The House

Chapter 12 Recovered Data

I don't know if I'm getting tired of seeing people leave or if I'm just tired in general. These tests last for hours and they take the best of me. I don't have any energy left to find Ophelia, so I ask my parents to do me the favor.

They all leave, and all I want to do is to rest. However, the blocked folder comes back to my mind. What's in there? I want to know so badly that I consider for a minute the idea of returning to the Secret Room and start guessing any possible passwords.

But my body aches with movement, and I feel heavier and exhausted.  I just take my time to  walk down the stairs and into my room.

...

The cold water sends shivers down my spine. My neck is getting wet, so as my hair,  as I just stand there staring into the ground.

I raise my head and wash my face before I turn the water off. I open the door to grab a towel and I roll it over my body. Once I'm dry, I put on my underwear and my pajamas.

I'm ready to head to bed but, before I can even sit on it, I hear someone knocking on my door.

"Isabelle? Open up! We found Ophelia and she wants to talk to you." says Valerye at the other side of the door.

I'm surprised to hear those words. She wants to talk to me? Maybe she wants to give me something the Creep Guy gave her, like Ben, or maybe she wants to talk to me the way Luca did. Either way, I'm walking towards the door to open it and find out.

At the other side of the door are Valerye, our parents, and Ophelia. She's cover in bruises and paint and she's shaking.

"I-Isabelle!" I'm caught of guard. Ophelia hugs me and I almost lose my balance, but I manage to gain some equilibrium.

"We found her on the balcony of one of the rooms on the second floor." says my dad.

Ophelia, who's still hugging me, steps back. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry," I say. I look at my clothes and see that they're dirty with paint now. However, I'm not mad at Ophelia. "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"Paintball." It's all she says.

"I see." We stay in silence for a while, but Ophelia is looking at me the way Ben did. With fear. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah..." she nods. " I just... I just don't know where to start..."

Ophelia lowers her head and stares at her feet. Soon, she starts to cry.

"Hey, it's okay, don't cry." I say.

Ophelia cries harder now and I don't know what to do.

"I'm so sorry, Isabelle..." she says between sobs. "I'm so, so sorry..."

"Why are you sorry?" I ask.

"I didn't want to hurt you back then... I just didn't know what to do and... And I know that's no excuse for what we did to you but... I'm sorry... You even came here to rescue us and... I... I'm so sorry..."

I'm completely speechless. I think this is what I wanted; to hear somebody saying that they were sorry, but I know it doesn't change the past or what they did, however, I'm glad. I'm happy to hear Ophelia's words because they sound honest; as if it is her heart speaking to me rather than her.

I'm glad.

"Thanks Ophelia," I say with a smile. "It means a lot."

"I'm sorry." She repeats.

"I know you are." I walk towards her and give her another hug.

"Ophelia, sweetheart," says my mom with a smile. "Thank you."

"You have no idea what our princess has gone through," says my dad. "Thank you."

The weight of their words lets me know how grateful they are to Ophelia. 

"Ophelia, do you want to take a bath before you meet your parents?" Asks Jasmine.

I stop hugging Ophelia and she looks confused.

"What did you say?" She says.

"You have the option to stay or to leave and be with your family," says Valerye. "And of course we know what you'll chose so... I don't think you'd like to meet them like that."

Ophelia smiles and nods. Valerye then walks her to her room and I return to mine to take another bath.

...

Ophelia made sure to hug me one more time before leaving. My parents were extremely grateful for the way she acted and so was I.

After that, we all had dinner and I thought I would have a nice sleep, but I was wrong. I had my nightmare again and woke up at the middle of the night. Again.

I tried to go back to sleep but, suddenly, the computer in the Secret Room came back to my mind, specially the blocked folder. What's in there?

The curiosity is too much and it's now impossible for me to go back to sleep. I want to know what's in there, so I tiptoe my way out of the room, again, and head to the Secret Room. Once there, I go to the Computer and "log in" as I did the last time.

Now, there is a new folder. It says Carl and Aoued.

I open it and see hundreds of pictures, just like when I opened Laureen's folder. I click on the first one and it becomes bigger. I see Carl walking inside, what it appears to be, a mall. He's holding hands with a girl. The next couple of pictures are about those two.

Suddenly, one of the pictures changes and instead of Carl I see Aoued. He's in the same mall with his family; his wife and two kids. The following pictures show them walking around.

Then, Carl and Aoued are in the same picture. They haven't seen each other so they keep walking until Carl recognizes Aoued and walks closer to him.

Aoued spots Carl and he stays astonished, staring at him, while stepping away from his family. When they meet, they shake each other's hand and end up in a mutual hug. The rest of the pictures show them talking together.

I don't know what's going on. First, Laureen's folder and now this? If Valerye and I were correct, then the three of them are safe and I won't need to worry about looking out for them. But if the Creep Guy took this pictures, they're not so safe after all.

I close the folder and put my thoughts aside; I decide it's time to figure out what's inside the Project folder, so I click on it and start trying the most easiest passwords.

12345678

abcdefgh

30251807

Password1

Project1

The Computer shuts itself down after the fifth attempt.

This is pointless. If Charles were still here he could probably figure it out in less than five tries. What am I doing?

I sigh and leave the room. Everything is dark. I'm still surprised that the Creep Guy hasn't yell at me or something, so what I thought before must be true: he's not watching the cameras at night. This means, that we can use this against him if we need too.

And I know we will.