Entity

Chapter 8: I Spy

   I woke up from my good night's rest and, it being another day of school, get changed into a simple outfit that consists of a black t-shirt and light washed distressed skinny jeans. I slip into my black old fashioned Adidas and walk out of my unit with my sachel slung over my shoulder.

  I meet Cris and Jo at the bus stop but don't see Alex anywhere around. I ask them,

  "Hey, um, guys where's Alex? Have you seen him this morning?"

  "No, I haven't, have you Jo?" replies Cris.

  "Nah," Jo says, blowing a bubble with her blueberry gum.

  I thought about what happened the day before and what could've caused him to stay at his unit for the day. Maybe he's sick? No, that couldn't be it because he was perfectly fine yesterday. Did he oversleep? Yeah, that could be it.

  "Did Bridget visit you yesterday?" questions Jo.

  "Unfortunately, " I grumble. I don't know why I can't catch a break.  She may be one of the most popular girls at CHS but still. She shouldn't think she's the best because it's just high school. She's nobody outside of school.

  "What did she say?" Cris asks, tying her curly hair up into a bun.

  "Nothing important. Something about anger issues I think? I really wasn't paying attention."

  "Why?" Jo asks, brows furrowing in confusion.

  "Um..somebody tried to break in but I scared them off. I don't know who it was, though." I ramble nervously. I don't think I should tell them that it was Alex. It would just complicate things with him.

  "Oh."

××××

   The bus arrives soon after without a sign of Alex. I begin to get worried when he doesn't arrive at the first block. I go through the entire day thinking up excuses for Alex as to why he hadn't shown up to school.

   When I come back from school to an empty unit, which wasn't a surprise to me with Mom working often, I drop off my satchel in my bedroom and make my way to Alex's' unit. I knock on his glass door but no one answers so I try the next best thing; I twist the doorknob to find it unlocked.  I know something is definitely wrong because all of the units have automatic locking systems and if they malfunction then they go to their default lock to keep intruders out. I step inside to see if Alex is home at all.

×××××

    I wandered the unit starting on the first floor in the kitchen. I look through all of the cabinets to find nothing suspicious or stolen so I head over to the living room and look under the cushions to find only old food wrappers.

   I go up the stairs to the only other floor where the bedrooms and bathrooms are located. I look through the bathroom cabinets to find sleeping tablets, muscle rub,  and bandages. Hmm, I wonder what he would need the tablets for.

  I travel to the spare bedroom but find it empty. I make my slow journey towards his bedroom,  afraid of what I'll find.

  The door slides open, accepting my handprint, to reveal a spotless room, everything in its order. I try not to touch anything so as to disturb the cleanliness like some ninja spy. I'm surprised that his room is so organized what with him pretty much living on his own. His bed was on the left side of the room, against the wall, with a desk on the opposite side. His closet is on the side of the door. But other than that, the room is empty.

  I open his closet first to find nothing unusual except for a few boxes filled with old photographs that I didn't look too closely into, not wanting to invade his privacy. Well, what's left of it that is?
 
   I then open his desk drawers avoiding anything too personal. I find only extra pencils and paper in the first two drawers. In the last one there is a lock on it, that fortunately for me, wasn't fully locked.

  I pry the compartment open with my fingernails and examine its contents to find two old photographs, maybe 10 or 20 years old. In one photo I find two 12-year-olds holding hands, toothy grins plastered on their faces.

  What stuns me about the two kids is that they are almost exact replicas of Alex and I except younger, of course.

   I rummage in the small compartment to examine the second photo. It contains two people, a woman and a man with their arms around each other's shoulders. They seem around 20-years-old, mock serious faces being made except for the woman who is trying to hold in her laughter. They both seem to be familiar to me but I can't seem to pinpoint where I had seen them from.  I then realize that the two people are none other than Alex and I. I drop the photos into the compartment and shut it until I hear the lock click.

  At least I think it's the drawers lock. I hear footsteps coming from the first floor. I scramble around Alex's room, trying to find a hiding place that he wouldn't check. 

   I hide under the bed, all the way against the wall. I hear the footsteps closer, heavier than what Alex's usually were. I became anxious, knowing fully well that the person inside the unit was not Alex. I muffle my breathing, now noticing it's loudness. I hear the door slide open and shut. The first thing I see are men's boots. Black, army boots with the black laces tied tightly. I hear him shuffle around the room looking for something that I don't know. He then leaves the room with a folder he most likely got from one of Alex's drawers. I hear the door's lock click shut and I release the breath that I hadn't known I was holding. I crawl out of under the bed and tiptoe towards the door. I exit out and walk through the hallway and that's when I hear it. Cabinet doors opening and closing shut below me. I sprint down the stairs and out of the house as fast as I can without making a sound. I don't leave without taking a glance back at the kitchen but all I see is a figure with camouflage pants, a black sweatshirt, and black army boots tied so tight they could suffocate. There is only one thought on my mind and one thought only  as I run to my unit and it is this,

"I will never be a spy again."

A/N
QOTC (Questions Of The Chapter):

What do you guys think? Will Alma find out what Alex is hiding and will she figure out who this strange boy was and what he was doing in Alex's unit? 

Besos, Cass