Chapter Seven

                                    

                                          
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Word Count: 1697
                          
~Brielle  
                          
It was Mabel who spoke first. Eventually. 
                          
The silence that fell after the scream left us all chilled right to the bone. Mabel shakily smiled, which was proof enough that this wasn't her doing. She wasn't trying to frighten us. From upstairs, someone had screamed, in need of help. Yet none of us could move. 
                          
"Okay, that's a bit strange," Mabel says, followed by a breathy laugh. Girls around me exchange glances, skin pale, eyes widened. "Should probably go have a look shouldn't we?"
                          
Most girls called Mabel stupid for wanting to go investigate. I offered to go with her while they cowered in a corner. If there is a chance to save whoever screamed like that, I'll do anything. I would want the same done for me. 
                          
That is, if I can stop the shaking in my fingertips. 
                          
My mind is wondering what it could have been as we clamber up the stairs. Mabel is feigning confidence, but I know better. She's as petrified about what this could be as I am. But she's not about to look foolish in front of the other girls, who think of her as the brave one. 
                          
The work corridor is completely empty when we make it up there. The lights above us flicker, but that is the only unnerving sight here. Mabel and I exchange glances. 
                          
"We weren't hearing things were we?" She asks, staring blankly at the empty spot where a girl should have been in serious danger. That is, if that scream was real. 
                          
I shake my head. "No way. We all heard it."
                          
Mabel sighs deeply, taking a few steps further down the hallway. Her shoulders are tense and tight, as she waits in case someone is about to jump out at us. I follow her, unsure if anything bad will happen, but also nervous. I don't know anything about this place, but surely it can't hold something so terrible? Even after all the stories Mabel fed us...
                          
When we round the corridor corner, we spot someone leaning against the wall, hugging their knees. When we approach, I notice the thickness of their hair, and the way they shudder. 
                          
"Hey, are you okay?" Mabel asks, crouching in front of a girl who I notice works in the kitchen. Her skirts are bundled up around the legs she hugs. 
                          
She stares at both Mabel and I with wide eyes. Tears stream down her face, her entire body shivering as if she has been exposed to cold. Instead, it is clear she has seen something, or done something that has frightened her like this. 
                          
"Where am I?" she questions. 
                          
I can see Mabel frown. "Girl, where do you think? You're in Ren's manor, it's late and we heard you scream. Are you going to tell us anything about what happened."
                          
She frowns, as if the words we are saying aren't quite making sense in her mind. Part of me wants to lean down and shake her shoulders. She seems so dazed, so why did she scream? All the girls under this floor will be thinking she has been murdered in cold blood. As frightened as she may look, it doesn't seem as though she's been harmed. 
                          
The girl, lost blue eyes staring at her hands. "I don't know how I got here. I just saw a man and he..."
                          
"He what?" Mabel questioned. 
                          
With these words spoken, she seems to crawl into herself. A mask immediately fell over her face. It was if we were talking to someone, and then a switch flipped and she was gone, replaced by a vapid version of herself.