Chapter 43: All Of Us Are Dead
Closing the door behind her and locking it to avoid any more incoming disturbances, everyone quietly took a seat on the chairs they could find in Orson’s large study room. With only the lamplights on and the curtains closed, the study room appeared dim, and the air carried a mixture of anxiety and focus.
Rounding each other with their chairs and forming a circle, silence suddenly reigned between everyone, and all eyes were now fixed on Madeline as they waited for her to explain where she’d seen someone with that same description Auriela had told Cassian about.
"Are you sure about what you saw?" Cassian asked cryptically. He didn’t want Madeline to get involved any further than she already was, and if it was possible for her to have spotted someone who had the exact features Auriela had mentioned, then that only rings a negative bell in his head.
"Yes, I’m sure." She looked at Cassian, her dark orbs displaying the truthfulness in her words. "But it was a very long time ago. When you first asked me about the description, I told you that I hadn’t seen anyone with such, but it dawned on me that maybe I have seen someone. The accident that had occurred with my parents’ carriage. I can still remember it clearly. There was someone standing right in the alley." She explained as though she was visioning the whole scene once again. "Even as a child, I noticed the person who stood there was watching us intently. He had a red cloak on, and was dressed in all black. It was a dark night so seeing his face isn’t one of the things I can clarify."
"Wait, you mean during the accident that led to the death of your parents?" Inquired Cassian with a raised brow, and Madeline nodded her head while averting her gaze elsewhere. "The strange person was watching our carriage, and that’s when the collision happened like it knew and was waiting to watch the scene unfold. I knew that accident had to be designed by someone, I just couldn’t accept it was a normal collision after my trauma had hit me, and from the sad things that have happened, it looks like that same person is the one responsible for Roland’s death."
Madeline stood up from her chair, stepping out of their circle when a restless thought invaded her mind. "Someone is trying to end the whole of my family it seems, and why? Or how? I don’t know."
"And how many years was this?" Orson asked, sitting up properly on his chair. "I mean, how many years has passed since the death of your biological parents?"
"Sixteen to seventeen years ago?" Madeline responded, not completely sure herself, but she knew it was between these two horrific years.
"Someone from sixteen to seventeen years ago.... I have a little doubt that this same person is responsible. The person should be old by now to even attack someone, and your Aunt clearly doesn’t look like someone who got injured by an old man." Asserted Cassian after thinking a little deeper into Madeline’s story.