Quadropy

Ramona reread her list of necessities for moving out for what felt like the twentieth time before shoving it down to the bottom of her duffel bag. Keaton placed his warm hands against her shoulders and ran his left thumb over a scar on her shoulder blade.

“Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t need to take this job. You can work at the restaurant, with me and Alegina,” Keaton pleaded with Ramona, wrapping his arms loosely around her and placing a kiss against the hollow of her neck.

A small smile played at Ramona’s lips as she managed to squirm away from Keaton and threw her duffel bag closer to the door.

“I already told you, you’re not changing my mind, Keaton.” Ramona shot Keaton a playful smile and tossed him his car keys.

“C’mon, let’s go, I’m going to be late.”

Ramona slid on her heavy backpack that was filled to the top with an array of sweaters, jeans and two pairs of shoes. With a discontent sigh Keaton picked up two of Ramona’s loaded duffel bags, while she struggled with carrying the third, and heaviest, duffel bag.

“Do you really need all of this?” Keaton asked after loading up the trunk of his car with Ramona’s bags.

“I’m moving to this place, of course I need all of this stuff. I might even need to come back next week for the last of my stuff.”

Ramona looked over the address of her new employer’s home, where she was to live for the next six months. The address, 217 Winsome Boulevard, was in an area of town Ramona had often visited as a child. She would stare in wonder and awe at the beautiful rows of perfect homes in the perfect neighborhood. Ramona struggled to hide her excitement as they entered the high class neighborhood.

Not long after Ramona left the New Horizons Rehab Center for the alcohol problem she’d developed in college she began to search for a stable job. Even though she’d only made it to her junior year of college she still had to pay off her student loans and the new online courses she’d recently signed up for weren’t going to pay for themselves. After several rejections from local coffee shops, corner stores and over ten different Forever 21’s, Ramona managed to land a job as a caretaker for a sickly, loner author who lived in the high end section of town. Not many people applied for the job, and after desperately pleading her case to a woman named Alice over the phone, the job was given to Ramona.

“This job won’t be an easy one. Do you think you’re up for a challenge?” the woman had asked Ramona.

Ramona quickly assured her that she was up for anything and would be able to handle all the responsibilities that came with being a caretaker. Keaton’s car slowly pulled up to 217 Winsome Boulevard, a beautiful Victorian style manor surrounded by lush shrubbery and armies of ivy. Ramona bounced out of the car and admired the manor with curious eyes.

“Keaton, look, it’s so beautiful!” Ramona clapped her hands in childish excitement.

“Meh, I’ve seen better.” Jealously and disdain were practically dripping from Keaton’s words.

Keaton placed the last of Ramona’s bags on the curb beside her, then took her hand and gave her a stern look.

“You promise to call me tonight?”

Ramona rolled her eyes with a smile and playfully punched Keaton’s arm.

“Yes Captain Worry Wart, I’ll call you. Now go back home, you’re late for work.”

Keaton glanced down at his watch and began to mutter a string of profanities under his breath as he realized he was nearly half an hour late for work.

“Ok, ok, I have to go, love you. Call me later,” Keaton rambled, giving Ramona a brief parting kiss before running back to his car and driving away.

Ramona struggled to drag all of her bags up the stone pathway to the manor’s doors. With a loud huff, she dropped her bags at the front door and slammed down on the doorbell. She waited a fair amount of time outside waiting before lifting her finger to ring the bell again. Just as she was about to push down on the bell again, the front door was thrown open, to reveal a older blonde woman wearing a crisp pink cardigan and a cheesy smile on her face.

“You must be Ramona. You’re early. I’m Alice by the way,” said the fifty-something year old woman, blinking robotically, her tight smile never wavering.

The woman seemed very different from how she sounded on the phone. Ramona had been expecting to meet a cheery woman in her mid seventies, who would be hunched over with age and wear a kind smile on her face at all times. Instead, Ramona was met with a middle aged woman with perfectly pressed and ironed clothing, standing straight as a board and straining her muscles to continue smiling robotically at Ramona.

“Uhm, yeah, sorry, I was just a bit eager to get here. I’m Ramona; it’s great to finally meet you,” Ramona said with a smile, extending her hand for Alice to shake.

“Pleasure is all mine.” Alice quickly shook Ramona’s hand, then gestured for her to bring her bags into the manor.

Ramona heaved her bags through the door and set them all down on the ground with an airy laugh.

“I think I over packed a bit.”

Alice nodded and gave Ramona another tight lipped smile.

“I’d offer to help, but I can’t do much heavy lifting anymore. I have back problems. Come, I’ll show you your room.”

Ramona stifled a groan as she gathered up her bags once again and followed Alice. Alice led Ramona up a flight of stairs and down a series of confusing hallways to a small room at the end of a long, dark hallway.

“Well, here’s your room. I’ll leave you to get settled. Once you’re done packing, Mr. Kaulitz would like to meet with you in the library, which is just down the hall from here.”

With that, Alice disappeared down the dark corridor, not even waiting to see if Ramona had any questions about her new home. Ramona sighed, shoved her bags into her new room, ran across the room and threw herself onto her new bed. She rolled over and admired her new room. It was a small but lavish room, filled with off white furniture and a wonderful view of the garden out back. Ramona bounced off her bed and began to unpack her things. After half an hour of strenuous unpacking and decorating of her new room, Ramona set down her final item, a framed photo of her and Keaton on their three year anniversary. She sighed contently, then turned to exit her room and begin her search for the manor’s library.

Alice’s vague instructions left Ramona wandering about the hall outside of her bedroom, as she searched anxiously for what may be the entrance to the library. She passed bedroom after bedroom, each emptier then the last. During her journey, Ramona often came across large framed photos of a beautiful, ethnic woman.

The woman had olive colored skin with sleek, straight, jet black hair, which deeply contrasted her leaf green eyes. She was a beauty beyond words, the kind of woman that made all other women in the same room as her take a hit to their self esteem. Ramona admired the woman’s elegant hair of midnight silk, and began to self consciously toy with the ends of her dry brown hair. In the back of her mind, she cursed herself for choosing not to style it properly that morning.

Ramona took a moment to pause and inspect a particularly strange photo towards the end of a hallway. The photo was of a newlywed couple on their wedding day, posing happily on the edge of a seaside cliff. The smiling girl was the ethnic woman from the other photos; the epitome of a blushing bride. Her new husband was a tall, lanky boy with jet black hair, identical to his wife’s. A small smile began to play at Ramona's lips as she examined the picture of the smiling couple on their wedding day. They were so happy, so in love. It was beautiful. A brief image of Keaton's smiling face crossed Ramona's mind as she sighed contently and tore herself away from the newlywed's photo.

To her great relief, not too far away from the wedding photo was a plaque that deemed the room it stood beside to be the library. Ramona sucked in a deep breath for confidence and entered the library.

The library was unusually dark, only lit by the small crack in the curtains guarding the room from the radiating sunlight of the outside world. Ramona spotted a thin, frail figure across the room and took a hesitant step towards it. Her footsteps echoed loudly off the walls, but the figure seemed to pay no heed to her. Ramona finally stopped about five feet away from the figure, and held her breath anxiously, waiting for the person to acknowledge her presence. In the blink of an eye, the figure turned to face its new companion. Ramona then found herself face to face with the raven haired boy from the wedding photo in the hall. Ramona sucked in a deep breath as she locked eyes with the boy from the photo, as she saw that his almond eyes were no longer filled with love and adoration for his newlywed wife, but not seemed to be filled with a fierce, daunting fire.

“Hello, Ramona.” His voice was as smooth as silk, and as bone chilling as a wail from a ghost.

“M-Mr. Kaulitz?” Ramona asked hesitantly, swallowing hard.

“Who else did you think I was?” he asked with a devilish smirk.

“I-I just thought-.”

“Thought what?” he interrupted, beginning to pace circles around Ramona.

“Did you think I was some old codger who needs help getting out of bed everyday, and needs help chewing his meals? Did you think I was sickly? On the brink of death? Did you think you’d have an easy time at this job? If so, you thought wrong, very wrong, Ramona.”

He stopped behind Ramona, whispering his final words over her shoulder, sending chills down her spine. Ramona opened her mouth to spit back a snarky remark, but quickly closed it again. Ramona’s hot temper had landed her in several uncompromising positions in the past, and now that she was finally beginning to get her life back on track, she refused to let her temper ruin all her progress. Besides, she couldn’t argue back with Mr. Kaulitz, because everything he’d said was true.

“So Ms. Bouresquot-.”

“Please, Mr. Kaulitz, call me Ramona,” she said with mock enthusiasm and a faux smile on her face.

Kill ‘em with kindness, as Keaton had always instructed her to do.

“Don’t you ever interrupt me again,” he spat, his charcoal black lined eyes narrowing to slits. “As I was saying, have you ever had any experience in the business of caretaking?”

Ramona released the hold she had on her tongue so she could reply.

“No, I haven’t.”

Mr. Kaulitz smirked devilishly once again, turned away and sat down in an armchair a few feet away.

“Good, I like fresh meat.” He paused to take a drink from the water bottle on the end table beside him.

“Now, leave!” he shouted, pointing a manicured fingernail towards the exit.

Ramona frowned before turning on her heels and walking as calmly as she could out of the library. To her surprise, standing outside of the library, was Alice, listening earnestly at the door, hoping to catch a bits of the conversation that had ensued inside. Ramona ignored Alice and continued walking down the hall, back to her room.

“He’s not this bad all the time!” Alice called out to Ramona’s receding form.

Ramona didn’t reply, but smiled to herself. Alice had better be right.