Chapter Thirty-Nine

Skylar's POV:

Nobody was in the house except Chicken and me. I didn't know whether I would've felt relieved or the exact opposite when I found that out, especially since there was a piece of black tape still covering one of the wall cameras.

Even the alarm system was disabled by itself, and I was sure I hadn't done that before leaving for school. Things felt confusing. I wanted to call mom or maybe even the police, but I stopped myself from doing any such thing. Not when dad was still in the hospital.

Both Chicken and I perked up in alarm the moment we heard the doorbell ringing. However, it was Chicken who was the first one to reach the door.

As if she even knew how to open it.

I didn't know why I had to think about it for few seconds before standing up and walking towards the front door. I knew perfectly well who was behind it. Last time when I saw him, things hadn't gone well.

He's just here for the locker.

Just the locker.

Tucking back few loose strands of hair behind my ear, I cautiously opened the door, while Chicken circled around my feet. Even though I knew it was Caden, a small part of me still felt a bit surprised to find him standing there. He was right in front of me; his complete attire matching the dark sky outside as he stood there, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Everything about him seemed dark at that moment, or maybe it was just me and my messed-up head.

I looked up in his eyes, the same green ones which were already staring back at me; a look that was more of a blank one. Yet I still gripped the door behind me. Something about him, and the thought that I had last seen him the day I kissed him, made my stomach clench unhappily.

He's just here for the locker.

When I managed to break the eye contact, I couldn't help but look behind him, across the yard. The sky had gone dark already, I was still in my school clothes, and I still had this strange feeling that somebody had broken in my house.

"Hey." I spoke up, trying to ignore the tense silence around us. "Come on in." And I didn't think twice before opening the door wider. I don't know why I did that; I didn't know why I was inviting him inside. I knew I was trusting him, I just didn't know why.

However, I was a little bit reassured when he stepped inside, and that confused me. What if I shouldn't have let him inside? Why did I think that I could trust him?

I glanced down at Chicken and she let out a small meow, almost as if she was as unsure as me.

Inhaling a deep breath, I pulled my sleeves over my fists and leaned back against the closed door. Caden wasn't looking at me now and it made this all a bit less unnerving.

"So...the locker." I broke the silence.

His gaze wandered back to my face and I truly hated it by now—the way my heart lurched within my chest every single time he did that. It wasn't just the fact that he was looking at me, it was the look in those same eyes. He'd pay attention to me anytime, that's what those eyes said.

Even if that was just impossible to believe.

"What happened yesterday?" He asked, and I couldn't help but notice the obvious drowsiness on his face. Even his hair were tousled more than usual, messily falling over his forehead. "In school."

I found my tongue tied at that moment. I wanted to tell him about yesterday, but then again, he'd find it out from Jesse anyway. I just didn't want to tell him about those metal disks, not when I didn't know why Alex had them.

"Nothing." I spoke up and it felt hard to search for the right words when he was still looking at me. "But...I know where the locker is."

The expression remained blank on his face except for the slight narrowing of his eyes. "Where is it?"

I found my eyes trailing towards the glass windows, at the camera. At least I wouldn't have to worry about that for now.

"Upstairs." I stuffed my hand inside my back pocket and took out a small, silver key. "Here's the key." It wasn't hard to find it once mom had told me where it would be. The only thing that stopped me from opening that locker was a strange, creepy feeling inside of me, almost as if I wouldn't like whatever that was inside it.

"Why didn't you open it?" He asked with a small, curious tilt of his head, and I wish I could’ve switched off that strange urge to keep on staring at him. This wasn't right; I wasn't supposed to feel this way towards him.

He didn't like me. I wasn't supposed to like him either.

I blinked and looked away, my eyes lingering at the staircase. I didn't want to answer him, so I just shrugged in response.

"Come on." I told him before going upstairs, and shortly afterwards, I heard him following behind me.

Once we reached in front of the familiar storeroom, I opened the door and went inside, a bit too aware of Aden's intoxicating presence right behind me. I quickly switched on the dimly lit bulb and stepped a bit away from him, willing myself to act normally.

I watched him as he looked around the small room, looking totally unfazed. I found myself wondering where he had been all this time. If he hadn't been staying over at that mansion-like house, where his other friends were, where was he staying then?

"This key is supposed to open that door." I jerked my chin at the hidden door behind the tall, brown shelf. "And the locker is inside."

Never in my life had I ever gone past this door. I didn't even remember ever coming around this storeroom as a kid; it always Creed me out.

"Go ahead." Caden broke the silence.

I gave him a quick glance before pushing the key inside the lock. For some reason, Chicken hadn't followed me upstairs, and I wished that she had. The lock opened with a small click and I pushed open the door. All I saw was complete darkness and that was enough for me to make up my mind.

"No way in hell am I going in there." I whispered in horror, my eyes still trying to make out anything within the darkness in front of me. When Caden stepped right beside me, our arms almost touching, my heart started beating a bit more wildly.

Caden, without waiting for me, went inside. He probably knew that I really wasn't planning on going in, at least not when it was so dark inside. I watched the seconds passing by until I heard his voice, "Are you really just going to stand there?" And it sounded faint, almost as if he was way too far from me.

I forced myself to move then, cautiously stepping inside the threshold. When I said it was dark, I hadn't really known that it would be that dark, not until I kept on walking down the narrow hallway. The air around me felt hot, maybe even stale. And I probably would've slammed right into a wall only if Caden hadn't gripped my arm right then, stopping me almost immediately.

Once he switched on his phone's flashlight, I pulled away from him, glad that he couldn't see my face heating up. This really wasn't normal; I was acting way too unusual for my own good.

Looking around the place we were in, I noticed the narrow room. If there had been rocks in here, I would've most definitely considered it to be a cave. It even smelled like mud.

"There." He said, directing the flashlight to one far corner.

I squinted and noticed an obvious metal locker standing there. Stepping closer towards it, I realized that it wasn't actually guarded with any code system. All I could see near the metal structure was a small black button. Caden surprisingly waited for me until I finally pressed it.

The door gradually swung open and Caden shone his flashlight inside. I didn't know what I was exactly expecting to see inside it, I didn't know what Caden was expecting either. I inched a bit closer and noticed a small wooden box inside—something that was certainly nowhere near my expectations. I picked it up warily and was even more surprised to see no lock or code guarding it. The box was just shut closed with no opening whatsoever. It looked something like a—

"Puzzle." I heard Caden murmur beside me.

I didn't even try to hide the confusion from my face. "Why would my parents hide it?" If this was really one of those puzzle boxes, I wouldn't know how to open it unless I knew the trick. I didn't even think I had ever seen a box like such before.

"Maybe they haven't opened this either." He suggested before taking the box in his hand, looking at it closely. And maybe he was right. I needed to ask mom.

Out of nowhere, I heard a slight creak from right behind me. I looked up at Caden, my eyes wide. Caden, however, didn't seem to notice it.

"Can we get out of here?" I asked, looking over my shoulder cautiously. The only thing behind me was a wall, but this place was unsettling nonetheless.

He looked back at me then, his eyes not leaving mine for a bit too long before he spoke up, "Yeah."

••••••

When we went downstairs, it just took a single minute before all the lights went out.

"This can't be happening." I whispered to myself, stopping at the foot of the stairs and looking around the dark lounge.

Placing the wooden box on the couch, which Caden had handed me earlier, I went inside the kitchen and started searching around for a candle to light up. Somewhere below me, I felt Chicken purring around my feet. I picked her up in my arms knowing how much she hated the dark.

Once I had somehow lit up a candle, I sat down on the couch where Caden was.

"So," I stretched out the word, placing Chicken on my lap and noticing the amount of distance I had kept in between Caden and me. "Do you think you could get this opened?"

I didn't even know why I asked him that. This wooden box was precious, even though it didn't look like one, and I couldn't give this to him. I couldn't trust him with this—something B lake's men were supposedly looking for.

It felt like I could trust him.

He shrugged in response. "I don't know. This seems complicated."

"Doesn't Blake want this? Something must be special about it." I leaned back on the couch, gently stroking Chicken's fur. Why did Blake want this in the first place? How had he known that I had a locker in my house?

Was that because my parents knew the Matthews?

Maybe I could somehow ask Blake about this, not directly of course. Blake hadn't seemed so harmful when he was teaching me Physics, and maybe that was a great way to get some information out of him.

"You're not going to ask him." It was when Caden spoke up that I realized he was looking at me, his head leaning back against the couch just like mine.

I straightened up and tried to hide my surprise. "He would know."

"He'd also know how to get this from you." He replied, glancing back at the wooden box right in front of us.

Why had Blake acted so nice when his intentions were the exact opposite?

"He wouldn't do that." I murmured in thought. Something was definitely wrong with Blake. He couldn't just act nice and send his men to break in my house the next instant. There was definitely more to what he was doing.

Caden raised a brow at that but didn't look at me. "Is that why you're so much into him?"

"What?" I whispered in surprise—I didn't even try to hide my surprise this time. "Why would I be into him?" Why would I be into Blake when I had willingly kissed Caden?

"Why else would you invite him inside your house?" He asked.

I wished I could kill Jenna.

"He was helping me study for my test." I stated, feeling the blood rushing up my neck. "You do hear Mr. Frank announcing my bad grades in front of the entire class, don't you? I needed help with that!"

"Really?" He seemed like he didn't believe me, and I thought at first that I was probably just imagining when I saw the corner of his lips pulling upwards.

I glared at him, "Not everyone is born a genius."

His eyes lazily raked over my face before he looked away once again, the quirkiness of his smirk not leaving his face. Something within my chest tugged when I stared at him, at the way his face glowed under the candlelight.

"My cat is way better than you, Caden." I murmured, hugging Chicken who just purred lightly in response.

"Just because she lets you touch her?" He asked.

My eyes widened once again and I refrained from looking back at him. "Of course not." I muttered in obvious embarrassment. Was he doing this on purpose? Knowing him, he probably was.

"Where were you anyway?" I willed my cheeks to stop heating up as I changed the topic.

He didn't look at me this time, and a part of me wished that he would. "Somewhere."

"Like?" I asked, hoping that he'd elaborate. I couldn't help but once again acknowledge his exhausted demeanor.

"A place."

I didn't know any other way his answer could’ve been more clueless than that. His lack of enthusiasm clearly told me that he didn't want me to know.

"Nobody knows about that place?" I asked. "Not even your friends?"

He just shook his head. That must be the reason why Jesse had been worried, Shane too.

I placed Chicken beside me and pulled up my knees towards my chest. Everything went quiet after that; calm silence filling all around us. For the first time, I actually felt relaxed in between this silence. There weren't many power breakdowns here, but whenever there were, I used to stay over at Alex's.

Alex.

I glanced over at Caden once again and his presence beside me made me realize that I enjoyed it, something that I shouldn't enjoy at all mainly because I knew it wouldn't last forever. "Will you be leaving?" I asked him.

He blinked before looking over at me, his eyes heavy with sleep. I had this strange urge to inch closer towards him, at least a bit. I didn't know why, I just wanted to be there with him.

"You want me to?" He asked.

I shook my head, watching Chicken as she hopped down from the couch and curled up around the foot of the armchair.

"I'll stay then."

Not long after, the silence fell around us once again. I didn't feel like talking any further since it was way past midnight by now. I didn't feel like sleeping either. Chicken, on the other hand, had already fallen asleep.

At one point, I stood up and draped a small blanket over her, especially since it was a bit too cold tonight. I even went ahead and locked the doors and all the windows, and when I came back at the couch, I saw that Caden was already asleep.

I sat back on the couch and looked over at the wooden box. I didn't know what was inside it, I didn't know what was inside it that had risked my life a bit too many times. There was something in it, precious and deadly at the same time.

Somehow after few minutes, I finally felt my eyelids drooping out of exhaustion. I pulled up my knees and leaned my head back against the couch, just like Caden. When I glanced over at him once again, and his sleeping form, I couldn't help but stare. Days ago and yet I could still feel the softness of his hair beneath my fingertips, the gentle touch of his lips against my own.

It was beautiful. And I needed to forget it.

I looked over at the moon from the glass windows, exhaling a deep sigh. Once I had inched a little bit closer towards Caden, the warmth of his presence comforting me in a strange way, I placed my head lightly against his shoulder.

And then I drifted off into a deep sleep.