The House

Chapter 10 The List

"Isabelle!" Valerye's voice says my name in the distance.

Hearing my name gets me out of the trance; if I can find the room in which he's watching us I could finally see his face after all this time and make him pay.

"Isabelle! Come here!" Valerye yells.

I snap out of my thoughts and fold the paper bag just enough so I can hide it behind my back and under my shirt. My parents and I walk out of the room and my dad shuts the door.

"What happened?" I say while walking down the stairs.

Down the stairs I can see Valerye, Peter, Jasmine and... Ben. He's shaking and his skin is paler; almost blue. When he looks at me he takes some steps back, as if he's afraid of me.

"We found him on the freezer, you know 'Where things are cold but you still enjoy them'... he was talking about meat." says Peter.

I finally come down and approach Valerye; Ben is behind her, like a child would cover behind its mother when being afraid.

"Ben is... Umm," says Valerye. "I told him everything but he says that you almost got him killed..."

"Me?" I say.

"He said something about some doctors..." says Valerye.

"Docto-?"

It's not that I forgot about the test but, how does Ben know about it...? Wait, the projector is always on when I'm finished; that means it has to be on during the test and also that it shows what I'm doing during those tests...

Oh no, Ben...

"Could you guys leave us alone for a sec?" I say.

I look at my parents and they walk away; Peter, Valerye and Jasmine watch them and do the same thing. Ben looks scared to be alone with me, so I don't move; I just stay where I am. I'm waiting until everyone is far enough to talk.

"Ben, you saw my memory, didn't you?" I say. "The thing with the doctors..."

He doesn't even do eye contact.

"Hey, you have to know that I was being tested; I didn't want to do that thing to you but if I didn't then we would've never been able to find you..."

"Valerye said..." says Ben almost in a murmur. "Valerye said that I can leave..."

I sigh.

"That's right..." I reply with a nod. "Outside must be a car waiting for you... and even your family might be waiting..."

Ben looks behind him, as if thinking whether to leave or not.

"I didn't know you were going to watch, but I didn't have any other choice..." I say.

Ben finally looks at me and searches for something on his right pocket.

"This was on my pocket..." his right arm stretches and I can see he's holding something.

I stretch my hands to grab it and Ben just lets what he's holding-a wrinkled yellowish paper-fall into my hands.

Once I'm holding the piece of paper he starts to walk away.

"I don't know what happened to you all this time, but I want you to know that these two years haven't been easy and that I'm glad I found you..." I say.

Ben didn't stop, but I'm sure he heard me. He opens the main door and walks outside; I follow him and see that his parents don't get out of the car; they just open the door for him and, once he's inside, the car drives off.