Alette

24: her past

T W E N T Y  -  F O U R

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Alette's POV

A loud meowing woke me up from my nap. I blinked open my eyes, rubbing them slightly as I yawned; I stretched my arms out, and opened my eyes fully, seeing Grasso kneading my stomach.

"Hi kitty, where's Reece?" I asked him, my voice full of sleep as I stroked his head. Of course my first thought was Aresius.

He meowed loudly and jumped off of me, starting to walk away. He then looked back at me, almost as if beckoning me. My eyes widened.

Did he understand me?

I giggled at the idea, and got up anyways, seeing where he was going. I stretched my body out a little more, and neatly folded the blanket and fixed the cushions on the sofa.

I started walking towards the direction that Grasso had walked; he strolled past the stairs, and the kitchen, and then out of nowhere, he hissed and ran away.

Uh...okay? Kitties really were too much.

I giggled at the cat, and looked around, still seeing no sign of Aresius. I turned around and found myself looking at a door at the end of the hall.

His office!

He had mentioned that his office was downstairs, and this was the only other room that I saw. I decided to take the chance and walked towards the door. Reaching it, I knocked softly, and waited for an answer. When I didn't hear one, I knocked again.

The house was blanketed in silence, and I didn't hear any signs of any movement.

When there was no answer, I decided to just go inside. I slowly opened the door, hearing it click as I did. I slid inside the door, not seeing Ares in the room. It was quite a big space, with a desk closer to the back, in front of the large window, and chairs in front of it. There was a small fireplace, and two soft sofa chairs on a rug in front of it. The walls were lined with built in shelves, and they were filled with books. I started at the shelf closest to me and there were a myriad of books that he had collected. There were classics, there was non-fiction, there was poetry, and books in different languages: Italian, Spanish and French.

I had somehow walked all the way over to his desk, as I was lost in looking at all of the books. Me being my clumsy self, I bumped into the side of the desk, sending a file, and a little cup of pens flying off of his desk.

"Oh darn," I grimaced, and bent over to pick the things up. I picked up all the pens first, and neatly placed them in the cup on his desk, then I bent down to pick up the file; its contents had fallen out, facing upside down. I picked up all the papers, trying not to look; it probably wasn't something I was supposed to see.

His work was top secret after all.

I arranged the papers, still upside down, and then I flipped them over to put them back into the file, but the photo on the first page my heart drop. I felt fear embrace my body so hard, that I shook. I let out an audible gasp, and tears gathered in my eyes. I dropped the papers down on the table, clutching my chest as I struggled to breathe. I felt paralyzed with fear.

How?

What was this doing here?

The door of the office bounded open, and I jumped back, hugging myself tightly.

"Alette?" Aresius stood at the door, "What are you doing he-" he stopped himself as he took notice of my teary eyes, and fear-stricken face.

"What's wrong Alette? What happened?"