Struggling to his feet, he made his way to his bedroom door and pulled it open. One peek down the hallway and Jacob immediately knew something was wrong. Other than the awful quietness of the entire building, two bodies laid unmoving in the hallway.

Trying not to panic, he walked cautiously to one of the bodies —a blonde maid— and placed his aged hand on her neck to feel for a pulse; he found one. Turning her body over to the side so he could see her face, he was about to hit her hard across the face to awaken her, when a loud banging sound caught his attention.

Straightening, he immediately began making his way up the stairs that led out of the servants' quarters. He came across many servants who were in a similar position as the blonde maid but he didn't think he had the time to try to awaken them. Someone did this. Somehow, someone felt the need to put the entire household to sleep. Something was wrong and someone was in danger. Jacob knew if he didn't hurry, someone might get hurt.

He had gotten up the stairs and had found the source of the noise to be coming from Ethan's bedchamber, when the sound of approaching footsteps met him.

Not knowing whether the person approaching was the villain or the hero, Jacob immediately laid flat on the ground, pulling his eyelids shut.

“Get the baby,”

He heard the command and immediately recognized whose voice it was. He recognized it because her voice always managed to grate on his nerves; Lady Hall.

He laid still, struggling to keep his body from trembling as he heard Lady Hall's footsteps walk by him and push the door to Ethan's bedchamber open.

He was so close to Ethan's room that he could hear the conversation going on inside —he heard a second footstep walk past him, he heard Lady Hall threaten the child's life and less than a few seconds later, he heard Gretchen scream in horror.

Jacob's entire body tensed in that moment as he laid there, feeling helpless. His mind began searching for various ways to salvage the situation; he could race down the stairs... No, he shook his head —he wasn't fast enough and considering the fact that he was the only conscious person who wasn't trying to harm Gretchen, he most likely would get caught in his attempt to get help. For all he knew, Lady Hall had others in her services waiting outside for whoever tried to run for help.

He could crawl down the stairs as slowly as he could, enter Ethan's study and find the shot gun? That seemed like a good idea as well but he knew he couldn't crawl fast enough.

He was stuck. There was nothing he could do but lie there and play dead.

Three footsteps walked by him and he opened his eyes slightly to try to make out the figures. He couldn't see their faces but he knew Lady Hall and Gretchen were one of them. A maid also... No, it couldn't be. But Jacob could never mistake that black uniform belonging to the maids of the Williams' manor.