'What advantage do I have?' Shelby wondered after the three women left her. Suzie stayed temporarily to put the wardrobe back in order but also left soon after.
But soon dismissed the thought after all, she had no way to get the answers to those thoughts at all.
"Gabriel?" Shelby glanced casually around her room but did not find the boy who had been with her. In all the ensuing embarrassing situation of going through explicit lingerie that she had never seen before, she had forgotten about him.
"Gabriel? Where are you?" She looked around quickly and found him seated on the floor just outside Ian's room.
Crouching by him, she softened her voice and asked him, "Hey, why are you here?"
"I'm keeping daddy company!" Came his small and adorable voice.
Shelby smiled.
"Well, that sounds nice! Do you mind if I join you?" But he asked,
"You too, Mama Shelby? Daddy doesn't want to see you too?"
"Huh?"
Gabriel did not respond and lowered his small head onto his raised knee to balance it.
"It's okay, Mama Shelby. I always talk to Daddy here. I know he hears me. He will hear you, too. Maybe he will come out if he hears you talking to him."
Shelby wondered what the boy's mental state was for him to say such things. She ruffled his head and sat down on the floor by him. Gabriel raised his head and looked somewhere behind her once again. Shelby had almost forgotten the episode from when she first met the boy the day before. Following his gaze, she turned to meet the empty space and sighed.
"Do you still see someone behind me?" She asked softly. Gabriel perked up. 'Mama Shelby really believes me?!'
"Yes, I do. Is he here now?"
"Yes!" He nodded vigorously. Shelby looked around the brightly lit corridor but saw nothing. Not even any shadow! However, the boy's behaviour did not look like he was lying. He had to be a very good actor to do what he was doing. But since she did not know his character, she decided to go with her gut instinct.
"What is the man doing?"
"He is just staring at you…"
"Staring?"
Gabriel nodded, "Yes, Like a bodyguard."
"Really?" Shelby turned around, a little hesitant. She wouldn't have believed this from the child and taken it as child talk, but she had experienced something outwardly when her accident occurred a few years back. From then, Shelby knew that there were unexplainable occurrences in the world. This was what prompted her to continue asking Gabriel.
"Yes."
She kept quiet, lowering her head and pondered briefly.
"Then, Gabriel, let's think of him as mama's guardian Angel …"
"Really? Can he also be called Gabriel? Since he is an angel?"
Shelby burst out laughing despite the bizarre conversation.
"I guess... he could be," Shelby said, gazing back at the empty space.
"He said that his name is Murry!"
"He talks?" She asked, amused.
"Yes, he does!"
"Okay…." This just got a tad bit weirder.
"Is he the same person you saw yesterday?"
"Yes, Mama Shelby."
"Hmmmm…. Well, say Hi to Murray for me then, Gabriel." Gabriel turned to that direction again and then,
"Uncle Angel Murray, Mama Shelby says Hi!"
Shelby burst into another round of laughter. 'This place is going to be interesting after all….' She thought as she glanced at the still-locked room behind her.
"Let's get you back to your room then."
"You don't want to play with me again, Mama Shelby?"
"Of course not, Gabriel; I want to take a look at your room. Will you show me?"
Gabriel got up and pulled Shelby by the hand and started moving. She followed closely to a remote part of the home. It was the furthest from her and Ian's wing.
Shelby followed Gabriel in, only to stop abruptly. For such a calibre of family, she had assumed that Gabriel would have his own room, but a large room with three beds in it greeted her.
"Gabriel! Why are you now coming bac-"
Samantha stopped short and glared at Gabriel. Gabriel hid behind Shelby, who now felt awkward at the intrusion.
"Ermmmm…. Is it okay that I came here? Pardon me for the intrusion."
Samantha placed her headset on and covered herself with her blanket.
"I guess that is a no," Shelby muttered to herself and turned to Ingrid. Ingrid pushed her glasses up and lowered her head so much that her nose nearly touched her chest.
"Mama Shelby, come and see…" Shelby followed Gabriel to his bed and frowned heavily. The room arrangement was bizarre. She studied the three children carefully but did not interact much with the two older ones. 'It takes time,' she thought.
However, if Shelby had any second guesses about the children's lives on the estate, it got clearer that evening at dinner. Many things were a bit off. First, she was given a maid, Suzie, when she entered the estate but saw no one like that by the children. In her opinion, the children would need such a person more than her. Her little time in their room showed that Samantha did all the necessities too.
That evening, she was at the dinner table with Geneva, Alex, and Brad, but the three children were nowhere to be found.
She couldn't be bothered about Brad, who could not look her straight in the eyes but was puzzled about why the dinner was halfway through without the children.
"Where are Samantha and the other two kids?" She dared ask. The atmosphere froze a bit.
"They usually eat in their room!" The finality of Geneva's statement made Shelby swallow any follow-up questions. As to why the kids would eat in a room that was their everything was a little disturbing for her.
Just then,
"Mama Shelby! Look at what I found!"
Gabriel's little feet carried him as he ran into the dining area, but he bumped into a tall side table with a vase.
A loud crash ensued. Shelby placed her cutlery down quickly, but before she could utter any word or get up, "Get him out of my sight!" Alex's cold voice sounded in the quiet room.
She turned in time to see the guilty-looking boy surrounded by the broken bits of dangerous porcelain. Shelby was so startled by Alex's tone that she unconsciously looked around the table. What she saw further shocked her!
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