CPRDI - The Creature Protection, Restoration, Defence Initiative

Five

When I woke up in the morning, I sat for hours scrolling on my phone, reading the last two weeks of single conversation from Oliver and Keith and trying to work it out. I wasn't tempted to look back any farther where I could see my replies, I didn't want to see what I used to say to them. Many thoughts of explanation ran through my head. Maybe someone hijacked my phone and downloaded these conversations onto it? It certainly would make Keith and Oliver's story more convincing. But then when it came to my mother, maybe she had been brainwashed to think that Oliver was my boyfriend? How did brainwashing even work though?

My mother was too angry at me to talk about it either. I wanted to ask her if she knew who Keith was? And when I stopped mentioning Oliver? I wanted her to explain to me how long I had known him, them? But she left, only reminding me how grounded I was, and to do my homework. So I was alone, my family had evacuated the house to jobs and school, and I was left on my bed doing my homework.

There was a knock on my window, which made me jump from my intense game of Tetris, I glanced to the window. Two boys stood outside, staring in at me. I tried to save my game with a few more blocks before giving up.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked, shutting my laptop, and sliding off my bed to the window.

"We're here to rescue you," Oliver smiled.

"That," Keith nodded.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We're not really," Keith smirked, "we thought you might like to hang out with us."

I folded my arms, "did you now? And who said I wanted to hang out with criminals."

"We aren't criminals," Oliver mumbled.

"We're friends," Keith corrected.

"What did you want to do?" I then asked.

"Well," started Oliver, a grin growing across his face, making his cheeks rise. "We thought it was about time we checked on the Elves, and we thought better yet that you would love to ah- re-meet them."

They had snapped my curiosity, and yet the voice in the back of my head was laughing at me. How could I possibly fall for this? You know, deep down they aren't real, right?

"I don't know," I admitted, half convinced by the voice in my head, that they were toying with me.

"You can trust us," Keith promised and Oliver nodded at the statement.

"You have to earn trust," I pointed out.

"Then let us earn it," Oliver asked, "we can't do that with you inside your house all day."

"You're not going to do anything weird to me?" I clarified.

"Cate," Keith sighed, "we dropped you home yesterday. Sure we did wrong by abducting you from school, and we aren't going to pressure you to go with us, but we have no reason to hurt you."

"Why aren't you at school?" I asked. The boys exchanged a glance.

"We wagged yesterday so we figured we would do the same today," Oliver explained.

"Won't you be grounded?" I asked.

"That's never stopped us." Keith admitted with a raise of a single eyebrow. My teeth swept over my bottom lip, and I bit into it a little as I thought.

"Alright," I finally decided, as I swooped my curtains closed I added "let me get changed."

It was weird being suspended from school, and at the same time being grounded. But no one was home to witness me breaking my new law, and I could only hope that the boys would have me back home before anyone else.