A True Loves Hard Drive.
I was being shoved deeper and deeper into the mosh pit. I was sweating and hot tears threatened to escape my eyes. Every time I tried to escape this crowd, I was shoved right back in. As I made another attempt to break away someone ran into me, knocking me off my balance. Just before I could get trampled, someone grabbed onto my wrist and dragged me out of the cramped crowd. The person held tight, and I was unable to break free. They dragged me near an almost empty corner of the room.
“Amie, are you ok? Amie?” Matt asked, still clamping onto my wrist.
“Yea- Yea, Thanks Matt,” I said, now turning my head to look him in the eyes.
“I need you to focus, ok? Can you do that?” He looked at me, now letting my wrist go.
“Yes, I can. Sorry. Let's get back to work,” I whipped a tear from my eye as I walked past him.
I made my way to the stairs in the house, slipping past people. Matt, my coworker, was following close behind. I turned around to make sure we hadn’t been separated, only to be met with the chest of someone and the gagging stench of alcohol. Before I even had a chance to apologize to the boy, he grabbed my wrist and yelled, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I was just making sure my friend was still behind me. Can you let go?” I said firmly, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of my fear.
“You should be a bit more careful, you know?” He drunkenly spat out, still holding my wrist.
“I said, could you please let me go?” I firmly stated once again. I slightly tugged at his grip and to this he became more angry.
“Oh, you’re not going anywhere with that attitude.” He laughed.
“She said, let her go.” Matt said in a calm tone as he came from behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders. At his touch, chills shot down my spine.
“Who are you, her dad?” He laughed. This slight confrontation was now gaining attention as people started to notice what was going on. Soon enough, the crowd would form the sterotypical circle around us.
“Look, we’re not trying to start anything. You just need to let go and you won’t get hurt.” Matt said, not showing a slight tint of anger. His hold on me was still firm.
“OH, NOW YOU’RE THREATENING ME?” The teenager yelled. Startled at his sudden outrage, I flinched and Matt gave me a reasurring squeeze.
“I need you to let go.” Matt said back, still calm. On the other hand, I was anything but calm. Although I made sure I didn’t show it.
“Make me.” The teenager said in a mocking tone as he yanked on my arm, catching Matt off guard. The teenager grabbed my other wrist, pulling me close to him while I struggled to get free. It didn’t take Matt long to spring into action. He swiftly punched the drunk teen in the nose. The teenager let me go and writhed in pain. Matt put his arm around my waist and guided me from the situation. Once we'd left the confrontation, we continued on our way to the stairs.
As I made my way up the steps I noticed that the 2nd floor was empty. It was one big room that had 4 doors in it. 2 on the left, another 2 on the right. I checked the rooms to the right, and Matt checked the ones to the left. I looked inside one of the rooms, and to my dismay, it was just a small closet. Inside were a few brooms and regular household items. I closed it and went onto the next door. Inside that room was a bathroom and as I was searching it, Matt called out from one of the rooms. I swiftly made my way over.
“Hey, what’s up?” I said as I reached the room.
“I think it’s this room, close the door.” Matt said in a hushed tone. I noticed he had his mask on now and his hood up. I realized he was standing over me, covering me from something. I peeked around his shoulder and saw a camera in the corner of the room. I put my mask on and my hood up as well.
“Can it hear what we’re saying?” I whispered as I closed the door.
“I’m not sure, but it’s the only camera I’ve seen in the house. We can’t smash it, so let's hope this hidden room has the control center for the cameras so we can delete this footage. Did you see any in those other rooms?” Matt asked.
“No, I haven’t seen any other than a few outside,” I said, “does anything else make this room different?”
He nodded and motioned for me to follow him. He walked over to the bookcase in the bedroom and grabbed one side, and pulled on it. It did not slide out of place, but instead slid a few inches and then jolted back into position. It had to be on some kind of track, like a sliding door.
“How’d you even figure that out?” I whispered.
“Cmon, who has a random book case in their bedroom?” Matt answered.
“Rich people, I don't know,” I said sarcastically, “have you tried pulling a book to see if it opens like in the movies?”
“Yes, you can rest assured that every book has been pulled.” He scoffed.
“Ok, well there has to be some kind of remote or button somewhere.” I scanned the room.
“Oh, you dont think?” Matt mocked me.
“Ha ha, very funny Matt.” I whispered. I checked inside pillow cases, under the desk, under the mattress, everywhere. I just couldn’t find anything. We spent about 7 minutes searching until I noticed that the carpet in the corner of the room slightly lifted up.
“Rookie mistake.” I whispered under my breath as I made my way over to the corner of the bedroom. I lifted up the carpet to reveal a small remote sitting there. I picked it up and dangled it in the air to show Matt who was already standing over me.
“Good eye.” He smiled with his eyes.
“Thanks.” I stood up and walked past him. I pressed the button at the top of the remote and the carpet next to the book shelf lifted up to reveal a sliding track. I pressed it again and the book case opened. Matt motioned for formation.
We both took our places at the sides of the opening and he drew his gun. I, however, did not have one with me. Only one was required for this mission. So, instead, I reached for the knife in my back pocket, my hand hovering over it.
“1, 2, 3.” Matt mouthed and then dove into the room pointing his gun in the air. He was silent and then said, “It’s clear,” He then took one hand off his gun and put it to his ear, towards the earpiece that lined the outside of his ear and wove its way inside. The same as mine. I heard a click in mine as he pressed down and then his voice echoed, “Concealed location located in master bedroom, 2nd floor, 2nd door on the left.”
I made my way into the room and saw a desk with 3 monitors and a keyboard sitting on it. Upon further inspection, I noticed a bookshelf lined the back wall of the room. We knew that there was a secret room in this house and already had assigned things to look for. I was looking for a hidden hard drive. Matt walked toward the desk as I went straight for the shelves.
I ran my hand along the books, noticing the shelf was full of guides to home security. I crouched down and scanned the bottom shelf, which was full of the same genre. Every shelf was lined with books of the same genre. I stood up and stepped back.
“You don’t think it's behind the books, do you?” I turned to see Matt spun around in his chair, leaning back comfortably.
“Already done?” I said, turning back to study the book shelf. I took his suggestion, but noticed all the books were pressed firmly against the back of the case.
“Surprisingly easy, actually.” he scoffed.
As I glazed over the book titles, I noticed one. “A Farmer's Guide to Gardening.” I said aloud. I reached for the book and opened it. All the pages were accounted for, and nothing was hollowed out. It was a hardback book, with a leather cover that seemed to be handmade. I scanned the pages, confused. This was the only out of place book, the hard drive had to be in here?
I heard Matt's footsteps approaching from behind me, stopping close. He reached for the book, still behind me. I spun on my heel, facing him. I handed him the book and took a step back to create more space. In doing this I ran into the book shelf, sending a few books crashing down. Matt grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his chest, quickly spinning around to avoid the avalanche of books. “Shit.” He muttered under his breath.
He released me and we knew now that our time was cut short. I hastily bent down to pick up the fallen books, Matt copying my actions. I put four books back in their place, and bent down to grab more and caught a glimpse of a bump underneath the desk. I made my way to the desk and bent underneath it.
“Score!” I whispered, “Hard drive located,” I said into my earpiece. Tapped underneath the desk was a hard drive. I grabbed it and carefully replaced it with a decoy.
“Good eye.” Matt whispered as he took my hand to help me up. We swiftly walked out of the room as I tucked the hard drive in my pocket. I strode to the door and reached for the handle but stopped abruptly as I heard multiple footsteps approaching. Matt heard them too and grabbed my hoodie, pulling me towards him. He spun me around and gently placed me against the wall. He took off his mask and mine, then shoved them into his pocket. “Just go along with it.” He placed his hand underneath my chin and leaned in. He kissed me, and I froze in shock. He pulled back and leaned into my ear, “Natural, Amie. I don’t have time for this.” Knocking me out of my state of shock, he leaned in for more. I kissed him back this time, grabbing his hoodie strings and pulling him closer. His hand moved from my chin to the back of my head, his fingers weaving through my hair.
As the door abruptly opened I heard a chorus of teenage boys laughter as one of the guys made a barfing sound. There were 5 of them, great.
“Party is downstairs only,” The boy who’d opened the door said. At this, Matt moved his hand from the wall down to mine. He backed up and I released his hoodie strings. He led me past the laughing boys and down the stairs, where the crowd of people seemed to have doubled.
“Did you delete that footage?” I asked in a hushed tone as we made our way out.
“Mhm, it’s all gone.” he replied, not letting my hand go as opened the back sliding glass door. The door led to an empty backyard with a pool in the middle, lined with gray concrete. The backyard was encased with a dark privacy fence with no gate.
“We’ll have to jump it.” Matt let go of my hand and started walking towards the fence. He stopped beneath it and grabbed the top. He pulled himself on top, stopping and holding his hand out for me. I rolled my eyes and walked over to a trash can that sat a yard away. I knocked it over and stood on top, bounding over the wall and landed smoothly. Matt jumped down after me with a dramatic eye roll, clearly mocking mine, when I glanced at him.
We walked down the back street through the dim light. There were no lights brightening the road, so we walked blindly making out a few details with house lights.
“You didn’t bring a flashlight?” I asked.
“I don’t want the neighbors calling cops on us. 2 teenagers walking down the street with their hoods up doesn’t look very good.” He responded.
We walked down to the end of the street, reading the green street sign. “Hastings Avenue,” Matt said into his earpiece. This time a voice responded. It was Isabell.
“Jeremiah is on his way to pick you guys up. He doesn’t have headlights on.” She responded, “By the way, you clicked Amie’s earpiece on during your little makeout sesh. So turn it off Amie.”
I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment and I quickly clicked mine off as Matt laughed at me.
“Not funny.” I crossed my arms, looking away from him.
“No, that’s pretty funny.” He tried to conceal his laughter, but was unsuccessful.
At that moment a stereotypical white van creeped down the road and slowly came to a stop next to us. Matt, still laughing, reached for the handle but I smacked his hand away.
“Our vans are black.” I whispered to him. The driver rolled down the window and shouted, “C'mon guys, I’m your chauffeur from the ISAS. Don’t worry.”
It was not Jeremy.
“Yea, One second.” Matt cheerfully spat back. He then reached for his earpiece. “Is Jeremy close?” he echoed.
“No, Why? What’s going on?” Isabell responded in a confused tone.
“White van, says he’s an ISAS chauffeur. Tell Jeremy not to come here, we’ll figure out a way home.” he whispered.
At his words my eyes widened. “What?” I muttered.
“Ok, update me when you guys are safe.” Isabell responded.
“Copy that.” Matt said louder this time, “Hey, we actually have another mission to get to. It’s just down the street so don’t worry about it.”
“Oh, It’s ok. You guys are probably tired, just let me drive you.” The driver smiled.
“It’s fine, we always work long hours so we’re used to it.” Matt quickly grabbed my hand and speed walked past the van, purposefully so it couldn’t do a U-turn and follow us. The ‘chauffeur’ rolled up his window and drove forward.
As we walked, Matt let go of my hand and pulled up my hoodie. “Let's try to avoid being seen. By anyone.” he smiled.
“Probably for the best, but where are we even going?” I asked, returning his bright smile with a worried one.
“I have a friend who lives nearby, we can stay there for the night.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
“Yea, that sounds good. We won’t be intruding, will we?” I asked, turning my head to face him.
“No, we shouldn’t be.” He responded with a reassuring smile.
. ° • : ' • 30 minutes later • ' : • ° .
“Hey, Matt?” a tall man with shaggy blonde hair opened the door, “who’s this?”
“Elijah, this is Amie. Amie, this is Elijah. His mom is a good friend of my dads.” Matt said, gesturing to Elijah.
“What’re you guys doing here?” Elijah asked, leaning against the door frame.
“We were out and my tire popped a few blocks over. I had to get my car towed and I was wondering if we could stay the night. If it’s not a bother?” Matt lied.
“No, not at all. Come in!” A girl emerged from the darkness behind Elijah, “Hey Matt!”
“Hi, Andie.” Matt grabbed my hand and led me inside as Andie led us to the living room, Elijah following close behind.
“So, is this your girlfriend?” Andie asked as she took a seat on the couch, gesturing for us to have a seat as well.
“Oh, no, we’re just friends.” Matt glanced at me as I sat down next to him on the couch.
“Oh, I never would’ve guessed. You guys would look cute together though.” Andie giggled.
“Andie.” Elijah rolled his eyes as he sat down on the arm chair opposite of hers. Now, seeing them side by side I could see their similarities. They both had blonde hair and the same sharp jawline. Andie has a button nose and chocolate brown eyes, mirroring her brother.
“Well, you guys look tired. I know I am! I’ll show you guys to the guest room. I hope you don’t mind sharing.” Andie smiled, waving at us to follow her, “And you can borrow my clothes.” she pointed at me.
“Thank you.” I smiled at her.
We left Matt while he went to get changed into some old clothes that belonged to Elijah while I followed Andie to her room.
“So, what were you and Matt doing out so late?” she said, rummaging through her closet.
“Oh, he picked me up from my moms. I was visiting her for the weekend.” I lied.
“I see, Matt has always been really generous like that.” She smiled.
"How do you guys know him?" I asked.
"Our Mom works for Matt's Dad at the law firm," She explained.
"You mean the one his Dad founded?" I tilted my head to see what she was digging through.
"No, the one down the street," she said sarcastically, as she handed me a pair of gray sweat pants with black stars on them and a white t-shirt.
"Thanks," I smiled, taking the clothes from her.
“There’s a bathroom right next to your room, you can change there. Good night!” She closed the door behind me after I thanked her once again.
I walked down the hallway and located my room. Next to it were 2 doors. Shoot… left or right? With a leap of faith I chose the door on the right. I opened it to see Elijah sitting at his desk writing in a notebook when he whipped his head around to look at me. The only source of light being a small lamp at his desk.
“Hey? What’s up?” He spun his chair around and leaned forward to look at me.
“Oh- uhm, Andie said there was a bathroom next to our room so I thought it was this room. Sorry,” I spat out, suddenly becoming very nervous.
He stood up and slowly walked toward me, “If you want, you can change in here.” a slight smirk pulled at his lip as he grabbed my wrist, pulling me toward him.
"No, thank you-” I tried to free my wrist, politely rejecting him.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be a party pooper.” he said, pulling me further into the room.
“No, seriously. I’m good.” I struggled to free my wrist from his grasp.
“It’s ok, I won’t hurt you.” He pulled me into him, making me drop the clothes, and spun around. I held back a scream as his grip on my wrist was released and he now held me by the back of my neck, where a pressure point is, and pressed down. Causing pressure to shoot down my spine, making me bend to his grip. He reached to close the door but just before it closed a foot was jammed in the doorway.
“Hey, Elijah. I was wondering if you could teach me how to use your coffee machine?” Matt pushed the door open and Elijah quickly let me go.
“Yea, sure.” He walked out, heading towards the kitchen.
Once he was out of earshot, Matt spoke, “You ok?” He picked up the pajamas Andie gave me and handed them to me. Instead of responding I threw my arms around him, and he did the same. “Do you want to leave?”
“No, it’s ok. We’ll just leave before they wake up tomorrow.” I managed through tears.
“Ok, I’ll be back.” Matt released me and planted a kiss on my forehead. He walked away and after a while I mustered the courage to go into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I changed into the pjs Andie gave me and then walked into the guest bedroom. I layed down on the bed, drifting off to sleep when I was suddenly jolted to a more alert state when Matt walked in, shutting the door behind him. He placed a steaming mug on the dresser and crawled into the bed behind me.
“You ok?” I felt his hot breath on my back, causing chills to run down my spine.
“How’d you know I was even in there?” I asked, turning over.
“I heard you talking. I just felt like something was off.” He sat up, “Do you want me to sleep on the couch? I just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable after that.”
“No, you being here will make me feel better.” I said, turning back around and closing my eyes.
“Ok,” He laid back down and there was no more conversation.