would’ve made him look bad,” he answered. “In his mind, I’m sure it was easier to just pretend I ran away.”
“You said your mom left because she was disgusted by your dad’s whacky experiments and cruelty. Did he really kill her?”
Zeke furrowed his brow. “Truthfully? I don’t know. The day before she left, she came to my room, hugged me, and said she loved me with all her heart. I could tell she was afraid, but she pretended everything was fine. She was gone the next morning. If she did leave, I know it’s because she felt she didn’t have any other way out.”
The woman from the tour gave a rundown of all the horrors that had occurred in the mansion. Fortunately, everyone stayed on the bus. It was probably against the rules to walk around the property anyway.
“And that is how Redwood got the nickname the mad house,” the woman said, exaggerating the last part. “It’s said that anyone who owns the mansion is driven mad by the curse. Perhaps the biggest mystery of all is why it’s cursed. No one knows. But you cannot deny the string of tragedies that befall anyone who dares to purchase the home.”
The bus idled a moment, and I saw horror-stricken faces staring out from the windows.
“Before we leave, I must also tell you about the woman in black. Lady Death is what they call her. It’s said that she appears to those who are destined to die.”
Zeke sat beside me on the floor and put a hand over mine as the woman continued to scare the people on the bus. “It is always the same speech every night,” he said. “I could probably give the tour myself by this point. Perhaps if we started our own ghost tour business with an actual ghost leading it, we could make enough for you to purchase Redwood.”
I snorted and leaned against him, finding his cold skin comforting. “We’d definitely be rich.”
“If you have enjoyed this tour, please consider rating us and following us on all our social media sites,” the woman said, before the bus drove away.
Once the coast was clear, we stood back up and went to the patio to grab my backpack from outside. However, Zeke didn’t want to go inside the house right away. He took my hand and led me to the stone bench in the garden he so often stared at.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I whispered, dropping my backpack between my legs as we sat down. “I didn’t tell you before because I wasn’t sure what it meant… but I’ve been having visions about you and Philip for a while now. Callum told me it’s actually his memories I’m seeing.”
“Is that how you saw his death earlier?”
“Yeah.” I pulled a bottled water from my bag and took a drink. My throat was so dry, probably made worse from breathing in all the dust inside the mansion. “But I’ve seen other things too. Like you and him going on horse rides together. You reading to him right here on this bench. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde unsettled him. He didn’t like the idea of people having two sides. But you loved the book and read it to him so many times.”
“Philip was a beautiful soul, but he was simple. Not as in daft. He was intelligent, although he couldn’t read well. What I mean is he wore his heart on his sleeve, and he valued honesty above all. He hated the idea of a dual nature because he feared what it could mean.” Zeke put a hand on my thigh, moving his thumb in a slow circle. “And perhaps he even sensed darkness inside himself too. Each time he saw me dancing with a young woman. Each time my father spoke of me getting married. It drove Philip mad one night, and he snuck into my bedroom and initiated sex. He made me say I belonged to him, only him.”
“So, he was possessive.”
“In a way, yes. I wonder if a part of him always knew I’d betray him in the end, that my dual nature would turn me into a monster. But then I must ask myself, which is the real me, the man or the monster? Was the monster only pretending to be a man?”
“No,” I answered, placing my hand over his. I loved the feel of his big hand under mine. “You were just human. And humans make mistakes. No one’s perfect. That would be boring.”
“Humans