Carnal

Chapter Three - Aren't We All

'I'm assuming you want me to cover for you while you stay here,' he signed, shaking his head.

I nodded.

'I don't like this,' he signed.

I sat down on his bed as he purchased his plane ticket.

There's no backing out of this now.

I waited until everyone had gone to bed to go up to the attic. I turned on the lightbulb that hung over the musty room and looked around.

I was looking for anything that would give me an idea of what my grandfather could have been involved in.

I couldn't stop thinking about the things the stranger had said. He seemed to think this could be due to something that my grandfather had brought upon himself. I just couldn't imagine my grandfather, the man who had practically raised me, being involved in something that would require faking his own death.

I searched through countless cardboard boxes looking for something that stuck out to me as unusual but I couldn't find anything.

My intuition was screaming to grab the books on the shelf that I had picked up earlier the day before. I looked over at the shelf warily. There was no way my grandfather's old books would be any help in finding him.

I shook off the feeling and went back to searching.

I found a few things such as old journals and calendars that I put into an empty box. Before I left the attic, I grabbed the books off the shelf and stuffed them into the box. I told myself it wasn't a big deal. If the men asked why I brought the books, I would tell them it was for joy reading.

I went downstairs and found all of my grandfather's financial statements and health records in the folders my mom had stored away. Knowing she would eventually notice they were missing, I put them into the box as well.

I tucked the box under my bed and packed my suitcase quietly.

Closing my eyes, I prayed for the few hours I had before the men arrived to be filled with sleep. Sleep didn't come, however, and I laid in the bed and turned the situation over in my mind for hours.

I heard my bedroom door open and I turned over to see Zak standing in the doorway. He nodded for me to follow him and I rolled out of the bed and grabbed my things before going downstairs.

My mom and dad were waiting for us, still dressed in their nightclothes.

"Goodbye," she said, hugging Zak and I.

We hugged her and my dad before watching them go back upstairs to their room to go back to bed. It was only four forty-five in the morning, I didn't blame them.

Zak grabbed his things as I put my coat on.

I stood by the front door, looking down at my watch.

They should be here any minute, I thought.

Zak's plane was leaving at seven that morning and he needed to leave, but he couldn't leave until I did. The last thing I needed was my mom or dad to come back downstairs and see me still standing there.

I heard the gravel on the driveway slide and I looked out the window to see a black SUV pull into the very edge of the driveway with its headlights turned off.

I turned to see Zak staring at the vehicle warily.

'That's them,' I signed.

I grabbed my suitcase and the box and carried them outside. Snow still coated the ground and my breath froze in the air in front of me.