I Know What You're Afraid Of

Chapter 4

    Miles sat on the swing outside with his head in his hands. Beside him was the bag that belonged to Marianne. He had already looked through it. He found a necklace with gold chain and a pink rose attached. He held it in his hand, carefully inspecting it, before putting it to the side. Next, he pulled out a silk scarf. It had red and yellow flowers, and green leaves scattered across the fabric. He carefully placed the scarf next to the necklace. He reached his hand back in the bag and pulled out a book. Marianne Faith was written in the bottom right corner. His curiosity got the better of him as he flipped through the pages. There were sketches of flowers, trees and some of people. Not wanting to invade her privacy more than he already had, he closed the book and put it back int the bag. He was going to return the bag to Marianne, but he figured he would let her find him first. He needed time to think. About home, about his family and the events that had happened, just hours before he got to this strange place.

    Miles was different to say the least. His parents died when he was still a young boy. He lives in a big, isolated Gothic mansion with his caretaker Mrs. Grose, his younger sister Flora, and their Governess, Kate. Miles had an older friend, Peter Quint. He was his riding instructor. Miles was currently wearing the Orange sweater Quint had given him. He had a horrible influence on the boy. He would take him out to bars, and they would both come home drunk. Quint died not long ago. However, his spirit never left. He held onto Miles and used him as his shell. He made Miles do unforgivable things. He even got him expelled from Boarding School for slamming a boy's head into a wall. But he was gone for good now. That's what Miles thought.

    The front door opened, and Marianne walked out. Miles saw the bag in her hand, but he didn't say anything. Marianne finally spoke up. "Uh... h-hi. I uh... I think we got our rooms mixed up." Miles only looked at the girl with an intense stare. He nodded and handed her the bag. She mumbled an almost inaudible 'thanks' and passed him the other bag. He watched as she unzipped the bag and stuck her hand inside. The first thing she pulled out was the book he had looked through. He felt the need to apologize for looking at it, thinking she would be able to tell that the book had been touched.

 "I like your drawings." He could see her eyes widen at his unexpected compliment. Idiot. He was waiting for her to scold him for looking through her stuff. But she said nothing. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have looked at it."

    "No, that's alright. It's just that I've never showed anyone my drawings. Thank you. I'm glad you like them." Miles relaxed a little and smiled at her. He decided to look through his own bag. Miles hesitated before reaching his hand inside the bag. He dug around, not knowing what to expect. His fingers wrapped around something soft. He could feel Marianne's eyes on him as he slowly pulled the object out of the bag. It was a doll that belonged to his sister. She wore a white dress, her golden hair was tangled, and her face was messed up. 

"Flora." He was hoping Marianne hadn't heard him. 

"Who is Flora?" Miles mentally cursed before turning to the girl. 

"It's none of your business." He snapped, wincing slightly when his tone surprised even himself. 

    He could tell by the way she flinched, that he had frightened the girl. However, he did not want to talk about his personal life. Especially with someone he hadn't even known for a day. He felt bad but didn't stop to apologize. Instead he reached his hand back into the bag. He felt something sharp crawling up his hand. Oh no, he thought, not him. He contemplated taking his hand out, but the spider beat him to it. It crawled up his arm, all the way to his elbow. He had held the spider many times, but this time he couldn't even look at it. Miles could feel his heart beating out of his chest. "Is it yours?" He looked away from the spider and turned to Marianne.

     "He used to be. But he's dead."

*Peep my writing skills improving as the book goes on. Note to self: wait a while before editing and publishing... that's embarrassing for me..*