Читать книгу Almost Gone - Ophelia Night - Страница 6

The statue stood in Cassie’s doorway, framed by darkness.

Its lifeless eyes opened and its mouth parted as it moved toward her. The hairline cracks around its lips widened, and then its entire face began to disintegrate. Fragments of marble showered down and rattled on the floor.

“No,” Cassie whispered, but found she could not move. She was trapped in bed, her limbs frozen even though her panicked mind implored her to flee.

The statue made its way toward her, arms outstretched, stone chips cascading from its limbs. It began to scream, a high, thin sound, and as it did, she saw what was being exposed under the marble shell.

Her sister’s face. Cold, gray, dead.

“No, no, no!” Cassie shouted, and her own cries woke her.

The room was pitch dark; she was curled in a shivering ball. She sat up, panicked, groping for a light switch that wasn’t there.

Her worst fear… the one she tried hard to suppress by day, but which found its way into nightmares. It was the fear that Jacqui had died. Because why else would her sister have suddenly stopped communicating? Why had there been no letters, no phone calls, no word from her for years?

Shaking with cold and fear, Cassie realized the clattering stones in her dream had become the sound of rain, gusting in the wind, drumming against the window glass. And above the rain, she heard another sound. One of the children was screaming.

“You will hear the children if they cry or call—please attend to them.”

Cassie felt confused and disoriented. She wished she could turn on a bedside light and take a few minutes to calm herself. The dream had been so vivid she still felt locked inside it. But the screaming must have started while she was asleep—it might, in fact, have caused her nightmare. She was needed urgently, and she had to hurry.

She pushed the duvet back, discovering the window hadn’t been properly closed. Rain had blown in through the gap, and the lower section of the covers was dripping wet. She stepped out of bed into the blackness and headed across the room in the direction she hoped her phone would be.

A slick of water on the floor had turned the tiles to ice. She skidded, losing her footing and landing with a painful thud on her back. Her head banged against the bedframe and her vision exploded into stars.

“Goddammit,” she whispered, easing herself onto her hands and knees and waiting for the pain in her head, and the dizziness, to subside.

She crawled across the tiles and felt around for her phone, hoping it had escaped the floodwater. To her relief, this side of the room was dry. She turned on the flashlight, clambering painfully to her feet. Her head was throbbing and her shirt was drenched. She ripped it off and quickly pulled on the first clothes she could find—a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a gray top. Barefoot, she hurried out of the room.

She shone her flashlight onto the walls but there were no light switches nearby. Carefully, she followed its beam in the direction of the sound, heading toward the Dubois’s suites. The room closest to theirs would be Ella’s bedroom.

Cassie knocked quickly and went in.

Thankfully, light at last. In the glow of the ceiling lamp she could see the single bed near the window where Ella had kicked off her duvet. Shouting and screaming in her sleep, she was fighting the demons of her dream.

“Ella, wake up!”

Closing the door, Cassie hurried over and sat on the edge of the bed, gently grasping the sleeping girl’s shoulders and feeling them hunched and shuddering. Her dark hair was matted, her pajama top bunched up. She’d kicked her blue duvet to the bottom of the bed—she must be cold.

“Wake up, it’s OK. You’re just having a bad dream.”

“They’re coming to get me!” Ella sobbed, struggling to get out of her grasp. “They’re coming, they’re waiting at the door!”

Cassie held her firmly and eased her into a sitting position, dragging a pillow behind her as she smoothed her rumpled top. Ella was shaking with fear. The way she’d referred to “they” made Cassie wonder if it was a recurring nightmare. What was happening in Ella’s life to trigger such vivid terror in her dreams? The young girl was completely traumatized, and Cassie had no idea of the best way to soothe her. She had vague memories of Jacqui, her sister, waving a broom at a cupboard to chase off an imaginary monster. But that terror had its roots in reality. The nightmares had started after Cassie had hidden in the cupboard during one of her father’s drunken rages.

She wondered whether Ella’s fear was also grounded in something that had happened. She’d have to try and find out later, but for now, she needed to convince her that the demons had gone.

“Nobody’s coming for you. It’s all OK. Take a look. I’m here and the light’s on.”

Ella’s eyes opened wide. Tear-filled, they stared at Cassie for a moment and then her head turned, focusing on something behind her.

Still spooked by her own nightmare and Ella’s insistence on seeing “them,” Cassie looked quickly round, her heart accelerating as the door banged open.

Margot stood in the doorway, hands on hips. She wore a turquoise silk dressing gown and her blonde hair was tied in a loose braid. Her perfect features were marred only by a residual smudge of mascara.

Fury emanated from her and Cassie felt her insides shrink.

“What took you so long?” Margot snapped. “Ella’s crying woke us up, it went on for hours! We had a late night—we are not paying you to have our sleep disturbed!”

Cassie stared at her, confused by the fact that Ella’s well-being was seemingly the last thing on Margot’s mind.

“I’m sorry,” she said. Ella was clinging to her and making it impossible for her to stand and face her employer. “I came as soon as I heard her, but the light in the bedroom had blown, it was completely dark, so it took me a while to get—”

“Yes, it took you too long, and this is now your first warning! Pierre works long hours and he becomes angry when the children wake him.”

“But…” With a surge of defiance, the question sprang to Cassie’s lips. “Couldn’t you have come to Ella if you heard her crying? It’s my first night, and I didn’t know where anything was in the dark. I’ll do better next time, I promise, but I mean, she’s your child and she was having a terrible dream.”

Margot stepped toward Cassie, her face taut. For a moment Cassie thought she was going to offer a snapped apology and that they would reach a strained truce together.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead, Margot’s hand whipped out and she struck Cassie hard across the face.

Cassie bit back a scream, blinking tears away as Ella’s cries escalated. Her cheek burned from the blow, the bump on her head was throbbing harder, and her mind was reeling in horror from the realization that her new employer was violent.

“Before you were hired, a kitchen maid did your duties. And can do so again, we have many servants. This is your second warning. I do not tolerate laziness, nor staff talking back. Your third offense will mean instant dismissal. Now, stop the child’s crying, so we can get some sleep at last.”

She marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Frantically, Cassie bundled Ella in her arms, feeling overwhelming relief as her loud sobs subsided.

“It’s OK,” she whispered. “It’s all right, don’t worry. Next time I’ll come to you sooner, I will be able to find my way better. Would you like me to sleep here the rest of the night? And we could leave your bedside lamp on to be extra safe?”

“Yes, please stay. You can help stop them coming back,” Ella whispered. “And leave the light on. I don’t think they like it.”

The room was furnished in shades of neutral blue, but the bedside lamp, with its pink lampshade, was a bright and comforting item.

Even as she consoled Ella, Cassie felt ready to throw up, and realized her hands were trembling violently. She wriggled under the covers, glad of their warmth because she was freezing cold.

How could she possibly keep working for an employer who verbally and physically abused her in front of the children? It was unthinkable, inexcusable, and it brought back too many of her own memories that she’d managed to forget. First thing in the morning, she should pack up and get out.

But… she’d received no payment yet; she’d have to wait till month’s end to have any money at all. There was no way she could afford the taxi ride back to the airport, never mind the expense of changing her flight ticket.

There was also the question of the children.

How could she leave them in the hands of this violent, unpredictable woman? They needed someone to care for them—especially young Ella. She could not sit here, consoling her and promising everything would be all right, only to disappear the very next day.

With a sick feeling, Cassie realized there was no choice. She could not leave at this point. She was financially and morally compelled to stay.

She’d just have to try and balance on the tightrope of Margot’s temper, to avoid committing her third and final offense.