C9 A Break-in

The city passed by in a blur as Cole and I drive home in complete silence. Although he tried making his usual jokes but I had not forgiven the betrayal and so I decided to repay him by ignoring him for as long as I could which was proving quite difficult as I had a stream of questions to ask him.

Why didn't he tell me Gabby boy would be around?

Why didn't he tell me he looks scary?

Well Cole did tell me he was mysterious but I wasn't prepared for what I was introduced to

And no one informed me of his ethereal beauty!

I was almost captivated by him!

I glanced at him and opened my mouth to speak but I closed it back as I was not ready to cave in. I was supposed to be angry at him and that I was going to do but I just had a lot on the tip of my tongue that I wanted to say and not being able to was beginning to make me feel uncomfortable.

This is not the time to be stubborn girl

But just imagine I had hit Gabby boy with the shovel thinking he was a burglar, Cole deserves the silent treatment.

"You know you could just ask me whatever it is that is on your mind instead of biting your fingers off." Cole's voice snapped me out of my thoughts

Whilst I was fighting my inner thoughts, I didn't realise I had started shaking my legs again and biting my nails too in anxiety. And I didn't even notice we were at the filling station because Cole needed to refill the car's tank.

"Okay fine," I gave in. "First question: why didn't you inform me about his arrival?"

"Would you believe me if I told you I didn't know?" He asked with uncertainty

"Not in the least," I answered and I heard him sign in frustration.

He muttered a 'thank you' to the petrol pump attendant and started the car. "He hardly stays home. He's been on a business trip for over a month now and I only learnt of his arrival minutes before I picked you up."

Cole's words weren't very convincing. He was hiding something and I could sense that whatever he was hiding, he was not ready to tell me. Or maybe he wasn't hiding anything and I was just being paranoid?

Maybe I was thinking too much of everything but there was still a lot I didn't know. In the haste to get a job with a good pay, I hadn't even took my time to find out anything about who I would be working for. For what it's worth, they might be into something illegal and I could get caught up in it.

Although not satisfied with Cole's response, I decided not to push further. "What do the Ogden family really do?" I asked after a moment's deliberation.

We had never really talked in depth about the Ogden family. We talked about every other thing and even made fun of Brainard but never the Ogden family in ways we were supposed to. And although I asked questions sometimes, it was almost like Cole was avoiding such topics intentionally.

Cole managed to tear his gaze away from ahead just to give me a look that simply indicated I had asked a rather stupid question.

"You really mean to tell me that you don't know anything about the Ogden family?"

Wait, am I supposed to know them at all?

"Nope," I answered honestly.

"Not even a little bit?"

I shook my head. "Should I? Are they people of importance like celebrities or business moguls?"

Cole focused back on the road and I heard him mutter 'you're so not ready for this'. He pulled the car to a final halt in front of my apartment and faced me. "Do me a favour yeah? Take your phone and Google 'The Ogden Family' whenever you're free. I'm pretty sure whatever article you read about them will give you a little bit of insight as to who they are and what they do."

I stared at him unable to believe his words. I never thought to go on the internet to make any research about them because somehow, I believed I would find something that would give them away in Gabby boy's house. Were they really that rich and popular that articles would be written about them? What Cole said made me uncomfortable in a way further eliciting more questions in me.

The car was put into reverse and I watched as it backed away. I wondered why he couldn't just tell me about them instead of asking me to make my own research. Dave seemed to know about them too but no matter how many times I asked or threatened him to tell me what he knew, it never worked. He would either ignore me or tell me to quit working for them.

I strided to my apartment but stopped in my tracks when I noticed the front door I had locked that afternoon when leaving for work was now slightly opened.

This raised suspicion in me because no one should be home yet. Esther had gone to school or her exams and Cole told me he would be working late so it must be a..........burglar and this time, a real one.

Well today isn't really favourable to me now, is it?

Removing my shoes and holding them in my hands, I stealthily made my way to the door making sure my footsteps were lighter than feathers, and with considerable caution, I pushed it slightly farther open enough to accommodate my head. I slid my head in and took a peep inside but I met the parlour in order—not a single thing was displaced yet my heart thumped within me.

There was something in the air and it made fear grip me. I opened the door ajar—in case I would need to make a run for it—and entered still making sure my actions were inaudible. On normal days, I would head to the fridge first but that day, something compelled me to go to my room first and I did.

The horror that welcomed me as soon as I opened the door rendered me frozen in place and speechless; the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and my mouth went dry. For seconds I couldn't move a muscle because all I could do was just stare at the space that used to be my room and try to comprehend what had happened.

The whole room was completely turned upside down. My clothes were scattered all over with pockets turned inside out; mattress was out of its' frame and on the floor; my skincare, hair care and makeup products were also all over the place and my curtains were completely torn down. The room was in an unrecognisable state but the strangest thing was, nothing valuable seemed to be stolen or missing because the few types of jewellery I managed to own were also scattered around including the cash I had kept in a safe.

Without entering the room, I turned around and ran to Esther's room but only to find it untouched; I headed to Dave's room but found it locked as usual.

So it was only my room that was targeted

Slowly, I walked back to my room and entered to fully survey the depths of the damaged done but something else caught my eyes—something that sent a wave of complete fear in its most unadulterated form over me. Heart pounding in my ears, I wanted to scream but couldn't find my voice. I wanted to run to safety, but my feet were unwilling to move. I wasn't afraid—no, not at all, what I felt was beyond what mere words could qualify.

Recovering from my frozen state, I managed to take a small step back, then two, then three. I made an attempt to run out of the room but ran into something solid at the entrance and came crashing down on my butt.

"Need a hand"? Cole asked as he stretched forth an arm towards me with a bat in the other hand. Although confused by his presence, without questions, I gratefully accepted the hand and he pulled me up.

"What are you doing here Cole? I thought you left".

"I did leave but you left your phone in the car and I came to return it," he explained as he brought the phone out of his pocket and gave it to me. He saw me eyeing the bat in his hand with a questioning eyebrow raised. "Oh this? I was surprised when I saw the front door was opened and thought something bad had happened so I went to get this," he raised it in the air, "to defend you and me if need be but I don't think it'll be needed again as I see you're okay,' he further explained.

I gave him a sceptical look because I didn't totally buy what he had just said but I decided to let it slide since I had more on my hands at that time. Besides, his presence had a kind of consoling feel to it that I couldn't quite explain and I felt somewhat safe which was comforting.

"And what happened to your room? It looks horrible and you look like you had just seen a ghost," he pointed out as he took in the state of my room.

I know right

I took another look at the state of my room and yep, it was horrible like Cole said. "I think someone broke in, well that was what I thought until I saw that" I pointed to the mirror that sat across where my bed used to be.

Raising a confused brow, his eyes followed my hands and I saw his eyes widened in horror when he read the words boldly written in fresh blood on my mirror:

SURPRISE!!

WE FOUND YOU!