Alone I was staring at the picture frames with Joseph and the faces of strangers looking back at me.
I rose to examine the images, wondering if any of them were real. I doubted it. I made a mental note to ask John when he returned how they did that. I guessed any picture could be changed or enhanced to look like anything else.
A knock from behind startled me. A man appeared at the entrance of the office. I recognized him almost immediately. He was dressed in the same blue suit with a blue tie to match.
His eyes instantly greeted me with a grin when he saw me.
“Are you alone?” he asked.
“Uncle?” I questioned.
He nodded. “Yes, I’m your Uncle Christopher. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” He came forward quickly.
I extended my hand for him to shake, but he wrapped his arms around me instead and hugged me. I wasn’t expecting that.
He held me quite too tightly, I felt uneasy. Immediately I pulled away when he didn’t let go.
“Wow! You’re beautiful. Who would have thought I’d be so lucky to find you?” Uncle Christopher smiled.
The way his eyes examined me, made me clench my fists so tight my nails dug into my palm I thought I would break the skin. The feeling made me take a step back.
“So, where is everyone?” he asked looking around. “Michael McClellan said to meet him here.” He moved around the office, looking at the pictures on the wall as I had before. He seemed suddenly comfortable and like an entirely different person. The vibes I was getting from him seemed like he was annoyed.
“Principal Müller is in the cafeteria. Michael is at home getting dinner together.” I wasn’t sure what to make of his sudden personality change or the vibes I was getting from him. I didn’t want to let those things bother me. Faces and pictures of unknown places kept flashing in my mind, places and schools he had once worked in. I saw nothing about the military in his head, nothing about being adopted. I saw jail cells, and attorneys instead.
“So, this Michael McClellan, is he your guardian?” he asked. His voice nearly startled me as he walked around the office picking up things, snooping through drawers. Puzzled when he couldn’t open the drawers in Joseph’s desk, he came back around.
“Yes,” I answered politely, standing by the office door with my hands behind my back.
He looked over at me and flashed me a quick smile, but it was a strange, disinterested smile. The urgency he was feeling was like he couldn’t wait to get out of there. I tried not to allow his feelings or uncertainties to bother me, but it was hard to keep them away.
“He was the one that invited me to dinner, correct?” he asked in reference to Michael’s dinner invitation.
I politely nodded.
“So, where is he?” he asked. Had he not heard a word I said?
“At home, like I said, getting dinner ready for when we arrive. He’s a great cook.”
He blinked, giving me a slight glance as he walked near the back bookshelves of Joseph’s office. If Joseph would’ve been here, he would certainly had something to say about him snooping around his things.
“Well, I don’t have a car,” he said, looking slightly annoyed once again.
“Oh, John has offered to take us to my grandfather’s house,” I said.
“John?” he squinted his eyes at me.
“John Müller, he’s my boyfriend.” It sounded strange to say it out loud.
“Oh, I see,” he said, examining a few of Joseph’s framed certificates as he turned to me again with his hands behind his back.
“Is this Dr. Müller the principal here?”
I nodded. Didn’t I already say that?
“Is he going to be joining us for dinner, too?”
“No, I don’t think so, but his nephew John is,” I softly answered as I came closer. He moved to stand by the desk. I stared back at him, and he grinned casually. He was freaking me out.
“John?” he asked again as if he was hearing the name for the first time.
The way he was snooping at the things in the office and moving around the desk made it clear he wasn’t the least bit interested in what I had to say. I didn’t understand what he was up to.
“Did you know my mother?” I asked him in hopes I could get some interesting family history.
“No, unfortunately, I never did,” he said very plainly. He seemed almost bored with the question.
“Oh,” I answered, slightly disappointed. “So, how did you know how to find us?”
“Your grandfather found me. He contacted me and asked me to meet with him. To be honest, I thought he was a crazy old man, and I didn’t trust him at first. So, I was a little hesitant to meet with him. It was only after his death that I realized he was very serious,” he said, looking over at Joseph’s desk and the laptop sitting on top. “Nice finish,” he commented, but I doubted it was the desk finish he was considering.
He gave me an eerie, full smile. I lowered my head, and he neared, closing the gap between us. As I examined him more closely, I noticed there was something strange about him.
“When I found out how rich he was, well, that’s when I decide it was time to pay him a visit. I didn’t realize he had a living relative, that being you.”
What does that mean? We were related, so more of a reason to rejoice, right?
“I thought of just getting some money and moving on, but when I saw you, things changed.”
The urge to leave right away began to crawl up my skin. I no longer felt comfortable around him. I didn’t want to hear his mind, but the distorted waves of his thoughts were beginning to pour from his head. I tried to push them away because his expression alone was making me uncomfortable, but I was never really any good at controlling anything.
From the moment he had arrived, I had tried not to venture into his mind because it wasn’t right. When I did, I saw images of him I didn’t understand and pushed them away hoping his words would explain what I was seeing. The first time, I couldn’t hear him because of John and Joseph’s watches. Now, I was afraid to know what was in his head.
“I think it’s time for you to go,” I said, backing away towards the door.
He hurried over to my side and came to stand in front of the entrance to block me from leaving. I froze up suddenly. He was looking right at me.
“To be quite honest, I didn’t really ever think about it until I saw you. The money was easy, you were going to be the treat.” He paused, staring back.
I reacted swinging my hand across his face, but it never made contact. He grabbed my hand before it could, laughing as he held me from moving. Immediately a flood of images and desires exploded from his mind, disgusting thoughts.
“I was surprised to find out that I had a niece,” he said again. “And such a lovely one at that.” The smile on his face spread, he reached to touch my cheek.
My lip quivered, recoiling and trying to pry my hand from his grasp.
“Let me go,” I said, fighting his grip, but he wouldn’t release me.
“But I’m your uncle and once I’m your guardian, you’ll see I’m not such a bad guy.”
“You’re not my uncle,” I yelled. With each tug, he pulled me closer to him.
“Once I clear things with Mr. West and make the proper arrangements. I will be your uncle, and I want you to come live with me, beautiful. Or I can move into your grandfather’s house. Yeah, I think that would be better,” he said. “Michael no longer will have the authority. We’re blood, and once the courts hear of it, I will see to it that my niece is well taken care of. My first order will be to keep people like Mr. McClellan, and this John Müller from taking advantage of such a pretty girl.” I squirmed in his grip unable to escape.
“You can’t do that,” I said as he laughed eerily back.
“I’m your uncle. I can do anything I want. You’ll have to learn that soon,” he said. “The sooner you learn that, the sooner we can become better acquainted.”
I struggled in his grip. “Stop! You’re not my uncle!” I screamed.
“Why? Come on, I saw how you looked at me. It’s all right. Is that how you smile at everyone?” He laughed.
I fought his hold on my arm, but I couldn’t get away. “Let me go!”
He twisted my arm and then pulled me forward into him. “Now be nice. All you have to do is learn to share, share that large inheritance with me.” I ground my teeth, as he twisted at my arm. I screamed, mentally reacting with a shoved back. He stumbled, giving me a chance to break free. But it was short lived as he grabbed me by the hair. He swung my head back; the action knocked my head back and then forward making me hit the frame of the doorway. Knocking me off my feet. Everything was spinning, dazed momentarily, I blinked a few times finding him coming at me. Both his hands grabbed ahold of my throat. He wasn’t squeezing. He clenched his teeth into a snarl as his breath was baring over on me. “Now be nice!”
“You’re not my uncle!” I cried through this grip, gasping when his hands tighten.
“I have papers from your grandfather that say otherwise and that I’m entitled to it. Don’t make this hard on yourself.” He gleamed with sleaze.
“I don’t believe it. You’re a liar. Let me go!” I screamed, trying to free myself from him.
“God, you’re far too beautiful to be my niece. That’s the first thing I thought when I first saw you …” His face neared, and I saw the thoughts in his mind and what he wanted to do to me. I moved and he pushed holding me still, I thought I would pass out as the hold of his hands tightened on my neck. My eyes fluttered back, unable to react as I had before. The warmth of his breath but inches from me. He was trying to kiss me.
I couldn’t let him kiss me. I fought with all my strength but felt I would pass out if he continued to squeeze.
A slight shove was all I managed it barely moved him but an inch. My eyes rolled back as I fought to stay awake. As he grabbed me tighter, his fingers dug into my throat and our lips were just centimeters apart. I fought with all my might concentrating my mind on a single object willing it to me.
A picture frame came flying from across the room and hit him across the face. He released me, as a gasped escaped me, I screamed then kicked him as hard as I could in the shin. His body flew back against the desk and fell to the floor. Christopher stumbled back, groaning in pain but still reaching for me…
Immediately I raced out of the office, into the hall crying, and stumbled into John and Joseph who were both coming back from the cafeteria.
“Claudia, what’s wrong?”
Wrapping my arms around John, I broke down as he held me tightly to him. He knew immediately, he and Joseph exchange looks. Joseph narrowed his eyes toward the main office.
“You were right about him.” I sobbed. John pressed me closer. Every feeling and anxiety were now running back into John. The lines on his face were no longer soft, his eyes again were glowing. The rage gathered along with the fear I was feeling now was absorbed into him.
“I’ll make him paid!” he snarled through his teeth. “Where is he?” He followed my eyes back towards the office.