Untold Truth

Kaden



We shifted back as the entrance of the bungalow came into our view. Everything around was destroyed, the windows were broken, there were dust and spider nets everywhere.

Our car was parked at the bottom of the hill and to cut this distance short, we had to shift in our wolf forms so that we could reach soon as possible. Something about this place was skeptical, there was no reasonable footprint, nor there was anything that could indicate anyone's recent arrival to this place.

I threw back my pant that I had tied on my leg before shifting, Jason dressed up too.

"Do you really think we can find any clue here? This looks....destroyed" His nose scrunched as he talked. There was a weird smell around, probably because of being abandoned for so many years.

The tress and bushes had grown around the bungalow but I could see that this was well structured, I could see tell that this place was once decorated very nicely. On the corner, there was a swing for two as though it was once made for children.

A destroyed water fountain was there now covered in all dirt and spider net. The broken engraved nameplate hung low at the corner of the door wall, the door was broken almost broken into pieces as if someone had hit it continuously until they got access to the house.

"That's what makes this place more likely to give us any clues," I moved closer to the nameplate and my hand moved to wipe away the dust to reveal the name hidden beneath it.

"The Yearwood," I spelled out the name, trying to find any recognition in my memory but no, I hadn't heard about the name before.

I and Jason cautiously entered the bungalow, there were fairly low chances of anyone being inside yet a little carelessness could be risky since we didn't know anything about the place. As we made our way inside my eyes fell on the huge shattered chandelier on the ground. Even birds had made their nests at some places.

From what I could see by the decoration even after being abandoned for so many years, the place had once been decorated very nicely. There were nearly five to six rooms around, a few had something engraved on their vintage wooden doors.

On the corner a way lead to the kitchen and the dining room.

"We should check the rooms first, Jason you go and check the ones there," I motioned my hand to the right, "I'll go check the left ones."

He nodded and immediately walked to the right side.

I stood in front of the first room on the row, as I brushed away the spider net that'd covered the name, my eyes fell upon the syllables.

"Orabelle..." The similarity in the name caused me to get a little skeptical but I shrugged it off and opened the door. A gust of dust particles hit my nose and coughing I raised my fist to my mouth, the light could creep through from the broken window and this was what made me notice how destroyed the room was.

Even the bed was broken was into pieces as if someone had taken a sword and destroyed everything. There were spiders and some other insects. But among all these, my eyes caught the broken photo frame laying on the half-standing nightstand, apparently, the wood items of furniture were decomposing.

I picked up the photo frame, it looked handmade something made out of a rock and decorated with glitter. As I took a look at the photo, my hopes diminished the slightest bit. Half of the photo was eaten by the bug, but the other half was decent.

It was a photo of a girl, she had green eyes and the necklace I could see her wearing had the name 'Orabelle, in it. So this was Orabelle, this room and the picture belonged to this girl.

But the photo girl beside her was not visible enough. All I could see was that she had blue eyes and long auburn hair like.....Isabelle.

My suspension increased, even more. I detached the picture from the frame and put it in my pocket after folding it. As searched more in the room for any clues but I couldn't find anything else so I made my way out of the room.

Where could be that girl? And who might be the girl beside her? The questions still pondering in my head.

The next room had no names on it, and when I checked inside there was nothing else to be found other than a few destroyed pieces of furniture that were empty. It was probably a guest room.

As I was about the check the last room on the row, Jason's voice distracted me from my task and drew it upon him.

"Kaden...come here, look what I found,"

I rushed to where his voice sounded from, it was from the last room on the right. As I entered the room I saw Jason crouching down in front of a few....skeletons. Surprisingly they hadn't decomposed.

My eyes widened ever so lightly. I walked over to him, my stare fixated on the skeletons. There were three of them.

"This one is of a little girl," Jason pointed to the small skeleton compared to the size, " Her ribs were broken." He examined it, his fingers lightly pointing at the crack on the lower bones of the rib.

I crouched down opposite to him, the three skeletons laying between us, and then my eyes fell on the gold locket on the skeleton's neck area. The same locket I had seen in the picture on the girl named Orabelle.

I took the locket in my hand, the bones might've started decomposing since in the progress a few pieces of the bones crumbled into pieces.

"This girl's name is Orabelle, I found a picture of her in the room," I spoke taking out the picture and handing it to Jason, he inspected the picture cautiously.

"Whose the girl beside her?" Jason questioned.

"I don't know, even her picture is not clear," I shrugged.

"Her eyes and hair are like....." Jason stopped in the middle, and his brows rose in surprise, "Could this girl be related to Isabelle in some way?" He asked, I could see the suspension in his eyes.

"I don't know, we can't say anything until we see the full picture," I spoke, and began looking at the other skeletons after taking the picture from him.

Things were too complicated at this point, a place nearly away from the civilization and on the hill especially situated and now destroyed. This could really mean something we were unaware of, again these three dead people who were in front of us now only in skeletons that would soon turn into fossils.

"This skeleton is of a man and the one beside is of a woman, I couldn't find any crack or damage to their bones although the woman seemed to have a fracture in the neck bone that might be the cause of her death. " Jason spoke.

"They could be this girl's parents," I spoke, my eyes trailed across the room. It seemed like a toy room as a few plastic toys still seemed fine. There were some more setups such as small slides that had a few cracks on them probably because of the lack of care.

"I don't we are going to find anything else here, we should probably leave," Jason stood up after a few minutes. I found myself nodding before I stood up too.

We had checked everything, and except for this picture and locket, there was nothing else we could consider as a clue. These skeletons were not going to take us to any conclusion except for one revelation that the people who lived were perhaps murdered, the death and the state of the house didn't look normal enough to indicate a natural death.

"We might reach the mansion before morning," Jason added as we made our way to the exit.

"No, I need to reach there before midnight. Early as possible," I informed, "Isabelle was sad when I was leaving and no matter what, I have to reach the mansion before midnight. Drive fast, take a shortcut or do whatever you want but I want to reach the mansion fast."

"Desperate to go to your mate huh?" Jason teased but shut his mouth soon he noticed my glare.

As we almost made it out of the bungalow my brain clicked--The last time on the left row, I hadn't checked it.

"Wait, there's a room left. I hadn't checked that room." I halted in my place, Jason stopped too.

"Which one?" He asked raising one of his eyebrows.

"The last one on the row," My eyes drifted to the room in the corner, it was surrounded by darkness just like every other one but the door of it was opened and like the birds have found a special hiding spot there a few birds flew out from it quickly escaping from the crack of the mansion's celling.

"You think we can find something there?" He asked.

"Let's see," I spoke and walked towards the room. Jason followed me as I entered the room, it was destroyed too just like the other one but its condition was even more miserable. Every piece of furniture was either broken or gathered on the floor. The almirah had fallen on the bed and the pictures on the walls were barely hanging, some had even fallen on the floor.

But one thing caught my attention, the big frame still hanging on the front wall. I walked closer to the wall, kicking away a few of the pieces of furniture on my way to allow myself to reach there.

I took the frame down, there was dust all over but the picture and the glass were still protected. I brush away the dust and spider net, four people...there were four people in the picture as if it was a picture of a family.

A woman sitting wearing a red dress with a girl on her lap who was smiling ear to ear, the eyes and locket made me recognize the girl--It was Orabelle.

My eyes slowly moved to take a look at the man, he had worn a black shirt and there was a girl in his arm. Her smile was brighter and carefree than ever and her baby blue eyes shone as her silky auburn hair fell over to her sides, those very known freckles drew attention to her face, a bar of half-eaten chocolate in her hand remained there, whilst a small smudge could be seen on her left cheek

"Isabelle...." Her name fell off my lips before I even knew it.

My Lycan seemed to recognize her too and his howl shrouded in my head.

Without a doubt, I could tell this was Isabelle.

"Kaden, look at this," Jason's voice shunned my daze I walked over to him, my stare followed where his hand was pointing.

The wooden door had Isabelle's name engraved in it in bold letters, I could tell by the surprise in his eyes that he hadn't excepted this sudden revelation nor had I.

The rooms, those bodies, the two swings, the playroom, that little girl's locket, the destroyed state of this bungalow, and this picture. Everything made no sense. This was Isabelle's family, and she once lived.

From what I could see in the picture Isabelle was not more than eight years old and the other girl who I now presumed as her sister was perhaps ten years. After watching the three skeletons, I knew they were of these three people. Her mom, dad, and sister...

"So, Isabelle's parents were killed before she was taken away..." Jason spoke, his voice had gotten low.

"We need to go to the mansion soon as possible," I spoke trying to keep my voice steady, the thought of what Isabelle must have gone through made the pain spread in my chest.

My mate didn't deserve to go through this....the happiness in her eyes, I hadn't seen any smile on her face compared to the one I could see on her in this picture.

How cruel the monsters could be to snatch that smile away! My hold began tightening around the frame but before I could lose control and the frame broke I straightened myself and cleared my throat.

"Let's go," I walked out of the room that was once where Isabelle lived and Jason followed me soon.

I wanted nothing other than going to the mansion and engulfing my Angel in my arms.