Chapter 5

Rosemary

I woke up with a jolt, the sensation of warmth and weight pressing against my shoulder. It took me a moment to realize my head was resting against someone. I sat up too quickly, and my forehead bumped against Ethan’s. I winced as he shifted slightly, barely acknowledging the impact. Did I sleep the whole time on his shoulder? I glanced down at my phone, and it was 6 a.m. The pale light of dawn crept over the horizon, casting a soft glow through the trees outside the window. We were surrounded by forest, endless and unfamiliar.

“Where are we?” I asked, my voice thick with grogginess.

“We’re heading to my childhood home,” Nathaniel replied, his tone casual, like that’s a perfectly normal explanation. But nothing about this felt normal anymore.

I turned back to the window, watching as we drove for another hour, and the dense trees gave way to something more structured - a gate. A massive iron gate loomed ahead as Nathaniel nodded to a guard who opened it without question. As we drove down a long road, the landscape shifted again. Neatly lined townhouses appeared on either side, some large, some smaller, but all pristine and peaceful. Its serenity struck me in a way I couldn’t fully describe. It was the kind of place that belonged in magazines or fairy tales, far removed from the chaos of the life I knew. My life, which has always felt so temporary, so unstable.

Nathaniel parked the car near what I could only describe as a mansion. No, scratch that, it was practically a palace. The kind of place I never thought I’d set foot in. He got out, handing the keys to a man who approached swiftly, as if this was routine. “Park it,” Nathaniel said, like this is all normal. For him, maybe it is.

Ethan caught my gaze for a moment before stepping out and holding the door open for me. His hand was extended, offering help, but I hesitated. There was something in his eyes that made me wary, so I ignored the gesture and climbed out on my own. I straightened up and took in the full view of this place. It was breathtaking. A town nestled within a forest, with this massive house rising in the center of it all. The air felt cleaner here, untouched by the noise of the outside world.

“This is your home?” I asked Nathaniel, my voice rising in disbelief.

He chuckled softly, a sound that felt almost out of place at the moment’s enormity. “Yeah, something like that,” he replied with a shrug, as if the sheer grandeur of it all was no big deal to him.

Before I could say more, I noticed Ethan had already stalked off, disappearing into the house without another word. His presence lingered like a shadow, dark and unsettling.

“Come on, I’ll show you around,” Nathaniel said, his tone lighter now. He led me inside, and my senses were immediately overwhelmed. The place was enormous, larger than anything I could’ve imagined. High ceilings, sweeping staircases, rooms I can barely process because I was too lost in my head, trying to make sense of everything that happened last night.

We passed a living room so big it could fit my entire apartment multiple times, then a library that looked like it belonged in a movie. I caught glimpses of a private movie theater and an indoor pool, places I won’t remember how to get to later, no matter how hard I tried to focus. Everything felt like a blur, and my mind couldn’t grasp anything solid.

He eventually brought me back to the living room and turned left to show me the dining room - it was huge and could fit dozens of people. There wasn’t just one kitchen, but multiple, all gleaming with state-of-the-art appliances. He introduced me to the cook, Agatha, a sweet-looking old lady with a warm smile. I tried to remember her name, but the weight of the night, the uncertainty of everything, made it hard to focus.

Agatha prepared breakfast for us, omelets, bacon, pancakes. It smelled delicious, but my stomach was in knots. I rarely ate breakfast anyway, and now? Now, I couldn’t even stomach the thought of food. I nibbled at my omelet, more out of politeness than hunger.

Nathaniel watched me in silence, and though the room was quiet, there was a heavy tension between us. There were so many questions swirling in my head, questions I was terrified to ask because I was not sure whether I would like the answers. I stayed quiet, chewing slowly, my thoughts far too loud for me to hear anything else.

After breakfast, Nathaniel took our plates to the sink and then led me upstairs to the second floor, walking me down a long hallway until we reached a door. He opened it, revealing an enormous bedroom - far too luxurious for someone like me. A queen-sized bed dominated the center of the room, the kind you’d sink into and never want to leave. There were two more doors off to the side.

“One leads to the bathroom, and the other to the closet,” Nathaniel explained. He walked over to the closet, pulling out a set of pajamas from one of the drawers. When he handed them to me, his expression softened. “Get some rest. We’ll talk later.”

I nodded, unable to find the words to respond. I watched as he left the room, the sound of the door clicking softly shut behind him. The moment I was alone, exhaustion hit me like a wave. The events of the last 24 hours pressed down on me, making it hard to breathe. My legs felt heavy as I stripped out of my clothes and pulled on the pajamas he gave me.

I collapsed onto the bed, sinking into its softness. My mind was still spinning, trying to process where I was, what was happening, but sleep pulled me under before I could make sense of any of it.