Larceny

24

Bruno's POV 

The quiet confirmation beep of the correct door code sounds, I look at my door. Michael steps in. I lift my chin to him and he secures the door before walking over to me. I shift in my seat and press my back against the window as I sit on the ledge. Michael joins be on the opposite side. 

"What did you find?"

"I went to El's room last night and went through some of her things," I say unzipping my backpack. I pull out the picture and the calender. "There's more for me to tell you than show you, Mike." I hand my finds to him. He looks at the calender first, flipping through each month carefully. 

"These symbols," he says without taking his eyes away from the pages.

"I know, I have no idea what they mean; I searched for a key but I couldn't find one."

"I don't know any of them either." He sets the calender aside and looks at the back of the picture; he turns it over. "Her family." 

"Yeah," I say looking out into the blank darkness outside. I look at him and he points to Mr. & Mrs. Rossmore. "They must be her parents."

"They are," I say halfheartedly "That's just the thing though, when I went through her things I found a baby photo of her...she's adopted." 

"Somehow, I figured as much; aside from the fact that they are a different ethnicity, she doesn't talk about her parents. She has never said much to me about them. I don't think she was very close to them." 

"Check out the lady on the far right."

"That's Chaska," Michael says almost immediately. "When I send for supplies or information Elinea often asks me to have my contact check on her; they were close I can tell."

"Chaska?" I inquire.

"Yes. You see how she is looking at Elinea in this picture?" He points to the woman and draws her line of sight to El. I nod.

"I believe that she is the woman who raised Elinea. She seeks comfort in pictures and information about Chaska.

"Raised by her...really?"

"That's my best guess. Judging by the way her family seems to be set, her parents seems like the wealthy-socialite type that have to have people to constantly watch and raise their children. No child should be raised this way." We sit in silence for a few moments before I recall another detail from what I found.

"I also found tons of letters that she wrote like journals about how afraid she was when she first arrived but after reading a couple of them and skimming through others they just stopped. She was terrified Mike...scared out of her skin."

"I know but what I didn't know is that it was this bad. She doesn't say much and when I inquire she lets me in for a while and then shuts me out."

"She does the same to me but I'm done letter her get away with this; she has to let people in. She can't bare everything on her own."

"She likes to think that she can...and truthfully she can to some degree but none of this can be good for her." We sit in the silence on the sill; one could hear a pin drop. Michael's words and presence give me some comfort but the uneasy feeling in my stomach only grows with every minute I worry about El; what can or has already happened to her? "Time is running out," Mike says. He hands me the calender and the picture before stepping off the ledge and starting for the door. "Let me know if you find anything else. Keep me updated on her."

"I will." Just like he came, Michael slips out the door and closes it without a sound.  

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