Tick tock goes the clock,
Until this Manor is
No more
Will the mouse
Find a way out?
Free of guilt;
Oh, safe and sound?
Time is running out, detective.
Angel Mallory has always been unlucky. Seemingly retired from their old job working for the Guil...
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Hope,
I thought. We were foolish to have too much of it. It was nice holding on to it for a while. We weren't making it out, I told myself. The thought hurt, maybe just as much as my stomach. I had tried so much, exhibited herculean strength and determination. All of it just to... fail? To let them win in the end?
There was enough food left to last two more days. We'd be gone in three. It hurt. I should just live in the moment, I told myself. But it was so hard to forget.
I'd be dead in three days. Gone. Dead.
I'd long come into the conclusion that no matter how much I disliked them, Lord and Lady Silverguard didn't have anything to do with it. Neither did Benjamin. I chuckled bitterly, reminiscing on how scared I'd been of him at some point. So foolish.
Ava left me as well, I reminded myself, wanting to smash my head against the wall. I wanted to yell, cry with frustration, but I was silenced by the close proximity of the rooms. Everyone would hear- and they all viewed me as a leader, if I gave up, would any of them keep trying? If they heard me break, would they keep fighting back the tears?
Didn't think so.
The breakfast table was dead silent that morning. The atmosphere was sharp, a vibrant absence of sound- you could definitely tell something was missing. Jokes, gossip, laughter; all replaced by awareness and suspicion. It was one of your neighbouring people that caused your predicament, someone you might've interacted with on a daily basis, after all. Rivalries were bound to occur.
Vincent Thorne didn't join us anymore, he had the same breakfast each day- black tea and half-burnt toast; I had the displeasure to smell the charcoal-coloured crisp when Cynthia brought it to him each morning. It served as even further proof that his priorities were much different and not related to his health. He was a doctor, for goodness sake. He knew his limits. He knew how to heal. He knew how to cause utmost pain with precise strikes. He knew how to paralyze and how to strengthen.
And if I was right, and he had planned this- he didn't lack in strategy either. That originally unassuming man was terrifying.
I glanced at Ava. She sat on the opposite side of the table, as far away from me as possible. I wondered why she was avoiding me as much as she was. Had what I'd done been so bad? Ignorance? Looking back, I might've deserved this.
"Pass me the salt, will you, Isadora?" Mrs. Rodriguez decided to break the ice, bowing her head in recognition to Lady Silverguard, who mere days ago she wouldn't hesitate to quarrel with. I hummed to myself in approval, standing corrected of my earlier conclusions.
