What Happens in the Dark

Chapter 45

When Lacey and I walked back inside everyone pretended like they weren't just staring at us the whole conversation. Sterling started whistling awkwardly making me laugh.

"No need for the awkwardness." Lacey sighed sitting on the sofa.

"Oh were you two hugging- talking?" Eli said casually, "I didn't notice." Lacey rolled her eyes in response.

Monroe smiled at me. I could tell he was relieved that his sister and I didn't hate each other.

"Alright." Monroe's dad said handing me a plate of scrambled eggs and French toast with powdered sugar and syrup. "You eat that, and we will get on the road." He smiled.

"Thank you, this looks amazing." I said taking it from him.

"It's nice to be able to cook again." He grinned.

I sat down at the dining table and Monroe sat next to me. Lacey, Eli, and Sterling were sitting in the living room while Russo and Evelyn got some last minute things together in the other rooms.

"Thank you for being so forgiving towards her." Monroe said to me. His gray eyes were lit up as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"It wasn't exactly her fault, she didn't know." I said putting a piece of French toast in my mouth.

"I know, but you had every right not to, and you did."

I smiled up at him," I want your family to like me, family is important."

"They're your family too now." He said putting his arm around me and planting a kiss on my forehead.

When I finished my plate, I brought it to the sink and mentally prepared myself for this trip.

"Let's load up." Russo said opening the front door. Everyone loaded up in Evelyn's three-row SUV. Monroe and I sat in the back while lacey sat in the first row. Eli and Sterling climbed in the middle.
*****

The trip felt extremely long. I fell in and out of sleep on Monroe's shoulder before waking up and seeing that we were driving beside a huge river. It seemed like we were in the middle of no where as nothing but trees and woods were surrounding the river.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked feeling groggy.

"Alittle over two hours." Sterling said, "I forget humans sleep so much."

"Oh, that's not humans, that's Seven." Monroe corrected making me laugh. I lightly pushed his shoulder.

We pulled into a long narrow dirt road which we rode on for ten minutes. Then we pulled up to a victorian mansion on it's own piece of land. It was huge and towered so high as if it could have been a sky scraper. The windows wrapped around it in the shape of triangles. The house gave me an eerie feeling. It was very dark as if nobody had lived in it in years.

A tall woman poked her head out of the mansion door. She had black hair that fell to her collar bone and she was really skinny. We got out of the SUV and started to approach her. She was wearing a long gray dress that had sleeves down to the middle of her arms. She looked like Monroe's dad and as we got closer I noticed she had the same crystal gray eyes as Monroe and his father. Her skin was fair, but it was tanner than both Monroe and Russo. She didn't have a single wrinkle on her face, but you could tell she was an older woman. She looked to be in her early fifties.

"Hello son." She smiled hugging Russo. Her voice was smooth like velvet, but had a high tone. "My God." She gasped looking at me. I swallowed hard not knowing what to say or if I should take that as a compliment.

"Mother." Russo sighed.

"I know, I'm sorry she just looks- so much like her." She said placing her hand to her lips still not taking her eyes off of me. I furrowed my brows in confusion before she finally broke her gaze to see Lacey, Eli, Sterling, and Monroe.