Kyla, the Ghost Hunter

Hide and Seek for the Truth (chapter twelve)

At that moment, I felt like drowning. He is a ghost but I could feel his warmth. As we parted, I didn't know what to say. I felt embarrassed. He still smiled at me and gave me a present. It was a key.

"Would you like to play hide and seek?" He asked.

"What?" I was confused.

"You probably wonder why I kissed you a while ago. Well, I won't tell you unless you find me. That is the key to the room where I will be hiding. There are twenty rooms inside this mansion. You already know a few. Good luck, Kyla, I'll be waiting right there." He said, and disappeared after.

That butler is really strange. After making me feel like a princess, now he wants me to look for him in this enormous mansion? Oh well, there's nothing to lose so I started to find the room he was talking about. I started at the second floor. There were eight rooms there, including the master's bedroom. I tried the key in all of them but  none of them opened.

At the third floor, right wing, there were three rooms. One of them is Jack's room so I didn't try the key on that. It also didn't work on the other doors.

At the left wing, there are also three rooms. None of them as well did not open. I tried looking at the ground floor but there wasn't any doors left because they were broken. I sum it all up  and it seemed that I missed one. There was only nineteen rooms in all. So I went back to the master's bedroom.

"I wonder where's he hiding", I said as I sat down again by the round table.

Suddenly, there was a something shining at the wall. It was so dark in the room so it had been noticeable. I went closer and was surprised to see that it was a secret keyhole. So I explored the whole mansion, not knowing that the room, where Jack is hiding, is just here in the master's bedroom.

I unlocked the secret door and as I opened it, I saw a room painted in plain white. There were a lot of old framed pictures that was stacked in every corner. There were also sketches and paintings. There was also a huge book shelf on the wall full of old books. I knew Jack was there because I saw his violin leaning on one corner. Suddenly, Jack appeared behind me saying, "Congratulations, you won in our game."

I was surprised that I screamed so loud. Jack was laughing so hard to see me so frightened.

"Don't scare me like that", I said with a pouting face.

"I'm sorry", he said while holding his laughter.

"So, where's my reward?" I asked.

"Here, take a look. It's Katherine's portrait." He said as he took a framed picture out of the stack.

I was so amazed and yet very surprised for I what saw. Katherine… She… looked like… ME. The puzzle in my head started to form one-by-one. I thought of it all - Jack's story about her, my pendant, the old lady.

"Am I… Katherine's daughter?" I asked Jack while there was tears flowing from my eyes.