Stranger

Tears flooded my eyes as I stormed out of Mr. Sinclair’s office. I was finished. I was done being nice. The earth was not a suitable place for goodness. When I was greedy and needy for money, everything went as smoothly as butter. And the moment I decided to genuinely care for the Sinclair family, I was accused of being a gold digger. 
It was as if life had decided to throw obstacles my way each time I took the right path and always made sure I fell on my face and badly injured myself.  
I could hear Mr. Sinclair call my name from behind, but I kept running away. Instead of chasing me, he needed to teach his jerk of a son some manners and life skills. I was hurt to be seen as an immoral sellout. However, what hurt more than that was still undefined. The pain in my heart was somewhat similar to what I felt when John had shattered my trust. It was hard to admit it, but I had begun to fall for Nathan. It would be too much to call it love and too little to call it a liking. The more appropriate term to explain it would be a close connection that had helped me look past his flaws and search for the goodness in his character. 
I had been running for a while and found myself in a foreign part of the house. I thought of calling Frank, but I heard someone call my name from a distance. Mr. Sinclair or Nathan had people looking for me. As I didn’t wish to be seen, I opened the door to the room closest to me and got inside.  
“Excuse me.” A rough, cold hand touched my shoulder from behind. I almost jumped out of my skin. I turned around, expecting it to be a ghost or demon haunting the emptiest part of the mansion. To my relief, it was not a ghost but a young man in his twenties. 
“You almost killed me there,” I said, pressing onto my palpitating heart and breathing heavily. 
“My apologies. That was not my intent. Though your sudden unannounced entrance had a similar effect on me,” the man answered. 
After calming myself, I took a better look at the person before me. He had the most innocent-looking face with the most captivating brown eyes. I didn’t know who he was, but he was a sight to admire. Judging from his attire, which included a plain white shirt and black pants, he appeared to be part of the house staff.  
“Sorry. I was in a rush,” I said, locking the door. 
The man’s face stretched into a dimpled smile. “What are you locking the door for? I am a bit scared about your intentions, miss. What if you are here to murder me?” 
Although I was in no mood for jokes, his bright smile distracted me from the current situation. I was glad to have wiped my tears before coming inside. I wouldn’t want a stranger to catch me during an emotional moment. 
“I am in the middle of a difficult situation here.” I attempted to peek through the keyhole to see if someone was outside. “You can leave if I am making you uncomfortable.” 
The man cleared his throat noisily. “Lovely suggestion, but I am not here to kill time.” 
I looked behind, noticing my surroundings. My brain was so all over the place that it didn't notice that I was present in an art room. There were dozens of paintings and artifacts scattered all over the place. Was he cleaning them, or was he the family’s live-in artist? No job was funny or impossible in the Sinclair house. 
“Miss Walter.” Multiple unknown voices called my name. Their footfalls were coming closer. They were searching for me in the right place. 
“Seems like you are a wanted person, Miss Walter. What crime have you committed to deserve this?” The stranger commented.  
“I...” I opened my mouth to defend myself and watched the doorknob turn from the outside. Hastily, I moved away from the door and rested against the opposite wall. Now, it was up to the stranger to open the door. “Please don’t,” I spoke in a low voice, loud enough to reach his ears.  
“Whoever is inside must open the door. We have orders from the master to look through every room,” a woman spoke from behind the door. “If you don’t open it, we have no choice but to use keys to enter it.” She was not kidding because the sound of dangling keys came next. 
Even though being found by Mr. Sinclair wouldn’t kill me physically, it felt like that at the moment. The man stared back at me before coming closer. “You need to do as I say if you want to stay hidden,” he whispered. He signaled me to follow him, and so I did. We stopped before a giant box big enough to hold a person. He opened it, and I found it to be completely empty. “Quickly get inside.”  
Without a word, I jumped inside and allowed him to shut it. There were two holes in front of me, big enough to fit my eyes and give me some view of the room. 
“Coming,” spoke the man as he opened the door.  
A bunch of people walked inside and began searching the room. Why did Mr. Sinclair send an army of servants after me? That made me seem guilty of a huge crime. If they failed to find me, I would have a lot of explaining to do to my unknown hero.  
Someone’s legs blocked my view from the box. I thought that was bad until the top part moved a little. Someone was trying to open it. Now, that truly made me feel like a fugitive on the run. I closed my eyes and prayed to God to keep me hidden.