The Other Me

Chapter Eight

Chapter 8

Just over an hour later, Rosaline and I were watching over a pretty, semi-detached house, from behind an overgrown bush. The house was huge, with three floors. There were two large white columns on either side of a vast oak door; the house’s red bricked walls were entwined with sprawling ivy and there were patches of pretty, blooming, little flower beds underneath the dark, wood-paned windows.

We hadn’t spoken a single word to each other since I had spotted her, crouched within the over-growth. Rosaline merely nodded as I approached her and that was it. I had found the house easily enough, since fortunately Rosaline had described the directions the night before. So far, there had been no movement from the house at all.

“Do we really need to go in?” I ask desperately, breaking the icy tension. “We already know what is going to happen, why do we need to check?”

“Because,” Rosaline began in a bored voice, “we need to follow up on it and we need evidence to prove what he is doing. Therefore, he can be put away, or hopefully hanged so we can make sure he never does anything else like this again.” She threw me a dark look, and I knew then that she was trying to make me feel stupid. And she was succeeding.

“You missed something out,” I told her pointedly and triumphantly. “How are you going to explain how you got the evidence huh? It magically appeared in your hand? He gave it to you? You really haven’t thought this through have you?”

“Have you ever heard of lying?” she replied with gritted teeth. “Use your imagination moron. And by the time we’ve saved them, no one would even care.” My wild desire to slap her came back all of a sudden; just as the front door of the Barratt household opened.

We both watched eagerly as both Barratt and Mrs Barratt stepped outside the house. Barratt was dressed in a silver, expensive looking suit, and it seemed like he was in a good mood; by the chirpy way he walked, the goofy grin that was etched on his face and by the happy way he swung his suitcase. He was probably anticipating about the money he thought he was going to get after he had done his dirty work, the disgusting bastard. I could feel my blood boil with hatred as I watched him approach his shining car; trying to resist the part of me that wanted to run over there and smack him in the head with that suitcase.

When I ran my eyes over Mrs Barratt, who was going towards the passenger side of the car; I immediately noticed something strange. She too was wearing a posh suit, except hers consisted of a knee-length skirt and shimmering black tights. But it wasn’t her clothes that were weird. It was her facial expression. She was angry.

“John,” I could hear her high-pitched, girly voice ring in the air. “Is this conference really necessary? You hardly ever stay at home during the weekend! You are always doing some bloody sort of school work, and I feel like I hardly see you anymore. This is ridiculous!” She was snappy and sounded really pissed off. This shocked me. I had never seen this side of Mrs Barratt.

“Darling,” Barratt said warily, his good mood deteriorated. He had reached his car now and he was unlocking it with his car keys. “I have told you many times. I have to go to this meeting, it’s very important for the school. You needn’t come if you don’t want to!”

Mrs Barratt made a humph noise and crossed her arms. “I have to come, it’s the only time I will ever see you!” I swore I could spot Barratt sneakily roll his eyes in despair at his wife, as they both simultaneously clambered into the car. After a moment, the car came to life and reversed out the driveway and then drove away into the distance.

“Now is our chance,” Rosaline said grimly. Together, we made our way to front part of the house. Everything in my body told me to run, to get the hell out of there. But I had to help Rosaline; otherwise Nat would die. I trembled with nerves and fright as Rosaline lifted a green flowerpot which was perched on a nearby window sill; revealing a large silver key. Steadily, she took it and unlocked the front door. I held my breath as there was a click and the sound of a doorknob being pushed down. We were in.