Silhouette (Part One)

Chapter 10

"Good morning." A soft female voice drifted through the darkness of sleep. "It's time to wake up." I heard myself groan and my eyes shot open. I was staring sideways up at a middle aged woman with clear blue eyes and long brown hair that flowed over her shoulders in waves, shifting with every movement. "How do you feel? You slept very soundly straight through the night. Katy checked on you all night. Herself getting very little sleep."

I sat up and a wave of vertigo washed over me, throwing the room off and making me stumble out of the bed. "Katy? And not to be rude, but, who are you?" The room stopped spinning and my balance steadied. The triplet that had been swimming around my vision melted into one. The same woman that was standing next to me when I woke.

A smile broke across her lightly tan defined features. "I am Merrideth. Some people call me Merri, and Katy is my daughter. Henri is my husband."

I widened my eyes in mock surprise. "You're Merrideth Geritan?"

"So far as I know." Her smile formed a dimple on her left cheek. "Breakfast is in ten minutes, and there is a change of clothes in the dresser for you. If they're not the right size let me know, and I'll see if we can find something that might fit you from...." Her voice trailed off, and her smile faded as her eyes looked into the distance. "Just come down when you're ready." Her eyes refocused, and her smile returned. "Nice to meet you Daniel." She left the room quietly and shut the door behind her. So I made my way over to the dresser and looked inside.

Sure enough, there was a change of clothes. A lot of clothes actually. I assumed the ones on top would be the ones she referenced. A plain black shirt was sitting on top beside a pair of blue jeans and thick black wool socks. After I changed, I stepped out of the room and was enveloped in a hall full of brown, green, and red. It was like Christmas central. I know a few shopping malls that would be jealous of the design and color scheme.

"Come on. I'll show you the way." A voice pulled my attention to the left. The same girl that I saw when I first awoke was standing in the middle of the hallway, her hands behind her back. "I was startled by your waking, that's why I ran off. If you were wondering." It hadn't even crossed my mind, but I won't say that.

A wave of warmth shot through me when our eyes met, and I'm sure I looked startled. Which is a good thing. "I'm sorry. And you are?" Kaitlyn.

"Kaitlyn. My family calls me Katy or Kat. You can call me that if you like." She grabbed my arm and smiled at me as she pulled me down the hallway. A wonderful smell wafted up through the dark oak floored, curved staircase. Smelled like bacon, eggs, cheese, and some vegetables.

"So what's for breakfast?"

"Today we are having omelets with bacon, and it smells like they haven't yet started the pancakes." She let go of my hand when we reached the bottom of the staircase and rounded the corner.

We passed through an archway and into a bright, white and black modern kitchen. A stark contrast to what I'd seen in the room and halls. Black marble countertops covered dark cabinets, and stainless-steel appliances were spaced evenly throughout. A man was standing at the stove with Henri and Merrideth seated at a large island with four bar stools. The place gave me a cold feeling, despite the warmth radiating through the large picture windows opening the wall to the left.

"I see you've made it through the night." Henri turned in the stool to face me, Merrideth doing the same. His eyes were cold, but betrayed a bit of warmth when they passed over his daughter. "And that Katy was kind enough to lead you here. Although I'm sure it wouldn't have been a problem for you to follow your nose."

"Dad!" She protested.

"Oh hush Henri." Merrideth quieted him. She was smiling at me like I was some lost puppy or something. Maybe I was. "Come sit. Jorge was just putting the pancakes on the griddle, and the omelets are finished." She gestured to the seat next to her.

The man (Jorge) turned with four plates that had large omelets on each and a small mountain of bacon next to it. "This is my favorite breakfast here. Jorge knows how to cook bacon just right." Katy commented before unceremoniously shoveling bacon into her mouth.

"The best manservant we have ever had." Merri commented. "He is a one man army. Does everything here and makes the house look spotless."

"You flatter me ma'am." A heavy Scottish accent replied from Jorge.

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The rest of the morning was me getting shown around the house by Katy. I can't say I'm complaining, but she's keeping me from my mission. We arrived back in the main hall at about lunch. "Thank you for the tour, but I really can't stay."

"I think my father has taken care of that with your family. You don't really have to go so soon do you?" Her eyes lost the glow they had while she was showing me around. Please don't tell me she was attracted to me! I don't have time for sentiment. Maybe if my life hadn't turned out like this we would have had a chance, but this will not work.

"Regardless of what your father may have told my Mother; I need to get home. I have important things I need to attend to." I started towards the stairs to go back to my room when she grabbed me by the arm and turned me to face her.

"That's the thing. You can't leave." She pulled me into a hug and started to whisper in my ear. "You remember when I disappeared at some point on our tour?"

"Yes." I mumbled, extremely distracted by her action, and the warmth of her body against mine.

"Well, I went to see if my father would talk with your family about extending your stay, but when I reached his office. I overheard a quick conversation with his head of security."

Her smell completely engulfed me, the burning cedar. So much so that it was starting to get really hard to pay attention to what she was saying. All I could do was hum. "Hmmm."

"They know who you really are." My eyes had closed, but her statement shocked me back to myself.

"Who I really am?" I pulled away and looked into her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Wait." She pressed a finger to my lips and pushed away. Sticking her hand in her pocket, she pulled out a small cylindrical object and twisted it before shoving it back in her pocket. "He said something along the lines of 'our guest is not who he says he is' and 'if he tries to leave don't let him'. They also found a knife among your belongings."

"Well of course I have a knife. I am old enough, and I'm not going camping without it." I lied to her. "And not who he says he is does not mean they know who I am."

"So you're not Daniel Blake?" Her eyes started to harden.

"Of course I'm Daniel Blake." I lied. "I think I would know who I am."

"Do you? You did have a concussion from the fall."

"Of course. What did they say about the knife?"

"It was a match to something." I know what it matched. So I took off up the stairs with Katy calling after me. I barreled through the door into the room I had been in, and my bag was sitting on the top of the bed. It hadn't been there before.

"Daniel. What are you doing." Katy asked from the doorway as I dug through my bag. Item after item, but it wasn't there.

"It's not here." I thought aloud.

"Are you looking for this? Daniel? " Henri stood in the doorway with his daughter. "Or should I say Silhouette?"