Adam SmithStepping out of the same chamber I chose to occupy for self-rediscovery’s sake, to join the boys down the hall, felt like unburdening.My head was so heavy and clogged with what I saw in the note that looked like it was written by me in the past after discovering something dark about my family and our family friends. For me to have written that in the past, for me to have fled the estate in the past, means I couldn’t stand whatever it was.Now, I want to know what it was that made me abandon the mansion. It looked like everybody had been lying and hiding the larger part of my past from me to avoid history repeating itself.I sighed the moment I walked out of the chamber, dre

                                   KirkOne minute, the hall was wild with music and celebration, the next minute everyone was drunk and tired, and the third minute everyone was gone with the Russian pleasure squad girls and all the girls in attendance. Even my sister, Natalya, was long gone.She had sent me a message that she was going to bed at her friend Lana’s chamber in the mansion. But Viktor, the outgoing bachelor, was there. Tomorrow is the wedding party, which would be as wild as tonight.He was standing by the balcony door, sipping his last wine as a bachelor. I joined him with a bottle of wine I grabbed from the tray of a drunk steward who was snoring against one of the tables.Bachelors’ parties are so wild t

                                   Adam Smith“What happened in New York City?” I asked as Natalya led me to the inner room in the chamber, where a queen-sized bed with four long poles was set at the center. On one end was a study table and a stool, and on the other end was an open wardrobe full of clothes and female footwear.She stopped by the bed and went down on her knees, then she slipped under the bed and came out with a brown box. She looked up at me with a smile and I walked toward her, grabbed her hand and helped her up.She sighed and made for the study table while I watched her. She sat on the stool and set the box on the table, then she opened the box wide and pulled a photo album out of it.She nodded gently

                            KimI slowly unlocked the cage door and stepped aside. She watched me with quiet eyes, unsure what I was up to. I nodded gently at her to come out. She didn’t. She sat on the floor of the cage and folded her arms like she always did.I swallowed. I wasn’t trying to know if she would walk out of the cage on her own if the cage was opened. I wanted to know if she would pounce and feed on me if she walked out.Knowing now that she wouldn’t come out even if I ordered her to, I entered the cage and shut the door, then I sat and crossed my arms like she did, looking her in the face.She grunted, baring her blood-stained dentures, maybe trying to scare me, or testing my bravery. I yawned like her grunts were nothing, an

                                        Adam SmithVolkov’s truck felt like a different world of its own, and the way he gripped and controlled the steering wheel made it look like he was one with the truck.At first, he was gentle with the driveways of the Medvedev estate, but as soon as the guards at the gate bid us goodbye, he sped off, the truck wailing so loud I could feel it in my chest.Objects zoomed behind us as he accelerated without a second thought, and in less than five minutes, we arrived at the gates of the Smith estate.I imagined a younger me leaving the black gates with a few personal belongings and Rosa. No clear picture popped up in my mind, except an image of Rosa in her usual skimpy clothe