January 17th,
2:30 am
Bingo!
I picked up the bracelet and examined it carefully. I studied the pendant and interestingly, It had a petite key at the back and I signalled for Tony to move aside and I tried opening the door. Soon, I was able to open the padlock and I pushed the door open.
"Woaw!" Lissa whispered, awed by the fact that the pendant had a little key at the back and it opened the padlock to the door.
"Shh" Tony shushed her as we crept in.
I looked around the dimly lit hallway and saw that unlike before, the guards weren't standing at the doors upstairs. Tony tip-toed all the way to the door where Dany entered, the last time we hid beneath the staircase. He put his ear, once again, against the door and stayed for a while. Lissa and I decided to go upstairs to check the rooms where the guards always stood. I started from the door at the far left and Lissa started from the far right.
I had just opened the third door when I saw something. I stopped short. I opened the door wide and what I saw made blood to drain from my face and my hand immediately flew to my mouth. Lissa rushed to my side and she looked into the room. She let out a gasp and quickly closed her mouth.
Scenes of my dream immediately flashed into my mind as I looked at the helpless children. Inside the dark room, there were children, whose hands and legs were tied together.
But that wasn't what made me go pale with shock. I saw Evie!!
♤♤♤♤♤♤♤
"Guys, I can't seem to get this out of my head. Evie's alive?!" I asked, pacing back and forth in my room where we had a meeting, in the afternoon after we had all rested.
"Apart from that, you guys won't believe what I heard...even i had a time believing it." Tony said as I sat beside Lissa.
"Go on. What did you hear? Say it. All of it." Lissa said.
"Well, they all had a meeting in the room we saw Dany enter the other day and there was trouble in there. The meeting didn't go well. Uhm, Sandy, do you still have that bracelet with you?" He asked as I brought it out of my pocket.
"Yeah it's here. Why?" I asked.
Were we supposed to leave it there? Pfft! Of course not! I'm sure we'd need it later.
"Apparently, that bracelet belonged to Dany and I guess it fell pf her wrist while they did their thing." He said as Lissa replied.
"Ohh. Waow! This's messed up." She said as she ran her hand through her head.
"So what happened? Did she eventually realise that her bracelet was missing? Is that what made the meeting not to go well?" I asked.
"Yes. She eventually found out that she'd lost the bracelet but it was too late. I heard a man shouting that the bracelet was the first stage of her initiation process-"
"What?!" Lissa asked as she choked on the juice she was drinking at the time. I was surprised too.
"What do you mean by initiation? Are they in a cult or something? " I asked as Tony sighed.
"I don't know exactly what they do or if they're in a cult or whatever but their master was quite mad at Dany for losing the bracelet. He said that that bracelet was what all their members use to identify themselves in public and that the bracelet signifies their membership. Without it, she has nothing to prove her membership. And she is now a potential threat to their operations until she's able to bring back the bracelet. She ran out of the room, crying and the same guy followed her. But what exactly they do? I don't know that. I have no idea what their operations are."
"Do you think they're the mastermind behind all the crimes in Brookville? " Lissa asked.
"I guess so. I mean, with what Lissa and I saw, it's enough reason to think so. But guys, I couldn't even sleep properly after the stake out. What are we gonna do to help those kids? I can't bear to see them spend one more day in there. Do we call the police? Should we tell Dany that her sister's still alive but dying? Those kids...they look starved, they're dying, they they-"
"Calm down Sandy. You're having a panic attack. Take deep breaths. In, out. In, out. That's good." Tony said as Lissa stroked my hair.
"I know San. I really want to help those kids. I can't imagine the trauma they're going through. But remember, we have to aske the Holy Spirit for directions first before we make our next decision. Now, let's pray that those children would be sustained by God's mercies and they'll be alive by the time we get the police to take them out." Lissa said as I muttered an 'Amen'. And Tony patted my head fondly. I threw him playful glare and he chuckled.
"Now, Sandy's back. What do we do?" He said as i laughed.
"We pray." I replied as he led the prayer.