LORRAINE/??? POV
"Now that's a house." My dad says in awe as he surveyed a house, well mansion really, it was huge and looked nothing like a house. I wonder who lives here? I got my answer when the car stopped right in front of it, us and the ones letting us stay. "Goodness me! We get to live in such a lovely house for our stay, isn't that wonderful Lorraine?" Mum beams at me and I couldn't help but return a small smile.
We climbed out the back seat and proceeded towards the door, the man gives a wave before driving off, probably back to the company. "Here we go darling, our temporary stay." Mum says as she rings the doorbell. Usually you would hear some chimes but there was nothing. Dad decides to knock the door, still nothing. He was about to knock again when the door opened. The entrance stood a girl my age. Her hair was a brown blue ombré and she had brown eyes. She smiles and ushers us in. "Hi I'm Iris, you must be the Reeds." Mum smiles at her politeness, "Oh you're such a dear. Could we talk to the in charge?" I'm not sure but I thought I saw her smirking for a split second.
"Please wait in there." She points to a room in one of the hallways and when we turned back she was gone. I felt a shiver go down my spine. "Well at least she's not sloppy." Dad comments as we enter the room. I hit his arm knowing what he's hinting at, "I'm not sloppy, I just prefer to think before I act." Mum of course had to join in, "Of course dear but you take too long when you think sometimes." The room was dark, the lights were off and the curtains drawn. The only source of light was the projector on the glass table shining on the screen. The screen read 'Welcome'. There was no one in the room.
"I'm creeped out." I blurted. "Sweetie that's not the kind of behavior you should have in a guest's house." Mum scolds. A breeze suddenly comes in from one of the windows and temporarily lit up the room with moonlight. There was nothing in the room except a glass table with office chairs all around and there were boards of both whiteboards and peg boards along the wall on the right. The breeze stops and the curtains slowly floated down. There was a boy next to the window. We jumped in surprise.
"H-hello there, who're you?" Mum asks hesitantly. He was tall and had a strong build. He was leaning against the wall, hands tucked in his pockets. When my eyes adjusted, he looked my age too. "Takahiro." was his brief reply as he glanced at us through his fringe which I noticed was a bit long. He gets up from the wall and pulls up the second seat to the right of the head, the wheels squeaked as he does so.
"Sit." he says as he settles down and started switching the slides. We take a seat on our end of the table, our eyes glued to the screen. After the 'Welcome' came a 'To' then an 'Our', followed by 'Home'. "Welcome to our home..?" I mumbled. "Sorry we didn't put any effort into that." The voice was feminine. We turn back and the guy was no longer there, his seat in its original position as if never touched. In the first seat to the head, beside where the guy had sat earlier, was a girl who was dressed in casual sportswear. "Nice to meet you." She smiles, we couldn't see her eyes as she was wearing a cap. The door opens and we turn, another girl. Her mouth drops in shock at us, "Oh! Are you the Reeds? What are you doing in here alone? Who let you in? I was supposed to do those slides for you but it seems I've been beat to it. Why don't you come on out to the living room?" Alone she said but there was... I turn back to see the previous girl in sportswear was gone. This was getting freaky.
"Iris had let us in and told us to wait in here?" Dad says. She shakes her head, "What are you talking about? Iris hasn't been home since yesterday." I froze. What the hell was going on? "Was it Katherine? I'm Jennifer by the way." I heard her mutter before introducing herself. She opens the door for us and as we exit I glanced one last time into the room. As the door closed, I thought I saw Iris sitting in the head chair, leaning back with her legs on the table, a smile on her lips. Then my vision was blocked by the door. Knowing I did just saw her, my hand flew out, pushing the door open. No one, no one was in the room. "What's wrong Lorraine?" Dad calls after me. "N-nothing. Must be my imagination." I exit the room.
"Tricia, what are you doing?" When we entered the living room there was a girl rummaging the bookshelf and books were strewn all over the floor. "Finding my key." Jennifer sighs, "And why did you think keeping your key in the books was a good idea?" The girl, Tricia, shrugged, "It seemed like a good idea at the time but now I just feel plain stupid." She continues flipping books before dumping them onto the floor. Jennifer ushers us onto the long sofa, "I'll get you some refreshments." As I watched her walk away into the kitchen, I noticed her again. Iris, this time she was sitting on my suitcase, the smile still on her lips. I blink, she's gone.
"Mum?" I tug her sleeve. "Are there such things as spirits?" She puts her arm around me, "Only when you're hallucinating dear." That didn't help in the slightest. Then I realized the sound of books dropping on the floor had stopped. I turn and the books were back on the shelf, neat as if never thrown in the first place. I tug my mum's sleeve again and pointed. She turned a shade lighter. "We weren't seeing or hearing things were we? There was a girl throwing books, right?" We continue staring at the tidy shelf. "Yes Lorraine, there was." My mum answers, almost robotic. A clang of glasses rang. We turn to see Takahiro putting chilled glasses of water in front of us along with fruits. "Where's Jennifer?" He gives us a weird look. "Jennifer went out in the afternoon and has yet to return. Wait why do you know her name?" Mum points towards the glasses, "She said she'd get the refreshments, so how come its you?" He flexes his back as he stands. "I still don't get what you're saying. These glasses were chilled overnight by me because I was the one who put them in last night." He walks away.
Dad sniffed the drink, "It's not spiked." Dad has a habit of doing things "safely". He downs it and started to cough profusely right after. Assuming he choked, Mum pat his back. He tried to say something but the more he tried the harder he coughed. A laugh. Very slight. Very soft. Behind me. I turned to see Iris was laughing softly with a hand over her mouth. She turns into the kitchen. I couldn't take it anymore. I swung over the sofa and peered in. No one again. Since I was here I got a cup of water for Dad but when I returned they were gone. "Mum? Dad?" No answer.
"What are you doing?" I jump at the voice and look up at the balcony on the second floor that overlooks the first floor. It was the sportswear girl. "G-getting some water." She sits on the handle of the stairs and slides down. "Katherine. You?" I grip the glass tighter, as if it was a source of comfort. "Lorraine." She hums, "Lorraine huh?" She starts walking away and this time I stuck close to her, trying to keep a conversation going.
"So Katherine, who do you live with?" She waves it off, "Oh you know, others." I gulp, "Like how many?" She suddenly waves a finger at me. "Hold that thought." Her phone in her hand, I watched as she placed it next to her ear, "Hello? Oh hey! Can't, I have a guest," she started walking away. I stood for a while before realizing I needed to follow. But again I was too late and this time it was way too weird. She had jumped over the sofa and I presumed she was lying down but when I looked, she was gone. How does someone disappear after 2 seconds of jumping over a sofa? Suddenly the lights went off and I jumped in surprise, almost dropping the glass of water in my hand. Feeling uneasy I put the glass on a coffee table I could make out in the dark just in case I drop it for real.
"Lorraine? Lorraine where are you?" An echo. It was my mum. She continues to shout out but it comes as an echo. "Mum? Mum! Where are you?" I started to panic. Ghosts, spirits, lost souls, those weren't real, were they? "Mum! Dad!" I shout out over and over. I started backing away to find something to rest upon when I felt a warmth on my back. I jump in surprise and turn in a haste. "Lorraine?" It was my Mum's voice. I felt 2 pairs of arms around me, I recognized them as my parent's hands. Feeling relieved we found each other we let out a sigh. But it was all too soon for our relief when we heard laughter.
We look around, nobody, nobody was in our sight. And that's rare seeing as we're assassins and can sense presences. The laughter continues, the most I can say is that there was more than 2 persons laughing. In the mix I could hear a boy and then one I remember very clearly. Iris' laughter. But this one wasn't light like a while ago, it was dark but amused. It surrounds us, we look around, still nothing.
A breeze comes in and the curtains float. 5 shadows, all along the wall of the windows. There were 3 large windows, a girl was sitting on the left window, slouching on its left side with one leg up, same on the right window except this girl was slouching on the right side. Either side of the middle window was a boy and a girl leaning. The middle window, a girl sat in the center, legs crossed by the ankles. That's when I saw her. Her blue hair glowed in the moonlight. The lights turn back on and we shielded our eyes as they adjust to the sudden brightness.
Once we could see, the 5 figures along the wall we noticed are kids my age or older. And we recognized all of them. Iris who opened the door. Takahiro who appeared in the room. Katharine who switched the slides. Jennifer who aided us to the living room. Tricia, who was throwing books everywhere. They were still laughing and slowly it died down.
"God, you people are so fun to mess around with." Iris chuckles. "Did you see their faces?" Jennifer adds in. "This is the most fun I've had this week." Katherine exclaims. "Of course there are no such things as ghosts, spirits and lost souls. But you are always free to believe, they're out there you know." Tricia eyes me. God damn it, was I mumbling out loud again? "Yes." Takahiro answers me. I sigh, feeling defeated. My parents on the other hand...
IRIS/PHANTOM POV
"H-how dare you play this trick on us?!" Sarah exclaims, pointing a finger and glaring at us. She thinks she can scare us? Pfft. I laugh a little bit more, making me look psycho for laughing in this situation. But then again maybe I was. Her face contorted from anger, to surprised, to confusion. I let my laughter die down once I was done. "Look here Sarah, as you can see, we're "kids" we need our playtime." I quoted the word.
"I-I want to speak to one in-charge of this house right now!" She demands. I lazily raise my hand with a smirk on my face, "Present." Her line of shocked expressions continue. "I don't believe you! I'm going to contact Mr Ed and my boss!" She whips out her phone and I immediately throw out a dagger, it swiped the phone from her hand and it hung on the wall by the strap. "Wha-" She stares at me in shock as I flex my wrist, when was the last time I threw a heavy duty dagger so fast. I let Katharine take over.
"Let's see here," She whips out a piece of paper from out of nowhere. "Terry Reed, age 39, fist fighter, aka Punch. Oh lookie here! You used to be teased by your colleagues as Fruit Punch!" We watch amused as Terry gritted his teeth, I bet he still can't talk after what I had Takahiro put inside his drink. Katharine continues, enjoying this herself, "Sarah Wood or should I say Reed, age 38, computer hacker, so I take it you're an inside worker. Cracked over 300 different softwares, hmm not bad." She pauses, "but could be better." She winks at Sarah before moving on to Lorraine and puts an arm around her shoulders. "Lorraine Reed, age 14, archer. First ever succeeded bullseye when aged 6! Aw that's adorable." She pinches her cheek a little before stalking back to us.
She passes me the paper and I take out a lighter, burning it and watching as it turned to ash in my hand. I blow it towards the family and it disappears into the atmosphere. Why put on such a big show? It's a message, and it's clearly telling them that we "have no evidence" of knowing everything about them. They were fuming with anger which made this all the more entertaining. But of course all fun times must come to a pause. "Jennifer, Tricia, take their bags upstairs to the guest rooms we prepared." They walk out the room, casually slouching and eyes never leaving the Reeds with their playful smiles. "Katherine, get their dinner done by 9pm. Me and Takahiro are taking over for a little while." She hops off the window and walks out of the room, tipping her cap towards them as she did so.
"Please take a seat. Standing must be so uncomfortable." I gesture to the sofa as Takahiro started to flip through the stack of papers in his hand. They cautiously moved to the sofa, eyes never leaving us. I drag two chairs for me and Takahiro whilst he pushed the coffee table to the side to make space. "Okay first things first, a thorough explanation since you look like you really want it." I say with fake pity eyes. Takahiro passes me the tablet and I start scrolling through documents as I talk. "First of all we're not sorry for what we did and second of all, this is our house so you have no authority. And don't start saying things like you're an adult or whatever."
Despite my eyes on the screen I knew their jaws were on the floor. "Second of all, we have taken it upon ourselves to drag your daughter to school with us. Third of all, what we say goes." I finally look up to see 2 pairs of glaring eyes and a jaw on the floor. "School?" Lorraine asks desperately. "Yes school. I bet you were overjoyed for being able to skip school in Britain." I roll my eyes. "We have documents here you need to sign." Takahiro tosses them the stack. Sarah looks at them before shooting her head up, "We just signed this at the company!" Takahiro tilts his head, his fringe covering an eye. "So? Sign it again then." She snatched up the pen impatiently and signed, followed by Terry and Lorraine.
"Oh yeah," I take a small glass bottle out of my pocket and toss it to Terry who almost didn't caught it. "Drink that. I had Takahiro put something in your drink earlier." He pulls the cork and downs the liquid. He coughs profusely again, thinking we fooled him his anger rises. "HOW DARE Y- oh." Realizing he now had his voice back he shrinks back in the sofa in embarrassment. Takahiro gathers the papers back before proceeding back to his room. I look at the clock. "I had Katherine prepare your dinner, feel free to have it whenever." Lorraine looks at me, "What about you?" I look back at her, "We've eaten and we're taking a trip out. Don't wait up." I wink at her as I too exit the living room.
After I walk out I stand behind the wall, eavesdropping on what they have to say. "O-outrageous! Those children were so rude! I'm going to have a talk with Ed!" I can practically hear his reply to her complaints already. "And you were saying how sweet they were." Lorraine says in a sarcastic tone. "Lorraine promise us you won't be like that." Terry asks. There was a pause. "I am making no such promises." I like this girl, contented with what I've heard I walk away with a smirk.
I decided to have Katherine pass on my message to the others as I had work to do. "Hey Kat," I catch her attention as she was in the middle of setting the table, "Yeah?" She looks up. "Tell the others to be ready in 20 minutes. Last minute changes but we're going undercover. Wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty." She sweeps her hair behind her ear, "Yeah sure." I walk away to my room and turn on the laptop. My phone lights up with a new message, catching my attention.
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From: Unknown
To: Iris
He'll be waiting for you by the trees.
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I scrolled through all my messages before finally deciding to change. I changed into an old white crop top and black skinny jeans and I found an old pair of ankle heel boots. I pack my necessary weapons into a bag before heading out of my room. I head downstairs to see everyone is already there. Good, we can get there early. Everyone had changed into something old like I asked. "We look like runaway kids." Jennifer laughs. "I would very much like us to move on because these pants are killing me." Tricia complains. I was about to open the door when Sarah stopped us. I sigh dramatically. "What do you want." I state, "You're not leaving this house until I say so, I'm calling Ed!"
I roll my eyes before turning around with hands in my pockets. "Look here Sarah, were you not listening to my rules? You're. Not. The. Boss. Of. Us." I say word by word with venom. "I'm going to be in charge because you kids are not reliable." She argues back. "Not reliable?" I look between my teammates, thinking the same thing. "The one unreliable is you." Jennifer states. "Can't even listen to a word." Katherine continues. "And yet we're leaving you with the house." Tricia adds. "You can't even take care of yourself." Takahiro retorts to her. Knowing we left her speechless we walk out the door, intending not to dally any further. "Lorraine you're in charge." I say as I wave, knowing Lorraine was watching from a corner. "We're gonna be taking a company car to get to the old airport." I tell the others as I message HQ for a car. This was going to be one long night.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hi readers it's been so long since I posted but here you go chapter 11:) This one seems simple and not much action but don't worry there'll be action in chapter 12!! This chapter looks lazy in my opinion but its so long so I just went with it. Basically I'm showing the mischievous side of the Reaperz because in the previous chapters I've just been showing their tired//aggressive//professional(?)//average(?) behaviors. Okay this A/N is getting long. Chapter 12's release depends on how often I edit it :) bye
Author Angel