☂︎︎ HOUSE OF SHADOWS ☂︎︎ - five hargreeves

* 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊 𝙻𝚒𝚎, 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊 𝙻𝚒𝚎 *

[016]
- ☾ '☂︎︎' ☽ -

November 30, 2005

"Cass, are you sure Dad's gonna keep cash in the house, and in his office of all places?"

"It's the most secure room in the entire building. Where else would he keep it?"

"Oh, I don't know . . . maybe a bank?"

Cassidy scoffed and continued to jam a hair pin into the keyhole of her father's office door. She scowled when it stubbornly refused to be unlocked. Black shadows stretched menacingly along the hallway like outstretched claws, the stars were hidden by ominous looking clouds.

           Night did not comfort Ben Hargreeves, it only shielded the creatures and evil things lurking in the mansion under it's veil of darkness.

"I don't think he'd keep his money in the banks we keep stopping robberies in," his sister said matter-of-factly.

Ben huffed and looked around nervously, trying to quiet his heavy breathing, as if their father would pop out from around the corner if he so much as inhaled the wrong way.

This was the most rebellious thing he'd ever done in his life. Sneaking out was nothing, Pogo was well aware of the escapades the children took part in every week and promised not to say anything about it as long as he didn't catch them in the act of climbing out the window.

But in Ben's eyes robbing Reginald was the equivalent of murder, and well deserving of the death penalty. Although this mindset was almost entirely Luther's fault. To Number One, Reginald's rules were like the ten commandments, breaking one of them meant you broke them all, and if you broke them all, you were no longer deserving of Dad's love . . . not that he had any to begin with.

"What if this messes up the future or something?" Ben whimpered. "Dad says even the smallest actions have consequences that could screw up things years from now."

Cassidy rolled her eyes,"He only says that so Klaus does the dishes. I'm sure stealing ten dollars isn't going to blow up the moon."

The door clicked and swung open silently; Cassidy grinned widely and crept in, Ben following suit.

Moonlight shone through the window, illuminating the pristine office. Reginald's desk was the only object slightly less than spotless in the entire room. The majority of its surface was littered with pens, files, and papers with incomprehensible numbers and symbols written in their father's handwriting.

Ben and Cassidy scoured every inch of the room, opening cabinets, checking drawers, even flipping through the numerous books on the shelves just in the off chance that one held cash between its pages. In the end, both siblings were rewarded without so much as a penny from their search.

Ben rubbed his head and peered out from under the desk he'd just bumped it on. He watched as Cassidy stared with narrow eyes at the portrait hanging before her. It was an exact replica of the heartless man himself, painted with such detail and precision that Ben couldn't look it in the eye for longer than a few seconds.

"Geez, Cass, don't tell me you're gonna break that off the wall," he muttered. "Dad'll definitely know you were in here."

"As fun as that sounds, I can't. I think there's something behind it, maybe a room or a cubby — kinda like in that one movie we watched yesterday."

Her brother stood up and squinted at the portrait alongside her.

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?"