The Good-For-Nothing Society | Completed

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Stan, Grace, Elijah and I, sit in the car in silence. The boys are on full alert, ready and waiting to attack. Grace is pressed against me tightly, for comfort I think. Stan drives. To anyone else we probably look like a bunch of teenagers ditching school for a fun day out, which is so far from the truth it would almost be funny, if we weren't putting our lives at risk.

I watch London whizz by. It feels like a lifetime ago I was here. That girl had no idea of this world. That girl had no idea of the secrets her parents held, how well she had been trained, who she was. You know the phrase 'ignorance is bliss'? I'm living proof of that.

Even now, we have a name for the organisation that took me; C.O.A, led by Robert Snider, with his son Daniel at his evil side. Daniel, the seventeen year old who shot my mum right in front of me, then kidnapped and tortured me. I'd hate to imagine what his childhood was like; the path he's been forced down. I appreciate the life my parents had tried to give me, a normal one. They did what they did out of love.

It's still led me here though, shoved into a Ford Focus with two trainees and one professional operative. Despite my parents protections, despite their wants; I got sucked in anyway. I became one of them and dad must of known I would, otherwise why train me to the calibre he did? Why bother pretend I'm taking self defence classes with a combat master? If he never thought this is the way life would pave me, why prepare me for it?

"It's the house on the left," I say.

"Wa know," Elijah says softly. "We've been here before."

"Right." I nod.

Stan drives straight past and pulls over further down, stopping so we still have a clear shot at it. I don't know what I thought, that it would be some run down and deserted swamp by now, the door kicked in and the windows boarded up. But it looks exactly the same as I remember. It almost looks cleaner, as though someone has been taking the time to look after it.

We sit in the car, staring at it. Waiting. Clouds have started brewing, the sky dark, winds picking up. Not unusual for England this time of year, but it feels very foreboding as we sit there, staring at my empty childhood home.

"Perimeter sweep," Stanley says, opening his door.

I know patience is something we must master and yada, yada, yada but, well, it's never been my forte. I get out and make a beeline straight for the front door.

"Amelia," Stan hisses, but I ignore him. Elijah will be hot on my heels anyway.

I don't pause as I walk along the pavement, nor when I reach my gate. I march up to the familiar blue door and shove my key into the lock, not hiding my surprise when it turns and clicks open.

I push the door, letting it creak to a halt and stare down the hallway, that for the longest part of my life, was my safest space. It's a little dusty, not enough for a house that hasn't been lived in for a year, but definitely enough to show us it's been untouched for a while. I reach my hand to the right and flick a switch on, the hall is illuminated in a dim yellow glow.

"The bills are still being paid," Elijah notes, taking a step in front of me. "Let me go first-"

"No," I say, reaching out a hand to stop him. "I know this place best, I can get around the entire house without creaking a single floorboard. I'll go first, you can follow."

He doesn't argue with me because he knows I'm right, he's not happy about it though. I won't waste time looking in places that I know won't have any meaning. I head upstairs, straight for dads office.

Elijah's footing is exactly the same as my own, we're like to cats in the night as we slip through. If there's anyone here they're going to be unpleasantly surprised by our sudden appearance.