novelxo Chapter 38
Chapter 38
As soon as I stepped into the apartment, a shard of glass shattered beneath my
shoe. I looked down and saw that it had belonged to the large lamp that had
been on the small table near the door.
“What on Earth!” I stumbled inside, almost tripping over the debris on the floor. I
heard a set of keys jingling behind me and whipped around, my senses on high
alert.
Aria was standing in the doorway, gawking at the display. Her eyes met mine,
wide and perplexed.
“I just got back from work...” she said softly, taking it all in. Her eyes scanned the
room and her face twisted up. “What the hell happened here?”
“Someone broke in!" I shouted, rushing toward her. There was broken glass
everywhere. The photos on the wall had been knocked down, leaving trails of
wood chips and torn paper.
The couch had been slashed and the cotton was spilling from every own slit. Like
everything else, the kitchen was in shambles. There wasn't a piece of dishware
that didn’t look shattered.
Avria took hold of my arms and clung to my side, fortunately more alert than
before. Her wide eyes darted across the room. “Who could've done this?"
I already knew the answer to that. “He just won't give up.”
Aria narrowed her eyes. “Who's “he? You know who did this?"
1 bit
my lip and looked to the side. “I just assumed it was a man that did this,” I said,
and she looked far from convinced.
“You said he won't give up,” Aria pointed out. “Which implies that there have been
other instances. Who is he?”
When it looked like she wasn't giving up any time soon, I sighed and plopped
down on my bed. Aria sat beside me. I didn’t catch her being serious all too often,
but she was at her scariest when she was.
“I think it might have been Bruce,” I said carefully, unable to meet her gaze. “He'd
been sending me texts for a while, but I didn't think he'd
go this far.
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Chapter 38
Aria stood abruptly, her hands clenched into fists. “Bruce? As in the Bruce, the
scum bag that calls himself your family! ?!"
I nodded weakly and she slapped a hand on her forehead, turning away.
“How could I not have known?? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to freak out!” I said, my voice cracking with the onset of tears.
“Hell, I was freaking out so much, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even
expect to hear from him again!”
Aria huffed, gesturing to the whole room with a wave of her arm. “Well, he’s
made his return pretty clear.”
I bent over and hugged my torso. His return was the last thing I needed, and he
made it evident in the most destructive way possible. It felt like sanity kept
slipping away from me at every turn in life.
Aria took out her phone and I grabbed her wrist in reflex.
“What are you doing?”
Aria [snatched her hand away and frowned at me. “Calling the police, obviously.
Whatever you two have going on, it doesn't look safe.”
I watched helplessly as she dialed the number and held the phone to her ear. It
took a few rings before the operator was on the line.
“Ah, yes, I would like to report a break in.” Aria stepped out of the room, leaving
me to curl into a ball and sob on top of the mattress.
This was bad. He'd already ruined my day just from leaving a letter. I guess he
figured one warning wasn't enough.
“That would be good. Thank you.” Aria came back into the room and stopped
with. her hands on her hips. “They said they'd be here soon.”
I sniffed and wiped my nose. “Okay, good.”
There was a stretch of silence before her harsh stance weakened. After a
moment, she sighed and sat beside me. She rubbed my arm and pulled the hair
away from my face.
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Chapter 38
“Hey, come on now.” She pulled my head into her lap and started running her
fingers through my hair. My sobs grew louder, as I didn't have the strength to
hold them back any longer.
The cops arrived about twenty minutes later. Aria led me out into the living room
and sat me down on the couch before answering the door. There was a male and
female officer on the other side, both looking too exhausted to be on duty.
“Hello, miss,” said the male officer. “I'm officer Brody, and this is Officer Hills. We
got a call from this address saying that there had been a break in?”
Aria nodded. “Yes, that was me. Come in.”
She guided them inside and showed them around the apartment. They took note
of the damages and asked her questions along the way.
“Do you know if this person was after something?” asked Officer Hills. “Any
valuables?”
Aria looked over at me and shrugged. “Evie, you might have to answer this one.
The cops turned their attention to me, and I shrunk into the couch, wishing I
could just disappear. I pulled my knees to my chest and shook my head. “Nothing
valuable. Just...an upset family member.”
“Has this family member done something like this before?” asked Brody. “If so,
this may become a dangerous pattern.”
“This is the first time he's done this,” I answered.
The officers exchanged glances with one another, then looked around the room.
Hills offered me a look of sympathy.
“We don’t see much around her that incriminates him. It might be in your best
interest to consider moving somewhere safer anyway. This part of town's pretty
sketchy,” she told us.
I couldn't help but scoff at her suggestion.
“Do you have some place you can stay for now? Somewhere safe?” asked
Brody.
ll
Chapter 38
Aria nodded. “We have a friend near here. He wouldn't mind if we crashed.”
“Good.” Officer Brody tucked away his notepad and motioned for Hills to follow.
He opened the front door and looked back at Aria and me. “We'll bring this info
down to the station, see if we can get more about this guy's whereabouts.”
“Sure,” I said bitterly, flicking a tuft of cotton off the sofa cushion.
Once they left, Aria marched away from the door and into her room. She pulled
out a suitcase and slammed it onto the hallway floor before heading into my
room. shortly after.
“Come on,” she said, practically out of breath. “We need to get out of here.”
I didn't really have the motivation to move, but staying in that apartment at that
point was out of the question. At a sloth’s pace, I removed myself from the couch
and shuffled to my room to gather my things. Three days“ worth of clothes
seemed like enough, but Aria was stuffing her suitcase like she was staying the
whole week.
After packing our things, I'helped Aria move our bags into the car. Since she was
still far from sobriety, she let me drive all the way to Lucas“ apartment. He lived in
a much finer place, which had a gate for security purposes.
We walked up with our luggage and hit the call button to Lucas“ apartment. As
late as it was, I didn’t expect him to answer. However, after a few seconds, he
picked up.
“Who's ringing?” he asked between yawns.
“Lucas!” Aria said into the speaker. “We're so sorry! We tried calling, but you
wouldn't answer. Could we stay over for the night?”
He muttered something unintelligible, though he sounded pretty irritated.
Eventually, he did give in. The gates opened and we quickly slipped inside.
Lucas was already standing outside of his apartment by the time we entered the
hall. His hair was ruffled, and his eyes were squinted as he stood scratching his
side.
“You're a saint!” said Aria, rushing to pull him into a hug. He merely pouted at her.
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“ ) :
I ought to be crowned. What's with
% ” . .
you two?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
He then looked dawn gnd PONE the
spitgass oli hands and he was
suddenly more alert. He waved us
inside and shut the door behind him
before locking it tight. The content is
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chapter there!
Chapter in
“What happened?” Lucas asked, switching the lights on as he strolled past us.
Aria didn’t waste time. “Lucas, someone broke into our place. Can we stay with
you tonight, please?”
I added, “Yeah, it's just for one night. We wouldn't ask if it wasn’t an emergency.”
Lucas furrowed his eyebrows, his expression becoming strained. “What? When?"
“While we were gone, I guess,” I told him. “The police investigated, but they
couldn't pin it on anybody. Either, we didn’t think it was safe to stay there.”
“Oh,” Lucas cooed, resting a hand on my knee. “I'm so sorry to hear that. Of
course, you can stay here tonight. I'll do everything I can.”
I sighed and wiped my tearfilled eyes. “Thank you, Lucas. You have no idea
how much this means to us.”
Aria smiled. “Yeah, we really appreciate it.”
Lucas waved us off. “Don’t mention it. You're my friends, and I'd do anything to
help. Make yourselves at home. I'll get some extra blankets and pillows.”
Lucas stood up and headed over to a hall closet to retrieve some blankets and
pillows. He brought them over and tossed them onto the couch beside us.
“We owe you big time, Lucas,” I said.
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Lucas shook his head as he grabbed
a few tissues from the box on the,
mantle. He broyghtihém &&ro me
(SIN ,
abd NthDhiRd him. “You don’t owe
Lae » ESI] ot
me anything,” he said. “Friends help
each other, right? The content is on
Novelxo.org! Read the latest
chapter there!
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I started to cry again, and this time
they were both surrounding me to
offer comfort. Aria (shed maetdnd
’ J
SERUM air, and Lucas
offered to make tea. We were able to
settle in quickly for the night, with
Lucas offering to stay up and protect
us. The content is on
Novelxo.org! Read the latest
chapter there!
While it was a wonderful sentiment on his part, it didn't help me rest any easier.
Allin one day, Timothy had pretty much been cut out of my life and Bruce was
inching
he way
into it..
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