Enemy Basis | COMPLETE

23| his house, his rules

I had been so engrossed in my own thoughts that I hadn't paid attention to the time. A sudden need to use the restroom brought me back to reality. As I checked my phone in the bathroom, I realised with a sigh that I'd already missed the first two periods of school. At this rate, I'd be marked absent for the entire day, which meant a call from my mother, something I'd rather avoid. Plus, I just couldn't miss dance practice after school.

I returned back to the room and stopped and stared at how surreal the scene before me was. The five of them were sprawled lazily across the sofa, evidently with no means to go to school. Marcelo had switched on the television and put on some war game that I had often played with Lennox, the cheerful soundtrack filling the living room. The picture-perfect seemed utterly out of place considering how recently we were strangers, some of them even bullies. I couldn't remain there, pretending that hanging out with them was so normal. Without a word, I turned and left, the silence that followed amplifying the strange disconnect I felt.

"Where are you going?" Lennox shouted after my retreating figure.

It seemed as if all the awkwardness from last night's declaration had been forgotten as I had wished. Even though the situation was still weird, I would pretend, like him, that it had never happened.

"School!" I shouted back, not caring for a response.

I walked to my car, today's weather slightly crisper and cooler but I could still feel the sun on my skin as I opened my trunk and grabbed some clothes that I always kept in there. Without asking or notifying anyone, I went back inside the house to explore and look for a shower that I could use. There was no chance I was going back home to do that and I needed to get to school as soon as possible.

Just as I was about to enter, Marcelo stopped me in the doorway.

"You forget something?" He asked, with an innocent smile on his face.

My, was he annoying.

"Yeah, to shower. Direct me to the nearest one?" I asked gently, in my sweetest tone. I tried to keep my eyes kind but I just couldn't help as they narrowed when I talked to him.

He waited a minute before he replied.

"Sure - there's a bathroom in the top floor guest room that you can use."

Something was strange in the way he said it, and I just couldn't help but be distrustful.

"Whose house is this again?" I asked, eyeing him with suspicion. I wouldn't put it past him to have set some sort of trap.

He smirked that irritating little smirk again before he replied, "Dorran's."

Before I could make a fuss, he disappeared, leaving a huff to escape my lips instead. Conniving, little brat.

But this was no big deal, right? It made no difference if this was Dorran's, Archer's or Marcelo's. Before I could doubt myself, I walked up the grand staircase and headed straight to the top floor, the urge to shower overriding my lingering unease.

Now that I knew this was Dorran's house, I couldn't help but analyse it. The house was silent and it made sense - I knew the boys were downstairs and Dorran would not have brought us all in if his father was in. But it was almost hollow, too silent.

As I walked, my hands trailing along the walls, I couldn't help but wonder about the life that had once filled these rooms. Had Dorran's mother lived here when she was alive? Had this been their family home? I also wondered what relationship she had with Dorran, what impact she had on him, how much of her was still left in this house. The thought of her, her life, her untimely death, sent a shiver down my spine. After talking about all of this, after hearing what my father had done, it put everything into context and made it seem so real to me. Dorran had lived here with his mum before my father killed her.