A Mystery Novel

~ČĤÁPŤĔŔ 18~

Xander walks into the abandoned house. He's surprised its still standing, the fire probably didn't have enough time to do much damage. The walls are blackened and it looks like it may fall apart at any moment.

The darkness of the night makes everywhere look scarier than the last time he came here and its worse because he's alone.

When he walks in, he sees a silhouette of a person standing by the window.

"Jacqueline? What are you doing here?"

Jacqueline doesn't get the chance to answer as they hear someone enter the house. Xander puts a finger to his lips, gesturing for her to be quiet.

As the sound of footsteps comes closer, they quietly run to kitchen. Jacqueline trips on her feet and lands on the floor with a loud thud.

The pace of the footsteps increase in their direction. Xander tries to get Jacqueline to stand up so they can get the hell outta there but she's unable to do so.

"I think I strained my ankle," Jacqueline groans, holding her foot protectively.

"We don't have much time, this person will-"

"Xander," a voice says at the doorway. Xander and Jacqueline sigh in relief on seeing the person.

"Its just you," Xander says, "you scared the life out of me."

~·~·~·~·~·~·~·~·~·~·~

Xander and Jacqueline once again find themselves in Mr. Foster's living room. They don't turn on the light in case Mr. or Mrs. Foster come out of their bedroom for some reason.

They use their phones as flashlights as they search for a camera, according to what their source told them.

Through her peripheral vision, Jacqueline notices a small thin red light shining from somewhere in the room. She makes her way towards the shelf where Mr. Foster keeps his figurines and framed photos.

She realizes that the light is coming from the camera she had seen on the shelf before. Its more noticeable now because the room is dark so the light is shining brightly.

"Xander, I found it," she says.

"Perfect."

~·~·~·~·~·~·~·~·~·~·~

"Ty," Xander whispers, shaking Tyler lightly. "Tyler! Wake up! There's an alien invasion," he shakes Tyler vigorously. Tyler immediately jumps out of the bed, he groans in pain when he lands on his bad leg but he continues walking.

He limps to his table where his laptops, computers, play stations and other electronic gadgets are an starts stuffing them in a duffle bag.

"Woah, what are you doing?" Xander asks.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Saving my stuff, I don't want aliens to take them."

"You watch too much sci-fi movies, there are no aliens. And even if they were, these are seriously the things you'd save first? What about your parents."

"They have legs, they can save themselves."

Xander rolls his eyes, "come on, let's go, we found something."

They walk out of Tyler's massive house and to Xander's car where the others are waiting. Xander and Jacqueline sit in the front while the others sit at the back but there's not enough space for the four of them in the small sports car.