This lovely edit for Castle done by instagram user @chantelle.editsss ❤️❤️❤️

***

Castle didn't talk to his grandpa after that and the room continued to bask in comfortable silence until he picked a vinyl and played the vintage gramophone. Soft music drifted from the player. A Himalayan cat I hadn't noticed before was perched on the bed and staring daggers at me. I exited and went back to my room, deciding to give them privacy.

Theo was right; I didn't have any business digging into their family history. My primary aim was survival and to get out of this house alive and for that I needed to find another way out of here that wasn't through the woods. The entire family had left for the party, save for Castle and Senior Montgomery, and an opportunity like this wouldn't present itself again soon.

First, I went to the kitchen and tried to hack the bracelet from my ankle with a cleaver and it didn't work, so getting the tracker off my leg was never going to happen.

I needed to find another way.

I was going to make sure that Castle was asleep this time, so he wouldn't follow me when I tried to leave.

Castle brushed his teeth and changed into his pajamas. That was usually his night routine before bed. He never felt shy about taking off his undergarments in front of me either, but I usually just looked away because that was common decency and I didn't think he would appreciate if I ogled if he was in the right frame of mind. I placed two pills and a glass of water on the nightstand. He usually took them after his meals. I tried to pop one in his mouth but turned his face to the other side, refusing to take them.

"You want to get better, don't you? If you don't take your medicines, you'll remember nothing."

I pushed a sizable portion of brownie in front of him. Sweets always seemed to work for baiting Castle into taking his medication.

"I made this with Susan."

"Cake." He said.

He reached forward to take it when I pushed it away from his reach.

"You'll have the brownie when you take your pills. Those are the rules, Castle."

He huffed and pushed the pills into his mouth forcefully and swallowed it with a glass of water before reaching across me to grab the piece of brownie which he unwrapped and began chomping on it, staring at me in the same unusual way of his. I had to wipe his mouth later with a towel.

Once he got comfortable in his bed, I asked him the question that was bothering me, "Castle, I heard you speak to your grandpa. I was wondering if you started remembering anything."

He had a toy train in his hand, and he spun the wheels of it with his long elegant fingers. His eyes remained downcast, and the dim light in the room highlighted his sharp jawline.

"Who is Chris?" I asked.

He didn't answer, and I gave up on asking him questions until he said, "My father." I placed my finger beneath his chin and forced him to make eye-contact.

"Do you remember him?" The question I really wanted to ask him was 'Are you pretending to lose your memory?'

He shook his head, "No."

"Who is Lorna?" He didn't answer again and started to breathe heavily, his fingers holding the train tightly.

I placed a hand on his shoulders. "Castle."

A gut-wrenching scream pierced through the room as he threw the train across the room and he began rocking back and forth, and continued doing it. I repeatedly asked him to calm down, but he turned more upset. A maid scurried into the room, followed by two other male servants, and one of them was holding a syringe in his hand.

My question had probably triggered something inside him.

"Hold him down." The man said to the other. I watched as they injected him with the fluid. I moved away from the bed when Castle caught the corner of my dress. His brown eyes stayed on me, already losing the spark. I cried when I exited his room.

He was sleeping now, and the maid said he won't wake up until morning. What was disturbing was how the house staff acted casual, like this was a routine and something that they witnessed every day. I'd decided. If I was escaping from this house, I would take Castle with me and think of the consequences later. He was suffering in his own home and I won't let that happen.

On the other side of the mansion, I'd seen a set of steps leading down to a tunnel. It would be scary for me to go through it alone, but it's not like I had any choice. I needed to see where the tunnel led and if there was a way through it, then I could find another opportunity to leave.

It took me several minutes to locate the tunnel and, as expected, it was pitch black inside. In other situations, I would have skipped walking through it, but claustrophobia and ghosts were the least of my concerns.

There was no greater monster than man.

I switched on the flashlight and took slow steps ahead; the ground was muddy and watery, and my shoes were getting caked in the dirt, but I continued to walk forward. The tunnel's ceiling was covered in large pipes and I was following the same route. I thought the pipes had to go somewhere and wherever that it led had to be the way out.

This was a pure gamble again. I knew the risk that I was taking. I could live and get tortured or get killed in the future. And I refused to go down like Barbara did.

I came to a stop when the tunnel split in two different directions. I went with my gut and took the straight road. At this point, I'd spent fifteen minutes walking, and the tunnel seemed to be never-ending. If I found nothing after five more minutes, I would go back through the way I came from. The tracker was blinking a yellow signal; it was usually bright green.

I saw a door ahead, a tiny gray door that had a bolt. I slid the bolt aside and the space inside grew narrower. Stepping in, I saw a staircase leading into nothingness.

I tried to calm my breathing and wondered if finding out what was down there would be worth it. If there was a way out from this dungeon, maybe I could try. There was no way the tracker could show my location as the blinking light was completely gone.

I descended the stairs, my heart in my throat, and expected to see a pile of bodies like the ones you see in movies. But if there were dead bodies down there, wouldn't there be a powerful stench? As I stepped down, I heard whispers and some voices echoing, so I stopped short and hid against the nearest wall.

When I took a peek, I saw four people dressed in dark cloaks huddled close. The small danky place was illuminated by candles and it's when they moved in a circle that I noticed they were standing on a pentagram, chanting something. There was a picture of the diagram but I couldn't see it.

Was this family involved in a cult?

Or was it someone else?

Two more people joined the ritual.

In the center was the head of a dead animal. One figure stood tall between them while the others continued to chant words and kneeled before the figure, who wore a hooded cloak and a mask of an animal with horns. I couldn't tell the person's gender, it could be a man, or even a woman and I noticed the person holding a round bowl with some liquid in it, wearing a ring in his or her index finger that had a black crystal-like gemstone and a chain with a locket. They passed the bowl filled with liquid between the members; each of whom from the circle took sips from it. This felt so unreal, like I'd walked into a twisted episode of The Twilight Zone.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and couldn't move an inch. I needed to get out of here. I turned out to leave and in a haste my shoe stumped over the first step and that made the sound of a rustle.

The chanting stopped, and a voice boomed, "Who's there?"

I didn't stop as I climbed the stairs two at a time and when I reached the top; I shut the door and made a mad dash for the path without even bothering to turn on the phone's flashlight.

As I was running, someone said, "Found you!"

And before I could dodge, the person seized my arm, and the next thing I knew something like a rod or a metal bat swung at me and I went down, my body splattering against the slippery floor. I sat up but my head was spinning in circles and kept thinking I needed to get away from here. The sounds of thunder continued to fill the silence in the background, muffling my cries. I was wondering why I was being put through this when I hadn't hurt a soul in my life. All I'd done was help people with whatever little I had. My life so far kept flashing before my eyes, the good and the bad.

"Was she trying to escape again?" That was Devin's voice.

I tried to crawl, to stand again, but it was so difficult to see anything in the darkness.

"Yeah," That sounded like Dayana. "But I'm gonna make sure she thinks a dozen times before she makes that mistake again. You'll remember this, won't you, Millie?"

The next swing came to my legs, followed by the continuous hits and the sounds of my bones cracking.

* * *

If you're enjoying the story so far, please like and comment. it makes my day :)