Hold Me

Chapter 2: Show Yourself

Paige pulled through the old, rusty gate, parking her car as soon as she was inside. "Okay," she said to herself with a deep breath. "I just have to get through spending the night here." Taking the key out of the ignition and grabbing her backpack, she stepped out of the vehicle, closed the car door, then shut the gate before she turned around and gasped slightly at the beautiful gardens.

Milo certainly was right.

Everywhere Paige looked, there were flowers in every color - reds, purples, yellows, oranges, pinks, et cetera. She couldn't help but focus her attention, though, on the delicately clipped topiaries in the yard. "Who on earth had the time to do these?" She wondered aloud as she approached a topiary that had been shaped into a dragon. "The detail is just extraordinary."

Throwing her backpack over her shoulder, Paige decided to stop admiring the scenery for the moment and to go explore the abandoned mansion. After all, she did have to spend a whole night there. She might as well become somewhat familiar with the place.

Paige slowly followed the path to the staircase, taking the steps one at a time as she ascended. Approaching the door, she reached out a hand and turned the knob, pushing open the wooden barrier with a loud creak, which made her wince slightly.

She stepped into the foyer of the mansion and glanced over at the dusty, broken down machines. Looking around the room some more, she took a deep breath, only to instantly regret it when she lapsed into a fit of coughing from all the dust. Once she was able to suppress her coughs by taking a sip of her bottle of water, she slowly approached a staircase and set her hand on the rusty, metal railing. Running up the stairs and taking them two at a time, Paige hurried up to the hallway and slowed her pace, walking a bit further before she found another flight of stairs. "Well, I suppose I'm going to get a workout this evening," she muttered under her breath with a sigh as she began to climb the wooden steps.

When she arrived at the top of the small staircase, Paige found herself in a relatively large room. She looked up and saw the colorful sunset in the evening sky through a large hole in the slanted roof. With a quiet sigh, she turned around to see a small cot with what looked like newspaper clippings pasted to the wall beside it. "Strange," Paige thought aloud, quickly shrugging it off as she returned to surveying the room. Deciding that she would make that her bedroom for the night, she took off her backpack and leaned it up against the wall before she sat on the floor and buried her face in her hands.

Paige pulled her hands away a moment later and frowned when she noticed that her engagement ring was still on her left ring finger. She gently pulled it off and admired the large diamond in the center, trying to understand why Luke would have spent the money on an expensive ring, only to throw away the entire relationship for some woman he probably picked up at a bar.

Figuring that perhaps she would just give the ring back to her ex fiancé, Paige began to slip the ring into her pocket before she paused when a thought entered her mind. She stood up and took a deep breath, glancing at the ring for a split second before she flung it as hard as she could, sending the piece of jewelry sailing out the hole in the roof. "Take that, Lucas Andrew Walton!" She exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief. "That felt good."

Paige smiled slightly as she turned around, but quickly froze in place when she heard a faint snip, snip, snip. "Hello?" She called out, a frown forming on her face as she turned toward the sound. "Hello?" Taking a few steps back as the floorboards creaked under her feet, she quickly knelt down and pulled a pocket knife from her backpack. "Who's there?" She demanded. "Show yourself!"

Slowly, the silhouette of a somewhat tall person emerged from the shadows and began to move closer, holding what looked like large knifes in their hands.

"I-I can see I've disturbed you. How stupid of me," Paige stammered, almost in fear. "I'll just collect my things and go now."

"Don't...don't go," the voice of the silhouette said as he continued to slowly approach the girl.

Paige couldn't help but frown when she saw his nearly white, scar-covered face come into her view, just barely visible in the dim lighting. "My goodness. What happened to you?" She asked softly.

The scar-faced man held up both hands and the knives - which were now beginning to look more like giant scissors - in front of her. "I'm not finished," he said simply, looking at her with almost a sad expression.

Paige unintentionally gasped and took a step backward, holding up her own weapon - which she only did to protect herself in case the stranger were to attack. "P-put those down!" She stammered. "Don't come any closer, please. Just put those down. I'm not here to hurt you...even if it doesn't seem like it with the way I'm holding this pocket knife."

The stranger immediately stopped approaching, but continued to look at Paige with the same almost sad, slightly scared expression on his face.

Paige glanced down at the large scissors before she came to a sudden realization, slowly putting away her pocket knife. "Those are your hands," she said softly as she looked back up at him. "My god, what...where are your parents? Your mother? Your father?"

"He didn't wake up," the man replied quietly, glancing down at his feet.

"Oh, my. I'm so sorry," Paige said with a sigh. "Are you...do you really live in this place all alone?" She watched the young man nod slowly, and after a moment of silence, she decided to ask, "What's your name?"

"Edward," he replied, looking down at her with a bit of uncertainty. "A-and you?"

"My name is Paige. Paige Thomas," the girl said as she walked back over to her backpack. "I'm sorry to intrude on your home like this. My friends dared me to spend an entire night here, so that's what I'm doing. I can leave, though, if that's what you wish."

"No, stay," Edward said softly. "I...could show you around...I suppose.

"That would be lovely," Paige said as she quickly plugged her phone into the portable battery that she had brought. "Let's go."