What Are You Hiding, Roman Hart?

Safe House

"Oli wake up.", Roman said as he shook me awake.

I opened my eyes slowly as they adjusted to the scenery in front of me.

"Are we at the safe house?", I asked.

"Yeah, we just got here.", Roman said.

"I guess your dad is asleep because he didn't come out.", I replied.

"Yeah he's probably out like a light right now."

"Now I know where you get it from.", I said laughing.

"Come on, I'm not that bad.", he said.

"Ok whatever floats your boat. Come on, let's get your bag out and go inside.", I responded.

We both got out of the car and Roman went around to the back to get out his duffel bag full of weapons. I waited for him near the front of the car, and then we walked towards the house together.

The house was a modest size. Nothing too fancy, but looked like a cozy house for a family of four. The outside looked a little run down from lack of up keep, but that's understandable since no one has been here in years. I doubt Roman's dad worried about the lawn while being here because he was trying to keep himself from being killed and all.

As we walked up the steps to the front porch, Roman pulled out his keys from his pocket. He selected a gold key off of his key chain and put it in the door. He unlocked the door and we both stepped inside the house.

It was freezing inside the house. The heat had not been on in probably ages. Maybe his dad was trying to cut down on costs. All of the lights were off as well. It was extremely dark throughout the house, and you could barely see in front of you. It was also very quiet. It felt eerie to be inside, but I know that's just my brain being dramatic.

Me and my stupid brain alway thinking something bad is going to happen.

"Where's your dad?", I whispered to Roman trying not to be loud to wake up his dad.

"He's probably in the back bedroom.", he replied.

"Oh okay. Should we wake him up?.", I responded.

"You can go to sleep first and I'll tell him we're here.", he said.

"Okay.", I said while taking a step into the dark house.

Roman grabbed my arm and pulled me back into him before I could take a step.

"Stay right here. I need to disable the alarms first.", he said.

I patiently stood next to the front door as he did. While waiting, I looked around the house. One thing I noticed was that the kitchen was a mess. There were dirty dishes all throughout the sink and countertop. I spotted some moldy bread on the countertop as well. Maybe his dad doesn't like to clean, or was just being lazy.

When Roman finished, he took me to a different bedroom from his dad. On the way there, I noticed that the whole house was in a disarray. There were clothes scattered everywhere and trash in the hallways. The place was a disaster.

"Does your dad not like to clean?", I asked.

"No, he's a clean freak. I don't know why it's so dirty in here.", he said.

"Well do you know why your dad might not want to clean?", I asked.

"The only time he doesn't clean is when he's really busy."

"Maybe he's been working hard to find the head of the organization that's after you.", I said.

"...... maybe."

We continued further into the house and made it to one of the bedrooms. I opened the door and walked inside. Luckily, the bedroom was pretty clean just a little dusty. I plopped down on the bed and looked at Roman who was standing by the door.

"Are you going to come in?", I asked.

"...."

"Roman? What's wrong?"

Roman didn't say anything and just stared into the room. I couldn't see where he was staring at in the room because it was so dark, but I could tell he was reaching into his pocket.

Suddenly Roman threw a knife into the corner of the bedroom and I heard a grunt and the sound of someone falling to the floor. Roman ran over to me and grabbed my hand pulling me up.

"We have to get out of here!", he yelled.

We ran out of the bedroom back towards the front door. I started to panic. My mind was racing with terrible thoughts as we ran though the house. 'Who was that?', 'Are there people here?', 'Is anywhere we go going to be safe?', 'Are we going to die?'

"What about your dad?", I finally asked as he pulled me along.

"I don't think he's here.", as we continued to run.

Not here? Where could he be? It makes since considering the house is trashed. But if he's not here, then who's been living here?

Before we reached the door, I felt someone grab me from behind and pull me backwards. I fell hard onto the ground and my arms were pinned behind me. I couldn't move. I tried to push whoever was on top of me off, but they were too strong.

I looked up and saw Roman fighting off a group of people. It was hard to make out how many of them there were because of the darkness, but I knew there were a lot. Too many in fact.

His chances were bad.

Roman kept fighting, but eventually was thrown onto the ground. I heard him yelling and trying to push the men off of him. It took five men to hold him down completely, but that didn't keep him from struggling to push them off.

I suddenly felt something cold pressed against my neck. A sharp edge pierced into my skin drawing a small amount of blood.

"If you keep struggling, I kill him.", the man on top of me said.

Roman immediately stopped moving and looked in our direction.

"If you kill him, I'll make your deaths excruciatingly slow and painful.", Roman responded.

The man on top of me scoffed as the rest of the men in the room laughed.

The situation we were in was bad. I had no idea how we were going to get out of it. If Roman tries anything, they'll kill me. And if they kill me, Roman will probably get himself killed. Basically we're screwed.

"Who said you could kill him?", said a woman's voice in the room.

I had no idea another person was in the house. She must've been hiding somewhere in a corner.

"Sorry boss.", the man on top of me said.

Boss? The boss?

"Where are the damn lights in this house?", she said.

I heard some shuffling around before the room was flooded with lights. I squinted my eyes as they weren't used to the brightness. When they finally adjusted, I looked around the room.

I first spotted Roman and the amount of men that surrounded him. It looked like a whole army was keeping him down. I scanned the room more until my eyes finally landed on the woman, or the so called boss.

I felt all of the blood drain from my face as I made eye contact with her. She looked down at me pressed into the ground with a knife to my throat and smiled at me.

"It's nice for you to finally join us Oli.", she said.

"..... Mom?", I said with a trembling voice.

What the hell is going on?