The Missing Linck

• EIGHT •

My end? Wait a minute. The beginning of my end?

What's that supposed to mean? I mean, yeah, there's the straightforward meaning and all but why does it apply here? Where's my end here?

A loud click rings through the room, startling me. I look towards the door to see that it's held open by one of the guys. Alex, his name tag reads.

"Um, you okay? You've been unusually silent for quite some time now," he hesitates.

"And where have you been?" I ask, suspicion oozing in my voice.

"We finished up the work you asked u- told us to do and were just chatting while waiting for you and, after you didn't show up after so long, I came up to check if there was anything else you wanted us to do. I mean, I know you told us not to meddle and all but we were only-" 'Alex' keeps rambling until I yell at him to stop.

"What are you up to?" I snap, circling around him until he tells me, "Nothing. Just doing my job, earning my money, you know..."

Okay, if they're playing this game, I'm not going to let them play it that easily. I'm sure that if I mentioned the locked door now, he's gonna say, "What? No, it wasn't locked." or some variation of that. Fine, two can play at this game, and I certainly will.

"So, you're done with the furniture?" he nods, and I continue, "Good. Then, you can start on the decoration. I've kept the blueprint down on the kitchen table. Go take it and get started now. Finish it soon. And after that, you've got to set up all the food. Get." I snarl.

Confusion spreads across his face, looking quite genuine. Then he nods curtly and heads back down. Good. I'm not that easy to mess with, you know.

Having had enough of the room, I walk out and go to the room down the hall. Hmm, I should remind Quenna to get the tiles near the door changed because they're quite slippery. Aha! The room must be Reid's. Propping open the door with a table so it can't be shut like in the other room without moving the table (which would make enough noise to alert me), I enter and take it in.

Immaculate is the first word that enters my head. It's spotlessly clean!

When I switch on a lamp, the light from the lamp glints off of the white tiles, squeaky clean. The ebony marble walls make for a good contrast with the ivory floor, so kudos to whoever designed this house.

But there's something different about Reid's room. True, even Quen's room was neat and clean, and had good color combinations. But Quen's room feels more... human, if that even makes sense. I guess what I mean is that Quen's room looks more lived in, while Reid's looks like no one's ever lived there.

The cleanliness makes sense, but what doesn't is how cold everything is. There's no AC, and the ceiling fan looks brand new. Heck, even the switch looks brand new. The window is closed, too, so it couldn't have been from outside. I realize it's not actually cold, but more like lack of warmth.

Then again-

Was that a crash I just heard? Switching off the lamp, I race downstairs, afraid the guys broke something. But when I reach, I see no sign of any breakage, no debris, not even a scratch or a bump anywhere. I even go around the entire ground floor, but there's nothing. That's strange.

Maybe it was from outside the house. Why did I hear it so loud then? Ugh, I'll jut drop this. For now, I've got to get my work here done, even if it's just supervising these guys. Yes, they're making good progress.

I look around at the guys to see if anyone looks guilty or something of the sort, but everyone just has a casual expression, no signs of even careful rearranging of their face. But- right, I'm not going to pry now, just going to drop it. Isn't there an expression, 'Curiosity killed the cat'?

Now I hear a bigger crash from upstairs, and apparently the guys hear too 'cause they look up with curiosity and worry writ large on their faces.

"I'm gonna go see what that is," I say and sprint upstairs. From the sound of more footsteps, at least two or three guys are coming too. Great.

I reach the upper floor and look around in all the rooms. Nothing.

"What about the terrace?" 'Alex' says.

We head out to the terrace. Again, nothing. Then we hear an even bigger crash. From the first floor, I presume. I go back down again, the guys on my heels.

Now, I see the cause of the noise. And it's nothing like I ever imagined.

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This was a longer chapter than usual...

Sorry for not posting in so long!

In case you're wondering, Tasha calls the guy 'Alex' because she doesn't know if his name's actually Alex, but that's what his name tag says. Yeah, she doesn't even know the name of the guys she hired. Way to go, Quintasha, way to go!

Great, now I'm criticizing a character I made up. Just great.

And, you'll come to know the cause of the crash in the next chapter! Toodles!

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