Earlier that morning…
Agatha noticed her door was slightly ajar. Her body felt weak, but she still climbed down from the bed.
Wearing only her socks, she wandered down the corridor and stepped into the grand hall. Her gaze landed on the staircase… and the archway across the hall.
She rubbed her burning eyes with the back of her hands.
The sun was up again. But her father still hadn't come.
Slowly, she made her way toward the archway. Her mother always forbade her from playing near that corridor. But Agatha saw her father coming and going through there.
She broke into a little run when she heard footsteps on the stairs. She didn't want to get caught.
She kept walking into a larger room with chairs and a table. Just as she arrived, she heard a door open at the far end. She gasped and quickly ducked behind a chair.
Peeking out, she saw someone walk through, but it wasn't her father. She hid again.
