Mortalis || irwin

[ 7 ] 2014

[ 7 ] 2014 

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"I hope you're ready to celebrate you and your brother's birthday tomorrow!"

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Andrea squinted her green eyes in the dimness of the old warehouse. She and Niall had been more cautious about entering the building, out of fear that there could be more guards inside. But Harley was more distracted by what she saw to even care about being cautious. "Is that...Calum's car?" Andrea asked, voicing what Harley and Niall already knew. It was vast in the warehouse, with a lot of space, and in one corner of the whole space available were Calum's possessions. Most were covered with blue tarps, but the car was seemingly too big to cover up with anything. 

Harley nodded her head and took a step closer to the car, her hand grazing the cool black metal of the door, as though to make sure it were real. Her hand gripped the door handle and she pulled on it. To her surprise, the car was unlocked and when she climbed into the front seat, there was the familiar scent she remembered when she rode in the car with him. It was from a car freshener in the shape of a pine tree that dangled off the turn signal lever. It nearly brought tears to her eyes.

Both Niall and Andrea waited outside the car, each of them walking around the surrounding area stacked with boxes. There was also his house's furniture everywhere and Niall sat on one of the couches for a moment while they waited for Harley.

Sitting on the front passenger seat, Harley pulled down the vanity mirrors down, first the driver side one and then the passenger side one. As she pulled them down, mirror lights illuminated the dim space. When she found nothing, no new note for them, she checked the glove compartment next. 

She didn't find a note, but what she did find was equally as good in their search.

Harley let out a gasp and reached for two objects among a few tools, and food receipts. She held them in her hands and observed them as though they were foreign objects. A black iPhone and a black leather wallet with a chain attached to it. Harley clicked on the center button for his phone and it was completely dead. She didn't know how long it had been there, but she figured it had been the same amount of time that Calum had been gone. 

She set the cellphone down on the passenger seat and opened his wallet next. There were about a hundred dollars in twenties, tens, and fives. She also found his school ID which had been taken on the first week of school, a driver's liscence, and some credit cards. 

Seeing his cellphone, as well as his car and wallet abandoned that way made her worry for Calum even more. It was definitely strange for him to leave something so important like his cellphone and all his money behind. Harley could not wrap the thought around her head that he could possibly believe he could survive with no money and no communication with the people he cared about.

If she had to point fingers at people, she also found it highly likely that his uncle had everything to do with it. She remembered once, when Calum's parents were killed, that she heard his uncle complain that all the money, and the properties should have been his. 

He resented Calum, and probably the rest of his family because they had inherited everything.

Harley didn't doubt that Calum's disappearance could benefit him.

She climbed out of the car, with the cellphone and wallet in hand, and shut the car door that made an echo in the mostly empty space of the warehouse. 

"What have you got there?" Niall wondered. He was sat on the couch eating a chocolate bar while Andrea snooped in some of the boxes nearby. 

"Its Calum's phone, and his wallet." She responded, adding, "All his money is in here."