My heart was beating so fast in my chest I swear to God I was having a heart attack. I’m sure it was stupid of me to be as nervous as I was, after all, they were the ones breaking in, not me. Well…okay technically I did break in too but in the end, Kevin would vouch for me. He doesn’t know these people, as far as I know…unless he did know them and asked them to come here to fix something while he was golfing? All the thoughts running through my mind in the span of a few minutes were almost overwhelming. Funny where your brain can go when you think you are in danger.
At that moment I probably could have justified myself out of any situation. ‘Sure they may be huge people eating Gila monsters but didn’t I read somewhere that they don’t eat blondes? So, even if they show up here, I’ll be okay. I’ll just feed them carrots or something. Huge people eating Gila monsters like carrots, at least that’s the rumor’ and okay, enough with the Gila monsters and I’m not really all that blonde anyway so I’d be screwed! I have always wanted a Gila monster though…maybe if I survive this; it’ll be my reward…I’m babbling!
They were right under me now, talking at the base of the attic steps. I couldn’t make out what was being said, I was just grateful for the fact that they stopped running upwards once they hit the second floor. It sounded as if they were going from room to room. I wish I was able to make out how many there were. I know for a fact it was more than one, unless they weren’t people but one giant millipede, now if that was the case, I’d prefer it to be men with guns because millipedes just freak me the hell out…okay I’m doing it again, I’ll stop.
After a few minutes I was able to get my breathing back to normal and manage to make my legs move enough to slowly creep out from behind the mirror and closer to the steps. Maybe if I could get close enough, I’d be able to hear what was being said, if anything although it seemed eerily quiet down there. Maybe they had actually found what it was they were looking for because that’s what it sounded like to me. That they were searching for something specific.
I clutched the diary in my hands, what if it was this thing? I mean it did mention death on the front page, didn’t it? Maybe these people wanted to make sure they got their hands on it before anyone else did. But then again how odd it would be, the timing of it all, that the second someone finds the diary, they are here looking for it.
Why was it so quiet down there? I mean there wasn’t even one single stir coming from underneath. Maybe they knew I was here and were just waiting for me to come down the steps. My heart started picking up it’s pace once again. What the hell am I going to do? As of right now, I’m trapped in the attic of Kevin’s creepy house while weird people are invading it!
I did have the option of making a call. Maybe calling Kevin and getting him to rescue my ass! But then again, why would I do that? Then I’d have to endure a Kevin lecture. I briefly weighed the pros and cons of both circumstances. I lifted one hand, Kevin lecture? And then the other hand, being killed by bad guys?
Kevin lecture….being killed by bad guys?
I flipped open my phone, maybe the lecture wouldn’t be that bad this time around and besides, I’ve gotten pretty good at blocking him out completely when I really want to. So I dialed his phone kind of hoping he wouldn’t pick up but yet disappointed when he actually didn’t.
I almost left a message but then felt like it was a dumb idea so hung up instead. I could try AJ’s number, duh! Why didn’t I think of that before? I get NO lecture that way and still don’t get killed by the bad guys, but then again that meant having to depend on AJ to come and save me. He has done it before though I guess. I remember there was this one time when I was really young where I was in desperate need of rescuing and he was the only one available to help. He actually came through for me back then. He punched someone in the face in fact, and then we both ran like hell. Good lord he bragged about that for about five months steady before finally letting me forget he did that for me.
I slowly walked away from the steps to make the call to AJ, just to make sure I couldn’t be heard. There was still not a sound coming from below, it was very odd. But I made the call anyway, mostly because the silence was deafening.
“Yeah?”
“I have a situation.”
“Nick, you always have a situation.”
“Shh! don’t let Kevin hear you.”
“He’s nowhere near me. He’s at the concession stand grabbing a Mountain Dew. How he drinks that stuff I’ll never know. It’s like radiator coolant.”
“AJ…”
“What?”
“I’m at Kevin’s place.”
“I KNEW IT!”
“Shut up….there’s people here.”
“What do you mean people?”
“They broke in.”
“Broke in?”
“Yes and now I think they are downstairs and I’m trapped in the attic.”
“Jesus fucking Christ Nick, what the hell is WRONG with you? Did you call 911?”
“No, I’m calling you.”
“What the hell good will that do?”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“So you call me?”
“AJ, stop yelling at me and help me out here.”
“What should I do?”
“I don’t know!” And at that moment, I didn’t. Calling AJ served no purpose at all really. I was just scared and didn’t want to be alone, like I’m going to tell him that though. I know I probably should have called the police before AJ but my brain just doesn’t work that way.
“Do you still hear them? Are they armed? Oh my God Nick, what a dumbass you are! I can’t believe you went to Kevin’s!” He was talking very fast now. Great, I managed to stress out AJ, not like that was such a hard task to begin with.
“I haven’t heard them in a while and yes I am pretty sure they have arms…” AH! Did I just say that? “I mean they probably are armed!” God! I used to do that a lot when I was younger. Say the dumbest things. Even though I am a smart guy, sometimes I tend to say what just pops in my head. That’s why management never wanted me to do the interviews. If I did the interviews we’d be talking about giant Gila monsters that eat blondes and bad guys with arms.
“You’re pretty sure they have arms huh?” I heard the smile on his face. I actually HEARD it! Yup, that’ll come back to haunt me. “Are you positive anyone is even in there? I mean if you haven’t heard them in a while…”
“I don’t know.”
“Now you don’t know?”
“Yeah AJ…I don’t know!” Okay now he was just pissing me off! “I’m going to go downstairs and check.”
“Nick, are you sure that’s a wise choice? I mean what if…”
“I have you on the phone, if I need help you’ll know.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea buddy…” But even as he was saying that I had already made my way to the top of the stairs once again. Not hearing a sound I carefully made my way as slow as possible down the steps. With each one I took I inhaled another breath. This was a stupid idea…I kept saying over and over again in my head.
“What are you doing?” AJ yelled urgently, almost making me jump and fall down the last three steps.
“Shh! I’m on the second floor now.” I whispered knowing that if they were indeed up here they would have come out and killed me or maimed me or whatever it is people do to people when they are found somewhere they aren’t expected to be.
“I can’t believe you! You know if you get yourself killed it’s your own damn fault!”
But I knew at that moment that I wasn’t going to get myself killed because I was suddenly sure there was no longer anyone left in the house but me.
“I think they’re gone.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because it’s totally quiet here…” I walked over to the window in Belle’s room, “And there aren’t any cars parked out front.”
“You didn’t hear them leave?”
“No.”
“Man if you are making this all up I’m going to kill your ass Carter.”
“Why would I do that AJ?”
“Because you’re a horse’s ass?”
I was angry again and wanted to tell him off, but I couldn’t really find fault with what he was saying. I mean it’s not like I haven’t ever done anything like this before for attention. Granted I was a kid back then, but still. And what if this was all a giant figment of my imagination to begin with? Is it possible no one was even in here? Could I have just made the whole thing up? Maybe my overactive imagination was just getting the better of me again.
Great, now I’m doubting myself.
“Whatever dude, I’m sorry I called you! Don’t tell Kevin I was here!”
“Nick, are you sure there is no one in that house with you?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty positive.”
He sighed, I could tell he was worried and that made me feel good. After all this time to know they still worry. “Okay, just get back to the hotel before we do, bonehead!” And then the worry was gone.
“Yeah, I will.”
I hung up with AJ and sat on the bed, once again looking down at the diary I was holding. Why on earth would she say something like that? If someone was reading this, she was dead. That seems a bit on the extreme side. I randomly opened to the middle of the book, hoping maybe I’d find some answers but the page I turned to was blank… as was the one before that and the one before that etc…
It appeared that she didn’t get very far in this diary, so I went to the beginning and finally found an entry.
It’s funny how paranoid everyone around here thinks I am. If they only knew why! I wish I could tell someone. Lord knows more than anything I want to be able to talk about what happened, but I just can’t. So for now, writing in this thing is my only outlet and even doing that…
She ended it abruptly.
The next page there was just a tiny bit more.
This is ridiculous. I feel like I’m always being watched nowadays. I am in way over my head and I don’t know what to do! I wish someone would help me out! I KNEW I should have left when I had the chance. Packed a bag and left in the middle of the night, never looking back. I just couldn’t do it though. I couldn’t leave him behind. He meant too much to me! So here I stay, and I know by doing that I’ve just sealed my fate. But you know what? It’ll all be worth it as long as the truth comes out in the end…
I hate my life!
I felt so bad for her. She sounded so anxious she actually made me feel anxious. What was so horrible that she felt like she was doomed? What happened? Maybe I should venture back down to the basement. Maybe that little room holds the answers. Or maybe I was holding the answer right in my hands.
I forced myself to open up to another entry.
I found an old script the other day. When I read it and looked at myself on the cover I just about balled my eyes out. That life seems so far away from me now. To think, when I was a child I could have been happy. I don’t recall being happy really, but back then it seemed like I was. I never thought about the things I think about now. I want that time in my life back. I’d do anything for it to come back.
I can’t believe I have thrown everything away!
All her entries were short, followed by scribbles and doodles underneath. She was quite the good artist. She had a lot of talent but was still unhappy.
“Like me.”
That thought made me close the book and just sit there for a second. Once again that feeling of sadness crept up on me without even a hint that it was going to happen. I hated feeling this way, but I found myself doing it more and more. Everything would be fine and dandy until suddenly, thoughts started flowing through my head. It really started happening when my siblings moved into that house with me. They forced me to remember things I had wanted to forget. Details of my life from when I was a kid, how unhappy we all were and how much we used to live in fear of my parents and their fighting had been just a hazy memory. Now it felt so real, that I could almost hear them in the room next to this one.
Wait!
I looked up slowly because I was hearing arguing in the room next to this one. That’s when it occurred to me how wrong I was about them being gone. They weren’t gone, they hadn’t just disappeared, and they were in that secret room in the closet. That’s why I couldn’t hear them before. They were up there looking around. Now, they were no longer upstairs but in the room right next to mine and they sounded mad. I couldn’t make out what was being said but they were fighting it sounded like. Two voices, both male. I instantly stood up; looking for a place to hide but there was nowhere to go. Of course this is when they decided to leave that room and walk towards this one. Panicking, the only thing I could think of to do was drop to the ground and lay low on the side of the bed that wasn’t facing them. If I was a little smaller I could have just crawled under there but I didn’t fit.
I managed to duck down just as they entered. “I was so sure it’d be up there! That’s where he said it was.”
“Well what the fuck do we do now? It’s not like we can come back anytime soon.”
“Maybe we just looked in the wrong place.”
“We covered that entire room dude; it’s not like its huge or anything. Maybe he just forgot… I mean he’s old.”
“I don’t think you just forget things like that!”
“Whatever, we need to get out of here before the owner comes back.”
They sounded young, maybe my age even, perhaps a little older than that but it was hard to tell. They did sound alarmed that they couldn’t find what they were looking for though. It just proved that there was something buried in this house just waiting to be found.
“Maybe he had the wrong room, maybe it’s in here?”
“He said the secret room. There’s no secret room in here dumbass!”
I closed my eyes, afraid to breathe as they both made their way farther into the room. All it would take was one of them walking about another foot and then I’d be seen. God, why couldn’t I be smaller? If I survive this, I promise to go on a diet so next time I am trapped in a girl’s room in a creepy house when two men are invading it, I’ll be able to hide under the bed.
The floor boards creaked once more as they walked a little further inside. I heard one of them grab for something on the dresser right by the door. “Parker we need to go…” The other one said, sounding impatient.
“I know…I can’t believe we didn’t find it!”
“Let’s go!”
Finally they both walked out of the room and headed down the steps. When I was sure they were a safe distance away, I allowed myself to sit up. Taking a few deep breaths and trying to calm myself down I stood up and walked slowly towards the door. I wasn’t sure if they were gone or not. Once again the talking had stopped but I wasn’t about to go downstairs and risk being caught so I just kind of sat on the bed and waited.
Maybe I wasn’t cut out for being a detective in the first place. Maybe I would just drop this entirely. Forget this woman ever existed because what business was this of mine anyway? I mean let’s think about this for a second, did I like it when other people got into my business? No, so why should I be snooping around in this person’s private life?
I decided this was it; I was just going to drop it all and forget that Belle even existed. I nodded at myself and my grown up decision just as my phone rang.
“What the hell was that?” I heard from downstairs.
This was not good at all!
I bent down to pick it up, as it had fallen out of my pocket when I felt a burning sensation on the back of my head.
Then blissful darkness.
