Hacking the Mansion by Everleigh J.C

Author:Everleigh, J.C.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TCP
Published: 2023-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

“Daniel? Is that you?” I heard my mother’s voice call out to me as I pushed the door slowly open. I pushed further into the room, hoping my mind hadn’t splintered just enough for me to have been hearing things.

“Mom?”

“Daniel!”

My heart broke at the sight of her; her eyes were wet like she’d been crying, her hands trembling as she held on tightly to a butter knife, and her hair was a far cry from the perfectly brushed and laid-back shape it normally had. Mom stood in the middle of the room, sporting a defensive pose, like she was prepared to fight.

The look on her face softened immediately when she saw me and a look of relief spread across her face. She immediately dropped the knife before lunging at me and embracing me.

“Where were you, Daniel?”

“I- I… I thought something happened to you, Mom! I was so worried!”

“I’m okay! I’m okay! I thought something might’ve happened to you! Where were you?”

She motioned for me to sit down, and then she sat next to me. Mom listened intently as I filled her in on everything that had happened between when I had seen her last and now.

Taking a gamble I decided to end it with my plan to get the laptop and go back and get past the partition. She shot up from the bed immediately in protest - “Nope!” She said, waving her hands and shaking her head.

“What do you mean, ‘nope’?!”

“Nope,’ as in, you are going nowhere, young man.”

“Really Mom? Really? What do you suggest we do, then?”

She shrugged and stepped into the bathroom. The sound of rushing water followed a few seconds later.

“Look, Mom, we can’t just sit around waiting to die. Plus, I got us into this mess; I have to get us out.”

The sound of rushing water stopped, and everywhere was silent again. I called out to her, but there was no response. Panicking again, I rushed into the bathroom and a sigh of relief rushed out of me. She had her hair in a towel and was squeezing out water while simultaneously drying her face.

“Were you even listening?”

“Mmm, yes.”

“Okay and?”

She hung the towel on the rack and dried her hands with it before pulling me closer. As soon as she was directly in front of me, she held my face with both hands to ensure I maintained eye contact.

“You’ll stay here with me! Tomorrow morning, you, along with everyone else and I’ll figure something out. Okay?”

She spoke with an optimism I neither liked nor understood. While the rest of us had given up on each other, perhaps even on our survival, she still believed deep down that what we needed to do was to work together.

I wasn’t sure if I admired or was bewildered by her can-do attitude. I stared at her for a few moments and finally nodded in affirmation. The hesitation in my response was hardly disguised, but caused her to smile—her soft smile that I loved so much.

It only made my next decision harder than it needed to be.

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