There was an eerie silence and the only person alive was standing with shaking legs and in a state of shock. The pitter patter of raindrops on a windowsill, rhyming with every sound my heart makes, accelerating with every breath. The loud rumbles, the clouds were making and the thunder striking somewhere, made me realised how much I wish right now that I had stayed at home. 

The old guard was lying dead with blue tainted lips. I stood there. Frozen. Looking blankly at the portrait right in front of me and all I could think was how much my mother resembles the one in the portrait. Wishing the possibilities running in my head to never be true. 

All I could gather from the scene and all I could question was, Why did the woman in the portrait resembles my mother? Did my mother had anything to do with the murder of my best friend, Leo? Was she the murderer? What was her part in this?

Given the circumstances, I wish someone just pinched me and I could wake up from this hideous nightmare. Or for once, I could feel my legs and run from the terrible view of my best friend lying in the pool of blood and forget whatever I saw.