Chapter 7

**Acacia Point of View**

Frightening is not the right word to describe my recent experience. It doesn't even hold a candle.

The more I try to look past the strange incidents happening to me, around me as mere coincidence or my active imagination, the more these incidents are knocking me down with a certain reality.

Is this castle haunted? That was the most recurring thought plaguing my mind from the minute I stepped inside. Time and again, my thought was only fueled by obvious proofs.

Still shaking in fright, I caught one of the pillows that cushioned me from the fall and hugged it tightly as if it could keep me safe.

"Wh- who is it?" I asked in a mere whisper meekly and for some reason I'm sure this would reach the intended ears.

Because for sure I know that despite assuming to be the only one present in this whole mansion I am being watched. Every second and minute!

By who? I have no idea.

Why? This is something I don't want to know. Seeing how everything here is driving me crazy, I can tell that ignorance, in this issue, is better.

"Why did you lock me here and why do you keep saving me?" Gathering a little courage from the frustration I'm feeling, I called out for whoever it was playing with me.

While there was no response as expected, there was nothing that could indicate me that someone was indeed present here. In the silence of haunting roar, except for my shaky breath, nothing could be heard.

"I know there is someone here. Please let me go. I want to go home, to my family and friends." I felt like a moron to be shouting at nothing. I was a moron to expect some kind of response since whoever this person is, he is determined to drive me crazy.

At this point, I cannot even tell what is real or what just a fragment of my imagination is.

"Of course. Of course I will never get an answer." I scoffed at myself as I wiped away my tears. I'm not really a coward but I don't come under a brave team too. But here, the more I stay the more cowardly and helpless I'm feeling.

Having no energy for further exploration, I stood on my shaky legs and proceeded to the room I woke up in. I was tired; both physically and emotionally.

As I stepped in my bedchamber, heaps of scrumptious food was already waiting for me. Warm and freshly cooked food would always be welcomed if I weren't in a fix.

I'm in no mood to eat. My hunger suddenly died.

Taking my eyes away from the table where food was waiting for me, I climbed the bed and covered myself in quilt. Closing my eyes, I reeled through everything that has happened to me from the moment the ship wrecked, in hopes to find something useful.

No matter how many times I remember those incidents, I could not find how exactly I reached this island. I should've at least have memories of sinking in the sea, but I have nothing of such.

As the thoughts invaded my mind again and again like flies, I slowly drifted into sleep with one last thought before I completely went out.

Will I ever escape this place?

By the time I woke up from my nap, it was already early hours of evening. The sun was yet to set in a couple of hours.

Although I was feeling slightly hungry after waking up from my afternoon nap, I was still in no mood to eat. I couldn't eat anything anymore.

Locked in this damned place, all the windows closed with no way out, I'm slowly getting suffocated. My emotional health was unstable as well fueling the suffocation even more.

The next three days went by with me not eating anything provided to me. Every morning, noon and evening, steaming scrumptious food would be waiting for me but I never touched them. I kept myself in the bedroom worrying myself over many things.

I was so done with this. Call me stubborn but I rather die of hunger than stay here locked and suffocated.

The more I spent time inside, the more my lungs felt constricted. It was starting to get unbearable.

In the night when I yet again slept with an empty stomach, weak and drained, I was sure I would not wake up for days at least. Not only I fed my body, added to my emotional state and mentally drained, my body would go into coma for days.

Only, the next morning, I woke up as usual. I know that because the whole night I was attacked by nightmares and hardly had any sleep.

Sighing weakly, I lazily sat up and leaned against the headboard. Like every morning, a large mug of hot chocolate was sitting on the nightstand. Even though I left it untouched for the past few days, the food keeps waiting for me.

I almost gave up touching it again, but when coldness touched my skin, I instinctively reached my hand for the mug.

I held the mug tightly, taking warmth from it. When yet another swish of cold wind hit me, I turned to see where it was coming from only to see the window of my room wide open.

My eyes widened in surprise at what I saw. Keeping the mug back on the nightstand, I stumbled over to the window.

At first I thought the lack of food has been a great boost in my imagination but the biting cold is clear evidence to say otherwise.

A laugh broke out of my lips as I slowly inhaled the fresh air. Although cold, the air sparked life inside me. The past suffocation was now getting well treated.

Smiling for the first time after coming here, I did not let any unwanted thoughts invade my mind just for few minutes. I want to enjoy the feeling for a while without any depressing thoughts.

Walking back to the nightstand, I grabbed the hot chocolate mug and walked back to window as I took a sip of warm goodness.

Cold air and hot drink, I felt alive.

In less than a minute, I emptied the whole content in the mug and placed it back on the table. Leaning against the windowsill I closed my eyes and relished the feeling of a little freedom I tasted.

Few minutes of enjoying fresh air, I walked to the bathroom to have a bath. My legs skipped a little at the thought of having some food after days of starving myself.

The one who locked me here must've heard my cry from heart. This little thing was enough for now to have a hope to live.

Taking a long hot bath, I got dressed in another morning gowns from the closet and tied my hair in a high pony before walking out.

Like always, breakfast is waiting for me to devour on the table. I did not waste any time and gobbled it down in mere few minutes. Unlike the other days, I did not have any leftovers on the plate.

I ran down to see if the main door is open too. Running down the stairs as fast as an express train, I stopped before the huge pair of heavy closed doors.

Sighing in disappointment, I turned back to resume the exploration. At least the window in my room was open.

As I stopped on the fourth floor, I walked to the first room on the left when I found a dark lavender color cloak hanging on a chair on the hallway.

Assuming to be hanged there for my use, I wrapped it around myself and pushed door after door to see what is held inside.

Tired from moving around such a huge castle, I had a heavy dinner and soon went to bed. The day went better than those in the past. It felt like one of the invisible ropes around me has loosened slightly.

Slightly past midnight, I was half awake and half asleep when I started to feel thirsty. Not wanting to wake up, I attempted to sleep again.

Thirst only increased in the next few minutes and I lazily opened my eyes. Half my the way when my eyes opened, In the dark with only one candle burning through the night, I knew I saw it.

It was just a fleeting moment but I saw it. Black and transparent, something seemed to move before me.

Like one with air, by the time I opened my eyes fully, it completely disappeared and to see that the door to my room is closed from the inside, it was impossible.

For a moment, I thought that it was small flicker of candle light in the dark playing the tricks but I know, I felt, otherwise.

Was I imagining again or was it really –

Was that a shadow of a person I saw before me?

**~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello Sweeties,

Next chapter is here. Enjoy!

What do you think about the chapter? Good?

You people have any idea why she is so keenly protected in that castle?

Who was watching her?

Do you people think that it's a haunted place or it was something else?

Was it really a shadow of a person that Acacia saw or was it just an imagination yet again?

If it was indeed a shadow, who and why were they watching her when she was sleeping?