She's Too Naive

Chapter 25

Stepping out of the shower and putting on a clean set of clothes felt like heaven. Towel drying my hair, I stepped back into the room that Amanda had given me. She said it was the master bedroom, which explained the bathroom connected to it, and that she would take the couch downstairs. She wanted me to have my privacy, and for that I was grateful.

After making sure my hair wasn't still dripping, I silently made my way to the door and cracked it open. When Amanda had shown me the room upstairs, I noticed multiple other doors down the hallway and figured they were other rooms. My guess was that she was running some sort of place for people to stay at. 

"Hi," a voice chirped. I opened the door a bit further, revealing a boy who was about ten years old. His mop of curly blonde hair was hanging down in his eyes, and he brushed the strands out of the way. "I'm Jayden, but most people call me Jay." He smiled, showing his crooked teeth.

"Hey buddy, what trouble are you causing now?" Cole asked, coming up the stairs. I remained a silent observer as he walked over, ruffling the young boys hair affectionately.

"Who's she," Jayden asked, pointing at me. Cole looked up from the boy and over at me, smiling gently.

"That's Ellie, she's going to be staying here too for a little while. Don't bother her too much okay?" Cole stated, crouching down so he could be eye level with the kid. "Go help Amanda set the table," He added, shooing Jayden off towards the stairs. The little boy grinned and ran off, bounding down the steps two at a time.

"Supper is ready if you're hungry," Cole said, standing up and brushing his hands on his pants.

"Okay," I replied quietly, stepping outside of the room and closing the door behind me. I followed behind Cole, the steps creaking on our way down.

Rosen was already sitting down next to Jayden, and Amanda had her spot at the head of the table. Cole took the seat across from Rosen, and I internally sighed in relief that I wouldn't have to look at him constantly the whole time.

I sat down and stared at the mashed potatoes and corn on my plate, no meat.

"When you run a place for boys to stay at, you got to save costs on food," Amanda said, noticing my staring.

"What exactly is this place?" I asked, poking at my corn.

"This is my home, and I keep it open to anyone who escaped the Def and needs to lay low for a while. Most leave and go off on their own after a few weeks, but some come back to stay every once and a while," she explained. I glanced at Rosen. He had mentioned he lived in New York for a year, so he must have lived here in her house.

"You keep saying the Def, who is that?" I questioned. Amanda set her fork down, shooting daggers at both Rosen and Cole who were doing everything they could to ignore her.

"You didn't tell her anything did you?" she sighed.

"The Def are the bad guys," Jayden bumped in, his face bright even as he said this.

"Def is short for Defaecatio which means cleansing in Latin," Amanda explained. "They are somewhat like a cult, or like a..."

"A secret organization, like the Illuminati," I said, looking over to Rosen. He looked at me guiltily. I can remember him saying he had a fascination with secret organizations one day when we were at Mr. Milkshake. Was he just saying that to hide the face that there was one looking for him?

"Exactly," Amanda nodded. "They first began as a religious group back in the early 1800s in Italy. It started with a few very religious men who had derived from the church, believing that all sources of evil in people was caused by the possession of demons,"