I made my coffee and decided to eat something. I found some oatmeal and made that for breakfast. When I was done I picked up Kitty. “Let’s find a way out of this place,” I said to her as I left the kitchen.
Chapter 3
Since I didn’t really pay close attention to my surroundings yesterday, I started to look around more closely as I walked down the hallway. I figured that if I really looked around me I’d have a better chance of finding a way out.
As I took in the walls, ceiling, and even the floor, I realized that I wasn’t in just a big house. The walls were covered in old paintings and tapestries, at least I think that’s what they were called from what I had seen in movies. There were also swords and shields as decoration on the walls and the occasional suit of armor in the hallways. And the wood, there was so much polished wood. Then there was the stone that the outside walls seemed to be made of. I’d never seen anything like it.
I made my way back to the stairs. I needed to see how far up they went. The first flight led to the floor where my room was. Then I went up three more flights to the top floor. I glanced down a few halls on each floor and came to a startling revelation. “I think we’re in a castle,” I whispered to Kitty.
This was too much for my brain to process. I sat down on the nearest chair and put my head between my knees. I focused on breathing slowly and not passing out. I did not want to pass out all the way up here.
I sat like that for a while. When I figured I could stand without falling over, I got out of the chair and gave myself a pep talk.
“Okay Eve, falling apart won’t do you any good. You’re a smart, strong woman. You can do this.”
Kitty looked at me like I was crazy, but I was okay with that. I went back down to the main floor since I decided that the door to the outside probably wasn’t on the second floor or above.
I know it was stupid since she was just a kitten but having Kitty with me made me feel braver. I went down the stairs determined to get out of here.
Once I was back on the main floor I came up with a plan. I was going to search the rooms one at a time. I went back to the kitchen and did a thorough search. I started with the pantry hoping there might be a secret door or something. I looked on each shelf, moving every box, bag, or container that I saw. I even checked the floor for a trap door. I didn’t find anything.
When I came out of the pantry I did the same thing to every shelf and cupboard. I inspected the walls for secret latches and even stomped all over the floor checking for a hidden compartment or something. But I came up empty handed.
By the time I had looked everywhere I could think of in the kitchen several hours had passed. One thing I noticed was I hadn’t seen any clocks yet, so I had no idea what time it was.
Kitty was walking around my feet rubbing on my ankles. “What’s the matter little one? Are you hungry?” She meowed so I filled her food and water bowls and she went straight for the food. “I guess you were hungry. I am too.”
My oatmeal from the morning had long since worn off, so I decided to make myself something to eat. I certainly didn’t feel like cooking, so I found some ham and cheese to make a sandwich. I remembered seeing some chips in the pantry, so I grabbed a bag of BBQ and a bottle of water. I sat at the table to eat.
Everything I opened was new, so I wasn’t worried about getting poisoned, not a thought I’d ever had before. It made me wonder where the food had come from. If there was food here did that mean someone lived here? Again, all I had was questions and no answers. That got me thinking about where I was. This castle, if that’s what it really was, didn’t feel lived in. There wasn’t any dust or disrepair, but it just felt empty. So far, I hadn’t seen any sign that someone was here with me. I was naturally curious, and I wasn’t sure if that was a help or a hindrance in this situation.
I finished my sandwich and continued went back to my search. The next room I looked in was a dining room that was attached to the kitchen. “This room is beautiful,” I said to Kitty as I walked around. The table was elegantly set for ten people and the rest of the room was as equally refined.
There wasn’t much to check in the dining room, so I moved onto the next room. I didn’t know what it was used for, and I didn’t really care at that point. I did a thorough examination of the room just like I did in the kitchen. I checked walls, cupboards, behind paintings and curtains, but there was no extra door here.
I spent the rest of the night doing this until I got tired. I went back upstairs to my room. When I walked inside I’d remembered the mess I’d made hoping to find my phone. “I’m not dealing with this now. I’ll clean it up in the morning.” I closed the door and pushed the dresser back in front of it. I crawled into bed without changing my clothes. Kitty curled up by my head and I was asleep in seconds.
Chapter 4
I woke up with a start. I opened my eyes and could see the room through the moonlight shining in the window. I was still in the castle. What had woken me up? The dresser was still in front of the door, so it wasn’t that. I looked around and didn’t see anything, so I closed my eyes. As soon as I did I saw the eyes from my dream. That’s what had woken me up, the eyes. They were the most intense blue eyes I’d ever seen. I wondered who they belonged to. I knew I’d never seen them before, so I know it wasn’t anyone I knew. Did they belong to the person that lived here? Or were they simply part of my imagination? The eyes were all I could think about as I drifted back to sleep.
The next time I woke up Kitty was pawing at my hand. “Okay little miss princess, I’m getting up. Princess … I think I just found your name. That seems fitting since we seem to be in a castle.”
I got up and walked to the bathroom. I closed the door and reopened it just as quickly. I realized the room was clean. The mess I’d made yesterday was nowhere to be seen.
“What the hell?” I asked myself and I opened a dresser drawer. Everything was neatly folded like nothing had happened. I peeked in the closet and it was also perfectly neat and tidy.
“How is that possible?” I was freaking out a little. “The dresser is still against the door. There’s no way someone could have been in here.” My heart rate increased as I thought about someone in this room with me while I slept. My panic started to rise as I went to the closet thinking there might be a secret door in there or something.
On the way back to the closet I grabbed the knife I’d taken from the kitchen. I slowly turned the handle. I was prepared for someone to be in there. I flung the door open and raised the knife. It was empty. I flicked the light on just to be sure. All I saw were the clothes from yesterday.
I looked behind every piece of clothing and on every shelf in the closet. Nothing. No secret door or compartment, at least that I could find. That made me feel a little better, but it still didn’t explain the mystery of the magically clean room.
Once my heart rate slowed down I went back to the bathroom. I threw my clothes in the hamper and got in the shower.
Yesterday, I’d been in a hurry to shower but today I took the time to calm down and look closer at what was around me. All of my favorite bath items were here. Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. If I closed my eyes it was like I was at home, well except for the amazing rain head shower I was standing under.
I got out and dried off. Princess was sitting on the rug in front of the sink waiting for me. “Let me guess, you’re hungry again right?” I said, smiling at her. She meowed so I quickly brushed my hair and got dressed.
Once again, I moved the dresser only far enough to get out the door. I still didn’t know what was going on and after the whole cleaned up room thing, I was going to have to be vigilant.
Princess and I made it to the kitchen without incident. I got her food and made my coffee. There was lots of oatmeal, so I had that again for breakfast.
When we were finished eating I cleaned up my dish and began the search again. We went through room after room, but there was still no way out of here. I looked over every inch of each room I was in.
At some point I went back to the kitchen and ate. Then I was right back to searching. I was going through the rooms that were on the outside wall first hoping there was a door or window that led to my escape.
I was in a room with several couches searching the walls for any sign of a way out. I was moving all the books on one of the shelves when something amazing happened. I heard a click and the entire bookshelf moved towards me. I jumped back, startled. “Could we have finally found an escape?” I whispered to Princess.
It took most of my strength, but I was able to swing the shelf out. There was a hallway behind it. I felt around for a light or something. My hand moved over something that was sticking out. The movement of my hand made the button press in and the bookshelf swung shut. I was in complete darkness. I didn’t like being in the dark and started to panic a little. Princess meowed so I picked her up, that helped me calm down a little.
I felt my way along the wall, glad that it wasn’t slimy or gross. I eventually got to the end and felt wood instead of stone. I hoped that meant it was the way out. I felt around again. There had to be a latch or something that opened the door. I finally found a raised stone on the floor and stepped on it. The door swung open. I was expecting to see blue sky but all I saw was a hidden bedroom. There weren’t even any windows. The light must have come on when the door opened.
I was so disappointed that I just sat down and put my head in my hands. Princess was rubbing her head on my ankles. I automatically reached down to pet her. “I really thought this was it Princess. I can’t even be excited about finding a secret room.” A few tears escaped my eyes.
After a few minutes I got up and went out back into the secret passageway. Opening the door was the same as on the other end. Even though I hadn’t found a way out I wasn’t going to give up, so I continued on with my search.
I don’t know how many rooms I’d look through, but eventually I got tired again. Princess and I went back to the bedroom. I was tired and sore, so I decided to have a bath. Being a data entry clerk, I didn’t use a lot of the muscles I’d been using the last two days.
I filled up the claw foot bathtub and added some bubble bath. I let out an audible sigh as I sunk into the water that was almost to my chin. “A girl could get used to a bath like this,” I said to Princess.
As I lay there soaking I thought about my day. While searching for a way out I was also looking for any signs that I wasn’t alone. I hadn’t found any. There were no personal items or pictures, and nothing was out of place. It was like this castle had just appeared out of nowhere ready for someone to live in. But I knew better than that, I hadn’t just been magically transported here. Someone had brought me here and I was going to find a way back home.
By now my family and friends would know I was missing. I never missed work and I talked to my mom every day. I hoped that if I couldn’t find a way out of here soon that they would get help to rescue me.
My fingers were starting to wrinkle so I got out of the tub. After I dried off I noticed a fluffy robe hanging behind the door. “Was that here this morning?” I asked Princess. She just meowed as I put it on. It was the softest thing I’d ever put on my body. “This might have to come with me when we escape Princess.”
I crawled under the covers wishing I had a book to read. I often read before I went to sleep. I settled on petting Princess instead. Her purring was soothing and in no time at all I was asleep.
Chapter 5
My daily routine continued until I had searched the entire first floor. I wasn’t even sure how many days it had been, but I know it was more than a week. My chance at finding a way out of here was dwindling. I was still going to check the other four floors, but the likelihood of finding a door to the outside being above the main floor was slim.
It was sometime in the afternoon when I’d searched the final room on the main floor. I had been positive that was going to find a way out of this place and now I felt like my hope was disappearing.
I was so frustrated that I wanted to cry. I didn’t know what to do. Princess could tell something was wrong. I picked her up. “Hey little one, it’s ok. I’ll figure it out.”
We wandered aimlessly for a while until we found ourselves back at the kitchen. Besides my bedroom it was the room where I spent most of my time. I was out of motivation to continue searching for the day. I looked around the kitchen and spotted a small shelf with books on it. “Was that there yesterday?” I wondered.
When I looked closer I saw it was full of cook books. I’ll admit that since I’d been here I’d pretty much survived on coffee, oatmeal and sandwiches. I was an okay cook, but I’d been too busy trying to escape to worry about cooking, but I decided that tonight I’d make a real meal. But in the mean time I picked up a book all about baking.
I flipped through a few pages when I came to a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I read it. “This doesn’t look so hard,” I said to Princess. “Let’s make some cookies.
I rooted through the cupboards and found all of the ingredients. I’d never baked from scratch before. Everything I’d made had always come out of a package and only took three ingredients. Who knew that so many things went into a chocolate chip cookie?
I mixed them up and put them in the oven to bake. When they were finished it was time to taste them. I almost broke my tooth on the first one. “Oh my God these are awful,” I said and started to giggle. “What did I do wrong Princess? I’m sure I followed the recipe exactly.” But I obviously didn’t because I got hockey pucks instead of soft chewy cookies. “That’s enough baking for today,” I said and threw them in the garbage.
After being here for over a week I decided that I really was alone, so I was no longer afraid to wander around and make noise. No one had come to hurt me, and no one had come to rescue me. I missed my family and friends. “Good thing I have you Princess or else I’d probably be crazy by now.”
I found my way back to the room that I’d called the library when I first searched it. Two walls were completely covered in books. Besides the kitchen it was the room I liked best so far. When I was here previously I didn’t really look at what was on the shelves, only what was behind them. Today I got a good look at the books. As I scanned the titles I had the same feeling I did when I discovered all of my clothes were here. These books were all by my favorite authors. I took some deep breaths to calm me down. “I know I’ve said this before Princess, but what the hell? How is this possible?”
I picked up one of the books to be sure it was real. It was solid in my hand and the inside was full of words. It seemed that every day that went by I had more questions and less answers. If I’d been kidnapped where was my kidnapper? If I was drugged and brought here by someone, where were they? I’m pretty sure this wasn’t an elaborate dream but if it wasn’t then what could possibly be the explanation?
I put the book back and grabbed one that was the beginning of a series. I sat on a big comfy couch and started to read. I didn’t have any answers that could help me at the moment, so I figured I’d get lost in a book for a while to take my mind off the situation.
When I looked up from my book I hadn’t realized how much time had passed. It was dark out now and my stomach was rumbling. “Time to go make dinner,” I said to Princess.
In the kitchen I found some hamburger in the freezer. “Why didn’t I think to do this earlier?” I said, putting the frozen lump of meat on the counter. I decided to make spaghetti and meat sauce since that was something I could do with frozen hamburger. A short time later I was eating my first real meal in over a week and it tasted like heaven. I definitely would be doing this every night from now on until I could find a way out. I still held out hope that I could get back home.
I cleaned up my mess and put the leftovers in the fridge. I took my book and we went to our room. I’d started having a hot bubble bath every night. It took away some of the stress and helped me relax. As I threw my clothes in the hamper I realized it was empty. I ran to the closet and saw th
e clothes that I’d worn for the last week. I sniffed them. “They’re clean,” I whispered. “But I haven’t washed them.”
Instead of panicking I tried for a logical explanation, but nothing came to me. I seemed to be alone but so many strange things were happening. I didn’t believe in magic so that left me to think that someone was secretly doing these things.
The more I thought about that the more that didn’t make any sense either. I been in every room on the main floor and there was no way anyone was down there. “But what about the other floors?” I shoved the dresser back against the door. I hadn’t been doing that the last few nights assuming that I was alone since I hadn’t seen or heard anything in over a week.
“First thing tomorrow Princess we start looking on this floor,” I told her. She just looked at me. She knew I’d protect her but who was going to protect me? I took some calming breaths and ran a bath. I would protect me. Before I went to bed I put the kitchen knife on the night stand. I wasn’t taking any chances.
Chapter 6
When I got up the next morning I was tired. I’d woken up several times in the night to check that the dresser was still against the door. It always was. I’d also dreamed about the intense blue eyes all night. I could never see a face, only their eyes. I wondered what that meant.
I had a shower, got dressed, and went down to the kitchen. As usual Princess was hungry. After feeding her I started to make my coffee. As I was putting the coffee in the filter I noticed a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the counter. Once I saw them I could smell them as well. They looked fresh and homemade. They certainly weren’t the ones I’d attempted to make yesterday.
“Should I try one?” I asked Princess. She was too busy eating to pay any attention to me. “What’s the worst that could happen?” I wondered out loud. “I guess they could be poisoned and I could die.” But I loved sweets and decided it was worth the risk. Stupid but true.
Trapped in a Castle Page 2
