Veil of Vows

Ch.12

I slowly walked toward the basement, my heart racing so fast I could feel it in my throat. My hands trembled slightly, unable to believe what I was about to do.

I just hoped I wasn't making a fool of myself right now. If this was one of Chloe's petty jokes, she was taking it too far. Doing this felt stupid, but I couldn't stop myself.
What if it was true? What if Grayson really did kill Elliott? Maybe just maybe that would explain why Elliott hasn't been found.

God, I felt so stupid. I didn't know what I was going to find down there. I hated going into the basement-it was always so dark and eerie. Now I was forcing myself down there to see if what Chloe said had any truth to it

"God... what am I doing?" I whispered to myself as I stood in front of the basement door, scared out of my mind. "Am I seriously taking Chloe's word for this?
Knowing she lies all the time? I swear, if this is one of her stunts to freak me out, I'm gonna beat her ass the next time I see her," I muttered, scoffing under my breath.

l slowly opened the door, the creak of the hinges making my skin crawl. Slowly, I walk down the stairs. The air down here felt heavier, colder. As I reached the bottom, a strange smell hit me something faint, metallic.

Dried blood? No, it couldn't be... I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

But that smell lingered, enough to make me uneasy.
The basement looked just like it always did. Old boxes, furniture covered in dust. No signs of anything suspicious. But still... the smell wouldn't leave.

"Nothing, but what's that smell?" I whispered, though my gut twisted. Maybe Chloe wasn't entirely full of it. "Was the basement locked yesterday? Damn... I wish I knew," I thought to myself.

Everything looked creepily normal, just like the last time I saw it. Nothing seemed to have moved according to my memory, but that smell was new it smelled like dried blood.

I'd been standing there for God knows how long, just looking around, trying to spot something off in the basement, lost in my thoughts.

Then I was jolted out of my thoughts as another doorbell rang. Lord, it felt like the whole town wanted to visit me now; this was the second time someone rang that bell.

I quickly left the basement, locking the door behind me as I made my way toward the front door. "Who is it?" I called through the locked door, waiting for a response.

To my surprise, the voice on the other side wasn't a familiar one. It was Elliott's mother at my door. "Hello? I'm Elliott's mother, Lana. I was wondering if I could have a conversation with Sierra?" She spoke gently, and I could tell she didn't recognize my voice since we'd never really spoken before.

"O-oh! Elliott's mother?" I stammered as I reached for the door handle and opened it slightly to peek at her.
As I looked out, I saw she hadn't come alone; she was with Whiskers, Elliott's cat.

From my closer look, the cat seemed to be healing well and was in safe condition now, which made me feel better seeing her in the good hands of Elliott's parents.
"Um... yeah, l'm Sierra, the girl from last night," I said, sounding a bit awkward and curiously wondering what Elliott's mom, Lana, wanted to talk about. It was probably about Elliott, I thought.

"Oh, that's great... I hope you are doing well. Last night was interesting, to say the least," she said, keeping a soft smile with a concerned look, clearly also worried about my condition.

I let out a dry chuckle, rolling my eyes at it.
I was still bothered and annoyed by Chloe and what happened. "You don't say... come on in," I said, giving her a little smile as I moved to open the door for her and stepped to the side, gesturing for her to come in.