House of Anubis: House of Mistakes

Part XV

KT pounded on the door until her hands were raw. She could hear them out there murmuring to each other, and Eddie's distinct voice carried through to her side of the door:

"This is where we're gonna hide the key."

That bastard is putting my means of escape just out of my reach to taunt me! she raged internally, and began beating the door with a renewed frenzy.

"Let me out!" she demanded, knowing it was in vain but refusing to give up. "I've done nothing wrong!"

Out in the hall, three out of the four teens shifted uneasily.

"I know I'm the one who suggested it," Patricia began, mouth twisting into a troubled frown when KT kicked the door so hard that it rattled in its frame, "but are we taking it too far?"

Eddie's hand caught hers and squeezed it tenderly. "Hey, no. This is the only way we can keep everyone safe." He looked down the line at the other boys. "I know it's... unsettling to have to listen to this, but we're doing the right thing."

"Let me out!" KT shouted again, and Alfie flinched so violently at the desperation in her tone that he nearly elbowed Fabian in the gut. "I'm not working with Team Evil, I swear. You've got the wrong person!"

Fabian tried to shoot Alfie a stern look, but it came out as more of a pained grimace. This felt wrong. Sinner or not they were still holding someone hostage. A terrible thought occurred to him: Have we just kidnapped KT?

"We..." His mouth was dry with guilt, and he had to lick his lips before he could get his sentence out. "We should get some sleep."

Eddie nodded seriously, and fixed Patricia with a pleading gaze. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay with her? I'd feel a lot better if you stayed with Fabian in my room tonight."

"Why? You need me to protect him?" Patricia joked weakly, wincing along with Alfie and Fabian when KT hit the door with her whole body. "But seriously, it's fine. I already forced Mara out of the room on the grounds that KT and I wanted to have a sleep over. What would they say if you walked out of there in the morning?"

Eddie waggled an eyebrow. "I dunno... that you had a good night?"

"Sleeping in your girlfriend's room with another girl, whilst I'm downstairs?" she retorted, shifting slightly under his intent, almost dead-eyed stare. "It's fine, Eddie. I'm stronger than KT, so I highly doubt she can spirit me away into the night."

"She's got a point, dude," Alfie said. "Trixie's built like a tank."

"Alfie, I swear—"

"Fine," Eddie said brusquely, cutting them off before they could go at it. "But if she starts trying to mess with your mind, please text me, okay?"

She nodded. "'Course," she said, gesturing toward the door. "Now all of you go to bed. At least some of us need to have a functioning sleep schedule."

Fabian and Alfie bid her goodnight, and Eddie brought up the rear, looking back at Patricia until the door was shut and he'd disappeared down the stairs.

She suddenly felt the need to shake out a full body shudder. There was a definite haze of exhaustion that clouded her mind, as though the past few days were all catching up at once.

KT had stopped pounding on the door, and Patricia stifled a yawn as she unlocked it and slipped inside. Their prisoner was by the window, chewing her thumbnail down to the nub. She startled when the door opened, tensing up in preparation to fight if she had to, but relaxed when she saw it was Patricia.

"Just shut up and go to bed, KT," Patricia ordered before KT could start begging again. She turned her back, slipped off her t-shirt, and grabbed some pajamas. "I'm too tired to listen to it tonight."

She flushed and turned away. "Right, okay... but, Patricia, you—"

"KT," she snapped, looking over her shoulder with a tired glare, "just go to sleep, will you?"

KT puckered her mouth, frustrated and flustered, but nodded just once sharply. "Fine."

Mara's bed was comfortable enough, she supposed when she climbed in. It would be much nicer if she wasn't wearing jeans.

As if Patricia read her mind, a pair of cotton shorts hit her directly in the face. "They're probably a little big," she said, refusing to look at KT. "More comfortable though."

She gripped the fabric so tightly that it crumpled into a ball. "Thank you," she murmured, trying not to burst into tears as the entire day came crashing down on her.

Patricia grunted in acknowledgement and climb into her own bed. She really should stay awake, but KT wasn't going anywhere with the door locked, and for once in the past few nights she was so exhausted she thought she might not dream.

"Don't try anything" she warned groggily, and shut her eyes.

KT just sat there, clutching the pajama bottoms and swallowing back sobs. I want to go home. I want my family. I just want to go home, she thought, only allowing herself to fully break down when Patricia's breathing slowed.

It was going to be a long night.

—

KT blinked awake and glanced at the glowing digital clock on Mara's nightstand. 11:20, it read. She must have drifted off at some point, because the last she remembered it was 9:00. A low rumble of thunder rolled outside; she hadn't known it was supposed to rain that night. She sat up fully, looking around the room till her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Everything was the same as when she'd fallen asleep, but there was a distinct rustling sound from Patricia's side of the room.

She could just make out the twitching lump that was Patricia as she tossed and turned in a panic, muttering something unintelligible. KT vaguely remembered Joy mentioning off-handedly one night that Patricia suffered from chronic nightmares from something that happened over the past few years. She felt a stab of pity in her chest, and was just about to get up and try to rouse her when a flash of lightning lit up the sky outside the window and a clap of thunder boomed in time with the hair-raising scream that erupted from Patricia.

She sat up straight in her bed, eyes wild and unseeing, and KT leapt a foot in the air. It took a moment of recovery to notice that her friend— because damn it despite everything this was her friend— was having a fit, and KT's instincts took over. She rushed to Patricia's bed and sat down in front of her, taking her face in her hands.

"It's just a dream," KT tried to assure her. "It's just a dream."

But then something inexplicable happened: Patricia, still breathing heavily, reached out and put her palm flat against KT's chest bone in the exact place Eddie had held her. Her hand wasn't much smaller than Eddie's, fitting the bruising print almost perfectly. She wasn't sure what was happening, and was about to shake her off, when Patricia eyes cleared. There was a grim sort of fear in her expression when she shocked KT yet again.

"I believe you."