Page 67 of The Silence of Hell

Chatter leaned forward, concerned. “Babe?”

“Someone used to give me stones. I had…” Lavender whirled around and headed into the gardens. Chatter gave chase and followed her to where the fountain was. Lavender walked around it three times and frowned.

As Chatter watched, Lavender bent and began yanking some weeds out.

“What are you doing?” he asked, bemused.

“Help me,” she called, and Chatter crouched down and pulled out the weeds for her. Lavender felt around the base of the fountain and froze as her fingers hit something.

“No freaking way,” Lavender murmured and hauled out several loose bricks. She reached inside and pulled out a jar. She wiped the dirt away, and Chatter frowned as he saw it was half full of pretty or unusual-looking stones and pebbles.

“Whose is it?” Chatter asked, arrested by the look on Lavender’s face.

“Mine and Ronnie's. Ronnie existed,” she murmured, stunned.

“Who is he?”

“I’m not sure. I can’t recall him. There’s nothing there when I think of him,” she admitted.

“We need Sin to hurry up and scan that book,” Chatter announced.

“No, because I don’t want the page’s damaged. Sin’s checking for that, signs of mould and whatever else might harm the journal. That’s important,” Lavender said.

“We could skip to the end and then let Sin go back,” Chatter suggested, and Lavender laughed.

“You’re more impatient than I am for an answer,” Lavender teased.

She had no idea, Chatter thought. He wanted this done so he could move on to the next stage in his plan. And that was putting a ring on her finger.

Lavender

I sat staring at the pebbles in the jar. I remembered running around the gardens, playing and calling for Ronnie. But where Ronnie should have been was darkness. There was nothing. Why? Had something bad happened to him? I stared at the dress still hanging on my door and the two bunches of wildflowers. I picked up the pebble and studied it. A memory surfaced.

There was a creek at the end of the estate, and I paddled in it and found a stone and held it up.

“Look, Ronnie!” I cried in triumph.

“Pretty, Lavender, pretty,” Ronnie called back.

I frowned at the memory. Was that an adult’s voice or a young man? I couldn’t tell. Who was he to me?

Maybe I ought to let Sin skip ahead to the Aggie years and get my answers. I was so engrossed in my thoughts I didn’t hear the whisper behind me, and the someone stabbed something into my back.

“Get up. You and I have a date,” Rik hissed in my ear.

I froze in fear. That was a knife. If I struggled, then he’d be able to stab me quite easily.

“You won’t get away with this, Rik!” I said calmly.

“Bitch, I already have,” he muttered, and I felt the pointed end of the blade pierce my skin a little. “I’m going to get what I am entitled to.”

“Which is nothing!” I yelled. Rik hit me in the side of the head and dragged me towards an open panel in the woodwork. Shit. I’d no idea there was a secret passageway here. And neither did anyone else.

I hoped that someone would come, but that thought was dashed as the panel slid shut and I was trapped in a narrow corridor with a lunatic. My fucking luck was dreadful!

Chapter Fifteen.

Lavender

---