Prologue
932 Words
My name is Daphne Archer. At the age of 25, I have accomplished so much in my life. I had completed college by the time I was 18, at one of the top Universities in America. With an IQ of 184, I sailed through school like it was nothing.
Now, I run Archers Industries, the company founded by my Great-great Grandfather over a hundred years ago. So, yes I am from old money. But it was me, who expanded my family's company globally, four year ago. It increased my work load but I always preferred to work rather than party. I even expanded what we did as a company. When I took over, we were focused on weapons technology, and automobiles. Now, we have our hands in medical technology, consumer technology, and sustainable energy.
I am the first woman in my family to run our family business. But, it was tradition, that the first-born child of the first marriage takes over the business, when they reach twenty-one. A tradition, my father wanted to keep going, even though his second wife, my horrid step-mother, disapproved, because she wanted my half-brother, Derek, her son, to take over the family business.
Dad remarried after my mother passed away from an unexplained illness, when I was six. He and my step-mother had a son, my younger brother. Derek and I were always close and he despised his mother for trying to make him take over the family business, when all he wanted to do was serve his country. He did, to his mother's distaste. Last year, he became an agent for the CIA, the youngest ever. Me and Dad are very proud of him, which has made Derek happy.
I never thought a global pandemic would cause us to close most of our business for weeks on end. But, here we are. I have been stuck at home for weeks, atleast it gives me chance to catch up on some paper work. I have so much free time on my hands. Since the coronvirus pandemic spread globally, I have had to get into a new routine, not my strong suit. Being at home, meant I could explore the house more just like when I was a kid.
My house was a mansion built over a hundred years ago by one of my forebears. With ten bedrooms, six bathrooms, a private office attached to a private library, a huge living room, a futuristic kitchen and a outdoor olympic size swimming pool. There was more bedrooms but, since my father handed over the business when I turned 21, he handed me the keys and deed to the house, I converted a few of the bedrooms in to other things, as well as renovating the interior. One I converted into a gym. Another into a game room.
However, there was one thing that always bugged me about this house. There was a room missing. A corridor links the private office and library together. But, it feels like there should be another room there. My father would never tell me why it was that way. He would only say, "When the time is right, I will tell you everything about our family but until then, you must trust the house's design."
Very strange, I know. But, every family has its secrets. Mine is just a little more weird. How we managed to keep the secrets out of public limelight, god only knows.
When I was thirteen, I had to build a family tree for school, easy enough thing to make right, wrong! My father told me everything about my family history he knew, or so he told me. I traced back my lineage on my father's side to the medieval era but my mother was always more complicated. I knew her name and she told me her parents names before she passed away, when I was six from a unexplained illness. When I used websites to help you trace your family tree, my mother's parents were supposedly born in the 15th century, which couldn't be possible.
Nothing made sense back then. So, during this lockdown, I decided to get to the bottom of this but what I discovered just puzzled me even more. I tried to trace back Grandmother Eleanor's family history, I found the same problem, supposedly her parents were born in the 18th century. I tried tracing my Great Grandmother Marie's family history, again I found the same problem.
Confusion and questions were my only company. I tried to get the answers out of my father but he would only say when the time is right. I mean, I am 25 year old, surely I could handle a mysterious, unexplainable, and let's not forget impossible secret.
I couldn't dewell on it forever, I have a life to lead. A business to run. Over the coming weeks, I had a stable routine, I'd go to the home gym, then I would complete paperwork and go to virtual work meetings. Once that was done, I would just chill out, read a book, go for a swim, whatever I felt like doing.
Even though, we were in lockdown, me and Derek had become even closer. We told each other everything, apart from the classified stuff. We video called a fair amount.
Days were growing longer. I was starting to struggle, my mental health was getting bad, the stress of working during such trying times, and being alone all the time was not helping. Depressions and isolations was wreaking havoc on my mental state.
I needed a change. Something had to change...
- Writer
