FRAUD

CHAPTER 35.

We pause at first. Then we hear her scream again, and we take off. Following the sound through a hallway.

We get lost as she stops screaming.

She would be screaming if she's in pain and if she stops, that means she's no longer in pain, but It seems to be a bad thing.

Please wait a little longer.

I walk pass Aneesa, towards the end of the hallway, I take a left turn.

Though the house isn't that bright, but the pathway has no touch of light. I take out my phone and turn on the flashlight, and proceed forward, with Xavier and Aneesa behind me —their flashlights are also turned on.

At the end of the way is a door.

"She's in here," I mutter.

Aneesa gazes at me, and after a second of looking at her, I can tell her frights are beyond her.

I hand my phone over to her.

And I don't wait, I hit the door with the side of my body, but it won't move at all like it's locked with millions of bolts.

"Let me," Xavier insists, and I step away.

He hits it twice with the side of his body. it doesn't open but it makes a crack sound.

He sets a foot backward and marches the door with force, then the door bursts open.

He rushes in, and I and Aneesa follow behind.

When we get in, it's oddly quiet, but at least the lights are on.

We plow further and I tread on something. Looking down is one of Sam's flip-flops underneath my feet.

I set my leg aside and look around the bedroom, as I plow further.

It's black painted walls and a black tiled floor. A window covered with black ceiling-to-floor curtains facing the bed which is placed along the wall, on which Sam's pictures are plastered. And a black shelf against it, with a wide-short mirror resting on top.

My eyes skip to a pathway where a wooden chair stands in the middle, and a long rope lying on the ground beside it. The chair is facing a doorway that's covered with a shower curtain.

I Proceed to it. When I get to the rope, I squint and pick it up. I fear the image of her being strapped to the chair that I squeeze the rope tightly in a fist.

I hear someone's feet step out. I raise my head and see Walter smirking at me, his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie.

"Hi, son." He looks over my shoulder, and his smirk grows.

Then I realize Xavier and Aneesa are behind me.

I don't flinch at the sight of him, I only aim for a proper look through the little open space to the bathroom.

I don't see her, causing my legs to move me forward.

"Uh-uh." Walter brings out a gun from his hoodie and targets it to me.

It doesn't scare me, but I stop though.

Walters chuckles.
"Y'all wanna see her?" He gestures the gun around us, then he smiles.

"There she is." He shifts the curtain to the side.

As I see Sam still on the floor, my heart runs out of my chest, to God knows where. She's lying sideways, with her wet hair covering her face.

I keep staring at her with my mouth parted and my head pounding.

I hear them argue, but I don't listen as my soul and body focus on Sam, waiting for her chest to rise and fall, but it's not.