A Long, Silent Ride

Virginia sat quietly with her anger for what seemed like a long time. The driver and Charles Prince chatted outside the car. Virginia could only hear the low muffled mumbling of their voices. She wondered what they were saying.

After a few minutes, Charles slid into the back seat opposite Virginia. Virginia was not expecting him to sit next to her, so she found herself pulled out of anger and into a quiet panic.

Charles leaned forward and gave the center console two quick pats, and the driver started off towards the outskirts of the city.

The inside of the car was warm and spacious. However, sitting so near Charles Prince in the back seat of the car proved to be a daunting task.

Virginia fixated on her fingernails. She picked at the skin around them. This was a habit her mother used to always get onto her about.

After a moment, she wasn't sure whether it was Charles' or the driver's cologne, but a woodsy, rosemary fragrance wafted through the cabin. Either way, it was a semi-calming fragrance.

She thought it would be best if she just ignored Mr. Prince, so Virginia stared out the window watching the rain pitter-patter against the glass. This, along with the nice smell, helped her get out of her negative headspace fairly quickly; her feelings of resentment towards her father cooled, her fear of being in a confined space with Charles lessened, but neither feeling was completely extinguished.

Soon, it was easy to forget she was off to the Prince Mansion with the infamous Charles Prince himself as she watched the droplets of rain run down the glass. She studied one droplet at a time, trying to predict its path as it rolled down.

Sometimes one droplet would slide into another and they would fall together. Sometimes one large droplet hit a third, and like it was bouncing off a rock, it would split into two droplets and go in two separate directions.

She imagined herself as one of those beads of water. Each one looked the same, but no one took the same path down the window's glass. It seemed like Virginia and Janice were the same water bead for the longest time, but now they had split off in two directions.

Her sister seemed set in a straight path, while Virginia wasn't so sure she'd even hit the window yet. Or perhaps she had, but the wind blasting the side of the car had sent her off momentarily back into the air. Maybe she'd land with a splat on the hard paved road, or maybe she'd be flung into the dewy grass. Maybe she'd evaporate completely before she landed anywhere.

Charles Prince stirred in the seat next to her, bringing her out of her reverie. She didn't dare speak to him. Even if she weren't still afraid of him, she couldn't possibly know what to say at a moment like this. Plus, he was so incredibly hard to read.

Even then, his face was completely rigid as he stared down at his hands folded over his lap.

Virginia continued to look out the window but she set her sights on the countryside this time. The farther they drove, the lighter the sky became. As it became brighter, the morning rain began to subside and she began to see clearly the tall oak trees and the fields of wheat and wildflowers.

She realized then that she hadn't paid such close attention to the nature surrounding Meridian Valley before. She was able to identify a few of the types of trees, maple and cypress and oak, ones she had on her father's property back home- if she could even call it home anymore.

In the middle of an open field, Virginia spotted a slender deer with its head sticking up over the tall wheat stems. Its eyes were large and black and alert. Its ears swiveled and its tail flickered. And suddenly it put its head down and disappeared into the golden field.

The ride so far had been quiet. Not even the driver had spoken. Charles Prince sat soundlessly in the seat beside her, now with his phone's light casting a dull blue glow in the cabin of the Cadillac. Virginia found her thoughts circling back to her father. She just couldn't understand why giving up his daughter seemed like a simple solution for him. She wished he'd given up that stupid wooden cross. She wished that he'd offered some sum of money. He was rich after all, so surely he could have afforded whatever debt was due.

What was the debt for anyway? Virginia couldn't think of a single thing, though her father was a mystery to her, so she wasn't in the position to be making guesses about that kind of thing anyway.

Virginia felt melancholic thinking about all of that. She tried to distract herself by looking out the window again.

She wasn't sure how far they'd gone now, but when she looked out the window this time, they were at the base of a mountain.

At the top of the mountain sat a giant, castle-like house.

From their current position, the mansion seemed very gothic. Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" popped into her mind. The reddish light coming from the morning sun made the dark bricks look as if they were leaking blood. The Prince Mansion had at least three levels and was adorned with several sharp spires.

Once they finished their trek up the mountain, they passed through a tall wrought-iron gate with security cameras and two guards posted there. The guards were equally as pale as Charles.

The driver pulled the car through the security gate and parked it right up at the front walk. Virginia craned her neck up to peer at the entirety of the mansion. It was even larger and more elaborate up close.

The mansion looked as if it was straight out of England in the 1400s. It had hundreds of windows, which were mostly dark. They looked like deep, soulless pupils.

For a home belonging to the wealthiest family in Meridian Valley, the mansion sure could have used some upkeep. Around the windows, the brick was stained black from moisture pooled there. It was like the soulless eyes were crying black matter.

There were statues and gargoyles with chipped horns and broken-off wings. The archways for the doors had to be twenty feet tall With rustic swirls carved overhead.

Altogether the house was pretty terrifying.

Virginia's heart thumped in her chest.

The driver got out of the car and Charles turned his head to speak over his shoulder to Virginia sitting next to him. Virginia felt his gaze on her, and she turned to look at him.

The glow of the rising sun hitting his pale skin turned his cheeks a bit of pink color.

He almost looked bashful. For a moment, Virginia found herself thinking again that he was very good-looking.

But when his smoky eyes peered over his shoulder at her, she remembered how threatening he was supposed to be. She looked down at her lap and fiddled with a button on her coat.

She thought it would be best not to look at him or address him unless he called on her or requested her attention.

Charles placed a hand on Virginia's bare wrist. It was like someone had pressed an ice cube to her skin, his touch was so cold.

Virginia flinched away from the cold and from the surprise that he would reach out to her like that. She instinctively met his gaze, thinking he would say something menacing.

He watched her with that slight crease between his eyebrows again. Now that she was closer to being face to face with him, Virginia got lost in the smoothness of his skin, the perfect sharp bridge of his nose, the dark shadow of his eyebrows, and his chiseled chin.

They looked at each other for a moment, and Charles spoke: "If you obey, you will not be harmed."

Fear immediately broke its way back into her mind. What would he be having her do? What kind of punishment might she face if she didn't comply with his commands?

Virginia wasn't sure she wanted to know, so she didn't ask.

She broke their shared gaze and nodded her head to show that she understood.

Charles got out in a quick, fluid movement, shutting the door behind him. Virginia stayed in her seat, not wanting to make any wrong moves.

After a few seconds, her car door opened, and Charles was standing there holding one of her bags in his hand.

"Come," he said soberly. He motioned with his head for her to get out of the car. She complied.

The driver was standing right outside the car door holding an umbrella over her. The rain had nearly stopped, but she supposed it was a kind enough gesture on his part.

Charles led Virginia up the steps to the great mansion by pushing lightly against her elbow. She couldn't feel the cold of his touch as she did earlier when he'd touched her wrist, but the pressure of his hand made her all too aware that she was being led into a strange new place with a strange new man.

Her heart raced.

Once they were in the mansion and the driver set down her other bag and shut the door, Charles settled her suitcase on the floor.

He straightened up his suit jacket and sleeves.

"Wait here in the foyer," he said before walking away and leaving her alone.