Totally Opposites

Chapter 14: A Camera

Wren's POV:

We've finished eating and he's in his room playing with his Nintendo Switch. Of course, I made sure he finished his chores first as his mother asked.

I'm alone in the living room. Now's a perfect time to check out that piece of paper I found. I'm about to take that paper out when I hear Scott's voice.

"Hey, Wren." He says, walking downstairs.

"Yeah, what's up?" I say, putting the piece back and looking at him.

"I just wanted to say.." He stutters. "Thank you for taking care of me when my Mom is out."

I smile at him. "Oh. It's no problem, really. I have fun taking care of you."

He smiles and scratches the back of his head. "It's just that... I've had other babysitters before you and they always leave after the first day with me cause of my... problems.. And you haven't, so I like you."

"I'd never leave you, Scott, you're the best little kid I've ever taken care of. And I like you too."

He looks over to my pocket. "What've you got there?"

I look down. "Oh, that? It's nothing, really."

"Ok, if you say so!" He hops back to his room.

I check to make sure he's out of sight and take the paper out again. I check over it.

Dear person,

I'm writing to you to ask that you stop engaging in behaviour that is making me feel stalked and uncomfortable. Your actions are intrusive and inappropriate, and they are causing me distress. Please respect my boundaries and stop following me, watching me, or otherwise engaging in behaviour that is making me feel unsafe. I do not wish to have further contact with you, and I will take drastic measures if this behaviour continues. This is your final warning.

Regards.

Piper Carson.

I read over the letter again, but I skim it this time. Mom knew who was stalking her and she was about to send a letter but she didn't. Something happened. Something that stopped her from sending the letter.

I need to know when this letter was written. If I'm correct, Mom probably wrote this on her laptop and printed it. Meaning, it might still be saved on it and I can figure out when this was made.

When she found out she was being stalked. Or at least an idea of it,

I tuck the letter away back into my shirt and go upstairs to Scott's room to check on him.

"You doing ok in here?" I ask, leaning over.

"I'm fine." He answers. But then there's a smile on his face. "You wanna play with me?"

"Sure. But I gotta go check on your sister first. I'll be back."

I go over one door to his sister Sasha's room, she's just lying in her bed, using her phone. I tried to give her dinner but she refused so I just put it in her room. The dinner was left untouched.

She spots me. "What do you want?"

Teenagers, I swear. "Just wanted to check on you.

"Well, I'm fine. You can leave." She goes back to her phone.

"I need something better than 'I'm fine.' Sasha. You haven't touched your dinner."

"I told you, I wasn't hungry then, and I'm not hungry now."

"Sasha, you have to eat. Your mother put me in charge of you."

"I'm not hungry. Leave me alone." She rolls her eyes.

"Fine, but you better eat some of your dinner before your mom comes back."

I leave her room and walk over to Scott's room, walking over to his bed, sitting on the edge.

"What are you playing?"

"Minecraft. Do you have that game?"

"Unfortunately, I don't. But I can watch you play." I say.

"Ok." He continues playing.

A few minutes later, he logs out of the game and plops down on his bed.

"I'm bored! Playing on Nintendo isn't fun anymore. It's so boring."

I chuckle. "Well, there's still time before your mom comes home, If you want we can play hide and seek?"

He gets up. "Ooh yes! That's so fun. You count, I go hide."

I ruffle his hair before he leaves the room. "1.. 2.."

I count to ten and look around everywhere for him. I know he's not in his room cause that's where I counted. So I check the other rooms. Like the kitchen. Or the bathroom. I know it's weird, but he could be hiding there. I check the basement. I search around the whole house.

Well, except for one room. Leanne's told me not to go in her room under any circumstances. But I've searched everywhere for him. So her room is left. I hesitate in opening her door. But I do it anyways. What could possibly go wrong?

I search through her room. It's almost the size of my room but a little bigger. There's a bed in the middle so I check under there and under the covers.

Just parallel to her bed, close to the door, is a huge vanity that has a tv on top. Scott's small enough to fit in some of those drawers. They're pretty huge as they're mostly cabinet shaped. So I check there, and what do you know, I find him.

"Found ya!"

"Aww. It's my turn to count." He tries to run away but I grab his arm.

"Scott, you know you're not allowed to go into your mother's room when she's not here." I give him a look.

"Yeah."

"So, why did you hide in here?"

"I don't know." He looks down at his shoes, looking sad.

"You don't have to be sad, I'm just reminding you. Promise me you won't step foot into this room without your mother."

He stays silent.

"Scott. Promise me."

"I promise."

"Ok, now go hide, this one doesn't count."

He leaves the room to hide somewhere else. I'm about to walk out the door when I realize that I didn't close the cabinet door. I turn to close it, but I see a big black box.

I don't know why, but I'm tempted to open it. So I do. Inside it, is... a camera?

It's just a camera. There's nothing bad about a camera. I feel the urge to turn it on and check through it. So I do.

I check the pictures, skipping over them as they're just photos of Scott and a random man. Probably his Dad. But I stop short when I see pictures of my Mom, with her back turned away from the camera.

I take out my phone and the memory card from the camera and connect it to my phone, thinking that I might need these later.

The download process to the camera on my phone takes a long time. But it finishes when I hear the front door opening. I quickly put the camera away and close the door. I then go to the bathroom, pretending to come out of it when Leanne spots me.

"Hey, thank you so much for taking care of my kids. Here's the money." She reaches for her wallet.

"It was no problem really. They're such sweethearts." I grab the money, trying not to give myself away. "Call me anytime, seriously."

I go downstairs to see Scott standing at the front door. "I don't want you to leave!"

His mother is behind me. "Scott, Wren has to go back to her family, but I promise the next time I need a babysitter, I'll call her."

He runs to give me a hug. "Promise you will say yes to seeing me?"

I pat his back gently. "I promise." I chuckle.