House Of Lies

Chapter 2

Adrian started walking towards the living room. Kate was on the phone speaking loudly to her on again off again boyfriend, Dave. Adrian stood at the doorway listening. "Oh so now you're coming back to me, huh? What about that Cassandra you're with?" she yelled into the house phone. "Dave I can't. Every time we're together you cheat on me. And when we're not, you're just with some other girl." She started crying. Adrian could almost hear Dave's deep voice from the phone which was many feet away. He was yelling at her. Whenever he heard Dave's voice or when he came over, a chill always ran up his spine. Adrian heard the beep of the house phone ending the call. Kate's little whimpers turned into wailing sobs.She was crying so much that her already runny mascara was cleaned off her face with fresh tears. Adrian turned on his heel to leave. "Adrian!" she yelled in between tears. Oh no, Adrian thought, She saw me, she just had to have seen me! Adrian inhaled deeply and entered the living room. Kate stared at him with her bloodshot eyes. "Get me my Scotch."

Later that night, after hours of work, Adrian, and Alex lay in their mattresses. Adrian was already snoring. Alex couldn't fall asleep. She had so much leftover energy. Might as well explore these unknown chambers, Alex thought. Her mom only allowed her to go to some of the areas in the house. The windows were boarded up and many of the rooms were locked. The only place where Alex and Adrian were really allowed in the rusty old house was the kitchen and their room. But if you lived as a servant in one particular house your whole life, you know where things are.

Alex put her sock covered foot on the dirty carpet. Though she couldn't see in the dark room, she felt her way to the door. Once she stepped into the hallway, the dim bulb lighted the way. "One step... Two steps..." she counted. Whenever she had gotten nervous as a child she counted. Whether it was chairs, steps, people,cars, you name it, She was incredibly gifted at math. After eighteen steps, she arrived at the foot of her mother's bedroom door. Pulling her dirt encrusted hands out of her pocket, she turned the knob.

"One step, two steps, three steps..." she counted all the way to the drawer near her mother's framed queen sized bed. Alex tugged at the drawer until it finally opened. She dug her hands through old cards, enveloped, and files until she finally found the ring of keys that unlocked every door in the house. All of the keys looked identical but Alex could tell which one was which by the ridges on each key. She held the keys together tightly as she tiptoed out of the dark room with her mother's snoring trailing behind.

She sprinted down the basement stairs, full of adrenaline. She held a flashlight, shining it on plastic wrapped chairs, dust mites, bookshelves, and other basement objects. Alex walked over to the file cabinet in the corner of the room. It intrigued her because it seemed as if someone had used it not to long ago. Maybe even days earlier. She placed her hand to the cool metal and pulled. The cabinet let out a huff and then revealed itself

Yellow, purple, and green files were lined up next to each other. Some read "Evicted","Birth Certificate", "Death Certificate". Some were simple things such as receipts. Alex picked up the file that read parent's birth certificates. Ellie and Phillip. Pictures from their wedding, them carrying her mother while she was a baby and them with the whole family. Alex returned her gaze to the picture of the whole family. Ellie wore a flowy, pink dress while Phillip wore a green polo-looking shirt with brown corduroys. 16-year-old Kate stood near her Mom with her poofy blonde hair, almost matching her mom. Only Kate's hair was more afro looking then styled like her mother. But something strange was in the picture. A girl who looked about Alex's age stood in a blue jean jacket with pink jeans and neon blue leg warmers over them. She was looking to the side looking genuinely bored and annoyed. She had light brown hair like Alex and green eyes. Alex and the girl looked almost like twins. Only Alex was a bit paler and had freckles. Alex looked over the picture a couple more times. Adrian looked a bit like the girl but not too much. Adrian had blonde hair like Kate. Then it hit her.

She opened another drawer searching for answers. She finally landed her eyes upon a thick red file. She picked up the first paper. It read "Nevada State Adoption Center". Under was her name, Alexis Stier. Age, 5. She looked everywhere on the two pages that followed for more information. How could that woman give me up to Kate? What had I done wrong at 5 years old? Alex thought. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. Alex looked for Adrian's adoption papers in the thick folder. Yet is was nowhere to be seen. That's when she lost it. She fell to the dirty ground and cried. Adrian is the son of Kate. Alex repeated in her head. She felt scared and relieved at the same time. "I'm not her daughter!" she said quietly out loud. But her happiness quickly died. And things started to change for the worse again.

Footsteps came fast down the stairs. Alex felt like a deer in headlights. But her natural survival instincts kicked in. She ran and ducked under the piano and put the white blanket that was covering the instrument on top of her. She quietly slid under the pianos base and held her breath. The person was now at the bottom of the steps. Alex looked through a hole in the cloth. The person was too far away and it was to dark to see him or her. The person came closer and closer. Alex had to breathe. The person was right in front of the piano, looking around. And Alex let out a loud sigh.

I don't know what to write here so... Hai Guys :P