Chapter 108 A Flicker Of Whatever!

Chapter 108 A Flicker Of Whatever!
ROWAN

“Samantha!" I called out astonished.

I’d barely stepped into the corridor when I saw her. Samantha stood there as she froze the second she realized I’d noticed her.

A smile creeped over her puzzled yet shocked face as she looked like a small animal caught in the open.

My pulse kicked up, slowly and for a minute or two I didn’t move.

"I…” she stuttered and stopped mid statement.

I let her fidget under my gaze, twisting her fingers together, shifting her weight nervously, all the while trying to act like she wasn’t sneaking around.

She looked back into the woods like it was hiding something.

“Hey,” I said, voice calm but sharp enough to make her pause getting back her attention.

Her head jerked toward me.

“I—I was just… I needed some air,” she stammered.

Air?

The thought seemed weird, but at that same time there wasn't much to say or debate as I couldn't think of why she would lie.

Sure, except for the faint trail of soil on the floor near her feet that suggested that definitely had been in the woods.

Still even while staring at the dirt clinging to the hem of her sleeve. I couldn't help the thought of why she would lie.

I leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, watching her like I’d done a hundred times before.

Samantha exhaled quietly. The tension in her shoulders shifted, though fleeting. She tried to hide it, but I could see it all the same

“What?" She asked, looking uncomfortable.

"Nothing…I.”

Cyril, a few steps behind me, tilted his head, cutting me off.

“What’s going on?” He asked.

“Excuse me."

She hurried away soon as he arrived and I followed her gaze to the disturbed soil.

“Something’s off,” I said slowly. “She’s lying.”

Cyril squinted. “Lying about what?”

I shook my head. “Not sure yet. But it’s in the way she moves, the way she avoids my eyes. She’s hiding something.”

He glanced down at the faint line of dirt, then back at me. “Should We… check it out?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but the storm outside had other plans. A sharp clap of thunder shook the windows, followed immediately by rain hammering against the roof.

A matter of minutes heavy drops splattered along the corridor, rattling the walls and echoing in the silence.

“Not right now,” I said, stepping back. “We pause... Let it settle.”

Cyril raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Makes sense.”

I turned my attention back to Samantha who was fading away in the distance. Even that far I could see as she was shrinking into the corner, curling her fingers slightly, trying to make herself small.

Relief flickered across her features for the briefest second, but I didn’t acknowledge it.

“How is Aria doing?” l asked, my voice low,
I didn’t look at him as my gaze was still on Samantha.

“She hasn’t remembered anything,” he said.
“Even if she’s awake, nothing’s come back yet.”

I moved ahead then, letting Cyril trail slightly behind, and pushed open the door to the room that had remained empty for far too long.

The click of the door closing behind me sounded louder than it should have. The storm outside made the silence inside feel cold all of a sudden even with my heavy jacket.

I sank into the sofa with a heavy exhale, letting my hands fall onto my knees.

For a moment, I just let myself feel it—the quiet, the storm, the weight pressing down from all sides. I felt everything at once

The air felt heavy with things left unsaid, the lingering echoes of secrets I hadn’t uncovered yet still the stillness gave me time to think.

“Do you think Nyra might be right after all?" I asked abruptly.

“Humm, right about what?" He replied.

“You know the kitchen incident,the faint traces of lies, the subtle fights—therewere always the things that told the truth.”

"What do you think?” He threw the question back at me.

"Really thinking about Samantha. I knew she was already threading herself into them… I want to believe her but she is making it harder.” I stated clearly.

“Good to see that you are getting what we've been trying to get you to see." He patted my back.

I leaned back against the cushions, letting my head rest for a fraction of a second.

The storm outside still raged, but it mirrored what was inside me …louder than it needed to be, restless and impossible to ignore.

I opened my eyes again and stared at the ceiling. The room was familiar, yet heavier somehow.

I could feel it pressing down. The calm was deceptive in a way just like Samantha's lie had been.

Standing up I walked to the window and looked out. The faint soil on the floor caught my eye again for a second before being washed away by the tide forming.

My jaw tightened…She was lying. She had been in the woods, I knew it. The lie was simple, but I could feel it twisting in the air between us.

The rain fell harder, rattling the windows. I let myself sink further into the sofa back, this time my hands tightening into fists for a moment before releasing them.

The storm would pass they say but the truths she was hiding wouldn't and I knew, without hearing a single word, that when they came back, nothing would ever be the same again.

I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly, letting the tension in my shoulders ease slowly.

The calm was temporary. I could feel it in the way the air shifted, the subtle vibrations of something approaching.

Opening my eyes Nyra was standing there with a solemn look on her face.

“My love." My voice called to her tenderly.

She stepped closer still with the sobber expression. “I came to apologize."

I wanted to tell her there was no need to and perhaps I was starting to see Samantha's true colours and perhaps when the time came when those shadows and lies collided, I would be ready.

Instead I stayed quiet.

“There is no need to." I muttered instead.

This is better kept off a secret. I thought to myself.