Adrian placed a hand over his heart as he realized who stood at the top. Honestly he wondered when she would be coming down, but hoped she opened her door to a better situation. He wanted to open his mouth, but couldn't due to him also wanting to keep the silence.
"Is that all they wanted?" While Viola spoke, rivers of tears began to make their way down her face. "They only wanted money." Her sniffling was the only thing that gave the room life. While being scared, Adrian only nodded his head. The anger in his heart quickly turned into despair and sadness. He stared at the floor to get his bearings. His eyes traced the carpet's pattern. He wanted to look at anything but the look on Viola's face. He couldn't. He knew the words that were going across her mind. She was probably saying it's his fault, or maybe how he was being selfish and always.
"Shhh" The feeling of Viola's arms caused a huge amount of shock to curse through his body. "It's hard for both of us." For once ever in their life. The shoe was on the other foot. She was comforting him. At first he wanted to push her away, tell her that he was okay. But the tear that now flowed from his eyes could stop for him to begin speaking. As time moved, a comfortable silence loomed in the air. Adrian has been in silence for a long time, but nothing. Nothing for the last few days has felt like this. He would never admit it, but he thought he'd lost his sister forever.
"I…" Adrian's shaky voice broke the silence. "I hate them," His words were met with a slight laugh. There was a time where one of the workers would've been out and about, but since their father's death workers have dwindled drastically. There was almost a moment he craved one of the workers to break the rules. Life around was much more bland these past few days.
"I hate them too." Vi opened her arms once more, releasing him from the prison he was in. "Gosh, this place has changed so much." She was right. Cabinets had been emptied, the flooring had been changed. Even the fireplace in the living room looked shinier. Most importantly of all, the frame that held their beloved parents had been removed and placed into the castle's archive, ready to be replaced by a picture of him and his soon-to-be wife. He noticed when he walked down the first time, but felt too many emotions to fully talk about the situation.
"So," Viola's mouth started to open, trying to divert both their attention off the marks that now danced along the walls. "Wanna check out the east wing? There's no one stopping us." Adrian's eyes widened at Viola's smile. Was she crazy, Dad would kill them if… That was the thing was it? He wasn't around to tell them no. He was no longer around. Was it… safe? Even though time had passed, he could never forget the fact that someone was watching them.
"Eh," His words teetered off as he spoke. "I don't know. What if there's something we don't want to see?" He tried to keep his stance on things, but Vi did as well. She begged, whined and anything else that could get her way. After a while she managed to say something to eventually make her move.
"Fine, I'll just go by myself." To her those words seemed like a small point of leverage, but to Adrian, it sounded like a cry for death. If anyone was truly watching them, hearing those words was like winning the lottery. Viola hastily turned on to head into the other side of the castle.
"No!" Adrian screamed so loud he thought he messed up his voice. One thing was for sure, he stopped Vi dead in her tracks. Instead of her looking half- way tired. Her body now stood still, shocked by what came out of Adrian's mouth. The next words that arose from his mouth were more shakier than ever. Even with it being scratchy he spoke loud enough for anyone to hear. "I'll go with you, but after that we have to eat, alright." Viola looked at the boy with nothing, but confusion plastered along her face. Was he crazy? Had he lost his mind? Those were the things probably going through her head.
"Okay," She slowly spoke to make sure nothing was fast enough to cause a stir. "Come with me then." With that began to walk the path she had previously started, but with Adrian subtly behind her. As they walked down the long and dark hallway. Adrian slowly regains the fact that soon, all of this will be his. Every acre, every wall, window, door, servant, table and particle of air would be his. Out of all the people in this town, it would be HIS decision who lived, who died, and who barely hanged on. In retrospect, it almost seemed scary. How would he feel if someone had complete power over him? The thought almost shook him to the core with anger.
"Adrian!" He looked to see what it was his sister needed. "Didn't you hear me?" At first he debated whether or not to lie in this situation, but he still shook his head no. Instead of her usual glare, she growled and cursed before speaking. "I said, look at all this stuff." When Adrian moved his eyes to where Vi was referring to. In front of the two kids, were papers and receipts stacked sky high.
"Gosh," Adrian leaned his head to the side as he spoke. He wanted to see the thickness, but never thought it'd be that much. "Doesn't he ever throw anything away?" He watched as Viola pulled up a chair to stand on.
"Well, c'mon, let's get sorting!"
"Excuse me?"
"We have to." Viola began to mention all of the reasons why they should press forward with her audacious plan. One of them being his coronation. Since he'll be king soon, learning all the economics of the town would be beneficial. But still, Adrian didn't see why him sorting through everything would help that. Couldn't he just look through the recent ones? Still he didn't want to take the other of their supposed high. Since their father died, Vi has done nothing, but dwell in her room. Her getting some fresh hair is… refreshing. The somewhat proud boy pulled up a chair and began to sort just as his sister did. Even though he was ready to get this over with he moved his hands slowly to grab the paper. And of course, he received a stone faced glare from his sister.
"What!" He whined. Without noticing his foot had grazed millions of papers onto the ground. When he finally realized, his face had turned red with embarrassment. Great, just as he started to help, he really just set back the progress.
"How about," Viola let those words seethe out her mouth. "You pick up those papers and sort them. Adrian's embarrassment quickly turned into sternness. He was older, not her. Why did she feel the need to boss him around? Still feeling somewhat ill, he decided to step down to actually be of some help. As he gathered the sheets he caught himself reading some of the titles. September's debt, April's debt, heck some dated back to before the two were even conceived. He began to gather and read the papers. He got so interested in the things he almost forgot to sort them. That wasn't until one scrunched paper in the trash caught his attention.In the trash was a scrunched up receipt with a fully smooth paper stapled to it. It seemed so… different. Adrian couldn't place his finger on it. His apparent curiosity seemed to get Vi's attention as well.
"What is it, Andy?" At first, he didn't answer. He was too focused on the paper. It was the only thing thrown away. Was it supposed to be like that? No. It had to be. The receipt was balled up into a wad. Eventually it wasn't long before Viola slowly lowered herself to see what Adrian was keeping his eyes trained on. "Oh this?" Her. obviously not feeling the same way, quickly grabbed the paper and unrolled it to see what pile it belonged to.
"Wait!" Adrian opened his mouth to speak, but was ignored all the same. "It's supposed to be in the trash!"
"Don't worry ab-" Viola's sudden silence sent chills through his spine. What was it? What did she see? Adrian quickly stood up to see what was scribbled down on paper.
"What! What is it?" He peered over his sister's shoulder to see what was printed down. And needless to say, what he saw shocked him.