I turned to Amanda in disbelief. How can she run back to the kitchen in such a short time and then pretend none of this happened. David's response seemed to shock her as she turned pale quickly like before and stared forward fumbling for words to say.

"Oh, I-I just wanted to keep David busy until dinner. That's why I asked him to draw the trees. I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"I-"

"This shouldn't have happened. I hope you don't feel too bad. He was giving me too much trouble and I couldn't help in the kitchen"

"Ah-it's-it's okay Amanda. I was just shocked to see the sudden movement in my room. I thought somebody broke in." I tried to pacify her, even though my thoughts were all over the place.

"I understand. I am really sorry. Why don't you lie down for a bit? I will call you once dinner is ready." she said and dragged David with her.

After Amanda left, I sat down after closing all the doors, trying to sort out my thoughts. Even though Amanda's explanation was logical, I felt there was something wrong with it. I might have been either telling the truth or I might be having hallucinations. I couldn't come up with any other justification as to how I saw the saw fabric again.

"Maybe it's because I pass by the painting so many times." I tried so many arguments in order to justify things that I have been seeing and hearing here. No matter how much I added things up, there is one thing I couldn't palace anywhere. One piece of the puzzle that seemed to fit nowhere.

It was how David always calls Amanda "mama" but switches to "mother" whenever there is something suspicious. It was almost as if he was addressing two different people. That didn't add up anywhere. I thought that I would ask him about this tomorrow during the class. The class was the safest as Amanda or anyone else wouldn't come interfering and I can get the truth out of David. No matter how many things I disposed of as hallucinations, there were some things I couldn't let go. Hallucinations or not, I decided I will get to the bottom of this. I took out the wet book and laid it on top of the table to dry and went down for dinner. 

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