Family Business

Watching

Claire's pov

Samantha gave me pointers on how to sneak out of the mansion. She said to watch how the servants come and go for a few days cuz they wouldn't be using the front door or any of the main entrances or exits, for that matter. So simple, I wonder why I hadn't thought of that. I guess I never realized they'd have their own separate route. The ones who live here have a whole different wing where they sleep and stuff.

After a couple days, I noticed one of the second shift maids would usually be picked up by her husband and kids. While the husband waited in the parking lot, the kids would usually run in to greet her and help her finish the last of her duties before Alfred would dismiss her for the night around 10pm. I usually say goodnight to my grandfather and uncle between 9:30pm and 10pm, even though I don't necessarily go to sleep then. Between 10pm and 11pm my uncle and grandfather almost always have drinks in his study and talk business, sometimes they even smoke cigars and they don't like to be interrupted.

The first night I was watching this particular maid, there were three kids with her. The second night, only two. This is perfect, I thought. No one will think anything of me going out at the same time. My grandfather had apparently taught the servants, except for nosey ol' Alfred of course, not to question anything family members do or say so I was able to leave without a hitch. The servants who don't have a car, walk from the staff parking area out to a service road that connects to one of the main roads where it's about another mile walk to the closest bus stop. So that's where I had Samantha's brother Chris pick me up.

The party was really fun. We danced a lot and ate a lot and mostly just goofed around playing stupid games and making even stupider TikToks. They had a Wii, Xbox, and PlayStation set up for us too. The older kids were drinking and playing cards for money and some were smoking pot but Samantha's brother Chris and her boyfriend Alex's older brother Sergio wouldn't let us younger kids do any of that. I met Alex's younger brother Dante and Samantha was right, he is really cute. We played Dance Dance Revolution together for like two hours straight.

Around 1:30am, Chris, Samantha, Alex, and Dante drove me back to the service road and walked with me til we could see the gate for the staff parking area. We said our goodbyes and I entered the mansion through the staff door closest to the kitchen. It didn't matter what time of day or night, there were always servants and some kind of activity going on in the kitchen. The rest of the mansion, separate from the servants' wing, was dark and quiet, however.

I crept slowly and quietly through the pitch black hallway into the living room. I felt my way along the wall to the staircase since the drapes were so thick they blocked out all exogenous light, not that there was much luminosity from the sliver of a moon tonight anyways. Now that I was almost home free, I didn't want to take the time to let my eyes adjust to the nearly complete darkness so I took long strides up the staircase, two steps at a time.

I was more than halfway up when a light obliterated the darkness, blinding me and exposing me fully in a flash. I instantly froze mid-step, my left hand clutching the banister. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Not a sound was heard after the click of the lamp switch so I waited in silence for an agonizing number of seconds before turning my head excruciatingly slowly toward the source of interruption to my fail-proof plan.

I could feel my heart beating wildly as I tried unsuccessfully to slow my breathing to a steady rate. Before I turned far enough around to be able to witness the cause of my undoing with my own eyes, I heard its haunting voice.

"Get to bed. We'll discuss this in the morning in your grandfather's study."

Uncle EJ's tone was so cold, I actually shuddered. No longer having any desire to see the saboteur of my nearly perfectly executed escapade, I bolted up the remaining steps and didn't slow down when I got to the top. Running into my room, holding my breath, I jumped into bed and hid under the sanctuary of my sheets and blankets, praying the light of morning, along with my impending doom, would never come.