Chapter Forty-Seven

Skylar's POV:

I pushed open the glass doors as I went inside the incredibly small shop. Like it was really small and suffocating. The moment I entered, I heard a bell chime above me, announcing my arrival to the completely empty shop.

It was a typical antique store. Everything in here seemed to have something consisting of glass pieces, mirrors. Real mirrors, glass pieces carved into giant vases, wind chimes made out of mirror shards.

The shopkeeper must be into mirrors.

I hadn't intended to come out here alone, not when Dad had told me how dangerous this was. But at the same time, I didn't find it in me to ask someone to come along with me. I could’ve asked Caden.

But I hadn't.

"Hello, young lady. May I help you?" I heard a voice right behind me.

As if broken out from a serious trance, I turned around abruptly to see an old man –who looked not so old– with a trimmed white beard and a bald head.

"Oh, I heard you were good at making wooden boxes?" I started, clearing my throat.

He raised his eyebrows and nodded. "I do make them, yes. What kind of boxes do you want?" He asked, walking over behind the counter.

I slid off my handbag from my shoulder and gingerly took out the wooden box. Making sure he could see it and not exactly reach for it, I showed it to him.

"I don't need any box. I just thought you might be kind enough to help me open this?" I asked hopefully. I needed to know what was inside it, at any cost.

He eyed the box curiously before looking up at me. Something in his gaze didn't feel so right.

"If you can't—" I took a small step back. "—I can take this to someone else."

He exhaled a sigh before shaking his head. "It's not that. I do not remember ever making such kind of boxes." He murmured. "But my brother used to sell them at his shop."

Maybe that's where this was bought from.

"So, you might be able to open it?" I asked him.

His hand reached out towards me, asking for the box. For some reason, I hesitated a little, but gave him anyway.

This was the only way.

He took it and turned it around in his hands, inspecting it very closely. His forehead furrowed in concentration and it took him almost few seconds before he pressed something at the bottom. Surprisingly, I saw the locks working before the front of the box opened itself.

The old man looked at me, slight hint of pride in his eyes. I wouldn't blame the guy.

"Oh, thank you so much." I spoke up in surprise. "I had no idea it was that easy."

As I made a move to take it from him, he held it back.

"It isn't. It takes the critical stage of mind to know where it opens and where it locks." He said, once again narrowing his gaze at me.

"Yeah." I said, and the polite smile on my face seemed to waver a bit. "Like I said, thank you. Can I have it back?"

"Tell me where you found this?" He asked.

Nothing about this small shop felt so fine anymore. It felt suffocating for some reason and that old guy, he didn't seem so polite anymore.

"I-I don't know." I hesitated. "Please, can I have it back?"

He did give it to me this time. An involuntary sigh escaped my lips as I held it. Mom had been clear when she told me that I was to take care of this box. I didn't want to lose it in the hands of a creepy old shopkeeper.

"I know this box was bought from my brother's shop." He stated, almost glaring at me. "Do you know how I know about that?"

I really didn't want to know. I just wanted to leave this shop.

"He got killed just after that lady bought this box from his shop." He stated. "Those bunch of guys came there looking for this same box. And killed him."

A small shiver ran up my spine as my eyes widened a bit.

Why did it always lead to death?

"Bunch of guys?" My voice sounded strained for some reason.

His stare finally broke away from me as he picked up a cloth and started wiping the counter. "Idiots." He muttered in a voice that clearly told me how better it would be to just leave.

Moving towards the door, I stuffed the box back in my bag. I gave one last glance to that man and exited the shop. The clouds seemed to rumble the second I stepped back on the street. It was going to rain soon.

The weather had been kind of like that since last night. Since Mom and Dad had come back. Since Alex had left.

Something tugged in my gut, a feeling of unease settling at the pit of my stomach.

I didn't believe him—Alex. I trusted Caden enough to not just believe in such assumptions about him. He had saved my life so many times. He liked me. I liked him. He might go around killing people, and even though that thought still wasn't comforting, I knew that was what gangs did. He could’ve killed someone else.

But not his parents.

If Blake had lied earlier to Alex, what chance was there that he wasn't lying yet once again? He hasn't ever given me a reason to believe him. Why should I believe him now?

Maybe Blake had forced Alex to feed these lies to me, just like every single time before.

But then again, who was Kevin? Why had Alex told me about him?

I pushed off the thoughts far behind in my head just like I had done yesterday. Just like I had been doing every single second since Alex had left my house. The hollowness in my chest just seemed to increase at that.

And I just ignored it.

Alex mustn't been lying.

Everything was fine. Everything was.

Then why didn't it feel like it?

••••••

"We were hoping you'd like to participate in this event since your parents themselves have contributed a lot in such events." Principal Stewart looked at me.

It wasn't the first time I wished my parents hadn't been lawyers. Them being lawyers and well known among the town made it a lot harder for me in such situations.

"I think I won't be able to—"

"I'm sure it would help your academics, Ms. Anderson." He cut me off. He surely was not taking a no for an answer.

Our school was having this charity thing for some organization. And I would've loved to help only if a lot of things hadn't been going on with me at the moment. I still didn't get the chance to pull out that wooden box from my bag, and see whatever that was inside it. I had been caught up with so many things, including my parents.

"All right." I nodded at him, stifling the urge to groan out loud in frustration. At least this way, he wouldn't pester me anymore. And I really didn't want him to call my parents for that matter. They'd be extra enthusiastic to get me to participate. "When will this be happening?"

He cheered up at that and opened his drawer. "they'll be tomorrow. And don't worry, there are few other students who are volunteering for this. Tomorrow night, that is."

When I came back home from school, I realized how bad this decision was. I'd be wasting my entire night on that thing. And all of this hype just to pass out helpful instructions to random people? No thanks.

It was more like a school carnival, and the money collected would be given off to the charity.

Wouldn't my mother just love the fact that I was participating in it?

Groaning at my life, I sat down on my bed. Chicken started roaming around my feet before running towards my laundry basket. Mom and Dad weren't leaving until tomorrow for another one of their business trips. And once again, I was kind of glad that they were here.

Inhaling a deep breath, I finally picked up my handbag that I had just taken out of my closet, and pulled out the wooden box from inside it. It looked exactly the same, and thankfully it hadn't locked on itself.

I tilted it a little in my hands and watched as the front of it swung open like a door. Surprisingly, now that I looked closer, there wasn't much space inside it like I had expected.

And in there was a USB drive. A black one.

Once I had taken it out and the small drive was in my hand, I realized that I had actually been expecting something much more...valuable. I don't know what I had been expecting, but certainly not this.

Opening up my laptop, I quickly inserted the drive and waited for it to pop up on the screen. I saw Chicken running out of my room the exact moment a folder popped up on the screen. I wasted no time in clicking on it and found myself looking at a video icon.

I don't know why it took me a whole minute before I finally clicked on it. Maybe because it just seemed a bit odd to me. First I find a USB drive inside the wooden box everyone had been looking for, and then I find just a single video inside that drive?

It just seemed weird.

The video player opened up on the screen and I found myself looking at a dark room. The blinds were shut close. There was an empty chair in the middle of the room, nothing else.

It seemed like a recording, and I noticed that the date was timed back years ago from now.

From somewhere in that video, I heard sounds of shuffling. The camera tilted a bit before it re-adjusted itself. Out of nowhere, a man entered the view and sat down on the chair, facing the camera.

Facing me.

Something inside me stirred uneasily. That guy was literally staring at me, like he was looking right into my soul. He looked in his thirties, or maybe he was older. I couldn't make out his appearance clearly since the camera seemed outdated, and everything was black and white.

"There is something important—" He started but a shrill voice interrupted him. He looked at his right in alarm, clearing his throat ever so slightly. Nothing about that man seemed familiar.

I expected him to get up again, probably runaway judging by the scared look on his face. But instead, he looked back at the screen.

"I might not be alive once I'm done with this video." His expression was eerily calm now. I would've guessed that nothing was wrong only if I hadn't seen the slight panic in his eyes. His features were slightly contorted with fear and panic, or maybe it was just me. "You must know where that object is hidden."

He blinked as I heard the shrill voice again, seeming to come from behind his camera.

"You must keep it safe."