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“Noooo!” shouts Agnes.
I jump and turn to her, reconnecting to reality.
“I lost at Mario Kart,” she mumbles through her teeth. “They’re all cheaters anyway!”
***
After another long flight and half an hour stuck in the traffic, it’s early evening when we reach my small university residence. Agnes doesn’t wait a second, she gets out of the cab like a rocket, practically jumping on the spot.
“It is really big! Do you have a lot of neighbors? Can we run in the hallways? I’m not allowed at Aunt Emma’s…”
Seeing my little sister smile is worth all the money in the world.
I laugh softly, pay the driver, and grab her little suitcase with big pink flowers on it.
“Hey, calm down,” I exclaim as she runs to the entrance.
A student coming out holds the door for us, and I thank her through clenched teeth.
“It looks like you’re moving in here with that huge suitcase,” I mumble to Agnes, “not that you’re coming on vacation.”
We hurry up to floor. I didn’t die under the weight of the suitcase. Hallelujah! The students who rent the two apartments next to mine have gone home over break. We’ll be quiet for a week.
“Why is there no light in the hallway?”
“Because the landlord is a jack—a bad guy,” I correct myself.
Agnes laughs. I pull the suitcase behind me, my head buried in my bag, trying to find my keys. My cell phone starts ringing at that moment. I pull out my key ring, almost dropping it, and pick it up without looking to see who’s calling.
“What?” I grumble.
“TJ’s father has dropped his charges against his son,” Tucker tells me, a hint of relief in his voice.
My heart almost leaps in my chest. So…it worked? What they did to his father and his secretary? Or maybe TJ’s dad is planning something worse to get revenge…I’m about to warn Tucker but I’m cut off by Agnes, who abruptly stops in front of me.
“Hey, why is this open?”
I hurriedly raise my head, discovering the door of my apartment ajar by a few inches. Which should be impossible since I had locked it this morning when I left for the airport. My first reflex is to pull Agnes behind me.
“Get away from the door!” I shout to my little sister.
My heart is beating fast, my breathing is quickening. I don’t know what happened, but I have a bad feeling.
I hear Tucker yell my name through the phone.
“I’ll call you back,” I answer in a shaky voice.
I hang up and lean toward Agnes. “I want you to go to the end of the hallway, near the stairs. If you hear a noise, you go down the stairs and press the little button by the door to go outside, understand?”
“But Iris…”
I put a hand on her shoulder and look her straight in the eye. “Do you understand?”
After a few seconds, she goes to the end of the hall, her little eyes on me. I put my bag on the ground near the suitcase, slipping my cell phone in my back pocket. I have nothing to defend myself with. Okay, maybe I’m imagining the worst, but you never know. I’ve been through enough shit to understand that danger lurks everywhere, especially when you least expect it.
I slowly push the door of my apartment which is pitch black. It’s dark outside, which doesn’t help me. I stop on the threshold, listening to the silence, before sliding my fingers on the wall next to the door to look for the light switch.
When the hall light comes on, my jaw nearly drops. The vase that was sitting on the kitchen bar to my left is exploded on the floor. OK, don’t think about the furniture. I want to make sure that whoever came in here is gone. I walk to the kitchen as quietly as possible and retrieve a long knife. My cell phone vibrates in my back pocket, but I ignore it, instead surveying the damage. In the living room, several books from the small library are on the floor. In my room, a drawer has been opened and broken, clothes are scattered everywhere. But there is nobody there.
