Hide and Seek

Chapter 5 - Elise's POV

Elise had already found a good hiding spot in the kitchen. Even when Nathalie entered the kitchen, she didn't see Elise. She was pretty confident that this hiding spot would do well. Elise was hiding in the small secret door in the pantry that lead somewhere Elise hadn't explored down to.

However, her confidence grew weak when she remember what she saw and heard moments ago. Her hair had gotten into view of Grace and had run after her. Luckily, Elise had ran into a room and hid behind the door. 

She had also overheard the conversation between Grace and her brothers. She was worried what Tony and Timothy were going to do to her. She sunk to the floor and ran her fingers through her hair, messing it up. She pulled the hair tie out and placed her head on the wall behind her.

"There is something messed up with this family," she said to herself. She looked towards the second door and peeked her head out. Darkness only filled whatever was below her. Elise pulled out her phone and turned on the torch. She stuck her head and phone back out of the door, noticing that there was a small drop from the door and the ground below her. Panning her phone around, she noticed that her surroundings looked like a basement of sorts.

Elise swung her legs out of the cramped room behind the pantry and sat there for a minute. She focused her phone in one direction, which lead to a dead end. The other way had no glow of light, but she could make out a door.

Elise jumped down, making a small sound, but not loud enough for the people upstairs on the first and second floor to hear. She closed the door behind her, having to be on her tip-toes. If she wanted to go back into that cramped room, she'd need a ladder or something to stand on. Elise made her way towards the door at the end of the hallway. There was two other rooms on the left side of the hallway, but Elise dared not to enter them. She placed her hand on the cold door knob and opened it.

The room behind the door was fairly large, stone bricks as the walls and creaky, wooden floorboards beneath her feet. Elise tried to not make a sound with the creaky floor and walked over to the stair case in front of her.

Suddenly, a metal rod came at her right side, just missing her. She ran around to the other side of the stairs to see Nathalie there with the metal rod in her hands. She gripped to the rod tightly, making direct eye contact with Elise. She loosened her grip on the rod and her hands fell to her side.

"Nat?" Elise asked with a weary voice. She could make out the hoodie, but not her face which was covered by the hood. She lifted her foot and went to place it in front of her, but stepped back to make sure it wasn't someone else.

"E-Elise..." Nat stuttered, her eyes tearing up. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I almost stabbed you!" 

Nat ran at Elise, throwing her arms around her body. Elise, wiggling her arms out of Nat's grasp, patted her back and pulled Nat into her embrace. "It's okay Nat, you didn't get me."

Nat's tears stained Elise's white jacket, Elise starting to tear up. Tears welled up in her eyes and eventually started to fall down her face. Nat let go of the taller girl and looked up at her. "Find a piece of metal and hide under the stairs with me. Next person that walks down these stairs, stab them with the metal. That will give us a head start," Nat said, wiping her eyes and picking up her metal rod.

She walked towards the stairs and sat down, pulling the hood back on her head. Elise followed Nat's instructions and sat down beside Nat. "So, I'm guessing you figured out that Grace's family is crazy Nat?"