Page 24 of Castle

This turned out to be a case ofout of the frying pan and into the fire.

“That would keep you alive, at least. I mean, that’s something, right?”

“Yeah, sure. Staying alive with a leg that you can’t move is the best.” I said sarcastically.

“It could have been worse.” He reminded me.

“Castle doesn’t wear one of these anklets.” I pointed out.

“That’s because he wouldn’t let them. Castle might remember nothing from his past, but he still has that ‘dosen’t-take-shit-from-anybody’attitude, and if I’m being honest, Devin is a little intimidated by him. Listen, I gotta go, okay? It was nice to chat with you and all.” He climbed to his feet, and that’s when something fell from his pocket and landed on the carpeted floor.

“Hey, Theo, you dropped this.” I picked up the piece of paper until I realized it wasn’t.

“It’s Theodore.”

It was an origami flower.

I inspected it. The flower was quite similar to the origami rabbit I’d received before.

“It was you. You left that origami for me to find, telling me it was Dayana who hurt Castle.”

You could tell from his expressions that he had been the one leaving those notes,notCastle, as I initially believed.

“I have to go,” Theo said and stormed out of the door before I could call out to him again.

My legs were still healing after a week, but by the end of the second week, I could walk properly, although with a slight limp. The doctor reassured me that I would be completely healed in a few more days. While they confined me to my room, the maids had taken good care of me and given me proper food, which was something. At least I wouldn’t die here out of starvation.

If I could just get this tracker out of my leg, then the only problem would be to find a way to escape this property, and that was next to impossible.

So I devised a plan.

I was going to do what Theo had told me to and try my best to stay on Devin’s good side. Take one day at a time, build some trust, and find a way out of here, eventually.

During the days that I’d been recovering from the injury, I noticed how Castle would come to my room at odd hours of the night, and he would stand outside the door for a long time before leaving me alone. My heart would drum against my chest, not that I was terrified of him, but I couldn’t get any sleep either, as I would pretend to be asleep instead of confronting him.

The family was leaving tonight for some party and they weren’t taking Castle with them, so I was going to be home alone with him. It’s after dinner that I lost sight of him and I searched through all the rooms that I thought I would find him in.

I heard the thunder rumbling even though all the windows were closed. It would be a problem if Castle wandered out of the mansion. Devin would kill me and feed me to Trixie.

There was no way I could check every room of this gigantic mansion. I’d have to spend the entire night searching for him, and yet, here I was, opening door after door and calling him out.

By the time I climbed the fourth floor, I’d almost ran out of breath. I bet babysitting for a ten-year-old would be easier. I halted in front of a room where I heard the sounds of whispering coming from inside.

The door was partly open and I know eavesdropping wasn’t good, but I couldn’t help myself taking a little peek.

An old man was sitting in a wheelchair, and Castle was kneeling right beside him.

That must be the grandfather, Hugh Montgomery. I’d seen his black and white pictures of when he was young. He was old now, but you could tell he must be handsome back in the day.

Hugh coughed and then said, “Has he been giving you trouble again?”

“Not really, sir,” Castle answered softly.

“If he’s troubling you, you come to me, boy.” The old man said in his authoritative voice.

“I would.” This was the fastest that I’d seen Castle respond to anyone. Usually, he took his time to respond, but with his grandfather; he seemed to answer with enthusiasm, which was a first.

“Chris, you tell that woman that she’s not welcome in this house. You understand me?”

---