Chapter four.
We headed to Mia’s house at around 3pm right after our late lunch to try to convince Mia to come hang out with us. She was quite a shy girl who hardly interacted with anyone at school although people believed she was going to be the valedictorian of our year due to her brilliance since she was practically a genius.
After a long explanation to the girl’s father about how we just going to get ice cream at the park and that my sister was going to be with us at all times then we had the parent’s stamp of approval.
On reaching the park we just concentrated on making sure Mia was comfortable with us since we were kind of strangers despite having grown up in the same town and attended the same schools considering they were not that many in our small town.
After a few hours doing nothing big, we decided to call it a day and head back home. We approached Mia’s house that stood looming in front of us. The place that once was surrounded by various people doing various tasks was now deserted. No gardener, no butler who once greeted us by the door and most of all Mia’s father was nowhere to be seen. It was definitely strange and i being the boy, i told the girls to wait in my car while i checked some stuff out. I noticed the haphazardly discharged gardening rake and quite a number of gardening tools thrown about, then i noticed the chunk of the hedge that lined the Griffith house hold cut off and that was a mistake no one can make intentionally. I went back into the car having a bad feeling about all of this.
“Mia can you call your dad and ask him if he is alright?” i said the moment i entered the car. She gave me a look but complied none the less.
“Ok I guess.” She said and raised her phone to her ear. “He is not picking up. It’s just going to voice mail.” Mia said trying him again. Five times later we concluded that he was not going to pick up so Val proposed that we head into the house ad check maybe he was in the showers and just decided to send his workers off. Either way it was far from dusk ad the sun was still quite high since we had just spent just two hours into the park.
Mia unlocked the front door using the spare key that was hidden in the rose bush by the porch of their house. On entering the house, the first thing that accosted us was the unconscious body of the butler. We rushed toward s him and Val immediately checked for his pulse. He had a bump forming on his forehead and it looked like it was going to hurt very bad when he woke up.
“Get some ice Mia and some smelling salts. He must know something that happened.” I said half carrying and half dragging the unconscious man towards the lounge where i could lay him down on the sofa. Mia ran off and a short while later she had already brought back the required items. Val took them from her and placed the smelling salts under his nose, waking him up almost immediately. Mia let out a sigh of relief and gave the butler a hug.
“Am so glad you are alright Robert. What happened here? Dad is not picking up his phone and everyone else is nowhere to be seen.” Mia said speaking a million words per second. The butler looked around as if not recognizing his surroundings. He winced from the pain on his forehead emitted by the huge bump o his head. “Careful Robert, you are hurt. Do you remember what happened to you?” he let out a groan and turned and took in our presence.
“Um uh yes they were kids around your age. Shot me and took off. I wonder how i am still alive.”
“The guns must have just knocked you out. They must have been here for something. Do you know what that is?” i asked wanting to know the answers and hoped it was not the four strangers that must have come after Mia’s dad.
“They came for your father. There is something you should know about your father, he is not who you thought he was.” Robert said adjusting himself gingerly on the sofa to face all of us. I heard Mia’s sharp intake of breath. I guess Val and i kid of saw that coming having been debriefed by the ‘aliens’ and all that. “He is a scientist working on a project that involves genetic advancement of human DNA to create a perfect person in other words a super human. The serum your father created was unsuccessful until it was tried on children. But there was a mutation that caused the children to develop some sort of ability especially the power of manipulation making u do something subconsciously while acknowledging your action. Through this they were able to escape the facility where they were being raised and i think they want to get your father back for robbing them of their child hood.”
“We have met them” Val suddenly blurted out probably feeling guilty for having somehow taken part i this. “Am sorry I thought they were Aliens and i got deceived. They must have hacked my computer somehow created an illusion to convince us about the stupid space ship of theirs”. ‘Shit’ i cursed under my breath they were so smart.
“Come let me take you to your father’s laboratory maybe you can find some sort of clue there about what is going on.” He said then stood up leading us towards an elevator i hadn’t noticed till now. He pressed the third floor and we all stood in awkward silence as the elevators ascended towards the destination. The doors slid open and we followed Robert to the end of the floor and on opening it, a bed room was uncovered. Mia looked at Robert and asked him what we were doing in her father’s bedroom but all he did was to ask her to be patient. We went into the closet, just like in that Narnia book, except the fact that he pressed a button that opened a hidden door. Then he ushered us into the whitest lab i had ever seen. Looked around in wonder as I noticed how everything was I pristine order. The virals in the test tubes were arranged according to color.
“Guys, come take a look at this.” Val shouted from across the room. She was standing in front of a screen and she held a note in her hand. When I asked what it said, she raised it and showed me. It only had two words ‘play me’ Mia drew in a breath and pressed play on the screen. Val and I gasped as the video zoomed into Darcy’s smirking face probably finding fun in all this.
“Hey kids, this means you have discovered the truth about us. And well your dear father here is going to tell you what to do otherwise things may not be pretty.” She then turned and looked behind her before completely moving away enabling us to look at Mr. Griffiths. He looked a bit shaken up but otherwise fine. Thank God. I moved and stood next to my sister, putting my hand across her shoulders I was feeling protective right about now. Next to us, Mia was clinging onto Robert as a few tears fell down her cheeks in a steady flow. I clenched my jaw at this sight; no one deserves to go through this.
“Mia honey they just want something that keeps them going so am going to ask you to pack up those special stars that I gave you o your seventh birthday. That is where I put what they require.” Darcy moved back in front of the camera and rattled out an address where they should drop off the stuff.
“I remember those, I loved them so much but after I turned 13 I got them off my ceiling and kept them somewhere.” After saying this she went running out the room with us on her tail. I hope she finds them.
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