The Intruders

Chapter Twenty

I DREAM OF R that night. Being reunited with his father. The look on Dorian's face when he comes to know the truth that his son, his Ronan is still alive, and looks the image of him. Half of me wonders what Marissa would've been like, as a mother. I don't even think I've seen a proper photo or portrait of her. The other half of me wonders who Veronica's mother is. It isn't Marissa, I know that much. Veronica never talks about her mother. There's nothing, nowhere to say who Veronica's mother is; or what her fate is.

I don't know what time it is when I wake up. All I know is that it is early, there is no sun, just grey clouds. Still no storm yet. There is no one on the streets of Saxet. No trains, I don't even think the generator is on yet.

I climb out of bed, heading to Veronica's office, wanting to get the surreal 180 view of Saxet and the Old City in the early morning. But when I enter, I see Veronica at her desk.

She's flipping through papers, with a stack next to her as thick as my head. She stops when she realises I'm there, and looks up to me. She's dressed in a purple dress with a large purple stone on each shoulder.

"What time is it?" I ask.

"Five am." She puts her pen down. "Why?"

"Why you awake at this time?" I ask her. She folds her arms on her papers.

"I could ask you the same question. I have a busy day." She says and returns back to her papers. "You're getting the cast off at nine. Go back to bed." I nod my head and do as I'm told. I walk back to my room, and slip in. But then I open the door again.

I tiptoe into the hallway, and try every door on the corridor. Some are still locked, and I don't know what's behind them, but to my surprise, one of them is open.

I push the door open slightly, poking my head in. It's a bedroom, with white sheer curtains pulled across the windows. There is a bed in the middle of the room, the white sheets dishevelled. The headboard has a large silver V, with blue crystals surrounding it. I've hit the jackpot; I've found Veronica's room.

There are wardrobes around the room, probably to store all her dresses. And a small but elegant crystal chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. Her floor is not wooden like everywhere else or glass, it is white carpet, and there is a silk robe on the floor, and slippers next to them.

I silently cheer to myself and close the door. I rush back to my room, and grab Dorian's file. I read everything I needed to know last night. I go back to Veronica's room and lift up one of her pillows. I go to slide the file under, but that's when I see another file. I place Dorian's on the bed next to the pillows and pull the other file out.

It has my name on the cover. The edges of my file are worn, like she reads it every night, and there are slips of paper stuffed in. I go to open the file, but I hear the corridor door open and close. I shove the two files under the pillow and find the nearest wardrobe, climbing on in amongst her dresses.

Her door opens, and I spot her walk in, through the slit gap in the doors of the wardrobe. She heads to a door in between two wardrobes and walks in. A couple of minutes later, a toilet flushes, a tap is ran, and she emerges heading straight to this wardrobe. But she stops.

She reaches to her bed, and then she gasps.

"How odd." She says, and I see her leave with two files. I wait until the corridor door closes, and I step out of the wardrobe, leaving the room and rushing back to R's.

***

A nurse, not my grandmother saws through my cast.

"Not every day you put a cast on one day and a week later it's coming off." She smiles. "Especially not for double breaks."