Cursed To Be With You

Chapter 15 (Part 3 ~ ONC #9)

"Explain to me how I am going to lose a language that I've been speaking for over twenty-eight years."

Constantino looked at me as I pushed through the back gate.

"Lucy, you're already speaking my language fluently. The only time you revert to your own language is when you hit a word that we do not speak. When you get to that word, you frown and struggle to say it. Don't you hear yourself?"

"No," I murmured.

Unlocking the back door, I pushed it open and turned on the light. The first thing that I noticed was that the clothes that were hanging on the line had been moved. They were stretched out, but it wasn't the way that I'd left them. I knew this because Constantino's shirt was still dripping and I'd moved the line so that the water could trickle into the sink.

I closed the door after Constantino, locking it as I pressed my finger to my lips. He frowned at me, not understanding why he had to be quiet. Turning out of the utility room, I made my way through the unit. Everywhere something was out of place. It was neat and orderly, but for a person that kept a clean place because she was never home, I knew that things were not right.

I'd checked every room including the cupboard in my bedroom and found nothing. The only space left was the access to the roof void. I looked at the marks on the laminate wood floor and knew that they'd even brought a ladder in to get up there.

Whoever they were, they were desperate to find something. I knew what it was and who it was so, I made my way back to the kitchen.

Constantino could see how tense I was; he pulled my hand back and gave me a frown.

"Someone has been here," I whispered.

He said nothing for a second then fear hit him.

"The box."

Giving the bottom plate a hard push, I stepped back and held my breath, fearing the worst. I wanted to sigh with relief when I saw Nelson's things still there and Constantino's box. He picked it up and put it into his jacket.

"How do you know?" He asked softly.

Opening my pantry door, I showed him the jars that were askew. In the freezer, things were not stacked neatly. The fridge was the same. Cupboards had things pushed aside, and my hamper had been gone through.

When he looked at the hamper and saw the pink shirt and the cargo shorts that he'd been wearing, he understood.

"I put them on top." Constantino murmured. "I did that after you put your clothes into it because I thought it was what you wanted after I watched you doing it."

"Now you do you understand how dangerous it is for us?"

He nodded and turned out of the bathroom. I suspect that this was Ingrid's doing and not the government, but I wasn't about to let my guard down.