Page 9 of Unraveling Connections

We go through the house separately, so that we can clear it quicker, and this house is fucking ginormous, it is taking us ages to search the fucker and quite frankly someone could easily have hidden in one of the rooms that we’ve already cleared, hell whoever broke in could be following us. The more we explore, the more I am certain that whoever tripped the cameras wasn’t just an animal or kids; it’s something to do with Hunt, and that means that we need to be extremely careful. I am reasonably certain that the house is empty, even though we cannot be one hundred percent sure. I think the best thing for us to do would be to check the security cameras that Luc told us about and see if we can get an idea of who was in here.

Just to be cautious, I place myself with my back to the corner of the room I am currently in and then I message Jensen.

Me:There is nothing on my side, if you haven’t found anything, meet at the bottom of the stairs and we will go and check out the security cameras that Luc said were installed in the house.

Jensen:I haven’t found anything either. Meet you there in five.

I put my phone back in my pocket and take one last look around the room I am in. Like all the rooms in this house, it is generic, and sterile. There is nothing in here that stands out as personal or even anything with personality, it’s just white and beige with a bit of black thrown in. There aren’t even any pictures up anywhere. Well, there are but it’s paintings of white flowers and weird landscapes that just look dull and dreary.

I can’t even imagine how it must have been to grow up in this place. Although I suppose at least Luc could escape to the guy's houses as often as he could. That had to have helped. I think I would’ve gone insane being trapped in this white nothingness. As I walk through the halls, I can’t help but try and picture Elena here, but then, if my memory serves me correctly, I think shehad been thrown out by her parents before they moved here, so she never would have been in this house.

It's got a horrible feeling to it too, I know it’s weird, but I swear I can I feel the misery in this place the longer that I’m here, and I make a mental note to check in with Luc properly, I can’t imagine that he came back here and it just didn’t affect him at all. It’s affecting me and I wasn’t involved in anything that happened here.

There you are,” Jensen says as he spots me walking down the stairs, “I was starting to get worried you got lost. This place is ridiculously big.”

I smile, “No, I didn’t get lost. I can’t imagine living in a place like this; it’s so sterile, even now, after years of no one being here. I want to check in with Luc properly and make sure that being here didn’t affect him.”

Jensen frowns as his gaze moves around the giant entryway, “Yeah, I forgot what it was like in here, and we didn’t really stop to look around when we were here earlier. I am hoping that because we were here so briefly, the effect on Luc will be minimal. It probably helps that he scared the shit out of his father when he fought back for the first time, and he never laid a finger on him after that.”

I nod, “Yeah, that’s true, but sometimes the emotional abuse leaves far bigger scars and takes a lot longer to heal from than the physical shit.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Jensen replies, as we head further into the house, to find the room that Luc told us about, “the guys are all more than aware of how emotional trauma can affect you, they’ll all be keeping an eye on him to make sure that being here hasn’t had any adverse effects for him.”

“I just worry,” I reply, “about all of you.”

“Of course you do,” Jensen replies with a smile, “it would be weird if you didn’t; you are our girlfriend.”

I chuckle, “Yeah, alright you make a good point.” I admit, and then glance around, we have been walking for a while and I can’t help but ask, “Do you know where you’re going? Because I have got to admit I pretty much instantly forgot the directions that Luc gave us as soon as he said them and this place is so confusing I probably would have forgotten the way by now anyway.”

Jensen nods, “Yeah, I remember it should be just up here. Also, I love that you’re so good at all things, when it comes to our job but following directions is something you still struggle with.”

I shrug, “Hey, we can’t all be perfect all the time.”

He chuckles as he presses sections on the paneling at the end of the hallway we have come to. “Keep watch, just in case.”

“Always,” I reply, as I turn, keeping an eye on the hallway and the way we’ve come.

It doesn’t take very long until Jensen taps me on the shoulder and tells me that he has finally got into the room.

“Alright, let's see what we can find. That is assuming that they are still working after all of this time, I mean it has been years since anyone has actually lived in this place.” He says.

I follow him into the room, it’s small, and pretty much what you would expect from a security room. It is lined with screens and has a desk chair placed in front of them just in case someone needs to watch footage. Even in here though the money is obvious, although in an entirely different way to everywhere else in the house. The rest of the house is obviously bleak and sterile, white everywhere. In here it’s rich dark wood and carved, almost like you’d expect to find in the office of a headmistress or dean of a college or something. It is a hell of a lot nicer in here than it is anywhere else in this place. It makes me wonder who designed it. It wouldn't surprise me if it were the only part of the house that was left original because they always had it earmarked for the security room.

“Alright, well, the good news is that it’s still running. The slightly less good news is that I am not as up to date on this security system as I should be since it’s older than I’m used to. So, it might take me a moment to find the right way to work it all.” Jensen explains.

“I'm not either. I am sure we can figure it out between us,” I reply as I move over to some of the monitors and start pressing buttons.

In theory it should be fairly easy to figure out but then, technology and I aren’t the best of friends, we fight regularly. Not as often as me and the tape but often enough.

It takes me longer than I would care to admit, but I don’t feel too bad since Jensen hasn’t managed to get anything to work yet either, and I do manage to get something working before he does.

“I think I’m in,” I reply, and Jensen moves to stand behind my chair.

“Thank fuck for that,” he mutters, “I was starting to lose hope and was this close to calling Pete and admitting defeat,” he snickers, “hey, that rhymed.”

I chuckle, “Don’t say it.”

“I’m a poet, and I didn’t know it,” he immediately replies.

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