by Nathan Adams
Nelson gave her a bow and nodded his head before turning to the hallway, leaving her standing in much confusion as to what had just happened. Quickly, Sarah made her way to the drawing room to make an appearance before saying goodbye to Lord and Lady Wellington. She collected her coat and latched the button over her waist before slipping her hands into her pockets. As she did, the fingers of her right hand were met by a familiar sized piece of parchment. Slowly, Sarah pulled it out and stood frozen and pale as the script matched that of both Lizzy’s letters and the ribbon in her waist pocket.
With trembling fingers, she slipped open the sealed flap and pulled out the paper with a single line of script written: I’m done playing. Your time is up.
Sarah tried to shake it off as just a simple nonsensical note. She loaded up into Lady Ainsworth’s carriage and took her jaunt home. Wanting to be free of the message and all the horrible events of the past months, Sarah balled up the note and tossed it out the carriage window into the deep, dark night.
Reaching the house, the carriage stopped just before the townhouse. The driver knew that Lady Sarah enjoyed the last few steps to the house in the fresh evening air. She stepped out and began her trek to the house she had grown to love. A surprise sight caught her eye and put a jolt of excitement into her step. But the returned look was not one of happiness but one of fear. It was the last sight her eyes took in before the dark of night consumed her.
chapter six
When Sarah came to, the room was as dark as a moonless night. She had to touch her eyes with her trembling hands just to make sure they were truly open. Her heart was pounding nearly out of her chest. She could hear her pulse in her ears. Cautiously, she ran her fingers against the wall behind her, frantically searching for some kind of sign for where she was. The last thing Sarah could remember was walking along the cobblestone pathway to Great-Aunt Clara’s and seeing Ross standing on the bottom step of the townhouse. She thought she had seen him running toward her, calling out her name, but everything went dark as something covered over her nose and mouth.
Ross. What happened to Ross? Obviously he was unable to stop whoever had captured Sarah, but surely he didn’t just let them walk away with her. Why was he at Aunt Clara’s anyway? Had he finally found out who murdered Lizzy? Was he trying to protect Sarah?
A noise below her pulled Sarah from her thoughts. Was that someone singing? What knocked her out must be causing her to hear strange things.
“One more hour ’til the time of capture. One more hour ’til I take your soul.”
That was definitely not her imagination. Someone was singing about death. Whoever it was truly happy and looking forward to taking her life. She knew that she had to do something to get out of the situation, and she knew she had less than an hour to get that something done.
Suddenly, a soft glow began to shine through a crack under what Sarah could now make out as the door to her confined prison. Slowly, she crawled on her stomach to the light, touching the floor in front of her with her open palms. She could feel her skirt snagging on the nails sticking up out of the floorboards. She pulled her hands back a couple of times as she scratched them along her crawling path. Sarah didn’t dare to let out a cry of pain in fear of her captor hearing and knowing that she had finally come to. The more she had over this monster, the greater her chances of survival would be.
Reaching the bottom of the door, Sarah took in a deep breath but nearly gagged at the stench that entered her nose. A mixture of feces, soured milk, rotting flesh and internal organs sent her stomach into spasms and threatened to give away her conscious state. Lifting the back of her hand to her lips, Sarah swallowed down the contents of her stomach.
Finally, Sarah gained control over her stomach and held her breath as she tried to peak out the crack, flattening her body as low to the ground as much as she could. Desperately, she attempted to catch but a glimpse of her surroundings, hoping for some sort of clue as to where she was or who had kidnapped her. Sarah’s efforts were nothing but discouraged.
Pulling herself up from the floor, Sarah tried to stand as noiselessly as possible. As she reached her feet, light shining through the keyhole on the door caught Sarah’s attention. She softly wiggled the doorknob, saying a silent prayer for its ability to open.
Nothing.
She pulled a pin from her tied up hair and stuck it into the keyhole, hoping for some sort of latch or lock to release, giving her access and moving one more step closer to her freedom from that dreadful place.
Twist.
Turn.
Up.
Down.
One way after the other, Sarah pushed and pulled and twisted for what felt like an eternity until …
Click.
Sarah’s persistence paid off. She took a deep breath in as she squeezed the latch and pulled the door to her. And just as she feared, the door let out a long screech. Sarah froze and waited for a sign of her kidnapper.
She felt relief when there was no sign of him. She eased into the hallway and took quiet step after quiet step toward the glowing light at the end of the staircase. Sarah peered over the railing to see if there was anyone moving about.
“Half an hour ’til the time of capture. Half an hour ’til I take your soul.”
Lady Sarah held her breath, watching the monster pace the floor while singing his little song. For a moment, she couldn’t believe whom she was seeing.
It was none other than Lord Nelson Wellington III.
chapter seven
Sarah’s heart was pounding out of her chest as the events over the past six months played out in her jumbled mind. It was Wellington who had proposed more than once to Lizzy. And after each refusal, he would disappear for days before inviting the two cousins to one of his mother’s dinners, only to start the bidding again. After the last refusal by Elizabeth, and the announcement of her engagement to Ross Hamilton, Wellington disappeared for the last time.
It must have been right after his leaving that Elizabeth started receiving all of those notes that Sarah had found buried in her dresser. The script had matched the words written on Elizabeth’s ribbon and the letter that was placed in Sarah’s coat during the dinner. All of these incidents put together made perfect sense that Lord Nelson Wellington III was Elizabeth’s killer.
Sarah descended to the first floor, step by cautious step, watching to see where Wellington had moved. She could hear his footsteps coming from the room just to the right of the staircase, the only room that was lit by a single candle. Sarah began to search for the front door. She inched her way to the bottom step.
Sarah froze when she heard a moan from the corner of the room. Another softer moan traveled from the same corner, but this time, it was much more alert and filled with an urge for attention. Slowly and cautiously, Lady Sarah slipped her way over to troubling sound. With just enough light from the candle, Sarah took in a gasp at the sight of who was bound.
“Ross!” She kneeled down to loosen the tie over his mouth.
“Sarah! Thank God! I thought he had already killed you. How did you get out?”
“Hush, Ross. There’s no time to talk. He’s right there. We’ve got to get out of here before he comes back out and finds us.”
“No, Sarah! We can’t leave until we tie him up and get the police. He killed Elizabeth! He must pay!”
“If we don’t get out of here, Ross, we’ll be the ones who get tied up and face the same end as Lizzy. He’s crazy, Ross! We have to leave! Now!”
“But he killed Lizzy!”
“And he’s going to kill us if we don’t leave. You’re obsessed, Ross. Lizzy is dead. She’s not coming back. Capturing her murderer will not raise her from the dead. Are you willing to sacrifice your life and mine just because you can’t say goodbye to the past? I love you, Ross, but now I know that nothing will ever come of it because you just can’t let things go.”Sarah started untying the ropes around his ankles as quickly as she could. She could feel Ross’ eyes gazing over her, contempl
ating everything she had just revealed. Even though she finally accepted that there was no future with Ross Hamilton, Sarah had no intention of leaving the only man she ever loved to face his final end. Finishing the ties around his ankles, Sarah slipped behind him to undo the ropes around his wrists.
“Oh, my! What do we have here? Busy little bees buzzing around will soon be swatted down to the ground.”
Sarah sucked in a gasp at the devilish looking eyes of Lord Wellington lit up by the candle.
“Lord Wellington, please. There’s no need to do this.”
“Asking and begging won’t get a reply. Denying proposals mean you must die.”
Ross wiggled his hands to free himself from the ropes and slid his hand to his side pocket to retrieve the knife he had tucked away for such a moment as this.
“Lord Wellington, I’m sorry Elizabeth turned you down. I’m sorry she made you feel like you didn’t matter to her. But killing us will not make things better for you. It won’t make Elizabeth marry you. It won’t help you. It’ll just make things worse for you. Please, Lord Wellington. Please, don’t do this.”
Suddenly, Ross jumped up from his position on the floor and lunged at Wellington with his knife opened and ready for contact. Wellington caught Ross midair and pulled him to the floor. Instantly, the two men were in a physical struggle. Wellington was surprisingly strong and gave Ross a run for his money. With grunts and growls, the Brit and the American battled out for their lives.
All Lady Sarah could do was to stand in complete shock, unable to speak, unable to breathe. She stared on at the struggle for what seemed to be a lifetime, unsure of who would turn out the victor. The men rolled around on the floor, punches swinging and making contact. The knife was glistening in the candlelight.
With a sudden yell, the men went still followed by silence.
Sarah knew that the knife had found its victim, but just who that was. She held her breath to find out. Slowly, Ross rolled to his back, blood covering his shirt.
“Oh, God! Please no! Ross!” Sarah ran to Ross’ side and began to run her trembling fingers over the red on his shirt.
“It’s OK, Sarah. It’s not my blood. Look.” Sarah’s eyes followed Ross’ finger as it pointed to the lifeless body lying on the floor behind her.
“Oh, thank God!”
Slowly, Ross sat up.
“I’m sorry, Sarah. I just couldn’t let him leave here alive. I knew we wouldn’t get the police in time, so I had to do the only other thing that would keep him from coming after you anymore. He’s a dangerous, mental monster that had to be stopped. I lost Lizzy. I didn’t want to loose you, too.”
“Ross … ”
“No, Sarah. It’s the truth. All I kept thinking about when I was sitting here tied up was that I had been too late, that he had killed you when I was unconscious. I had made up my mind that I was going to kill him for taking both you and Lizzy away from me. But when I saw you coming down those steps, my heart skipped a beat, and all I could think about was keeping you safe, no matter what I had to do to make sure it happened.”
Tenderly, he rubbed his hand across her pale cheek, showing her the affection that he had desperately desired to do since that night outside the townhouse. Sarah closed her eyes, knowing she couldn’t give him what he wanted.
“I can’t go to America with you, Ross. I can’t leave Aunt Clara here by herself.”
“I know that, Sarah. I’m not asking you to go.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m staying here to run father’s London office.”
“Ross, I can’t let you leave your family for me. You have so much waiting for you there.”
“I have everything I want and need right here in front of me. You have shown me that life isn’t just about doing what’s expected of you, but that it’s making life to be what you want it to be. And the life that I want is with you. It is you, Lady Sarah Hughes.”
“Ross, I don’t know what to say.”
“Say that you’ll have me, Sarah. Say that you will be my wife. Say that you’ll make me the happiest man on this earth.”
Sarah sat beside Ross, speechless and unable to think about what he had just poured out to her. Was it out of sympathy? Desperation? Or did Ross Hamilton truly want to spend the rest of his life with Lady Sarah Hughes?
“Don’t doubt what I say, Sarah. I truly do want to be with you.” He reached up and caressed her furrowed brow. “Please say you’ll marry me, my love. Please say yes.”
Sarah closed her eyes. Honestly, what did she have to loose. Here was a man sitting in front of her, a man who just killed to save her, asking her to marry him, giving up his life in another country to stay and be her husband. Now how could she say no to that?
“Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“Truly, Sarah?”
“Truly, Ross.”
“Oh, Sarah, thank you! You won’t regret it, I promise. I’m going to make you the happiest woman in the entire world.”
The two sealed their promise with a kiss so soft and sweet and tender.
“I love you, Lady Sarah Hughes.”
“I love you, Ross Hamilton.”
The End
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By: Samuel Grace
Chapter One
Krista always knew why her parents chose the great state of Vermont to raise a family. Vermont was warm in the summer, though not unbearably so. The mild climate was the exact reason Krista’s parents settled down in Vermont. Her mother was from Michigan, where the winters were brutal, and her father was from Tennessee, where the summers were stifling.
Vermont was the perfect compromise. Mild summers and snowy winters meant they could have the best of both worlds while leaving the worst behind. Krista lived among the rolling hills her entire life and didn’t know anything other than Vermont. Her eldest sister was born in Tennessee, though the family made the move to Vermont shortly after Rebecca found out she was pregnant with Krista.
Krista adored the hills and green trees. She loved her farm, and she loved her family. They lived on a farm that was miles from the nearest neighbor and a good day’s trip away from the nearest town. She and her sisters never went to school with other children and were taught to read and write at the hearth of the fireplace after a long day in the field.
Those moments spent with her family by the fireplace were some of the best memories Krista had. She would crawl next to her older sisters as her mother draped a blanket around their shoulders and went to sit in her own chair, a quilt in her lap and knitting needles in her hands. Krista opened her copy of the Bible and would follow along as her father read passages about grace and forgiveness.
She grew up in a devout family with close ties to the church and even closer ties to their small farming community. Mt. Pleasant, Vermont, was the type of community with a church at the center of everything. It was the type of place where everyone woke up on Sunday morning, dressed in their best clothes and enjoyed a heartfelt sermon. When the service was over, everyone would gather in a large field off to the side of the church to eat and pray together.
Krista thought she lived a perfect life. They weren’t rich, but they were happy, and they loved one another. She never wanted to leave her family or her farm behind, though she knew she would have to one day. Eventually Krista would be married off to a man who had something to offer her family. The only thing that consoled her was the fact that she would most likely stay in Mt. Pleasant.
Most girls were married off by the time they were 17, but as 17 came and went, Krista remained unmarried and continued living on the farm and working with her father, despite her mother’s constant insistence that she stay in the house and work on her needlepoint and cooking.
Krista wasn’t like most girls. She didn’t like staying locked inside, cooking and cleaning. She wasn’t worried about her fair complex
ion or tender hands. She was far more worried about the state of their cornfields and the health of their cows. She liked working with her hands and seeing the fruits of her labors. It only made it better that it kept the men at bay. No one was interested in such a strong-willed woman with rough hands and tanned skin.
Her mother suspected that if she were more ladylike she’d be married off in a heartbeat. She was beautiful, after all. Her long blond hair was often worn in a solid plait, and her big blue eyes were so wide and clear that people seemed to get lost in them. Freckles were peppered across her face like tiny kisses from angels, but even this ethereal beauty wasn’t enough to attract suitors.
Krista’s mother was always concerned about her daughter’s future, and they got into many heated fights on the subject of marriage. The last night she’d ever see her parents was on a night when one of these fights occurred. The sound of the screen door slamming closed was a sound that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
She was tired of fighting with her mother and ran into the woods to gather tinder to stoke the fire. The first snows of winter were starting to fall, and it seemed better to be prepared than not. Besides, it gave her a reason to get out of the house. Krista grunted angrily and snapped one of the thin branches, adding twig after twig to the little sled she brought with her.
By the time she turned around to go back to the house, the sun had disappeared behind the trees. She was sure that her family was in bed and asleep by now, which meant her mother couldn’t scold her for working outside anymore.
The first hint that something was wrong wasn’t the smell of smoke. It was cold in the winter, and they often ran the fire all night long. A strange orange glow managed to find its way through the trees. Krista’s heart skipped a beat. What could be putting off this light? She left the sled in the snow, picked the hem of her dress up and sprinted through the woods, eyes wide. She hardly even noticed the stinging of branches cutting into the flesh of her legs.