CHAPTER ONE

CHLOE'S POV

My name is Chloe Kingsley and I turned eighteen last January and currently, it's May. My parents divorced when I was four so technically I grew up in a boarding school and I also inherited shit loads of money from them. Both of them remarried though so except on necessary occasions, I am all alone. I decided to see more of the world by studying further. I registered in a small college on the country side as I also wanted to enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet in my life. Actually that was after my paternal grandfather passed away and left his castle for me in his will. I mean, who owns a castle in this period. Anyways, I decided to give it a trial after some thoughts. After all, I was now the owner of the only castle in that part of the world.

I was scheduled to write a test in the college in two weeks time and believe me, I haven't even decided on what to study. I packed the little stuff I had in two boxes as they were majorly books. I didn't own a lot of things since I counted them unnecessary and besides, like I said earlier I lived in a boarding school for a very long time and there are limits to the things we can own and bring it. My parents actually left me a house though but I just decided to rent it out. I didn't like the idea of living alone in a big house.

I decided to board a commercial vehicle to Beninville as this was the part of world I was going to be staying. I never knew that the peace and quiet I thought I would get could become storm and mystery even before I got there. Not that it was anyone's fault but mine though. My boxes were loaded into the trunk while I held a school bag that had a file in it. It contained my school registration forms and the likes. I took a comfortable seat as it was about nine hour's journey. The last time I went there was in my father's car and that was when I was about three years old. I haven't been here after that but I and grand dad often exchange letters. Most people don't board plane to beninville as going through the highway makes you calm and also one can enjoy the scenery.

We were about five hours into the journey when we saw some army vehicles going at high speeds. Other vehicles moved aside to let them pass by. I noticed a black SUV amongst the army vans going at the same pace with them. Suddenly we heard gunshots, cars were swerving left and right not knowing the cause of the gunshot. The driver of the car I was stepped on the brake pads suddenly causing the car behind us to collide with us. Our car made a somersault and landed in a nearby bush. Luckily but strange, I didn't sustain any injury. I kicked the window with my boots and the glass shattered. I brought out my cell phone from the bag and check to see if I could call for emergency services but unfortunately , there was no network bar but then emergency service don't need networks to go through but my phone wasn't responding at this point. I wanted to give a helping hand to those inside the car when another gunshot went off. I ran with my bag towards the highway. I suddenly had the urge to know what was going on there.

Running quickly through the tall grasses and bushes, I ran and peeped at the road which was empty by now except for some damaged cars around and the army vehicles. Some black sedan vehicles had blocked the road shooting at soldiers. Two soldiers were down but the soldier driving the black SUV was not letting go. He was shooting back at the unknown gun men. They were putting on masks and bullets were flying to and fro.

''Carmi! Reverse the van; take it back, we must not lose that money'' shouted a soldier into his walkie talkie but as Carmi was about to follow the orders, another car drove in from behind him blocking him from the back. Two men dressed in black suit moved towards the SUV, pushed Carmi off and shot him. They both entered into it. One of them was shooting at the soldiers while the other seemed to be looking for something. They came out later with one of them holding a file that looks exactly like my own. The man holding the file passed by where I was peeping through, I picked up quiet a big stone and threw it at him hitting him squarely on his right eye. The man instinctively threw the file towards the bush I was hiding. I grabbed it as it landed on the ground in my front.

''Matthew, are you crazy? You just throw the file away''

''someone just threw a stone from out there'' replied Matthew who was now holding a handkerchief over the bleeding eye. The other man ran towards the bush. I dropped my own file after emptying it in my bag and replaced it with some ordinary white papers from my bag and I raced to the inner part of the forest. I wondered how I did it in seconds; it must have been reflex action. The other man got to the bush, found the file lying intact on the ground with no one else around and he picked it up.

''I think not now, definitely you are crazy. No one is in here Matt''

They ran to their car and zoomed off. He spoke into his walkie talkie, ''we have the file, retreat''

Other vehicles blocking the highway reversed and left leaving no soldier and any other witness alive. They even made sure that the damaged car in the bush had no survivor.

I stopped running after a while and then I paused to think. If they discover the real file was gone, I would be in trouble. Why did I do that? I can't even report this to the police as I just meddled in God knows what.

''what have I done?''

I had sat for about two hours at the foot of a tree not knowing what to do. My phone wasn't responding still and I had to be on my way. Besides, I am not sure I wanted to be recognized as a witness to any of the mysterious crimes at the moment. I checked my wrist watch and it was exactly 5:30 pm. I started walking back to the highway as I wanted to check my boxes in that trunk. I wouldn't leave any evidence that I was there. But on getting there, the bodies were gone; the damaged vehicles were also gone as if everything that happened few hours ago was a lie. I almost went crazy as this meant that evidence I was there had followed the cleaner. Quiet a number of people were killed so how come the place was cleaned up so fast. How come I didn't know about it when I was seating not very far away in the forest. In fact, the road was been used at the moment by other highway users. What just happened? I could only ask myself.

I decided to head to the castle that evening. I could not stay longer. I had some loose change in my school bag I could still use to take a cab. I also had my credit card with me. I waved to about five cabs before I found one that was going my way. I boarded it and we continued the journey in silence and this time, I was in deep thought.

It was dark before I got to the castle. The workers in the castle were informed of my arrival already. I ate bread that night and went to bed tired and restless.