Unmarked

Part XIII

I am getting really tired of my life of plot twists and betrayal. I sit up to find Asher sitting on the arm of the other side of the couch that I was lying on and Corin sitting on the floor next to me. Jaime walks up and holds something out to me, and it takes me a moment to figure out that it's a water bottle. He seems really worried, "Do you need a drink?"

I take the water bottle and gulp it down. Lance walks into the room, "I heard you were up. Are you hungry?"

At that my stomach growls. He laughs, "I guess that answers my question."

I look to Corin, "My head doesn't hurt. Did someone catch me before I hit the floor?"

Corin pointed to Jaime and said, "He did. I had no idea that Jaime had ninja reflexes!"

Jaime just grinned and said, "Asher was a clumsy child, I saved her from several trips down the stairs when she was little."

At that, Asher just crossed her arms and sulked while Jaime smirked. Lance came back and dropped two pieces of leftover pizza into my lap.

Corin clapped her hands together and stood up, "Okay, we have the next step of our plan, so let's get this party started."

Asher looked down at me, her face scrunched up with worry, "Malone, you aren't looking so good. Are you okay? Do me and Corin need to do this without you?"

I finished off my pizza and stood up. I felt my legs give out beneath me. I fell back into the couch and groaned. I try to stand again and by some miracle, I manage to do it. "No, I don't want you guys getting caught for accidentally looking in the wrong spot and somebody stumbles across you. Just give me a minute."

I heard Corin sigh; she must be worried about me. "Whatever, but don't fall over dead until we get out of the house."

I chuckle and Corin cracks a small smile.

I grab the 'breaking and entering' bag. (We seem to be making breaking the law a habit.) Asher grabs ahold of my arm. "I still think you should stay behind. I don't want you to get hurt."

I knew she wasn't talking about fainting again. They didn't want me to see my family thriving without me. I force a cheeky grin, "Too bad, sweetie. I'm along for the ride, so deal with it."

I hear both girls give loud (and obnoxious) sighs. Asher and Corin stomp around The Beauty, gathering up anything we might need for our illegal behavior. After their mini temper-tantrums are done, we head out into the 10:00 AM sunshine. We have a house to rob.

Getting into my house was going to be harder than expected. I had no idea they were going to post police officers outside. I probably should have seen it coming, but I really didn't have time to think these kinds of things through. You know, with being on the lam and having my mom betraying me. We walk around the block, careful not to catch the officers' eyes. There was one on each side of the front door. There were none in the back. That was not very smart. Never mind, hard was not the word I would use to describe this robbery.

"Come on, gang; let's do this." I open the back gate slowly, it screeches like a rusty Tinman if you unlatch it too fast.

We creep up the back steps and Corin does her thing, (her illegal ick-pay ock-lay thing). The door opens without a sound and we're here. My house. The one place I never thought I would get to go back to. I stop walking and look around. It all looked exactly the same, with the papers stacked haphazardly on every available tabletop and the TV still on (Mom always forgets to turn it off when she heads to work). I don't know what I expected to see, maybe a completely different setup? I know that doesn't make sense; I've only been gone about two weeks. Corin grabs my hand and squeezes. I squeeze back to let her know I was okay. I lead them to the staircase and whisper, "You are going to have to skip stairs number two, five, and nine. They groan if you put any weight on them."

The trip up the stairs was the most stressful few minutes of my life. (And with the past events, that's saying something.) Corin almost fell and Asher had to catch her. Twice. I had no idea she was so clumsy.

I was going to have to classify us getting to the top of the stairs without SWAT breathing down our necks as a small miracle. We all took a deep breath and continued down the hallway. I led them around all the spots where the floor creaked (it was an old house) and we finally made it to my parents' bedroom. The house was completely empty. I knew it would be. It was Saturday around lunch, and my parents were creatures of habit, so I knew they were at Abramo's for Italian food. (Mom has Agnolotti and Dad has Fettucine Alfredo. They both enjoy the breadsticks.) I opened the bedroom door and went straight to the dresser. The card was in the second drawer, hidden under an '80s band t-shirt. I pull it out and hear a thump come from the guest bedroom. I freeze. No one was supposed to be here, so there were two possibilities: 1) Someone else had broken in. 2) The cops had come in to look around. I sincerely hoped it was another burglar. Who thought I would ever hope that?

They walked down the hallway, but there was something weird about it. They didn't make the floor creak, not even once. No creaks, and no one that didn't live here would know how to avoid them.

Oh, no. I am so stupid.

I turned around to find my brother watching us from the doorway. He had a smug smirk on his face, "Welcome home, sis."