Chapter Nineteen: Coming To Key Conclusions

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Chapter Nineteen: Coming To Key Conclusions

I creep up in the driveway from afar, making sure there's no one around to spot me- mum's car isn't there, I grin as if I've accomplished something great. I pull out my phone and text Olli; also making sure that my phone was on vibrate.

her car's gone- i guess the house is empty.. going in

I hit send and I walked up to the door and peeked through the window to make sure no one was home. I didn't see anyone- good. I was about to go to the secret hiding spot to get the key to the house until Olli texted me back. 

ok, get in there! time is limited!

I sighed in annoyance, I already know that I have very little time before she comes... Ugh, Olli, you are so stupid.

I KNOW, about to go in

I then hit send and this time I didn't get an instant reply- good. How am I going to get in you ask? Dad was always a smart man and hid the spare house keys in- no not under the welcome mat- but in the bird bath... I know, genious.

Anyway, I walk to the bird bath and find the wet key and run back to the door and shove the old, rusty key in the lock. I turn the key to the left and turn the knob- the door opened. Without any hesitation, I kept the key in my pocket and began running as fast as I could up the steps and ran down the hall to Dad's office.

I got to Dad's office door- locked. I groaned in frustration... Mum has some serious issues. I then got on my knees and unzipped the front zipper of my backpack and took out the bobby pin and began attempting to pick the lock. After about 2 minutes, the door opened and I went straight to the stack of papers and looked under them for where I'd last seen the diary- book thing. The room looks as if nothing's changed- it looks exactly the same as a week ago- actually, it looks exactly how Dad left it.

To my surprise, it wasn't there; it was gone. I groaned again in frustration. I began searching frantically in the room. I checked on the book shelf, under the papers, on the desk, on the desks and tables. I sighed, I guess this is it. I don't think I'll find it... I guess I'll have to text Olli.

cant find the diary, ugh

I then got a reply-

keep looking, we cant go till we find it!

fine, i'll keep looking - L

Where did I look last? Did I look through everything...? Then it hit me- there's one place I haven't checked. I opened the right drawer next to his chair, and without a doubt, there it is.

My eyes widened and I grinned. I pulled the diary out and started examining it- how do I open this thing?

I kept trying to open it, there must be a key for this. I begin searching around for a key; who knows how big or small the key is. I run downstairs to the kitchen and search through the key hanger; none of them seem to fit in the lock... I sighed and ran back upstairs to the office. I looked around, I looked under and on top of anything. I look at the time on my phone, 12:37 PM; shit I've been here for long- I have to hurry up.

Without noticing, I stupidly flip through the hanging calendar's pages; I flip the pages so aggressively that a small piece of paper drops to the ground. My eyebrows furrow as I squat on my knees and pick up the small piece of paper. 

Ashley and Luna come to Downtown Cafe every Tuesday and Thursday @ 4 PM

my eyebrows furrowed... Who are Ashley and Luna? Why does Dad have this in his calendar? Does he know these people? Obviously he must have, but what did he do with those people... Was he cheating on mum? 

I took in a deep breath out of anxiousness, fear and exhaustion. I stuffed the piece of paper in my pocket. Back to the key, Leslie. Think, Leslie, Think. A key. It's probably small since the lock is small. Think, Leslie. A small key. I don't see anything in the house that has to do with a key... We own nothing in this house with a key this size; but I think there is a key somewhere in this house that's this size...

I sighed in confusion. Just then, I hear a car door slam from outside. I cautiously peer through the curtain and I see her coming in with a few bags of grocery. Crap, what am I going to do? Should I grab the book and go, or should I leave it in the drawer and come back another day or time...

No, Leslie, it's now or never; I have to take it. I'm on my way to the door, until I hear the front door click shut and I knock over some papers off the chair. Shit. I quickly re- piled the papers on each other, once I was finished, I opened the door slightly and saw mum coming up the steps. Oh my god.

I quickly shut the door and locked it like it was before. I then managed to not tip anything over and put the diary back in the drawer. Then, the doorknob jingles by the sound of keys coming from the outside. Oh, shit. That must be mum. SHE IS COMING IN HERE! NO NO NO! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO, HIDE?! WHERE CAN I EVEN HIDE? I then noticed the closet and ran to it; I shut the closet door and watched throught the slits of the closet. 

I see mum walking around the room, examining things; then she checks the drawer and then she starts talking to herself. "Oh dear. This room is a mess. I better call the cleaning crew." she said as she picked up the office phone and started dialing a number. Oh no. This cannot happen.

Okay, when she leaves, I'll just quickly sneak out; I'll come back another day for the diary. At least I have this small piece of paper... But I wonder who Ashley and Luna are... Relatives? No, haven't heard of them. Friends? Probably; but Dad was very hipster and used to bring his friends back to our house... We basically met all his friends. I especially loved meeting his friend, Nick Grimshaw. He was also hipster like Dad, and that's what I really liked about Dad's friends. They were cool, chilled and well... Basically hipster!

I'm going to wait till mum leaves the room and I'll ditch this place... I can't risk getting caught. To my misfortune, mum stayed in the office, she was what seems to look like admiring Dad's things.

Then the doorbell rang and she left the office and went to open the door. Here's my chance; I got out of the closet and I opened the door and was about to leave but she was already up the stairs. I quickly shut the door and hid back in the office again.

There is only one lady, and in her hands are trays and a cart full of cleaning essentials. Oh god. I think I'll be here for a while. "Okay, I will be done in about two hours." the cleaning lady says. Mum smiles, "Okay, Marta, thank you." she says as she leaves the room.

Shit. I'll be here for the next two hours and I can't do anything about it; and surely I can't walk out of the closet casually; or else she'll tell mum that there's a girl coming out of her closet, and she'll definatlely know it's me. 

I sighed, I texted Olli explaining the whole situation. There's nothing I can do but hope and wait. Hope that she doesn't check the closet, and wait until she leaves. I decide to make myself comfortable, I sit down on the hardwood closet floor and open my backpack.

I start scribbling down my thoughts and finds in the hours I've been here. I just sit here and think about how I'll find the key. I thought back to the times Dad was alive, I smiled and a few tears rolled down my cheeks. I remembered the birthdays we had together and what he used to give me as gifts. I thought back and back to all the gifts he bought me, and that's when reality hit me. 

For my thirrteenth birthday, Dad gave me a silver necklace with a silver key attactched on it. Is that the key...? No, it's probably not; but knowing Dad he could pull off anything without ever being caught. That's it, it's probably the key on my necklace. I smiled to myself, ready for the next two hours. 

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