DARK AND TWISTED

CHAPTER 4

We grabbed our bags and climbed up the stairs one at a time. That way, none of us would trip and embarrass ourselves in front of strangers.

We stopped in the hallway. Renee smiled and grabbed me to stand next to her.

"We need to settle the rooms," Kate put her hands on her hips. "I take Renee," she pointed at her.

"Me?" She glanced at me while squeezing my arm. "But I prefer to-"

"Renee, it's okay. She wants to share a room with you. Just go," I let her.

She hesitated at first but I nodded.

"So, I'll share a room with Hope, right?" Tessa asked.

Dan shook his head, "Why don't we share a room?"

"You pervert," she smacked him in the head. "Why would I?"

"Tessa, I'm sure Hope wants a room for herself. Plus, I think Dan feels a bit guilty for hurting her in the car," Kate explained, twirling her hair with her fingers.

"That's true. I want a room to myself," that was a half-truth, half-lie. If I didn't say that, things would get bigger and they would argue again.

Four of them went inside their rooms and I stayed outside, observing another empty room at the end. I peeked inside; it was huge that I didn't feel safe. It sounded silly but that was how I felt if I saw a huge room. I stepped back while taking some deep breaths, then Christian came from behind.

"We have an attic and transformed it into a room. You can stay there if you want."

"Really?" I always wanted a room like that when I was younger.

"Yes. You look uncomfortable with this entire sharing a room thing."

Damn, he could read my expressions. That was really rude of me to do that when he offered something nice. I stared down at my feet while fidgeting with my fingers.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it," I lowered my voice.

"It's okay. You don't have to apologize. It's normal to feel like that," he showed me the stairs to the attic. "It's all yours if you want."

I carried my bags inside and I was in awe of the beauty of it. The sunlight from the outside poured down through the window. The bed was big enough for me to put my stuff on it, which was perfect. But what was more perfect was the couch across the room. I decided to sleep on the couch rather than on the bed. Not much of a fan of beds. Strange, I'm aware of that.

I unpacked everything without wasting anytime and then I texted Maya to make sure everything was fine. I wished she could be there with me but she was busy with her jobs. She deserved some rest after working hard, too hard.

'Once you're back, we'll go eat at a fancy restaurant from the money I earn from my extra shifts.' She texted back. It had been a long time since we ate outside. Come to think of it, I didn't think we ever ate outside because it was expensive.

Suddenly, a middle-aged woman knocked on the door. I didn't realize I left it open wide. Her brown hair was tied into a ponytail. She gave me a warm smile as she peeked.

"And you must be Hope, right? I met your friends earlier. How are you settling in? Good?"

I stood up and nodded, "yes. Thanks again for letting us stay here, ma'am."

"Just call me Suzanne. I bet you must be starving. While I cook, you can go somewhere you want. It's going to take extra time to cook for 8 people."

"Any recommendations?"

"The wax museum is pretty nice. They offer special price this week." She left the room and I snatched everything I needed. Wax museum. Sounded pretty nice to me.

Zayne and Christian were sitting on the couch. Zayne was playing games on his phone while Christian focused on reading the newspaper in his grasp.

"You look like you're in a hurry? Going somewhere?" Zayne asked as he rose from his seat.

"I'm just going to the wax museum. Suzanne recommended it to me."

Christian looked up from his newspaper, "Zayne, go with her. I heard there's a lot of missing people this month and I'm not taking a chance."

Right, the missing people. He was right about it. I almost forgot about the missing people.

"That's great. I can protect you if anything happens," he snatched the keys off the key rack on the wall. "Plus, my mother told me to spend time outside more often so let's go."

"Don't wander off too far, Zayne. Be careful, Hope." Christian's voice faded as we stepped outside. Looked like this family was aware of those missing people; I felt safe with them. I read somewhere that almost 500 people went missing in two weeks and that gave me goosebumps.