Silent Emotions

12. What plan?

Piles of dust filled boxes surround me. I covered my nose by pulling my shirt up. Dust flew everywhere. And I was starting to get allergies.

"This," Ken scurries over to me with a black box in hand. I tuck the photographs back into the box I found and turned my attention on him.

"What is it?" I asked. He shrugs and opens the lid. It contained a suitcase and required a four letter word to open it. "Do you remember this at all?" He shook his head no, then had a thoughtful expression cross his face.

"I remember mom giving this to grandpa. He got mad when I tried to open it," he recalled. He starts to fiddle with the lock while I check my phone again.

You still coming?

I wait for Austin to answer. But of course, it's been a while. He hasn't been so great with replying. Nor has he ever showed up to hang out. He promised to help us find out about the truth. And yet he's never here.

The sound of a door being closed made us pause. I turn to Ken who held his gaze on me. Crap. They're home. I held my forefinger to my lips and motioned for him to put the suitcase into my backpack. He stuffs it in, barely able to fully zip it close.

"Emma? Ken?" Grandma calls out. I bit my lower lip thinking of ways to get out of the attic undetected. The only way out of here was by opening the ledge and climbing down the ladder. Except.... for the window.

"Are you fucking insane?!" Ken half whisper and yells. I covered his mouth and went out first. My feet reached around until I got a good grip of the roof. I slowly stood up and looked around making sure no one was around to witness my idiocy.

"Come on," I wave Ken over who reluctantly got out. I walked down until I reached the edge before hitting the gutters. There should be a balcony where we could hop down to. The only problem was we were on the roof of a three story house. If we were to miss, we'd probably die. Or face serious injuries.

"We're gonna die," Ken sighed. I glared at him and mumbled, "Shut up." Crouching down to touch the rough surface of the roof tiles, I felt around until I had a good grip. Slowly, I lowered my legs down the edge until I was completely hanging. I wiggled my legs around until my tiptoes felt the metal railing of the balcony.

"Pray for me," I said before swinging my whole body so I can land onto the balcony. "I'm not even religious!" Ken shouts back. I somehow made it in one piece. With only a sore butt from the landing.

"Wow that was easy," Ken says smugly after he made a perfect landing. I rolled my eyes and went back into the house. Hopping down the steps, I greet grandpa with a big hug. He chuckles since he had to awkwardly hug me back with my backpack being in the way.

"What have you two been up to?" Grandma raises a brow suspiciously. I flash her my award winning smile, "Teenage stuff." She hums in response as she both took us by our hands and led us to the kitchen. Grandpa waves it off, choosing to go watch TV.

"Let me see it," Grandma says as soon as we step foot into the kitchen. I bit my lip and looked at Ken. The look of shock in his eyes clearly meant he did not say a word to her.

"Fine," I grumbled. Fishing the suitcase out of my backpack. Her eyes scans it, then hands it back. "Good. You got the right thing. Now here's money. Go eat somewhere private," she hands me a clump of bills. I look at her with my jaw slacked. Ken doing the same. Literally snapping us back to reality, she urges us to leave.

I nodded and gave her a tight hug before dragging Ken out of the house. "Whatever this is, I hope it's worth it." I say before driving out of town. After scoping the next town over for places we could go to, we settled for an old rundown looking diner. Surely no one we knew would drive all the way here. Plus the location is hard to find.