A Sleepless Night In Ruhette

Chapter 3

 The two sat opposite each other at the kitchen island. Lothair leant back after eating their fill and watched Amado. ''Do you like it?''

Amado seemed distracted playing with his food, pushing the meatballs around with his fork.

''Everything alright, is there something wrong with it? You've only ate half of it.''

He looked up and nodded. ''There's nothing wrong with it, I'm just full.'' Stopping to think for a moment Amado made eye contact with Lothair. ''Do you think they left any evidence out there? I mean, we let them get away on accident.''

''Accident? I slipped on a pool of blood, Amado. All I found out there was the tipped over compost bin and its broken lock. If you want, we can check the porch and then my trail cameras before you go home tomorrow. I mean if the storm stops tomorrow that is.''

''I'm guessing the loud clang was the lock being broken? I know that there was the-'' He shivered. ''How did they break into it if it was locked then?''

''I honestly have no clue, they must have jammed something between the latch and the lock.'' Lothair furrowed their brow. ''Wait, I didn't even see the latch out there.''

''They probably broke off the latch by accident. You only need to break the lock to get into the bin right?.''

''Yes, but what could they have used to break it open then? All my tools are in the back garden locked up. Besides my gloves and shears, but those couldn't break open the lock no matter how hard you tried.''

''A rock?'' Amado asked. ''I mean it wouldn't be that suspicious if they used a rock to break open the lock.''

''A rock wouldn't be strong enough to break the lock though. Sure it could break off the latch, but if that was the case I wouldn't have found the broken lock. Whatever they used, It would have to be something really strong, like a hammer or hatchet.'' They put their plate in the sink and washed their hands.

''I'll look tomorrow then.'' Amado leant his head into their hand. ''How did they see out there then? And why would they need old bones and organs?''

''Well there's a motion sensor light outside, as for what they stole.'' Lothair went silent, trying to think through all the possibilities. ''I've got no clue. I mean, if they were to steal anything from me it would have to be something hard to get, or extremely valuable.''

Starting to set up the board game and deal out the money he sighed. ''Well, perhaps they just really need bones and organs for something. Magic stuff or something.''

Lothair stood at the fridge grabbing out a bottle of Soto for themselves. ''Do you want a drink whilst we play? I've got Soto, some old fancy wine I got as a gift, uh-''. They started to push aside some plastic containers of food. ''Orange juice, sparkling water-''

''Soto will be fine, mango if you have it.''

''They make mango flavoured Soto? I've never heard of it. Will passionfruit do?''

''Sure, I thought mango flavour was popular...'' Amado said, confused. He placed a small metal Triceratops playing piece onto the Philanthropy board.

''Must be a regional variant, I'll look it up later then.'' They grabbed out a glass bottle of the passionfruit flavour, they smacked it against the counter's edge to open it. Lothair passed the bottle to Amado before taking a sip of their own bottle. ''We both know how to play right?''

Amado nodded and grabbed out their phone, beginning to buffer the podcast. 'What piece do you want.''

''The Cassowary piece will do.'' Lothair placed his piece on the starting square. ''Youngest first?''

"'How old are you?''

''25''

''Looks like I'm first then, I'm two years younger than you.'' Amado rolled the dice, landing a six and moving his piece around the board. ''Doubles, I go again.'' He rolled again and the podcast began to play once more.

''The creature's snout came into contact with my face as it sniffed me. I didn't know what to do, it was so close to my face and I was defenceless.'' The victim started to cry.

Amaia whispered. ''It's okay, don't worry it won't hurt you here. Would you like some tissues?''

The podcast went silent before the faint blowing of a nose played out. ''I just didn't know what to do in the face of fear. It started to snarl and I screamed, the creature reacted violently. I moved back as far as I could before it started to try and bite me. The blood on its teeth, the strands of what I assumed to be flesh between them. It was all too much for me. I put my hands onto the creature's maw, trying to force it shut and push it away with all my might. Sadly, I was overpowered by the beast. It's teeth latched onto my hand, dragging it with such might that I could feel it begin to tear off. I screamed out 'HELP!, HELP! ANYBODY PLEASE HELP!' and in the distance I could hear only what I assumed, and now know to be the local Forest Rangers van.''

''Your hand was sadly lost in the incident, wasn't it.''

The woman's voice sounded a tad furious. ''Of course it was, as soon as that Rangers headlights shone onto the monster, it had begun to retreat. My hand ripped off by the rest as I began to bleed out. If the Forest Ranger hadn't come to the rescue I wouldn't be here, I promise you that! And that ass of a monster would have been able to finish me off just as it had planned.''

''What do you mean by 'as it had planned'. Are you saying that the Ravager was planning to take you down from the very beginning.''

''I mean, if you were there wouldn't you have connected the dots. The odd feeling by the door, the bear on the road. It was toying with me as if I was a puppet, fooling me into a trap.''

Whilst the podcast had been playing, Lothair had purchased half the board, Amado having only bought the two most and least expensive properties himself. ''You owe me 550.'' Lothair smirked as Amado landed on one of their tiles.