Trespassing | ongoing

Chapter 10. Homeless

[a/n]: this is back to clover's POV and will always be her perspective unless said otherwise.

PS// this chapter is kind of laid back, just to have as a filler chapter, but hopefully you enjoy! ALSO! Tell me your thoughts on Everett after this chapter? Thanks! Have a great day, guys xx

Chapter 10. Homeless

Everett quickly gestures me inside the rather convenient dumb-waiter and I crouch inside. The footsteps of our pursuer continue to the closet and both Everett and I know we won't make it out alive, seeing as how the dumb-waiter is too small for both of us to fit into. Although when he shoves me to the side and crouches into the dumb-waiter somehow, I am sorely mistaken; obviously we weren't on the same page. My cheeks turn crimson when I observe our painfully awkward position. Everett is hunched into a ball with his knees up as I am sitting atop them with my hands on either side of his face and my head touching his.

This is worse than the wardrobe we were stuck in.

He briskly pulls on the rope beside us and heaves us upwards. The veins in his arms reveal themselves when he uses his strength to get us out of here. Once we reach the top, we are revealed to a different closet. I am the first to get out and crack my back, knowing I will be sore for a couple of days. Ironically, Everett is stuck in his crouched position in the dumb-waiter and I'm left to yank him out. He falls to the carpeted flooring of the closet with a thud and suddenly gunshots sound from below the contraption we just used.

"He's going to kill us!" I point out the obvious as my partner in crime pulls out a Swiss Army knife and begins cutting at the rope that pulled us up.

Abruptly, the rope snaps and the shaft falls to the bottom of where we were previously at.

The both of us stay silent, expecting the stranger to jump out at us from the darkness; nothing happens. Everett swallows visibly and lets out a shaky breath of relief, or maybe distress. He stands from the ground and helps me up as well, taking another gander at the dumb-waiter that we just cut down. Before I get the chance to open the closet doors, my partner in crime grasps my wrist and shakes his head silently, signalling me to be careful. He leaves the small space before I do with his gun in hand, ready for the unexpected.

Upon realizing the conclusion that we are alone, he drops his weapon and glances toward me in uncertainty.

"You okay?"

"Fine. You?" I inquire. 

"Peachy."

It's then that we take in our surroundings. The room isn't too shabby, and in retrospect, maybe we should have found this place before breaking into the other hatch. There is a chipped wooden desk to the left of us, a skylight, a ladder in front of us, and a large bookshelf to the right of us.

The atmosphere is... quaint.

"Look, here's a ladder. Let's get out of here, yeah?" Everett suggests and I don't hesitate to follow him out.

-
When exiting through the second hatch opening, we surface directly behind the ignorant Charles' homestead. Many leaves, patches of moss, and twigs slide off the top of the door and crunch against the dirt.

Everett and I both tense when seeing shadowed figures moving inside the small home.

"Not a sound," he whispers as we silently get out of the hatch.

Following his brilliant instructions, we creep away from Charles and find safety in the vast forest where we are for sure to be hidden. Trees are the only things surrounding us, and a part of me finds it comforting while the other part of me gets anxiety from it.