Life, Death, and Strange Encounters

After calming down enough, Lucy and I decided to go hunting for food. The cook was pleased to make us sandwitches to keep our hunger in control until it was time to eat dinner. When we had stuffed our stomachs with enough sandwitches to last a few hours, Lucy announced that she had plans with Damien. She didn’t elaborate and I really didn’t want to know. I left her so that she could get ready. Alone again, I decided to go find Isaac. When I had knocked on his door several times and established that he was not there, I figured that he must be working in his study on the third floor. I hadn’t been to the third floor of the mansion after our tour on the first day, other than the library, and I was happy to explore it.

Since I didn’t really remember my way around the place, I just decided to open all the doors to see what was behind them. When I opened the third door to my left, I found myself in the game room. I wasn’t alone. There were three guys playing pool. When they saw me, they froze.

I blushed. “Um… Hi?”

They started laughing at my embarrassment and came towards me to introduce themselves. The first guy, who was named Tyler, had dark brown hair which was spiked and green eyes.

“I’m Johanna, nice to meet you,” I greeted them with a smile.

The blond guy offered me his hand. “I’m Nick. So, you’re Johanna, one of Isaac’s guests from Estonia? We’ve heard so much about you from the others, but we didn’t know you were this hot.”

I blushed and the third guy smacked Nick on the head. “Watch it, Nick. You might scare her off if you continue being a pervert.”

He had long black hair and was really pale. “Hi, I’m Steven. Nice to meet you.”

Having heard everybody’s names, I looked at them with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry I interrupted your game. I’m just looking for Isaac.”

“It’s alright, we were tired from the game anyway. Isaac’s office is just at the end of the corridor, you can’t miss it. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to see you,” said Nick and winked.

“Why is he working, anyway? He should be entertaining his guests,” asked Steven.

I shrugged. “Um, well, we ran into Jonathan this morning and he suddenly just left, after he had saved me from Jonathan’s over-eager greeting. His brother is so creepy, he was totally harassing me before.”

Suddenly, the air in the room became thick with tension. The three guys looked at each other and their faces were grave. Tyler then looked at me. “You don’t know anything about Jonathan, do you?”

I shook my head. “What about him?”

Steven sighed. “I suppose we might as well tell you. It might be a good thing if you know. You could protect yourself better if you got an idea what Jonathan’s like.”

He took a deep breath and started the story. “Jonathan and Isaac have never really got along well. But things were much better when they were young. They have never had a reason to compete, because they are the same age and have always received the same treatment from their parents. But things changed for the worse when… girls came along. Let’s just say that even if they don’t have a reason to compete, Jonathan has always been competitive and has wanted everything Isaac had, including the women. Several years ago, at 18, Isaac fell in love with an amazing girl. She was young, but they were serious about their relationship, everyone could see that. Jonathan had never felt love and he was jealous of what they had, so he decided to ruin things for Isaac. He seduced the young girl and when he had her wrapped around his finger, discarded her. She went mad after that and killed herself.”

I gasped, “Oh my God! What did Isaac do?”

Steven looked at me sympathetically. “He was heartbroken, of course. First he lost her to his brother who only played with her and then… she was gone forever. He even attacked Jonathan, but we pulled them apart at the last moment. They have silently hated each other since, although they try to communicate for their parents’ sake and Isaac has tried to forgive him, blaming the incident on the fact that they were both younger and hot-blooded and the girl’s death is not really any of their fault directly. I totally see why Isaac doesn’t like him, though. Jonathan is just plain evil, there’s no other explanation to that. Everybody can see that. He enjoys seeing Isaac suffer. Keep away from him. He’ll do you no good. And I’ve heard Isaac’s taken a great liking to you.”

I blushed at that. “Uh… Well, thank you for telling me all this. I will definitely be more careful from now on. Jonathan seemed strange from the beginning, to be honest. I can’t believe two people are so similar from the outside, but yet SO different on the inside. But yeah, I will go and find Isaac now.”

I bid goodbye to the boys who made me promise I would hang out with them again. Then, I started towards the end of the corridor where I knew Isaac’s study would be. With a pounding heart, I reached the big oak door of the room and knocked on it. I heard a faint “Come in” and pushed the door open.

This was almost exactly how I had pictured Isaac’s work room. It didn’t look like a study that much, more like a… I don’t even know. It was a big room with a fireplace and a wooden floor. There was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and two armchairs along with a love seat in front of the fireplace. Two walls of the room, the ones that weren’t occupied by the fireplace or the window, were lined with bookcases. Isaac’s gigantic desk was situated in front of the big window, overlooking the amazing scenery. On the table I could see a pile of books and papers. A guitar was placed against the wall next to the table and in the corner of the room I could see an easel with a blank canvas. This was a room of an artist of different interests.

When I finished looking around, my eyes met Isaac’s. He had been watching me with interest and was smiling now. His eyes were sparkling. “Johanna? What are you doing here?”

I blushed. “Um, I hope I’m not interrupting. I just felt alone since Lucy and Damien ditched me and I was scared I would have a run-in with Jonathan again… So I decided to come and find you. I met a bunch of very charming friends of yours in the game room, by the way.”

He chuckled. “You don’t have to explain yourself. I’m glad you’re here. I was just surprised to see you. Come, sit down and tell me what you’ve been up to since I’ve been here, trying to work on something for a change.”

He motioned for me to sit in one of the armchairs. I turned it sideways, so that I could see his desk from where I was sitting and didn’t have to sprain my neck. His work seemed forgotten, since he had turned himself towards me and was eyeing me with extreme interest. I must say this sudden attention was a bit unnerving for me, but I composed myself and looked into his eyes with just as much force.

After a few silent moments, he smiled and asked:”So, what have you been up to?”
I shifted uncomfortably. I remembered the incident with Jonathan at the pool. “Well, um… I went swimming and when I came out I sort of run into Jonathan…”

His eyes went wide and his tone was angry. “What!? He didn’t leave!? That bastard! Are you okay, love? Did he do anything to you?”

I smiled and shook my head. “I’m fine. I ran away and hid with Lucy, but then she went off with Damien and I was alone again. So I decided to come find you. It’s about time for dinner, I think. You’ve been gone for most of the day.”

Isaac gave me a look that seemed apologetic. “I’m sorry I left you, but seeing Jonathan just made me really angry and I always come and try to work when I’m angry. It seems frustration lets my imagination and inspiration flow.”

“It’s okay, Isaac, really. Everything’s fine. What are you working on, anyway?”

He shrugged. “It’s just a piece of music, it doesn’t have words yet and is unfinished. Would you like to hear what I have written so far?”

“Of course!” I settled into the armchair and waited until he picked up his guitar and played a few chords to test it out.

Then he started. The song was a soft lullaby, it was gentle and full of love. I closed my eyes and drifted off to a land far away, only the music to accompany me. It swirled around me and filled my very existence with tranquillity. Soon I started to drift off into a deep sleep. I could only stay conscious long enough to hear Isaac finish the song and come to me. He placed a blanket over me and whispered “You inspired this song, my love.”

But those words could have just been a dream.

When I awoke the next morning, I couldn’t understand where I was. My surroundings were unfamiliar. Slowly I started to remember. I was in Isaac’s office! But where was he? I pushed away the blanket that had been pulled over me and stood up, stretching. Why did I wake up here? The three guys’ words rang in my head… What Jonathan had done, what Isaac had been through. I didn’t even confront him about it yesterday, did I? I had to find him and give him the biggest hug!

I couldn’t possibly imagine how horrible it had been for him. I shuddered when I thought of what Jonathan was capable of. And now he wanted me, it seemed. But why? Isaac hadn’t said that he loved me, Jonathan didn’t have a reason to start messing with me when it was possible that Isaac couldn’t care less. Maybe Isaac had said something to him? Still, I tried not to get ahead of myself. Deciding to wait and see, I just made a promise to myself to try and keep away from Jonathan, if possible.

Since there was no point for me to wait for Isaac’s return, I went back to my room, yawning all the way. I gathered some new clothes and went to the bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth. I then put the clothes on, humming softly to myself. I put my hair up in a ponytail and quickly put on some eyeliner and lip-gloss. My stomach gave out a loud rumble, so I chuckled to myself and thought it would be best to go and eat some breakfast.

Exiting the bathroom, I almost had a heart attack. Jonathan was sitting on my bed. What the hell!? Didn’t I lock my door? Apparently not. He smirked when he saw me. “Took you long enough.”

I was fuming. “What are you doing here, asshole? I know all about your little tricks and to be honest, I don’t want to see you again! Ever!”

He raised his eyebrows. “And what have I done to anger our little princess?”

“You know perfectly well what you did to that girl and to Isaac. Haven’t you got a soul at all? I HATE YOU!” I sent him a flaming glare.

The jerk seemed surprised for a moment. “Oh, it seems you have found out my little secret. Who told you? Was it my charming brother? Nah, it couldn’t have. He’s still too scared to think about those events…” He trailed off with an evil smile.

Listening to his words, I was speechless. He truly was a bastard. “Get the hell out! You make me sick! No, better yet, I’LL go!”

I stormed out of the room, still angry. Too bad I couldn’t tune out his voice. “I WILL get you! You’ll see, princess!”

Growling at those words, I ran away as quickly as I could. Somehow, I was sure he would follow me. I was right: as soon as I had reached the bottom of the stairs, I felt a hand grab mine. I turned back to come face to face with the smirking jerk. “Missed me?”

I yelled at him to let go and pulled my arm away from his grip. Fortunately, he didn’t want to hurt me, or so it seemed, because I broke away from his grip easily enough and ran away as fast as my legs allowed me. The kitchen seemed to be my chance to get away, since I didn’t believe he would actually try something in front of other people and the cook, who was my friend.

When I reached the kitchen door, I pulled it open in a rush and closed it behind me, leaning against the door and letting out a big sigh of relief. Natalie looked up from where she was preparing what I assumed was lunch. “What’s wrong, dear? You seem nervous.”

I ran to her and hugged her. “I’m scared, Natalie. Jonathan is harassing me and doesn’t leave me alone! He’s evil. He has made Isaac suffer so badly you can’t even believe. I just want him to LEAVE!”

She stroked my hair. “Everything’s going to be fine, darling, trust me. But I advise you to keep away from Mister Jonathan, he’s not a good guy.”

I gave a sad chuckle. “I’ve figured out THAT much. But thank you, Natalie, for making me feel better. Do you mind if I eat my breakfast here? So that I can be sure I’m not bothered by Jonathan again.”

She nodded. “Sure, go ahead. What do you want me to make you?”

“Could I just have some cereal?”

Natalie gave me a stern look. “Cereal is not real food, dear. You will still be hungry and lunch won’t be ready for another 3 hours.”

I shrugged. “What do you advise me to eat, then?”

Natalie perked up in an instant. “Let me make you a nutritious meal. Do you eat porridge?” I nodded. “Well, I know people don’t usually like porridge, but trust me, mine is great. I’ll put in some strawberries and raspberries for flavour, what do you think?”
I smiled and nodded. That DID sound delicious. Not to mention I’d heard porridge was the perfect breakfast food, since it would keep your stomach full for a long time. I was ready to give it a try.

Soon after Natalie had fixed me my breakfast and I’d eaten a big bowl of porridge, I started to wonder where Isaac and Lucy were. I hadn’t seen either of them that day and I was starting to feel lonely. Deciding to go look for Isaac, I thanked my favourite cook and rushed back to the second floor.

Lucy’s door was locked and she didn’t open when I knocked. I figured she was still sleeping. Isaac wasn’t in his room, either. Where was he? I had no option but to go look for him, since I was bored out of my mind and didn’t want to run into Jonathan again, alone.

I went to his office, but he wasn’t there. I then tried the library. Success! He was sitting in one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace, reading one of the books about Avalon I’d been so interested in some days ago. I didn’t know he was so keen on reading fiction.

I tried to be quiet and tip-toed closer. When I reached his chair and wanted to scare him, he suddenly closed the book with a loud clap and turned to look at me. I was frozen in place, shocked. I think I jumped at least a foot in the air when he closed the book. Didn’t see that one coming…

He chuckled when he saw my expression. I was sure I looked like a deer caught in headlights. “What can I do for you, you sneaky girl? Trying to scare other people who are unsuspecting.”

“Techincally, you WERE NOT unsuspecting… But I apologize for trying to scare you. I was just SO bored…” I trailed off.

He smiled and pulled my hand, so that I flew forwards and fell on his lap. “What are you doing?” I asked.

Isaac laughed. “What does it look like? I’m entertaining you.”

This made me blush even more. Where was he going with this? I was soon to find out…