Startled at the sight of his dead mother, Arden tries to pick up courage to call for help. But before he could do anything, he heard voices whisper from the other room. “Maybe you will find him here.” “Yeah! Let’s search!” Arden realised, it was dangerous to be in the house he loved. He had to leave before they find him. But at the same time, he wanted to know who were those men and why were they searching for him. Maybe they are responsible for what happened to his family. “Maybe if I stay just a little longer I might find the truth!” Arden thought. “Come here! Hide here! They won’t find you here.” said the voice from the darkness hinting towards the closet in the kitchen. It appeared the kitchen was already searched and so, it was safe to assume that they won’t search the place again. So he hides in the closet.

The sound of footsteps inching closer sends shiver to Arden’s spine. “So, what should we do about the body?” asked one of the men. “Let’s get rid of it before anyone finds about it. No one should know about this incident. Captain really messed up this time. He thought no one would be around but the girl’s mother just…” “So, how would we get rid of it? Maybe dump it in the quicksand or something… hahaha” “Yeah that seems possible. Let’s do that. But we have to make sure no one else is remaining.” “Yeah!” “You check the bedroom, you check the living room and I’ll check the kitchen once more.” “Ok, Cleaver!” “Yes, Cleaver! Let’s get this over with already.” “So there are three men and one of them appears to be the second in command. His name is Cleaver. Probably just a code name and he will be searching in the kitchen.” Arden thought to himself. “Wait! Kitchen? I’m hiding in the kitchen! What if he finds me out? Somebody help me!” Arden panicked but tried to control his breaths. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine!” said the voice from the darkness. The man named Cleaver started opening shelf by shelf, closet by closet. By the time he reached the closet in which Arden was hiding, something broke the window of the kitchen and that caught his attention. “What was that?” asking this Cleaver went forward to check the window. “Cleaver! We found no sign of the boy! And the window was open it seems he escaped.” said one of the two men. “Cimeter! How did you let him escape! Let’s go after him! And Deba, take care of the body.” Saying this Cleaver leaves with Cimeter and Deba takes the body to dump it. “Cleaver, Cimeter, Deba… such unusual names. Maybe they work for an organization? I don’t know but this is better than nothing. I’ll search more about them.” thought Arden. “I’ll help you! By the way you can call me, Ghol.” said the voice form the darkness. “Ghol? That’s an unusual name.” Arden said hesitatingly. “I know, but that’s my name. So, what do you think we should do next?” asked Ghol. “I don’t know. I’m just shook. I can’t think of anything. Is this not a dream? Did it all just happen? Why all of a sudden I lost everything? Who are those people? Why are…” “Calm down, Arden! First let’s clean up your wound!” “Ah…! How can you just say that? I mean… I…” Arden dozes off all of a sudden. It was as if he was made calm by an external force. “That should do it. He will be calm for some time. I’ll dress his wound and lay him on his bed. I’ll may even clean the whole house if I have time to spare.” Ghol thought. Ghol, the voice from the darkness, seems like he could do some magic. His voice was very deep but reassuring. Maybe that’s what made Arden trust him in the first place.

“Cimeter! There is no sight of the boy!” “I’m sorry, Cleaver maybe it was my imagination. Anyway let’s see how Deba’s handling the body.” “Fine!” The tyres grind at full speed. Rushing to the nearest quicksand, they find Deba finishing her job clean and graceful. “Looks like she did it very well.” said Cimeter. “As expected of that woman. Anyway let’s go.” “What about Deba?” asked Cimeter. “She can lookout for herself.” said Cleaver. “We have to meet up with the boss and fill him in.” “Oh yeah. I nearly missed that.” said Cimeter. “You fool!” said Cleaver.

To be continued…