𝐓.𝐇.𝐄

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔

How can anything go so wrong? How can anything from a feeling of hope turn out into a nightmare? Is there someone who keeps cursing me since I was born?

I don't know. But of one thing I am certain: we are in a tragic and disastrous mess.

Lucy and I helped him search everywhere, but the was no trace of the book. We have asked Jonathan a thousand times if he was sure he had left the book under the bed, and he kept answering that he is unsure about many things, but not about where he had hidden he book. We believed him, because we couldn't find another option.

I look up at the gray sky, prepared its thunders to shut. My feelings have never related so much to the weather: gloomy, melancholic and hopeless. I have been laying down on the floor since we have returned to our building. That is two hours ago, at four o'clock in the morning. I feel my eyes heavy and exhausted, but sleep is my last problem. We've spent five hours at Jonathan's, scattering everything more than it already was, but everything was worthless.

Once we have realized it was time wasted and none of our ideas about who may have taken it were valuable, Lucy and I decided it was better to head back to our building. I have tried to close my eyes and take at least an hour of nap, but fear and anxiety about what will happen has taken me over.

I have spent all this time, and I still do, questioning myself how can someone know about what we were doing, how did it know where the book was and that we have taken it. I have tried accusing everyone, but none of them has shown strange behaviours later.

The clock's alarm forces me to get up and to get ready for another exhausted day of work. However, I have a strange feeling that from now on something will be different, that I won't be able to live my days in tranquility. Now that someone knows what Jonathan and I have done, I fear what will happen to our — to my — own life.

I gather all the little energy left in me and I start getting ready.

The whole morning has passed just as I have thought. Silence was the only presence in the building. Lucy and I barely looked at the girls, afraid they would notice our dark circles under our eyes. However, we have noticed we weren't the only ones tired and fatigued, but Anne, too. I wanted to ask her why she is so lacked of sleep in these days, but I knew she wouldn't answer me.

My mind was too distracted from my thoughts to care about the family's discussion about the meeting, even though I was desperate to know why they seem quite anxious. Miss Ariana barely pronounced a word, with her head bowed down eating her breakfast like a child who has just been scolded. I remember her excitement, getting ready hours before the meeting, but I reckon it hasn't turned to be as she expected.

As we have tidied up the salon once they have all finished the breakfast, Miss Briana has asked me if I could look after Angel in the garden, while she was out with Mr. Brian for business affairs. They didn't want her to get too much involved about in their affairs, since she was too little, and I have agreed joyfully, delighted to spend some time with her.

"Come on! Run a bit Ave!" She yells at me chuckling.

"I have to remind you that I'm quite older than you." I respond back, breathless. I drag my legs towards the ball, kicking it I Angel's direction.

"Oh, that was an awful kick! Here, this is the right way to do it." She says proudly, taking the ball with her little hands, before letting it fall on her foot and suddenly hitting with all her power, sending it to the other side of the garden.

"Wow! You have a special skill with football." I exclaim, applauding.

Suddenly, her bright smile fades away, replaced by a sorrow expression. "I would love to become a footballer, but it's a male activity."