Crossing the Line

Chapter Eleven

Hey!! Sorry this chapter took so long, I had my Personal Interest Project to finish, and my HSC trials... but that's all over now!! :D Hopefully I can get more chapters out faster... 

Please let me know what you think of the story, if you don't mind! I really appreciate it! :D

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"He's s-still not answering..."

"Sofia, you only just called him a few minutes ago. He could... still be asleep, or something."

"But, Ilya, you really don't think-"

"That he ran away? Of course not. Because of us? Or because of you? You asked me that not even ten minutes ago, dear. It's silly, and you know it is. Please, stop thinking that."

Sofia wiped the tears away from her eyes, staring down at her phone on the table. Although it was loud through the speaker, Ilya's voice came through it as soft as ever. However, no matter how softly or soothingly he spoke, Sofia could not be calmed.

"I'm sorry-" she started to sob.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, my love. This is not your fault. I'll be home soon," he informed her, and an idea popped into mind. "Do you want something? I can stop by the bakery on my way back from Jacob's, if you'd like."

"Jacob's? Why are you there?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm picking him and Sho up and the three of us are going to search the house-"

"Hey, Sofia," another voice said over the phone.

"Morning, Jacob," Sofia replied, and although he couldn't see it, she gave a half-hearted smile.

"Don't you worry, we'll find the kids and bring 'em back safe and sound, okay?"

* * *

"Well," Asiyah started, as the students approached the entrance to the broken-down old house. "Third time lucky, right?" She tried to add humour to to the situation, to lighten the mood, but to no avail. The mood was still very sombre, and Miki had been growing more and more panicky as they crossed the park. Asiyah sighed, reaching for the front door. She flinched when her hand went straight through the doorknob. Right, she thought, glancing back to the others and catching a glimpse of Mikhail rolling his eyes. This will take some getting used to...

Mikhail huffed when she didn't move forward and took the lead, standing by the door. Asiyah grimaced as he began demonstrating just how easy it was to go through a door; insult was added to injury when he started narrating his actions, as if he was instructing a group of toddlers on how to walk.

"That's obviously not the problem, dude!" Bonibell shouted at him after he had gone through the door, hating the condescending tone he had. Her words, however, met only solid wood.

Richard stood by the door, standing as if he was about to start running. He was bracing himself to go through next, still slightly shaken from falling through the counter - but perhaps he had waited too long, because Mikhail, in annoyance, stepped back through the door, grabbed him, and pulled him into the house. He muttered under his breath about how they were being ridiculous, while Richard wanted to scream.

"We're just not used to it, okay?!" Asiyah fired back, following right behind them. Before she could stop herself, a sentence she immediately regretted saying slipped out of her mouth. "It's not like any of us have had years to practice." As soon as she had said it, her hands were covering her face. "I'm so sorry Mikhail, holy shit..." she apologised, as Bonibell entered the house.