A Guide to Finding Fathers (A One Direction FanFiction)

Chapter 2

The door slammed and I opened my eyes blearily. I couldn't see the clock on my wall but I knew that it had to be around 8 o'clock if Mum had just come in. I'll tell you one thing: I did not envy my mother her 12 hour shifts at the hospital. She was on nights this month so I was home alone at night and creeping around trying not to wake her during the day. It was unfortunate that her night shift fell on the majority of the summer holidays but it was nice to just be able to read and do what I like without being bothered about it. Of course it wasn't like I saw her during term time anyway but then at least I had school to go to. Even when she was on days I still hardly saw her. She got up at five to get ready and go and wouldn't be back until half past eight in the evening when she had dinner and went to bed. She continued to crash in the kitchen, making herself breakfast before she came up so, rather than attempt to sleep through the noise (you'd have more luck sleeping through a zombie apocolypse), I dragged myself out of bed and down the hall to where Mum was. 

She smiled at me tiredly and although I hated to stress her when she had enough on her mind I brought up the man. 

"So there was a guy at the door late last night."

"Mhm"

"He asked for you."

"That's nice."

"He wanted to buy your rainbow unicorns for 40 drachma."

"Okay."

So she wasn't listening. I can't blame her but it's frustrating not knowing who he is. I knew it would bug me all day so I tried reading to take my mind off of it as soon as Mum was in bed. I was currently re-reading my old Secret Seven books which had been some of my favourite books when I was younger. They were still great books I just hadn't read them in a while. 

So I blame my next actions entirely on Enid Blyton. 

I made my way down to the lobby of the complex, a tiny meter square box that had two doors coming off it, one I had just come through that lead to the flats and another one with a plastic plaque on it that said Security. I smiled victoriously and knocked thrice. A squat man with tattoos and a dodgy haircut opened the door and leaned on the frame, sneering at me, asking what I wanted. I raised my eyebrows but stayed polite and asked to see the security tapes. He laughed in my face so I straightened up and dropped the niceties. 

"Right, idiot, I am a resident here and last night I had an unwanted stranger at my door. I want those tapes so I can find out who he is and what he wants. Do you hear?"

"You're ten, kid, what are you gonna do?"

I glowered at him as he shut the door in my face. 

"I'm twelve, actually," I muttered under my breath. "And I can do a lot more than you think." 

I pulled out my worn out phone that I had received for my last birthday and chose one of the four contacts. It rang three times before the other side was picked up and answered with a gruff greeting. 

"Hey Dora," he teased

"I will stab you in your sleep Samantha," I threatened in return. He chuckled. 

"So what did you want Theo?"

"There was some guy at my door asking for mum last night," I explained "and the death eater downstairs won't let me see the tapes. But I need to know who he was."

"So you want to know when my next shift is so you can come bug me for them." 

"Er . . . please." 

"You're in luck. I swap with Jackson in half an hour. He's probably the 'death eater' you encountered," he notified me and I could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. 

"Thanks Sam. Kick his butt for me will you?"

"See you in a bit Theo." Once we'd said goodbye I hung up the phone and clapped my hands together gleefully. Soon I'd know who that creep was and I'd track him down. As for killing him, I'd use Avada Kedavra 'cause muggles can't prove it in court. Clever, hey? 

To pass the time while I waited for the shift change at nine. I strolled out to the residents only playground and adjoining football/basketball pitch. My feet carried my straight past the climbing frame and swings to the cage where I took the ball from under the bushes and started dribbling it across the funny safety ground that is in nearly every playground. My feet moved the ball swiftly and effortlessly and after doing a couple of laps to warm up, I began to take shots, scoring every time. My mind slowly emptied as I focused solely on the round ball and the metal that made up the goal. Once I'd shot ten time with each foot, only having 90% accuracy with my right (I was practising and slowly but surely improving with my weaker leg), I moved on to basketball, now using my hands and aiming at the netted hoop situated above the football goal. 

Eventually I got bored of kicking and hitting the ball about alone and replaced it in the bushes. I scuffed my shoes on the floor then shoved my hands in my pockets and strolled back to the flat complex. As it was only ten to, I called the lift down and pressed the button for floor 2 so I could get myself a drink and something to eat: my choices being a simple bottle of water along with a packet of chocolate buttons. The buttons were a clever back-up plan: easy to share and therefore use to bribe Sam with. We were really good friends, even though he was three times my age, so I was sure he'd let me see the tapes but because of past experiences with his teasing and my preference for immediate action, I decided to bring bribes to hurry the process along. 

Fully supplied, I retraced my steps to the lift and then down to the ground floor, walking straight into who Sam had called Jackson. I smirked. 

"Hi Jackson," I grinned. His eyes widened. 

"How did you . . . ? What . . . ? How . . . ?"

"Don't worry about me. I'm only 'ten'. I can't do anything," I mocked and pushed past him to get to the corridor that led to the security room, satisfied that I had at least messed with his head a little bit. 

Samuel Kimmons was the security guard that had found me when I managed to get myself locked in one of the basement rooms (don't ask) and we had struck up a friendship pretty quickly. It was him that was waiting for me when I reached the small room. He smiled widely and I returned the expression before telling him what time I wanted to look at. 

"We'll start with the hall camera and then trace him back through the lift, then the lobby, until we get a good shot. If we're lucky we might even get a shot of his car," Sam explained. I nodded in agreement and he pulled up the first tape, fast-forwarding to just before eleven. After a few minutes of emptiness, a man with dark messy hair that looked like it needed a cut came into the shot. He was walking away from the camera so we couldn't see his face and his jeans and top looked pretty average, nothing special. My door was out of the screen so for the five minutes he talked to me you could just see his scruffy shoes in the corner.

Then he turned around and we saw his face for the first time. It was worn and tired but he looked roughly the same age as Mum: 30. Yeah, Mum was really young when she had me. I've always admired her. It can't have been easy bringing up a child alone through your twenties. I stopped the tape and offered the bag of chocolates to Sam. He grinned and took three, then printed out a screen shot of the guy. I smiled, he'd read my mind, as usual. I offered him another and he pulled up the car park camera. Mr Creep was getting into the back a fancy car with blacked out windows that pulled away at speed. I shouted and slammed my hand on the keyboard, managing to stop the video just in time to get the registration plate beofre the vehicle roared away.

Sam closed the tape and watched me closely as I sat back and thought through what I was going to do next. Once I reached I decision, I stood up and nodded to say goodbye then, still clutching the print-out, stumbled to the lift in a daze.

Word Count: 1530