19 Fear Of The Dark

"Grazie" Bianca sighed, looking back at Destiny who had accompanied her to the police station. She seemed extremely out of place and looked at Bianca constantly, perking up as the girl walked over," Do the others know anything?" she asked.

"No, I just said that Emma and her husband opted out. What are the police saying?" she asked.

"Apparently they can't consider it a missing person case yet. But they will look into it." Bianca combed her hair back, "look, we were in a crowded area and if they wandered away, they will get help"

"Right..." Destiny nodded," something just felt off... So should we tell the others or...?"

"No, not yet, there's one day left to the tour, let's just finish. Do you want to continue?" she asked.

"Not today... I want to go back to the hotel. I'll join tomorrow" Destiny inhaled deeply," My mind isn't in the right place at all, sorry."

"I understand" She smiled, sighing as the girl walked away. It wasn't that the others weren't interesting but Destiny made a point to talk to her every day, and it was nice to talk to someone her age for once.

The tour went uneventfully, and she managed to deflect any questions about the French couple. The tour was a mid-session when they had disappeared without a single word. She was worried that they could have gotten mugged to get lost. It was all she could think of, but she kept her face free of worry and pretended to be jovial.

"You are happy even when they are lost?" Kore sat next to her on the bus, seeming upset.

"They aren't lost... I told you they wanted to leave early" Bianca clarified," why do you think they're lost?" she asked.

The girl's eyes narrowed as she seemed to seethe," if they are in danger, the police must be called"

"They aren't in danger, I already made that clear Kore. Kindly go socialize with everyone else. This conversation is over" She said sternly, watching as the woman walked away.

It was stressful enough without being prodded for information. Andrea had been home alone for most of the week and had been fending for himself. She hoped that the next week would be free, so she could take care of him and make him proper home-cooked meals again.

For now, she had only one thing on her agenda before heading to him and that was to go to her father's garage and meet Aurelie. Apparently, she had some sort of truce which she was offering and had texted Bianca to come over.

As much as Bianca wanted to tell her where she could shove the truce, she was purposefully going over to the garage to check on its state.

It took her another hour to ensure everyone had been dropped off, and she could finally go to the garage.

By the time she reached it was late at night and Aurelie was angry at her tardiness.

"You should be more considerate of others' time," She said," I have been waiting for so long!"

"Yeah, well unlike you: I have an actual job so," She shrugged," what do you want now?"

"I had an idea in mind," Aurelie said," I know you want the garage as a source of income as well, and you obviously don't want to work for me because you turned down my partnership offer already"

"Get to the point" the girl deadpanned.

"I will give you half the value of the garage" Aurelie offered.

"No."

"It's a fair deal and I-" She froze midway and looked at the window," is...there someone there?"

"What?" Bianca looked at the window, "Why? Did you see someone?" she asked.

"A shadow..." Aurelie said, cowering behind Bianca who grabbed a wrench and walked toward it," Did you lock the main gate properly?" she asked.

"I did... um look, let's discuss this later, and can you lock up? I'll go check outside" Aurelie said.

The garage was surrounded by tall grass on one side that Aurelie didn't have the money to maintain, this made a nice hiding bed for thieves. Because the shop had been broken into before, she decided not to talk a chance and walked through the grass," anyone here wants to get beaten up?" she asked," you want money you can ask... break into the garage and I break your legs" she threatened.

The silence that greeted her, made her hope that they had decided not to confront her. She walked back and instructed Aurelie to close up, she would meet her the next week during the daytime when it would be safer.

"AH I hate how your father made this garage is the worst possible place" she shuddered as she quickly walked out with Bianca behind her.

"He did it because it's and accident-prone place," she remarked with a fond smile," always the con man"

After dropping Aurelie off near her car, she decided to go straight home where she found Andrea sitting at the table, with his laptop.

"Hey, why are you awake..." she asked, looking at her watch as she kicked her shoes away.

"I got scared" the boy admitted, pulling out the gun from his belt.

"What happened?" she sat at the table, "Why did you need the gun?" she asked, checking whether the safety was on.

"No, I felt like someone was in the house," he said, looking over at the balcony now and then which was shut by a thin curtain.

"In the house?" she asked, walking toward the balcony with the gun in hand, to check. Finding it empty she shut the doors and bolted them shut.

"Like a shadow... it wasn't moving" He was shaken up, and she could see it. Bianca placed the gun in the middle of the table," Look, the gun's right here. Nothing more to be afraid of tonight. I have two more days of late-night work so can you stay with aunty Mia from tomorrow, okay? I'll come to pick you up when I'm done"

"Okay" he muttered," I'll sleep then?" he asked.

"Yeah, don't worry, nothing will happen" She assured him.

The boy walked away with a simple goodnight, and she quickly locked the house up. It was strange to have two such incidences, but she was quite sure that they weren't related, after all, how could they be? The person would have had to be in two places at the same time.

It was just a freaky coincidence. Had to be.