Arlynn James & The Sycamore Secret (Pt.5)

When Sam pulled in front of his home, they stepped out of the car and looked over at the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance.

“Looks like a storm,” Sam said quietly.

The two of them rushed inside and up the stairs towards Amelia’s room. Standing in the hallway outside her room, Arlynn stopped before entering and turned to look at the hallway that continued on to the back of the house.

“Doesn’t this hallway connect to another one?”

Sam looked at her curiously.

“Yes? Why, what are you thinking?”

Walking quickly down the corridor, she continued on until she reached the room where Sam had found his dog locked on the night of Amelia’s disappearance.

“I’m thinking it’s starting to connect…”

Slightly puzzled, Sam followed her as she turned around and began walking down another corridor.

“I finally remembered what I couldn’t think of earlier. There was a passageway we went through once when we were playing hide-and-seek. Wasn’t it somewhere down here?”

Sam marveled at her memory from so long ago.

“Yes, of course! But it was sealed up years ago. Do you think there’s something to it? I mean, we’d barely used it once before my parents went crazy and sealed it because it was dangerous.”

“I think we should see it.”

Nodding his head, Sam took the lead and walked to a skinny door almost hidden under another staircase.

“This is it. But, like I said, it’s been sealed so I don’t know if we’ll be able to see much.”

Grabbing the door knob, Arlynn tried to open it but it was stuck. Inspecting the door, she noticed how the seal was nothing more than a coat of paint sticking the door to the frame.

“I think we just need to push through it, Sam. Can you help me try?”

Gently pulling her back so she was out of harm’s way, he began pounding at the door with his shoulder until it burst open. Cool air blew into their faces as they both peered down a winding staircase leading to a shadowed hallway. The darkness beyond the hallway entrance prevented them from being able to see anything past it. As Arlynn began walking to the staircase, Sam grabbed her arm.

“Wait, Arlynn! We don’t know if this thing is even safe to go down, let me go first.”

Moving so he could get past her, she watched as he cautiously went down each step before following. When they made it to the bottom, they looked at the space below.

“Look, Sam! It’s a coat!”

Picking up a child’s raincoat, Sam looked at it grimly.

“That’s mine. That’s what she was wearing that night.”

Swallowing hard, Sam looked uncertainly at the dark hallway before them.

“Do you think –”

Arlynn shook her head, “Sam, I don’t mind going down there first. You don’t have to do this.”

“No. You aren’t going alone. But we need torches. I can grab some just down the hall, don’t go down there till I get back!”

Nodding in agreement, Arlynn began looking around the landing while she waited. Picking up a dirty object, she couldn’t tell what it was exactly. The heavy weight of it was curious to her as she looked closely to see splotches of red on the bottom. Dusting the top of it, she could finally make out the familiar shape of a paperweight.

When Arlynn stood up slowly with the paperweight in her hand, the sad realization that the object could have been a weapon started to wash over her. Hearing the sound of Sam’s footsteps at the top of the staircase, she began moving towards the stairs. But before she stepped any closer, she heard a loud thud from the door. Looking up in alarm, she could see the shape of a figure fallen on the floor in front of the entrance door. Darting to the shadows of the landing so she wasn’t seen, she could see a hooded figure stepping over the body and walking to the staircase. As silently as she could, Arlynn stayed in the shadows and moved to the hallway entrance in front of her. Feeling completely blind without any source of light, she moved quickly down the hall, feeling the stone walls on both sides of her to keep from falling. Not knowing if the hooded figure was still following her, she could hear the sound of her heart beating quickly as she pushed forward.

A tiny ray of light could be seen in the distance in front of her, causing her to run faster towards it. It was then that she could hear the sound of scuffling coming from behind. Bursting through an overgrown entrance of shrubs and vines, Arlynn was relieved to finally make it out of the long tunnel and into the light. Unfortunately, the dark rain clouds had begun to roll in and caused it to feel almost as dark as the night sky. Not knowing where on the property she had come out, Arlynn ran quickly to find cover from whoever was following her in the tunnel.

No sooner was she able to hide behind a cluster of trees, than she spotted the figure exiting the tunnel behind her. Unable to see who it was, Arlynn could only notice the figure was wearing black gloves and rain boots. While she watched in silence, she saw the figure reach into their pocket and grab a long knife before walking in the opposite direction.

Arlynn knew she desperately needed to get back to the house and find Sam. Racing through the heavily wooded area, she hoped to cut through the distance between her and the house. She had forgotten how great of a distance the tunnel went underground. Keeping her pace, she made it to a peculiar clearing in the trees and then stopped abruptly. The land was elevated around the clearing, almost appearing like a crater.

She mumbled to herself, “Sycamore trees…I know this…”

Walking slowly to the center, she looked around at the eerie circle of trees and felt flashes of memories come to her mind. Recalling when she was little and playing with Amelia and Sam, she walked carefully up to a large pit in the ground. She remembered when they had been forbidden to come here because the pit was so deep, it appeared cavernous. Mrs. Harington had blocked off the tunnel and told them never to go this deep into the woods, but they would occasionally allow their curiosity to get the better of them. Spotting a strange item protruding from under tree leaves, Arlynn quickly moved to see what it was. As she held it up, she saw a familiar little girl’s shoe.

Photo by Iswanto Arif on Unsplash

“Amelia.”

The thunder cracked loudly as the wind began to swirl the leaves around her violently.

“Who else was here? Me, Amelia, Sam……Scar –,” she began to say before getting hit hard on the back of her neck.

Arlynn fell, but grabbed at the earth in an effort to get herself off the ground and look at her attacker. Rubbing the back of her neck in pain, she stared back at the hooded figure.

“There’s no need to hide your face.”

The figure pulled the large hood back to reveal Scarlett’s amused face.

“It’s so unfortunate the car accident wasn’t more severe, isn’t it? I had hopes that would be the end of it.”

Arlynn watched closely while Scarlett began pacing back and forth with obvious pleasure that no one else was around.

“What have you done, Scarlett? What have you done with Amelia?”

Waving her knife around as she spoke, she answered, “There’s no rule that says you have to like your family, is there? Cousin or not, I hated her. I hated everything about her.”

Arlynn’s eyes caught the noticeable sparkle from Scarlett’s earrings.

“It was the necklace,” Arlynn stated.

A look of rage filled Scarlett’s face, with such an evil look of satisfaction, Arlynn could feel a chill down her spine.

“It was mine. By birth it was mine! The necklace is an old Harington heirloom, passed down to the firstborn daughter of every generation. The old hag kept it from me and left it to that brat instead. It should have been given to me!!”

Slowly taking a step backwards without being noticed, Arlynn continued to try and keep Scarlett talking.

“Old hag? Your grandmother?”

Scarlett rolled her eyes in irritation.

“Obviously. The worthless old sack changed her will without anyone knowing. I always knew she didn’t like me.”

“Amelia didn’t have any control over that,” Arlynn said simply.

“She knew I wanted it! Every single time she wore it, she made sure to flaunt it in my face! She got what she deserved, just like my grandmother,” Scarlett spewed out viciously.

As Scarlett grew more enraged in conversation, Arlynn’s eyes darted around for anything she might be able to use to defend herself.

“You killed them both?”

Turning around to face Arlynn, Scarlett glared back with a chilling smile.

“I’ve always been very resourceful in getting what I want.”

“You were just a child, Scarlett. We all were,” Arlynn replied.

Laughing loudly, Scarlett began to walk slowly towards Arlynn.

“I was old enough to hold a pillow over an old woman’s face, and old enough to trick my stupid cousin into thinking her dog had fallen in a hole out here. I’ve always been one step ahead in everything. The disposal of Amelia’s body, convincing my Aunt and Uncle to shut up the tunnel, the rumor about your father, all of it. Why wouldn’t anyone believe an innocent child?”

“Scarlett, you’ve killed two people, your own family!”

Shrugging without remorse, she stopped walking to stand in front of Arlynn.

“I wasn’t expecting you, though. Your arrival has been completely unwanted and rather irritating. You’ll have to rest with Amelia. I can’t have my beautiful wedding ruined by someone who keeps asking about my jewelry. After all, the stones make such a stunning crown.”

As Scarlett raised her arm holding the knife, the sound of voices shouting could be heard from behind. In alarm, Scarlett paused for a second to glance back, allowing Arlynn to punch her squarely in her face. When she fell backwards, Arlynn made a dash past her to reach the people she heard shouting. Scarlett reached out quickly to grab her ankle, causing her to fall hard to the ground and hit her head.

Trying to shake herself out of the grogginess of her head injury, she felt her ankles being pulled back towards the large pit. Reaching out to grab any stick or rock she might be able to use, she began to scream in the hope that someone might hear her.

“Sam!! Over here!”

She could hear the voices coming much closer but didn’t know if they would make it in time to help her. When Scarlett had pulled Arlynn beside the edge of the pit and tried to reposition herself to push Arlynn over, she was blindsided by a hard kick in the stomach. Arlynn looked over and saw Sam running with a group of officers toward her.

“It’s over, Scarlett. They all know, just turn yourself in,” Arlynn said out of breath.

A look of desperation and anger filled Scarlett’s face when she saw the men coming.

“No!! If I go, I’m taking you with me!”

She then threw herself at Arlynn and tried to pull the both of them over the edge. Arlynn thrust her backward as hard as she could and grabbed at anything she could find to keep from falling. As she felt herself sliding over, she was suddenly stopped by the strong grip of Sam, who pulled her back and closed his arms firmly around her.

Mr. and Mrs. Harington had run up behind the police officers as Sam helped Arlynn carefully to her feet.

Mr. Harington touched her shoulder with concern, “Arlynn! Are you alright? What happened? Who attacked you?”

“It was Scarlett.”

Mrs. Harington looked at her in disbelief.

“Scarlett? That’s madness, where is she?”

The police began shouting to each other as they pointed their torches down into the pit.

When they all moved to the edge of the pit and looked down into the deep cavern below, they could see the mangled figure of the young woman on the bottom. There beside her, they saw the distinct skeleton of a small figure.

Clapping her hands over her mouth in shock, Mrs. Harington began to cry.

“Amelia! My child!”

Mr. Harington pulled his distraught wife close and looked at Arlynn in confusion.

“But why? Why would she do it?”

Arlynn answered quietly, “It was about the necklace. It was always about the necklace.”

Looking down sadly, Arlynn thought of her childhood friend and her vibrant personality that had been taken with such cruelty.

“I’m afraid she isn’t the only one who got in the way of what Scarlett wanted.”

They all looked at Arlynn in alarm.

“She said her grandmother was the first.”

Mr. Harington shut his eyes painfully.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry to all of you,” Arlynn whispered as Sam pulled her away to take her to a medic arriving at the grim scene.

While the medics finished treating the gash on her forehead, Arlynn saw her aunt and uncle pull their car up and run to find her.

“Darling! The Haringtons called us to try and find you but we couldn’t reach you on your phone,” Lettie said with worry.

“I’m sorry, I should have messaged you earlier to let you know I was here,” she replied apologetically.

“I’m assuming you’ve solved it,” Byron said sadly, as they saw Mr. and Mrs. Harington hold each other in the distance.

“Yes. We can give my sister a proper burial now. That will help us all move on.”

Byron placed his hand of support on Sam’s shoulder.

“If you need anything, you’ve only to say.”

Sam nodded in appreciation and assisted Arlynn in standing up. He hugged her tightly and kissed her head.

“I’ll come by tomorrow to see you.”

She nodded and walked away with her aunt and uncle. As they drove away from the house, Arlynn watched out the window at the chaotic scene of police lights and vehicles across the lawn.

“At least we know everything now, dear,” Byron said softly to his niece.

Pursing her lips together in thought, she answered, “Not everything.”