Bitter Heart √

Twenty Five

It was almost a sweet punch to my gut. Did I hear her right? This was probably the first time she had ever shown any affection in so long. And that confused me more. I looked down at the phone, repeating her words in my head.

Close all the doors and windows. Keep the locker safe. What exactly was going on?

I looked over at Chicken who trailed out of the kitchen towards me, letting out a soft purr. I picked her up and walked towards the backdoor in my socks, locking the door slowly as I once again pondered over my mother's words.

She had sounded genuinely worried and that made me freak out a bit.

I looked outside at the backyard and found it empty and dark under the night sky. For some reason, I found my heart gradually hammering inside my chest.

After my fifth attempt at calling Mom or Dad and failing when they didn't pick up, I left a voicemail on their phones, asking them to call me as soon as they can.

Then I walked upstairs, vaguely remembering a tiny staircase that used to lead us up to the attic, right opposite my own bedroom. But when I reached up there, all I saw was a wall. It was sealed shut like always.

Why had she asked me to go to the attic then?

My eyes roamed around the huge boxes lined up against the wall. Picking up one of them with a small grunt, I set it aside and saw a narrow door about the same pale colour as the rest of the wall.

And then realization hit me. It was painted like that on purpose, almost as if they wanted to hide the door from someone. Me being me, I hadn't even noticed it until now. And why would I? I hadn't thought my parents had been lying to me about it.

I'd say you've got real nice experience believing in lies.

I scowled at the familiarity of Blake's words and pushed open the door. To my disbelief, an even smaller room was in front of my eyes.

I reached out my hand that wasn't curled up around Chicken, flailing around and trying to look for a light switch. And when I managed to feel one beneath my fingertips, I flipped it open and a dimly lit bulb came to life. It was a typical storeroom. Huge brown boxes stacked up everywhere--most of them stuffed with files and old stuff.

There was no locker.

My frown deepened and I kept looking around, thinking that I might've just missed it. It was a really small room, how could I not see an obvious locker in here?

Right at the exact moment, I heard a very loud creak, freezing me to my spot. Even Chicken stopped shuffling in my arms. It had been a loud noise and I was sure I hadn't imagined it.

It sounded like a door being opened.

My eyes widened at that thought and I could feel horror knotting in my stomach.

"I closed all the doors," I whispered to no one in particular. "I locked the back door. I locked the front door." I'd even locked the windows.

Chicken let out a small meow and my eyes widened even more. It was true terror I was feeling at that very exact moment.

The sliding glass windows, I thought. I hadn't bolted its broken lock. Why hadn't I thought of it before?

Somebody else was in the house. A break-in, just like that day. That was what my brain was shouting at me. Alarming and panicking, it felt like I might throw up then. I still remembered that night quite vividly; that deep gash on my hand, that creepy guy who had broken in. I thought about locking myself inside this small storeroom. I didn't want to go outside. I didn't want to face whatever was waiting outside for me. But then I heard light footsteps against the floorboards below and the blood almost drained out of me.

I was so royally screwed.

Looking around for something, I picked up a dusty candle stand and looked down at its pointy edges. Even if my hands were practically shaking at this point, I still walked out of that room and carefully closed the door behind me.

Keep the locker safe, that's what Mom had said.

I was scared, so much so that I wished I could run away from this situation. But I needed to keep that locker safe, even when I didn't know where the hell it was. Besides, this was all my careless fault anyway.

I placed Chicken down and motioned for her to stay upstairs. She curled up around the door and didn't bother following me. Perhaps she knew how much foolish it would be to follow me downstairs, especially right now.

I slowly crept downstairs, all the while holding my breath. This was such a déjà vu moment and that made me feel queasy in the stomach.

Gripping the candle stand, I waited. But there was not even a single sign of any human presence apart from me, even when I stepped into my lounge. I was so sure I had heard those footsteps. I furrowed my brows and looked around. Surprisingly, even the sliding glass windows were closed shut.

I anxiously inspected every perimeter of the lounge, even the kitchen, but failed to spot anyone. There was no one here.

It could've just been a sound from outside.

It could've been. I licked my dry lips and looked over at the sliding glass windows once again. They were closed. No one was there. It was fine.

A sigh of relief was just about to pass out of my lips when I felt a hand reach out beside me.

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Xoxo,
Crystal 🌿