𝑅𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 |𝐹𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑒

Nineteen

9th December 2020

A week had passed since they got away to Venezuela, Millie changed her phone number so she wouldn't be contacted by anyone she knew in California and Finn also got an entirely new phone, so they wouldn't be able to track him down like the last couple times. They had been getting a few odd jobs here and there but were too young to get an apartment, so instead, they had been staying at a rental house, where the owner had given them a house for a year, the only thing they had to do, pay him at the end of the month. Had this been the brightest idea? Probably not, cause the crime rate at this city wasn't the best. They were going to stay until their rental house was up but then a few weird events kept reoccurring...

"Oh, has llegado! Hola, Finn- Millie!" The man said shaking their hands vigorously. Maybe a man in his late thirties with shabby black hair and a stubbly chin smiled at them, he was wearing thick brown glasses and his eyes were rather bloodshot. "Venir, Venir! Please inside," He smiled brightly, inviting them to sit down.
"I am Marvin, you must be, Finn and..." He took a short pause before saying, "Millie.." He smiled in a way they were both offended and they got the chills for a minute. Marvin soon smiled back at Finn in a normal way though.
"Very nice to see you both, just remember to call me when you need anything!" He jumped up saying as he walked towards the front door. "Sorry I have no time to talk, I need to pick my kids from- school. Mother you see has them and no car. See you soon!" Millie and Finn waved at him and just before he was going to leave the room he paused and glanced at them. "Don't open the door to the room next to the back door. You will see it has a dent on it, so no get confused." He smiled nervously and he rushed out the door. Finn and Millie exchanged the same anxious and strange look.
"It's not just me right?" Millie shook her head and stood up walking to the kitchen. "The way he said your name I-"
"It was...strange, but he's still a nice guy." She said trying to reassure herself.
"I think we should keep a safe distance. I mean the thing that set me off was not going into that room," He said pointing at it. "Why wouldn't he want us to go in there? Seems like something out of a book."
"Don't be daft." She scoffed. "Maybe, it belonged to one of his family members...That passed away. If he doesn't want us going in that room, we should respect his privacy." Finn nodded as he walked into the hallway. He glanced at the door with a dent and looked at his phone, it was six forty-two.
"Who picks their kids up at six in the afternoon, from school. And it's dark out."
"What?" Millie asked, confused. Not fully understanding.
"He said he had to pick up his kids from school. And if his wife doesn't have a car, why would she pick them up in the first place? Or couldn't she just, walk home with his kids?" He hurried over to the window and saw Marvin halfway down the street. "Isn't he going in a car, to pick up his kids? Why couldn't his wife call a taxi? Or ride a bus?"
"Maybe they went to an after school club. Maybe his wife didn't have her purse on her, that's why she couldn't get a taxi let alone a bus." She said following Finn to the window.
"That still doesn't explain why he's going on foot."
"Just leave the poor man alone." She said grabbing Finn's arm, dragging him along. "He might live away from the house. Now come, let's look around."

The place was a bungalow and was a bit old but it was still in an OK shape. There was a big entryway where you hung your coats and put your shoes and umbrellas away and to your right, there was a shared office with two desks and bookcase then there was the living combined with the kitchen. The kitchen to your left and the living room to your right. Then there was another open hallway, nicely decorated with plants and paintings and a bookcase. Both sides of the hallway, there were two rooms, one being on the right was the bathroom. And then at the end of the hall, there was the back door. They both unpacked in the biggest room, opposite the bathroom. It had a desk and wardrobe and mattress with no bed frame. Millie walked over to the wardrobe and it looked rather old and broken. She opened it and it creaked like it hadn't been open in over a year and smelled funny too. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in over a year too. She coughed and sputtered as dust emerged from the closet.
"This looks crappy," Millie said as she closed it shut, almost breaking it as she did so.
"It also smells like crap too. I'm not putting my clothes in there, I'd be much happier putting my clothes outside then putting it in that." A picture fell out of the closet as it closed, Millie picked it up and looked at it closely. It was a young girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen. Finn peered over her shoulder to see what she was looking at too. She was tanned, had short brown hair, with freckles and blue eyes.
"Must have been his daughter. Or someone who lived here before." Millie said reaching for the top of the closet. Finn helped her and took the picture instead, leaving lying on top of the closet.
"Or someone he kidnapped and murdered," he joked. Millie rolled her eyes and looked around unimpressed.
"It shows it hasn't been cleaned in a while too. I'm going to the shops tomorrow. See what cleaning products I can get."
"I'll come too, it'll be much fun then that..guy coming over here."
"Finn.." She frowned and walked away. "I'm going to look at the bathroom, hopefully, it's a bit better." She walked in and turned on the lights. There was a bathtub at the end of the bathroom and the sink on the left side while the toilet on the other. She peered at the sink and ran the tap when she noticed a pinkish stain inside the sink bowl. It was strange as it looked like it had tried to be scrubbed out, but the stain was still there so it didn't work. Her blood ran cold thinking about what it could be. What she knew it could be. She turned off the tap and looked inside the bathtub, which had a curtain covering it. It had an odd stench and was also mouldy at the shower nubs and where the wallpaper and the bathtub separated. Disgusted, she closed the shower curtains and sighed.
"The bathroom isn't any better, Finn." She shouted across the corridor. "The walls are mouldy." Finn scoffed.
"So they really don't maintenance the house. I'll ask Marvin if we can tear down the wallpaper."
"We might as well tear down the whole bathroom. Please tell me you brought flip flops because I can't stand up in this shower it smells like, something is rotting, it's putrid." She said, pretending to gag. "It's like going into a public shower, filthy."
"Open the window, it might get the smell out." She struggled as she tried to open the window but it was almost if the windows were bolted shut.
"I can't open it! I think it's been bolted down- I don't know!" He scoffed and came over.
"Are you really that weak?" She frowned at him but waited for him to try to open the window, and just as expected, it wouldn't open.
"Are you really that dumb?" She teased him. "You don't think all the windows are...like this? It's like seventy degrees in here." She said rolling up her sleeves. Finn looked at her curiously and went over to try open the windows but they were all bolted, even the kitchen ones.
"Yes, they are all locked! Ugh!" He kicked the wall in his temper and walked away. "How are we going to survive in here!? Shit!"
"It's like a bloody boiler room, I can't stay in these jeans and jumper. I'm gonna change get out the room." She shoved him out and locked the door.
"Oh how very nice of you of politely asking me to leave and kick me out?" He said sarcastically, as he smiled bitterly.