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  Copyright

  Trapped in a Castle is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  TRAPPED IN A CASTLE: A NOVEL

  Copyright © 2018 by Katie Holland

  All rights reserved.

  Editing by KP Editing

  Cover design by KP Designs

  Published by Kingston Publishing Company

  The uploading, scanning, and distribution of this book in any form or by any means—including but not limited to electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of the copyright holder is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions of this work, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Dedication

  To my Aunty Jo,

  I wish you were here to read this.

  This one’s for you!

  Chapter 1

  I was awake, but I didn’t want to open my eyes. I had a splitting headache and I was sure the morning light would hurt. “What did I do to myself last night?” I mumbled. I’m pretty sure I hadn’t been out with the girls and I’d thought I’d remember if I hit my head on something. I felt around my head and sure enough I found a lump on my forehead. I laid there for a few minutes before I decided that I needed to get up and find a pain killer.

  When I finally opened my eyes, I knew something wasn’t right. I was looking at a ceiling I didn’t recognize. Was I awake or still dreaming? I blinked a few times, but nothing changed and then the panic set in. I jumped out of bed with my heart beating a mile a minute.

  “Where the hell am I?” I questioned, as I looked at a room I’d never seen before. “How did I get here?”

  I needed to get out of this room. I ran to the door hoping I wasn’t locked in. “Thank God,” I said when the handle turned. I opened the door a crack and peeked out and saw part of a hallway.

  I tried to listen for any sounds, but my heart was beating in my ears. “Breathe,” I told myself as I tried to slow my breathing, so I could hear better. I listened for a minute and when I didn’t hear anything, I opened the door farther and took a step out. It was a huge hallway. To my right was a dead end so I turned left. I started walking, slowly and quietly. I needed to stay silent since I didn’t know if I was alone or not.

  I found a staircase and my heart rate increased again. It went both up and down. “Which way do I go?” I asked myself. I saw a window and it looked like I was higher than ground level, so I chose to go down. I slowly crept down the stairs listening for any sign that I wasn’t alone. By the time I made it to the bottom I was breathing quickly again.

  I took a few deep breaths and tried to concentrate on listening for any sound. I had to find a way out of here as fast as possible.

  I slowly walked down the hallway looking for the door to the outside. I passed lots of doors but they all appeared to just be rooms. “There’s got to be a way out of here somewhere.”

  As I continued to search for an escape my heart kept trying to beat out of my chest. I had never been so scared in my life. I kept waiting for someone to jump out and grab me.

  As I walked down hallway after hallway I was trying to tell myself to stay calm, but my body wasn’t agreeing with my brain. My adrenalin was through the roof. This place was like a maze. I walked and walked for what seemed like hours but couldn’t find a way out.

  “Why can’t I find the door?” I said, as tears started rolling down my cheeks. I was tired, scared and starting to get angry.

  I tried wiping away the tears, but they just kept falling. I finally collapsed on the floor and let myself cry.

  I don’t know how long I sat on the floor, but my tears finally dried up. It seemed that no one had heard me crying, so I started to wonder if I really was alone here? But I couldn’t let my guard down just yet.

  Despite being scared out of my mind, or maybe because of it, I really had to pee. I located a bathroom and with that out of the way I could concentrate a little better.

  I continued to search for the means to my escape, listening for the slightest sound the whole time. I wish I could remember how I got here. Had I been drugged? I don’t think I’d been out drinking and went home with a stranger. “This doesn’t make any sense, where is the door?” I said shaking my still hurting head. Maybe I’d hit my head harder than I thought and I was having a hallucination.

  I finally found a kitchen. “Thank God, I’m starving.” It had been hours since I’d eaten. I crept into the kitchen hoping I could find some food. After opening a few cupboards, I grabbed a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter and quickly made a sandwich. I started to leave the kitchen, but I went back for a knife. At least if someone else was here I’d have a chance to defend myself.

  It had been light when I’d woken up, but it was now full dark. I’d been searching for a way out all day. I didn’t know what to do and couldn’t understand why I hadn’t found a door to the outside yet. I was still scared but also so tired, it had been the most stressful day of my life. My head was still pounding, and I just wanted to sleep. I decided to find my way back to the room I’d woken up in. “Finally,” I said when I eventually found it again.

  Once back in the room I closed the door and tried to lock it. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, when I discovered there was no lock on the door. I saw a heavy dresser on the other side of the room. I struggled but I managed to move it in front of the door. “That should work.” I said when I got it in place. I really hoped it would keep someone from getting in.

  Too tired to do much of anything, I sat on the bed. I couldn’t make sense of anything that had happened since I woke up. I hoped that when I woke up tomorrow it will just have been a dream.

  I laid down on the bed and covered my head with the blanket, just like I did when I was a kid and thought monsters lived in the closet. I just hoped there were no real-life monsters in the closet now. Even though I was exhausted it took me a long time to fall asleep, but eventually my body succumbed to the rest it needed.

  Chapter 2

  When I opened my eyes the next morning I felt the panic start to rise in my chest again. “I guess it wasn’t a dream after all,” I said to myself putting my hands over my face, accidentally hitting the bump on my head.

  After a minute of wondering how I got the bump I started to get angry. “What the hell is going on?” I yelled
at the ceiling. I was still scared, but the anger was taking some of that away. I had to figure out what happened to me and where I was.

  As I lay there somewhere between scared and mad trying to figure out what to do, I was staring at the ceiling. The ceiling in my apartment was plain and white. This one was made of dark wood. I took a moment to take in the bed as well. It was a large four poster bed also made of dark wood. Both were beautiful.

  “Great, I’m trapped here, but at least it’s pretty to look at, lucky me.” Yes, I spoke fluent sarcasm.

  Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to make some goals. Having goals in life was good right? My number one goal was to escape. My number two goal was to find a shower, I was starting to stink.

  I got out of bed and checked the door. The dresser was still firmly in front of it. “I guess I’m safe for the moment,” I said, and turned back to the rest of the room.

  When I looked closer at the room I saw that there were two other doors. The first one was a walk-in closet. “Nice,” I said as I took a quick glance at the clothes.

  The second door turned out to be a bathroom. “Wow,” I whispered as I walked in. It looked like something from a luxury hotel. I took off my clothes and got in the shower. I was hoping that something in the closet would fit me.

  A tiny bit of the stress from yesterday fell off when I stepped under the shower. I felt like I could stay in there forever, but then I remembered my situation and quickly washed my hair and the rest of me. I found some towels. I dried off and wrapped one around me.

  I went to the closet to see if I could find something to wear. After looking through a bunch of the clothes in the closet my heart started to beat a little faster, they were all my favorite things. “But this doesn’t make any sense.” I couldn’t figure out what was going on. My clothes, the clothes from my own closet were here in this big walk-in closet that wasn’t mine.

  I ran to the bathroom and sat on the edge of the tub. I put my head between my knees to stop the faint feeling I was having.

  “This can’t be real. I must be dreaming. This can’t be real. I must be dreaming.” I just kept saying that to myself over and over and over.

  After a few minutes I started feeling like a coward. I took a few deep cleansing breaths. “Put on your big girl panties and suck it up, they’re just clothes.”

  I marched back to the closet and picked out my favorite yoga pants and t-shirt. I looked around for underwear, but I didn’t see any.

  “If I were panties where would I be?” I asked myself. The logical answer to that question was the dresser of course. Was I going crazy? Maybe just a little bit.

  I went over to the dresser and sure enough I found my socks, bras, panties and pajamas. I quickly got dressed and started on goal number one; escape.

  I moved the dresser out of the way just wide enough so that I could get out. I wanted to be able to block off the door quickly if I needed to. I listened, just like I did yesterday and again I heard nothing.

  I left the room and went back down the stairs, trying to stay quiet. “I must have missed something yesterday,” I whispered to myself. “There has to be a way out of here.”

  I looked in a few rooms until my stomach started growling uncontrollably. I figured it wasn’t going to hurt if I got something to eat. I found my way back to the kitchen. Since it was daylight I had a better look at the room. It looked like a gourmet kitchen from a magazine. I spotted a coffee maker and went straight to it. I loved coffee. I hunted around for some coffee and came across the kind I used at home as well as my favorite creamer. That made me pause but at least I didn’t have a breakdown like I did with the clothes.

  I got the pot started and took in the heavenly aroma. “This is why I didn’t escape yesterday, no coffee,” I said, as I poured myself a cup. I added my creamer and sat down at a small table.

  As I sipped the steaming liquid, I tried to figure out where I was. Maybe that would help me escape. I was extremely glad that I seemed to be alone, but I was still going to be cautious. This was a big place, and anybody could be hiding here.

  I finished my first cup and made a second. There were several windows in the kitchen, so I decided to have a look and see if I could determine my location.

  “Hmm, grass, trees, hills, water, and more grass and trees. And maybe a mountain in the distance, or those could be clouds. Well, that’s not very helpful. I could be almost anywhere in the world.”

  I was about to leave the kitchen when a lightbulb went off. “Duh Eve, if you can’t find a door use a window.” I just about kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. I ran over to the nearest one and tried to open it.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Open you stupid window.” But it wouldn’t budge. I rooted around the kitchen until I found a cast iron skillet. “If I can’t open it, I’ll break it.”

  I swung the skillet just like a baseball bat. When it hit the window, it bounced off and knocked me on my ass.

  “What the hell? That can’t be possible.” I know what I’d just experienced, but I still didn’t believe it. I got up and tried again. The same thing happened.

  I went over to the chair I’d been sitting on and grabbed it. It was heavier than the skillet so maybe it could break the window. I was wrong again, the chair broke and not the window. “It must be bullet proof or something. Who has bullet proof windows?” All I could come up with was the mob and vampires. I thought about that for a second and got scared all over again.

  Maybe I’d been taken by the mob and brought to Italy. Or maybe I’d been captured by vampires and I was their next meal.

  “Stop it Eve, you’re being stupid. Vampires don’t exist and why would the mob want you? There has to be another explanation.”

  But I couldn’t think of one.

  I felt relatively safe in the kitchen, so I decided to stay there for the moment. I started pacing the length of the kitchen trying to make my brain work. I was usually very good at solving problems, but I seemed to be in over my head on this one.

  I stopped pacing and made myself another cup of coffee. I found some paper and a pen and went to the table. I sat in the chair I hadn’t destroyed and started making a list.

  What I know:

  - Went to bed alone

  - Woke up in a different bed

  - I’m in a very large building

  - No door to the outside … yet

  - Windows don’t open or break

  - ALL my clothes seem to be here

  - The kitchen had my favorite coffee and creamer

  What I don’t know:

  - How did I get here?

  - Where am I?

  - How do I escape?

  - Am I here alone?

  Making lists usually helped me think the problem through. This time it did nothing but give me a headache. “Think Eve, you’re a smart girl, you can figure this out.”

  I wished I could call my mom, she’d be able to help me. “Phone! Maybe my phone is here.”

  I raced back upstairs to the bedroom. I ransacked the room looking for my phone. I pulled everything out of the drawers and off the hangers. I did the same in the bathroom but no sign of my phone.

  “That’s just perfect,” I said when I’d dumped the last drawer out. Everything else I own is here except my phone … and my cat I guess.”

  I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. “Why me? Why is this happening to me?”

  I left the mess in the bedroom mess and went back downstairs. Right now, I didn’t care if anyone heard me or not. I was frustrated and angry, not a good combination.

  I was just about to the kitchen when I heard a noise. I froze. Okay, so maybe I was still scared. I turned to find a place to hide when I heard something else. The noise was definitely coming from the kitchen.

  I took a step in the opposite direction of the kitchen when I heard a sound that made me stop, but not in fear this time. I was curious. I turned around and very quietly walked to the kitchen door. I had my hand on
the door when I heard a crash on the other side. I grabbed the closest thing to me. It happened to be a bronze statue of a man. It was heavy so if I had to use it I might be able to do some damage. Against my better judgement I decided to enter the kitchen. “This is how horror movies start,” I whispered to myself, but I opened the door anyway.

  At first, I didn’t see anything, then a minute later I saw the cause of the noise and I couldn’t help but smile. It was a kitten. A small grey and white fluff ball. “I guess I’m not alone after all,” I said, as I tried to get closer to it.

  The kitten was skittish but since I was a cat person I was patient. “Here kitty, kitty, kitty,” I called to it. I sat on the floor and waited. Eventually it was curious enough to come and investigate me. After a few more minutes it finally let me pet it.

  “Hello there,” I said, as I ran my hand down its back. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Eve and now you need a name. But first I need to know if you’re a boy or a girl.” A quick check let me know she was a girl.

  “You have to be one of the cutest kittens ever.” Did I mention I kind of had a thing for kittens?

  “So, what am I going to name you? Socks? Fluffy? Fuzzy? Nope, I don’t like any of those. For now, you’re just going to be Kitty until I can think of the perfect name. I bet you’re hungry huh. Let’s find you some food.”

  I stood up and started looking for something to feed the kitten. When I found a bag of kitten food I wasn’t sure what to think. Did that mean someone actually lived here? And if so, where were they? Was I a prisoner? I had too many questions and all of them were scary.

  I made coffee in an attempt to distract myself for a minute or two. If I admitted, it to myself I was still really scared. I didn’t know what had happened to me. I just couldn’t understand how I’d ended up here.