The Bloomer Legacy: 7.3 Carried Away

Candy and I would meet up at the coffee shop practically every day. Sometimes, we’d talk about all sorts of things; I’d try to stir the conversation to my art, Candy would enthuse about her gigs, and then of course…

“I’ve known Paolo for a good while, he used to dabble in DJing a fair bit,” Candy said. “He’s a good friend, but be careful. He’s not really the one girl kind of guy…”

“It’s not even like that,” I shook my head.

“It’s totally like that,” Candy giggled. “Don’t you have a hot date with him this afternoon.”

“He’s just showing me around. There’s still lots of places I haven’t seen around here…”

“Oh come on, the only way Paolo would go to the Von Haunt Estate instead of a club is for a date,” Candy insisted. “You do realise how romantic the place is, right?”

***

“Hang on a second… those are ghosts!” I couldn’t quite believe my eyes.

“Oh yeah, they used to live here or something. And they still like to get it on… romantic, huh?”

Ok, I guess Candy was right.

“You know, my great-great-great-grandpa supposedly fell in love with a ghost and brought her back to life,” I shared one of my family’s old tales. “Or at least so my aunt swears…”

“Cool,” Paolo shrugged. “Well if you’re into that kinda stuff, you should totally read the story of the ghosts that lived here. Real cool.”

“Oh, what happened with them?” I asked.

“Uh, I dunno,” he shrugged. “Reading’s not really my thing.”

Before I could laugh, we were interrupted by a fiery red head.

“Ugh, so you’re Paolo’s newest fling, huh?” the girl approached.

“Excuse me?”

“Well you should know that you’re not the first and definitely not the last,” she hissed.

“Sorry about Morgan,” Paolo looked at me sheepishly. “She can get a bit intense…”

“Intense is one way to put it… Oh come on Paolo, don’t you remember the amazing time we had together in the promo trailer?” The girl looked at him.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you but I don’t want to be in the way of anything,” I backed away. “I’ll leave you guys to it. Bye Paolo!”

I dashed into the house. What was I thinking?

“What the plum, Morgan? How many times do I need to tell you, it was just a promo video! Everybody knows they’re staged. There’s nothing between us! You’re a teen for crying out loud!”

“Whatever. Never liked you anyway…”

***

I tried to read the backstory of the ghosts, but I was too distracted to really pay attention.

Luckily, I stumbled across the one thing that was sure to take my mind off of absolutely anything in this world. An easel, positioned exceptionally well right above the giant maze.

Could I capture it in all of its glory though?

Once again, I got way too into my painting; by the time I was finished it was completely dark, and the maze looked pretty spooky. But also kind of tempting.

It seemed easy enough to get through the maze from the deck, so I figured I should give it a go. To be able to say I experienced it. I mean, I’d be out in no time, right?

Ok, maybe it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

I must admit I was starting to get a bit scared when…

“Paolo! You’re still here?” I thought I’d be angry the next time I saw him, but I was actually relieved. Must have been the maze.

“Well I couldn’t leave you here on your own to get lost in the maze, could I, beautiful?”

That weak in the knees thing… it was back.

“Thanks for sticking around,” I hugged him gratefully. “You do know the way out, right?”

“Of course.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” he held my hands. “About Morgan and all… You know we all have a past. But who we were doesn’t matter. It’s our future that matters.”

I was shocked to hear something so profound coming from Paolo. And I couldn’t agree more. If only he knew… but there was no way I was ever telling him my little secret!

“There you go my lady, we’re out of the maze, right in time for sunrise,” Paolo announced. “Your Von Haunt experience is now complete! Well, actually, there’s one more spot I’d like to show you…”

“Just follow me…”

“What is it that you wanted to show me?” I looked around. “There’s no one here, just us.”

“Well that’s kind of the point,” he replied smoothly.

Ok, so I got a bit carried away.

But I had promised myself I was going to experience all Windenburg have to offer, so I sort of had to, right?

To be honest, I was completely taken aback by the connection that Paolo and I made. I didn’t think I could have that with anyone, let alone a guy like him.

But don’t worry. I won’t get too carried away…