Sister Pact: Surrendering to Mr Snow

CHAPTER EIGHT: BAD NEWS

The day was finally over but Scarlet could not help but to think about the Stella, the woman that had reacted strangely when Scarlet had told her the names of both her aunt and grandmother. Rosanne was not back yet and had called Scarlet and told her to lock up the shop and Scarlet did just that after Abby, walked out.

Scarlet was happy and scared, she had never been given this big of a responsibility before and she was thankful that Rosanne trusted her so much. Deep down Scarlet knew that she had to get some answers and quick.

“Abby!” Scarlet called out to the teenage girl, who had earphone sin her ears and luckily for Scarlet, Abby heard her on the first call.

“Yes” she answered. The young woman walked closer to Scarlet and removed only one of her earphone.

“Yeah, what is it?” Scarlet could not fault the teenage girl for acting so uninterested, because she knew very well that she too was like this.

“Hey, have you ever heard of the Carter family that lives at the wooden house up the hill?” Scarlet asked Abby, who thought about it for a while.

“I haven’t heard a lot, but I do know that they aren’t nice people” Scarlet clenched her fist but she held her fist behind her back. She could not let Abby see her anger so Scarlet hid her anger instead.

She had to know more, especially why it was that Abby was speaking such lies about her family. She did not know her aunt and grandmother for most of her life but she was truly sure that they were good people.

Scarlet could not help but want to ask more question even if it meant that it would make her more angry but she had to find out why Stella had such a bad reaction upon hearing that Scarlet was a Carter.

“Why would you say that?” Scarlet asked Abby who did not seem interested the more about any other thing that Scarlet wanted to know.

“Look, I don’t know so much about this town, mainly because I hate it. All that I know is that they aren’t nice people… well at least that Marilyn woman”

“Why her?” Scarlet asked, trying to get more information than Abby was letting out.

“Apparently she has a bad temper, I mean smashing Mr. Teller’s car because of a disagreement and apparently she killed Mrs. Rosie’s dog, because he barked too much and there were more incidents,” Abby sounded horrified and according to her, Scarlet’s aunt and grandmother were both evil women.

“How sure are you of this entire incident?” Scarlet asked Abby, trying one last time to get some clarity on this matter for the last time.

“I mean I was not there—”

Scarlet breathe a sigh of relief, because that could mean that it could all be rumor created by people to ruin her family and their happiness, but Abby was not done with what to say.

“Well except one incident that is”

“What incident are you talking about?” Scarlet asked, desperate to get some answers on what was going on.

“I saw her kill Mrs. Rosie’s dog” Scarlet placed her hands over her mouth, she struggled to believe that Abby was the one saying this.

“I know I should have told someone but Marilyn Carter is scary and I just kept quiet”

“When did this happen?”

“It happened about three years ago, I came from the woods. I needed to cool down after fighting with my mother and I saw her walk into Mrs. Rosie’s garden and placed something into her dog’s bowl” Scarlet looked into Abby’s eyes and the young woman looked frightened almost, a look she had never seen from her.

Abby had always looked out of this world, that no one could quite understand but she did not care what people thought of her. She was always confident in her decisions, it was always hard to change her mind about something, and here she was, looking scared and haunted.

“It’s okay Abby, I just wanted to know that from you. Thank you for telling me”

“You’re welcome but why did you want to know about the Carters?” Abby asked Scarlet.

Because I am a Carter

Scarlet almost felt like telling Abby that but she stopped herself, there was absolutely no need to scare the young woman even more than she was already was.

“No, I’ve just heard a few things about them as well and I just wanted to confirm it from you. I mean you were practically born and raised in this town” Scarlet lied to Scarlet.

“Okay, I have to go home now” Abby told Scarlet. She watched Abby walk away from her. Rage burnt into Scarlet as if a hot iron was being burnt into her.

Scarlet made up her mind to walk home and she did that as slowly as she possibly could, a million thoughts were going through her mind and she had no idea how to begin piecing the puzzles of this life together.

She had no idea who to believe anymore, on one hand was her aunt and grandmother and on the other was the tow and honestly Scarlet was lost and did not know what to think anymore.

She had been walking for so long in the snow that the cold began infiltrating into her coat but she soon realized that she was right in front of her home, or rather the new home that she had created for herself within the past two weeks.

She looked at the house from outside, never had she thought that she would be living anywhere other than the Albertson mansion. Here she was at a home that suddenly felt different, like she was not where she should have been.

She had many questions on her mind and she honestly hoped that both her grandmother and her aunt would tell her the truth. Scarlet unlocked the gate and entered the property, but she stopped right at the main door and yet she could not unlock the door and let herself in.

Somehow, Scarlet gathered the courage. She unlocked the door, the energy in the Carter household felt off all of a sudden, and Scarlet did not know why. The house that was always so full of joy and laughter even though her grandmother was ill went very still.

“Hello is anyone home?” Scarlet called out but no one seemed to answer. She shut the door behind her and she dropped her bag onto the couch in the living room, there was still no response.

Scarlet felt a rush of worry, without thinking she ran to her grandmother’s room to check up on her and fortunately for her, her grandmother was sleeping peacefully but her aunt was nowhere to be found.

She then walked over to her aunt’s room and she knocked onto the door but no one opened, instead Scarlet heard a weeping noise coming from her aunt’s room. Scarlet pushed the door open softly and there her aunt was, with her face in her hands.

“Aunt” Scarlet called out to her aunt who looked up at Scarlet. Aunt Marilyn’s eyes filled with tears. Worst of all they were swollen as if she had been crying for what seemed like a very long time. Scarlet walked up to her aunt and she placed her hand around her aunt to comfort her.

Scarlet had no idea why her aunt was crying but she knew that she would try her best to get to the bottom of it, no matter what.

“Aunt, what is the matter?” Scarlet asked her aunt who was still too heartbroken to say anything to her niece, although Scarlet was asking. Her aunt quickly wiped her tears way from her eyes, pretending that she was not crying after all.

“It’s nothing my dear, anyways how was your day?” Scarlet’s aunt asked her, trying her ultimate best to change the topic but Scarlet was not having any of it.

“Aunt please don’t try and change the topic, I know that something is wrong and I need to know now” With one more glance, aunt Marilyn began crying again.

“What is wrong?” Scarlet asked her aunt once more, her heart breaking into a thousand pieces; afraid that something bad was about to happen to her newly found family.

“I’m so sorry my dear, I’ve let you down” her aunt told her and she began crying once more but Scarlet could not understand why it was that her aunt was in such a state.

“Aunt you know you can tell me anything”

“The money, it’s all lost” Scarlet’s heart dropped into the pit of her stomach, all her hopes was now gone. She had used the last of her money for her grandmother’s treatment and now it was all gone.

Scarlet did not know how she would begin to raise more money; she knew very well that her job at Rosanne did not pay her well enough to cover all the cost of her grandmother’s treatment. Scarlet sat onto her aunt’s bed, listening to her cry. She truly felt bad for her aunt but at the very same time, she felt hurt that all her efforts had gone to waste.

“It’s okay aunt” Scarlet told her aunt. Although Scarlet had said that with a smile on her face, she was hurt, Scarlet tried to smile but deep down she was dying on the inside.

“I just feel that I’ve let you down, they came out of nowhere and the one held a gun to my head and—” Scarlet’s heart stopped upon hearing that her aunt was held at gunpoint.

The police was finally here, at a distance, Scarlet watched her aunt being interviewed, she was truly shattered. This was the family that had taken her into their home and all of a sudden, things were going wrong ever since she stepped into their home.

Her aunt was still in tears the entire time the cops were questioning her and Scarlet honestly wished that she could walk towards her and help her through this, but she had to wait until the questioning was over.

Scarlet sat at the window, looking out at the rest of the town, a bed of snow covering every surface of the roads and covering the trees and everything in its path. She could not help but feel lonely, like she was missing something, someone or some people.

“Madam” Scarlet jumped up and turned around, only to find that the officer that was questioning her aunt was standing in front of her.

“Hello, I’m so sorry, I was just caught up in my own world” Scarlet told the officer, she waved it off and smiled at him.

“It’s okay madam, anyway we are done questioning your aunt”

Scarlet stood up from the chair, pleased that they were done interrogating her aunt and finally they could go back to being a normal family.

“I know this is a difficult time for both you and your family but I need to ask you a few questions, I hope you don’t mind? The officer asked her and Scarlet nodded in agreement.

Scarlet watched as the officer pulled out his note pad and a pen to jot down Scarlet’s replies. Scarlet gave the officer a seat and he sat down and so did she, she had no idea what the cop was about to ask her but she knew that she would have to provide him with whatever he needed.

Scarlet sat there for the series of questions that she was asked and she most Scarlet could not answer.

“Have you told anyone about the amount of money that you gave to your aunt?” Scarlet thought about it for a while, it had come to her attention that she had not told a single person other than her aunt and grandmother about the money. She had not even told anyone in her adopted family about what she had done with the money.

“No, I’m sure I told no one other than my aunt and grandmother” Scarlet answered, worried that she might not have enough information to help the police get any closer to catching the criminals.

“Do you know who might want to hurt your family?” the officer asked her but Scarlet did not know who might want to hurt her or her family. She had only been living in this town for a little over a week and she did not know that many people in town. Then it hit her, what Abby had said, anyone of those people she mentioned would have wanted to hurt her family.

Then another idea hit her, it could be her adoptive family trying to stop her from being happy but she could not be sure. Come to think of it, her mother did cut off her money and she hasn’t called Scarlet, after she had been mean to mother over the phone.

“Madam” the officer called her and she snapped out of her mindset, angry and ready to answer more questions no matter what it may be.

“I’m sorry, I was just thinking. I think I know who it could be that would want to steal that money and hurt my family”

The officer’s eyebrows were now raised as he was now patiently waiting for the break he needed. The one clue that could possibly help him catch the criminals who had stolen money from her aunt, Marilyn.

“I think you should look into the Albertson family in New York” Scarlet told the officer, who looked shocked at what was coming from Scarlet’s mouth. The officer dropped his note pad and he put away his pen.

“Are you perhaps speaking about the famous Albertson family in New York, the ones that raise money for orphanages around the world and—”

“I know what they do” Scarlet told the officer, as she rolled her eyes. Her family did do good for people around the world, she herself had been there at almost every fundraiser, which she thought was a drag. She would have much rather be shopping than raising funds for people that she had no idea about.

“Are you sure?” the officer asked her one more time and Scarlet nodded her head in agreement. She knew that her family must have had something to do with this even though she had no evidence against them.

“Please find the culprit, we desperately need the money” Scarlet begged the officer. The officers were gone from the house; all that was left was complete silence.

Scarlet made her aunt and herself a cup of tea and both women sat down in silence, everything still felt like a nightmare to Scarlet and she had no idea how her aunt was feeling.

“Is everything alright?” Both women turned their attention to the entrance of the living room and there was her grandmother. Scarlet jumped up from the chair, along with her aunt as they held grandma Cinder by her arms. She was sick and getting worse by the day; therefore they needed to find the money urgently.

“Grandmother, I think you should get back to bed” Scarlet told her grandmother, putting on a fake smile for her grandmother. There was too much things going on, Scarlet felt it unnecessary to worry her grandmother.

“I thought I heard police sirens here a while ago” Ms. Cinder told both Scarlet and her aunt Marilyn. Both women stared at each other and they knew just what to do, it was wrong but it was what was best for her grandmother.

“No, I mean yes they were here but they were not here for us. You see there was something going on not so far from us and they thought that we knew something about it” Scarlet lied to her grandmother for the very first time and she felt terrible about lying to her. Scarlet had no choice; she had to protect her grandmother at all cost.

Both Scarlet and her aunt walked their grandmother back to her room and they tucked her into her bed, the poor woman looked paler by the day and it made Scarlet feel far worse than she already did.