Orburn is a small town with a dark secret.
One group of friends want to find out what it is.
[ status: applications closed! ]
STARTED: MARCH 24, 2019
COMPLETED: ?
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MAY 19, 1984
IN THE END, it was Bailey who decided to assist in the heist as the watchman. Jude and Ophelia had cornered him at the end of the day and swung the idea by him. He shook his head and protested the idea ("You want me to help break into the fucking Chief-of-Police's basement? Are you insane?") but after a few minutes of coaxing, and the promise of banana bread, he finally headed to Jude's place with the two girls.
Ophelia dropped her bag at the basement door as soon as they walked by the door. She unzipped it and began pulling her "tools" out of the bag. Bailey laughed as she dug out her arsenal of bobby-pins. Jude shook her head with a smile as she led Bailey out to the library.
"This room has the best view of the front of the house. If you see my dad's car you yell for me and Phe to get the hell out of the basement. Once we're out, we'll all run out the backdoor and make our way to Phe's house, got it?" she explained.
Bailey nodded. "Let you know if I see your dad pulling in and then high-tail it out of here."
Jude gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Thanks." She turned around and made her way back to the basement door. Ophelia had her bobby-pins laid out and bent straight.
"Ready to go?" she asked as she spotted Jude kneeling next to her.
"Yeah," Jude nodded, "let's do this."
Ophelia grinned before picking up a bobby-pin and jamming it into the lock. She leaned close to the door as she moved the bobby-pin around, listening intensely for a set of clicks. Jude's eyes darted between her and the library door where Bailey sat watching. She just hoped that they would have enough time to find something before her dad got home, or, in the best-case scenario, her dad would be home late again and they would have all the time they wanted to find something in the basement.
Suddenly, a quiet click sounded, and Ophelia easily twisted the knob and the door swung open. The two girls stared at the dark staircase for a moment, frozen with the uncertainty of what would be hiding below. Jude stood from her kneeling position and reached inside the doorframe for the light switch. It clicked on with hesitation, and soon the light flickered to life, illuminating the file cabinet at the end of the stairs. Ophelia grinned and stood with Jude. She held her hand to the side, and Jude grasped it. Together they took their first step down.
The basement didn't look any different. The same old filing cabinets stood against the wall. The laundry unit still sat in the cobwebbed covered corner. The stained brown couch from her parents' first apartment was still pushed up against the opposite wall next to a small bookcase full of childhood books and her father's dated academy textbooks.
The only major difference was the steel desk and chair that sat in the dim corner, a small string lamp and a pile of Manila folders sat atop it.
Ophelia looked around the room, lingering on the filing cabinets while Jude made her way to the desk right away. It was not here the last time she had been in the basement and it stuck out like a sore thumb.
