Homeless - Book One

Chapter Six: Investigation Part II

"How is this the worst thing you've been through?" I asked. We had only found out that there was some corruption in the shelter.
"Well, when me and Johnathan went through some really bad shit, it was just us. There was no one else to protect and we didn't have to live with losing them. I'm scared I'll feel that guilt if someone dies." Lizzie explained, trying not to cry.
"Lizzie, me and Johnathan went through this. As long as we're really careful, no one will die." I argued in a supportive way. We carried on walking and she sniffled.
"I hope you're right, Jack." She cried quietly, trying not to make noise. As we were walking I looked at a sign which was attached to the front of a building. It read "Lowers Library". I tapped Lizzie's shoulder and told her about my discovery.
"Okay, then. Let's see what we can find out." She replied. We began walking to the library.

When we got in front of the library, Lizzie slowly opened the old, creaky door. Inside was a piano and some computers. Only one of them was free, so we took our opportunity and logged in.
"What should we search?" I asked.
"Homeless shelters in this town." Lizzie replied. She searched exactly that. All the links that were attached to the search were shelters located in different towns.
"Where on Earth is the shelter?" I asked. I was so confused as to why it wasn't there, but there was a shelter up and running.
"We're looking to see whether it's here or not. It's not." Lizzie replied as she scrolled down the page even more. At some point I noticed the name of the town we were in while skim reading.
"Wait, I saw it." I said. Lizzie then scrolled up to see the link to a website. She began to read the name of it.
"Owners of this 'homeless shelter' questioned by police after mysterious disappearances of residents here." She read. We locked eyes and she immediately clicked on the page and there was a picture of Jesse being questions by the authorities. Maybe someone had already gone to the police, but didn't have enough evidence?
"Why weren't they arrested?" I asked. Lizzie then shut the computer down.
"I have no idea, but we need to get back there quickly and distract Jess and Jesse while Johnathan and Chloe see what's downstairs." She explained as we were being ruched out of the library door.

[Johnathan's POV]

"Right, you ready?" Chloe asked me. I turned to her and nodded my head.
"Yeah." I said, ready to sneak into the basement. The plan was that she was going to distract Jess and Jesse while I went into the basement to find out what was going on at the shelter. Chloe then walked to the reception and pointed to our dorm room. I witnessed them speak for a while, then they began to walk to the room. Finally, it was my chance to get in. I slowly and quietly opened the basement door and shut it behind me. The brightness from outside had been absorbed into the darkness of the lack of sunlight. I slowly walked down the stairs blind, trying not to fall down. I instantly thought of getting a torch to be able to see. Once I got to the bottom of the stairs, I stood calmly until my eyes got used to the darkness and I could faintly see again. After I could see a little bit, I looked around for a torch. Around the room was just some shelves and drawers. I walked to the left side of the room and began to look for a torch in some drawers. I quickly pulled open the drawers and closed them after I noticed there was no torch in there. I looked on top of the shelf and there was a big torch laid there. At the back of my mind, I knew i wasn't going to be able to reach it. I tried anyway. It was our of my reach when I tried to grab it.
"Shit." I mutter3d to myself. There must have been something I could have used to reach it. I took a drawer out of the shelf and stood on it. I was finally able to reach the torch. As soon as I had reached it, I turned it on to see things in the room. I then began to look through the drawers for evidence that there was something going on. A lot of them were empty. After a while, I found a folder with some documents inside. I opened it to just see a list of names, age, and how much they weighed. I suddenly heard Jess and Jesse approaching the basement. I quickly folded a piece of paper twice and put it in my pocket, then hid behind a shelf. I waited ten seconds before the door opened. I turned my torch off.
"And you saw him come down here?" Jess asked. O then began to head Bradley's voice.
"Yeah, I'm positive." Bradley replied. The anger ran through my veins at overwhelming speeds. The footsteps on the steps made echoes flood the room.
"I can't see anything down here. There's nowhere for him to hide, dear. I'm sure you're just seeing things." Jess explained to Bradley.
"No, I swear I'm not. He thinks there's something strange going on here, I'm telling you." Bradley replied. I felt so betrayed. The pain then hit me.
"Dear, if he came down here I would see him. I can't see him which means he isn't here. Maybe you should get some rest." Jess suggested before strutting back up the stairs. I expected Bradley to do the same, but he was just stood there in shock. I didn't even think. I blinked and then I was on top of Bradley, ready to punch the guy.
"Johnathan, what are you doing?" He cried.
"Why're you betraying us, you son of a bitch?" I screamed in his face with all the frustration in my body.
"I'm not!" Bradley stuttered. I had enough. I finally punched him in the face with all the power I had.
"Bullshit! Why did you tell them about the plan? You were either in or out!" I shouted again.
"I didn't! They saw you come in here, so... I-" Bradley stuttered as I interrupted.
"Don't lie, you told them." I said.