Crimson Peak [COMPLETE]

Chapter One: 1 1/2 Years Later

Christian held his hand out to me and I held it tightly as he helped me out of the carriage. Once I was steady on my feet, he held his arm out to me. "Milady."

I smiled, looped my arm through his and smiled up at him. "Thank you, kind sir."

I looked up at the large house known as Allderdale Hall and was already intimidated. It was a huge mansion with at least a hundred rooms and, knowing me, I was destined to get lost in the maze of hallways. There was a tall, dead tree in the front and the grass outside was dead and yellowed. I realized suddenly that Christian was talking about something and decided it would be in my best interest to start paying attention.

"--get rid of that thing." He pointed to the skeleton of a machine that looked like it hadn't been used in ages. "Plant a garden and fix up the grass. Of course we'll get rid of that god awful tree and possibly even get a barn with some horses."

"You really have plans for this place..." I whispered as we reached the steps. It was intimidating to think that he'd already thought about what he wanted to do with the place. We hadn't even bought it yet.

"Your parents are on the fence about me, Rose, I've gotta prove to them I can take care of you." Christian was looking at me with his blue eyes the way he did when he was excited and content.

I twisted the gold band around my finger and chewed the inside of my cheek. Christian and I had been married for just over a week now and my parents had been nagging me about the fact that I chosen him over an very wealthy banker in town. Christian was a tailor, nothing too special, but he cared about me and we had been friends since we were children.

"Besides..." Christian stopped walking and grabbed my hands in his, "I already bought it."

I didn't know how to react to the fact that he'd already purchased this ginormous house. I was surprised to say the least. "You...you already bought the house? Christian, where did you get the money? How could you afford it?" Christian wasn't poor but he didn't have enough money to buy this house.

Christian shrugged. "Don't worry about that. Aren't you just glad that we have our own home? A place where our parents can't go snooping around whenever they want."

Christian's parents weren't too excited about our marriage either. They had wanted him to marry another girl who wasn't from a rich back ground. He had ignored their protests as well as I had with my own parents' arguments.

Christian pulled me towards the house. "Come on. Wait until I show you the rest of it. It's beautiful."

Christian and I had very different definitions of the word 'beautiful.' There was a large hole in the roof that allowed leaves and bird and any kind of weather to come pouring into the house. The floorboards creaked and groaned beneath our weight and other moans echoed through the house. The violet curtains hanging on the windows were eaten away and our feet left shoe prints in the dust.

Christian pulled me through the house showing me the parlor with the dust covered piano and the kitchen with the rusted pots and pans. He was telling me about his plans for the termite eaten stair case when there was a crash upstairs.

"What was that?" I asked. I was not typically the startling type but I didn't want to live in a house with bats or rats.

Christian squeezed my hand. "I'll go look, you stay down here; the stairs probably can't hold both of us at one time. Yet."

I nodded and watched Christian disappear upstairs.

It had only been a minute or two when I heard the floor boards creak behind me.

I spun around. "Hello?"

But nobody was there; the house was completely empty. I cursed this house for being so old and run down and yet somehow finding a way to get Christian to buy it.

I heard the floorboards groan again and then the high pitched note of the piano echoed from the parlor. I glanced over my shoulder to look at the stairs--Christian hadn't come downstairs and I knew he didn't play piano.

I made my way to the parlor as the piano piece reverberated out into the hallways. I pushed the doors open and the song immediately cut off. Nobody was in here--the room was just as empty and the piano just as dusty as when we had passed through earlier.

"Christian," I murmured, "if you're messing with me, I swear..."

"Rose?" I jumped when Christian called my name and I turned around to see him walking into the parlor with me. "I didn't find anything upstairs but we'll set some poison out before we move in so that whatever it was won't be here when we do move in. You have nothing to worry about." He frowned and looked over my shoulder at the piano behind me. "Was that you playing? It sounded amazing and I didn't know you played."

I looked over my shoulder, too, and considered telling him it wasn't me but I didn't. "I don't play very well but the piano was so beautiful I thought I'd give it a shot," I stated.

Christian took my arm and led me out of the parlor. "It sounded beautiful, Rose, and, when we move in, you can play all you want. I've already made arrangements to be moved in by the end of the week." Christian stopped in the entryway and held my hands in his. "Rose, this house holds everything we've ever dreamed of. We can have a big family like we've talked about. I love you."

I smiled, shocked that he was telling me he loved me for the first time in an old house like this. "I love you, too, Christian."

As he led me out of Allderdale Hall, I heard a screeching piano note, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.