Chapter 4

Chapter 4: "The truth becomes known"

Life in this house is rather full of a basic set of rules. Ever since Catherine, who everyone but me knows to be dead, disappeared and possibly died our lives have been struck by strong rules. The rules are the basis to keep up protected. Now it was the job of one of my youngest sisters and one of my younger cousins to pass the rules onto Catherine.

“Rachel!” came the voice of one of the friendly faces of the cleaning staff we had, as she knocked upon my door.

“Yes?” I asked as I stood up and walked away from my desk,  where I was writing in my journal.

“Your Mother wishes to see you Miss,” the young woman said. She was just a couple of years older than myself.

“Are they in the library, as usual?” I asked.

“Yes, Miss,” she said softly as she walked away.

I sighed and turned to look around my room- -which was the same design from what it was as when I was a child. The only that has changed is the size of everything since I have grown. I looked at the closed door that was right beside my room’s door. Catherine’s room. No one had set foot inside it since the day we found her gone. I looked away before I headed towards the stairwell.

Heading down the wooden steps, my footsteps echoing around me as I slowly headed down the quiet spiral staircase. I know that I should be sad when I look at the doorway, but the doorway only brings me to think of her and the promise that my Grandmother made to me that night, twelve long years ago.

“Rachel,” she started as she crouched down in front of me. She held up my tear streaked face. “Rachel. Nothing is going to happen to Catherine. Please trust me, Rachel. She will be safe till it’s till the  time for her to come back.”

I stepped down off the bottom step, and walked towards the library, which was the center of the house. I carefully knocked on the door and stepped in as my Mother called, “Come in.”

“You wished to see me Mother?” I asked quietly.  I stepped inside and over to where she sat on one of the couches that was set up in the center of the large room.

“I did,” she replied, lifting her head up from the book she was reading. “I know that something was bothering from the time that the Catherine girl said her last name. Something is wrong, but yet you still refuse to tell me. You have always told me things like this Rachel.  Will you tell me?”

I swallowed with nervousness as I walked over to the couches, sitting across from her. Sitting down I folded the folds of my dress down, and cross my ankles.

“I can do so, if it is what you wish for it,” I started slowly.

“Catherine was not kidnapped that night twelve years ago. Grandmother had skills in a hidden art, that even you wouldn’t believe me if I told you exactly what it is. No information was shared with you, from grandmother- as to protect Catherine. People wanted us dead Mother. They are still out there, but as long as they think that Catherine is no longer alive- or is located somewhere- nowhere near here, there will be no worry.

Now Catherine is back, and it is a big reason to worry! The person who wants us dead is the one who you think is trustworthy! The man you want me to marry! You wonder why I hate him so much! You have never once asked me about why I am cold to him Mother! Maybe because he is nothing but a fraud,” I paused, in my ‘speech’ taking a small breath.

“He was the one who did all of this. He is the reason that Catherine was forced away from home. He is the reason that our family was torn apart. He was the one who heard of our births and was determined to get rid of us. He was already twenty-two when we were born- with a strong ambition to one day “rule” over this area. He would now be three-eight, and he still has that ambition.

If he comes over at any time and sees Catherine, all of Grandmother’s hard work would have been for nothing. Nothing would be as it is now. Our family would be thrown into a big pot of grief. One of us would be dead, or in a worse attack- we would both be dead.

What kind of mother would you be if you allowed this to happen? This would be the end of our family, and the person behind it would be you and Father.”

My Mother’s eyes grew wider and wider as I talked. Her hands fisted tightly as I talked more and more about the dangers of what Adam Russen posed to her family. Her face grew pale at my final lines.

“You think that I will allow this to happen?! To my own family Rachel?! You would have to have you head in the clouds to not even see the fact that my children are the reason for me living, and I would give my life for them. I refuse to let Mr. Russen to take that away from me.

I refuse to lose you or your sister in this way. I refuse to let you die, or even let Catherine die, when she just returned to her family. Nothing will stand in the way of me protecting my children. Now go, I must think this over,” my Mother said as she stared out of the window that rested along the wall that I sat in front of.

I nodded. This was not the time to argue. I knew that the information I just shared with Mother would be shared with Father, and then with my Uncle Alexander and my Aunt Emma. I stood up and headed towards the door.

I went upstairs, to the sitting area that made up most of the landing. There sat Catherine with my cousins (Andrew, Maria, Michael, and Steven) my brothers and sister (Matthew, Brandon, and Charlotte). Sitting in a small circle nearby were the adopted members of my family- Charley and Madison- a set of twins who were adopted by my parents- and Christopher and Emaleigh- a brother-sister pair, adopted by my Aunt and Uncle.

Calling them over, I sat in a armchair, and watched as they all gathered around me. Taking a deep breath, I sighed as I looked at the members of my family who thought that this Catherine wasn’t the one who was the  Catherine.

“I have something to tell you all. Nothing could ever be the way that we have always lived for some of us were the past twelve years. I can not be the one who understands why any of us would have to face this at this time. Nothing will ever be the same. You may hate me for telling you all this, but nothing more can be my fault. Once I tell you it is up to you on how to react to it,” I said softly.

Eleven pairs of eyes turned to me. The four youngest children did not fully understand what was going on, as they never truly heard about Catherine.

“Some of you may remember Catherine from the short time that you were alive at the time she was still with us. Some of you have heard of her,” I starts slowly, taking a deep breath, “Now, you can all have a chance to get to know her. For the Catherine that sits among you right now is the Catherine of twelve years ago!”

Sounds of disbelief came out of the mouths of everyone who was sitting among me. They did not believe me.  I gave a struggled sigh and looked at Catherine, my darker hazel eyes flashing dangerously in the light.

“Bare your wrist,” I instructed her.

“”Excuse me! Why do I have to listen to you. You are no one but a stranger, that has a strange similarity to my looks,” she replied sharply.

“Just do it, or do you want to hurt the little one’s feelings as they are watching this right now?” I asked her, my fingers tapping against the material of my dress.

“Why should I care about them? They are your family, not mine.”

I took a deep breath, and muttered, “Whatever. You will find out sooner or later. Not too soon, but not too late.”

“What is that suppose to mean?” she asked, raising to her feet.

“Nothing. It would be obvious if you remember everything you were as a child,” I snapped at her.

She just took a deep breath and said, “I will be in the room that I was given.”

At her final words, she turned and walked away. She went down the hallway that held our guest rooms. I just took a deep breath and turned to face my family.

“What?” I asked them, my stormy hazel eyes blazing angrily.

“Nothing. Just go easy on her. She does not deserve that kind of treatment,” Andrew said  simply, answering for everyone.

“What do you know?! You’re just a child!” I yelled at him.

“I am just a few years younger than yourself!” he replied back to me calmly.