The Collymore Family

Chapter 4

If you had told sixteen year old Irene that the Collymore family may not be as sweet as they seem to be, she would have gotten offended.

They are the best family in this neighbourhood, or rather were. Everybody on the street knew them for their charming personality and kind attitude towards everyone. Mr. and Mrs. Collymore were both very social in the community. Mr. Collymore is a very intelligent mechanic who is well respected in the neighbourhood, and Mrs. Collymore often volunteered at animal shelters, hospitals, and even her sister's bakery, which is now fairly popular thanks to her. This was a small town, and before they moved here, the neighbourhood barely had anything. Schools were miles away, and so were shops. Most sports clubs or arena's were even further away, making it difficult for children to develop sports hobbies and such. 

That was until the Collymore's moved in, years before Irene had been born. They made life easier for everyone, and everything seemed perfect with them. They were the ones who offered Irene a job as a babysitter to earn money for her family, which meant a lot to Irene, considering that she could not find a proper paying job that would accept her before. All of their actions were done out of the kindness of their heart, which made it hard for people not to like them. Being the Collymore's first babysitter felt like winning the lottery to Irene, if she was being honest. She loved working for them, and she loved babysitting Noella. They were a family of angels, and everything they did proved that. Nobody had doubted them. Ever.

So why was she feeling this way about them? Why did her stomach start hurting whenever she had a sudden thought of them lying? Why did every step she take in that house pain her deeply? Why did it feel like she'd betrayed them by lying, when it seemed they were betraying her? Why did it hurt so much to doubt this family? The family that had given Irene this job in the first place, the family who had helped so many. The family that felt like her own. It felt so...wrong. But what other explanation was there? She didn't want to believe what she was thinking, either. This felt like a book, like a movie plot. There was no way this could be real. Irene didn't want to believe it. She truly didn't. But the thoughts jumbled in her head, coming up with different possibilities for what truly happened. Different explanations, different solutions. But they all led back to one answer. 

Something was still wrong.

Even if this was all a huge misunderstanding, even if the Collymore family had done nothing wrong, what could explain the notes that came in from the crack of the storage room door? The three of them had checked the room just minutes ago, and they hadn't found anything. There was nobody in there. The room was too empty for them not to have spotted someone. Thinking of that led to a series of more questions. Who was sending in those notes? How were they sending them in, and what were they trying to tell her?

These were all questions Irene didn't know. She didn't understand how anybody else could be in that spacious yet empty room. The Collymore family was just three people, so why would there be a fourth person there? Who was letting this person in? There were no windows in that room, so how could they have possibly gotten in? And how were they able to hide so quickly when they checked the room? What were they trying to tell her? 

All she knew was that whoever was sending these letters was a human, and they were for sure not Noella. The only two things she had gotten out of them was a name, Angel, and a message, "Don't trust them." She didn't get what it meant. Don't trust who? Noella? Mr. Collymore? Mrs. Collymore? Herself? The person who sent this note? Another person she knew? There were so many possibilities, heck, it could be her own mother. The note was so ominous, she didn't understand anything. It made absolutely no sense to Irene, but there was no point in trying to figure it out. Each time she tried to answer a question, another one came into her head. And as she tried to figure out that one, more and more questions came to her head. It was giving her a huge headache, and making her think more about it made her want to throw up. Never had she felt so confused and unsafe in a place she used to feel comfort and warmth in.