Only Darkness Lies

Chapter 30

The other way around the house to get out was unknown to her. She thought for a while. The clock was ticking and the guards could decide to enter the mansion at any moment. She tried put herself in Ekom's shoes.

How would have he escaped if he had gotten the chance?

It was safe to assume that the room had to be the safest of all for Ekom to have chosen it out of all the other rooms in the mansion.

It made sense for the room to have some sort of escape route to ensure he got out safely in case of trouble. While pondering about it, something came to her mind, she remembered that she did saw him make a run for the bed after his gun was crushed.

She quickly paced towards the bed and investigated it. She removed the sheets, checked the matresses and even tried to touch and push the intricate carvings on the wooden bed, all in the hopes of uncovering a secret passage. But to no avail, the carvings didn't even budge as she had expected them to and no secret passage was revealed.

But she didn't lose hope and began checking the bedside table. Lifting things like the vase and lamp and clearing up the table to look for some hidden switch. Still nothing. She put up all the things in their original position, except the vase.

It was a beautifully designed flower vase, painted black with golden flowers on the edges. She had accidentally set it in the lamp's place.

That was it. She heard the sound of a metal gate open under the bed. The soind came from under the carpet. A big passage with stairs that led to some other place had opened up. It was the passage that Ekom had thought of using during his fight, but could never get the chance.

Elvira crawled under the bed and made her way to the second step. She heard a commotion coming from inside the mansion and figured that the guards posted outside were making their way in. She quickly climbed down the stairs, closing the metal gate from inside.

The stairs led to a long tunnel which was lit by lamps. She made her way into it, unaware of where it led.

The guards had made their way in, one of them had notified others after finding blood spots leading to the hall, inside of the mansion. They were horrified to find Elfred's dead body and even more shocked to find Ekom dead. They searched the rooms, closets and everywhere but couldn't find her. Some of them were outside looking for her in the garden.

Elvira had almost made it to the end of the tunnel when she was obstructed by a hatch door. She opened it slowly and found herself under a bridge. She was able to make it out of the mansion.

The bridge was old, made of stones and had green land on the sides. The river it was built over had dried up.

She made her way to the high ground through the grass. With no idea of where she was, she knew she had to get to somewhere safe before sunset. She followed the road which led through the adjacent woods and kept on walking aimlessly for a few hours, there were no signs of human habitation nearby.

The sky was dark as the sun was about to set, when she finally caught a glimpse of smoke, coming from nearby. She ran through the trees and reached an old house, the smoke was coming from the window. She saw a woman making supper. Though she didn't want to trouble the lady in the middle of the woods, she had no choice but to ask her for shelter, considering her weakend state, she had to gather up her strength.

She knocked on the door and was greeted by a little girl, about 7 years of age. The lady came at the door, middle aged, wearing a tattered dress, her hair was messy. She looked kind and compassionate. Elvira hesitated to ask for anything so the women asked her to come inside.

"You are wounded. Why don't you rest up here tonight?" She suggested.
Elvira thanked her and apologised for intruding. Thanks to her, Elvira enjoyed a nice meal and a good night's sleep.