Case of Amber Hark: Death is The New Birth

CHAPTER 13: Hiding

GICCA'S POINT OF VIEW

"Wake up, Gicca! Ali! Rique!"

My eyes widened because of the strong shaking in my body as I slept soundly. I immediately got up and I rubbed my eyes as I looked at Lance.

"Why?" I asked nervously. My drowsiness immediately left me because of his reaction.He seemed anxious, worried, scared, ignorant, I could not understand the painting of what he feels on his face.

"I have received a news." he said and immediately handed me his cellphone.

I hooked it up and looked at a f*******: post from the university page, "...give it, otherwise we will invade you to where you are hiding now. We know where you are. Please, return it. That is something that should not be in your hands." I read the last part of the post.

Anxiety and fear embraced my body. My lips trembled spontaneously, "They know where we are..." my mouth spoke softly.

They can track us down. Mr. Morris, he can do everything. He has the power.

My heart pounded with fear, I rubbed my chest. "Let's get out of here..." I said softly as I think of it as the only way we could possibly take.

We cannot be imprisoned yet. If we will be imprisoned, I hope we can at least accomplish something to the case of Amber Hark. I know they want to get the confidential file and they also want to imprison us, it can not be. Ali's right, if we have done something good to that case, they might give us a less punishment.

Lance quickly removed the blanket from Rique and Ali's body. They stretched their bodies and scratched their skins, the traces of drowsiness on their faces is still visible.

I accidentally landed my sight on my radio as I was seriously think of what we will do. I hurriedly opened it. I wanted to hear the news. Maybe the search for us has already reached the radio, hopefully not. I hit the line at 198.10, this is a radio station exclusively for our university and its students only.

"Where?" a thick voice formed on the other line of the radio. It is husky, and does not obviously provide information. Silence enveloped the radio which I think lasted for five seconds, before it spoke again, "Where is the red key?" still the same voice, but now is a bit deeper.

I frowned and immediately looked at Lance, he is also frowning while looking at my radio. I know he wonders too.

Immediately, my hair stood on end. Why is the red key on the radio? It must be some news about the university. I turned up the radio's volume so that I could hear the voice on the other line more clearly.

There, I realized that there are women crying obviously in the distance. I also heard male voices, shouting, but it is too far away. What is going on?

"Return the red key or else your name will be erased in this world." intimidation of the man who is behind the radio, he is using a naturally hoarse voice. "I know, what we are looking for is in this university. We have a tracker. Return it if you do not want us to visit your students one by one and kill them." he threatened.

My heart was beating so fast because of the mixed kind of fear. I turned off the radio and threw it on the side of my bed. I sat on the side and touched my aching head. What are we going to do? The university is on the brink of disaster, and my friends and I are currently facing a challenge. Why are the bad happenings coincide?

*breathes deeply*

What red key are they looking for? Why are they willing to kill the innocent just for a key? Why are they willing to be criminals? I can't believe this is happening now. It all sounds like just a movie show, impossible to happen in real life, but it happened!

What are we going to do now? Mr. Morris will invade, and the criminals might attack us too if they don't get the red key, they might fulfill what they've said.

"We have to get out of here now," Lance said obviously being nervous as well.

I tearfully faced him, "Where are we going? What will I say to mom and dad?" I asked one after another.

"I have a secret basement, we'll stay there for a while while we adjust what we do to Amber Hark's case."

"How about mom and dad? They'll worry about me."

"I know," he sat down sadly next to me, "But we have to go, Gicca. The law is looking for us... I promise you, you will be alright. I will always be by your side."

----

Another day dawned on us. Its rays touched our skins as we walked towards the secret basement Lance has. It came from his late father, he has been in charge of the secret basement since his father left—being the only child of his father. Lance told us his dad was working as a detective's assistant so he needed a secret basement to work on. That's why Lance loves crimes, because he inherited it from his father. Unfortunately, his father died in an encounter with the person they were investigating.

From then on, Lance took care of the basement.

We need a secret hiding place because we received a threat from Mr. Morris, and to add the threat of the unknown people who are looking for so-called red key. A lot of bad things have happened in just one week. All of a sudden and we did not expect all of those. I know the risk of intruding on the confidential file (which I told my friends not to) but I did not expect that it will be like this.

I didn't say a word to mom and dad, they'll find it soon that I left home. I feel so sorry about it.

For now we must clear ourselves in the eyes of the public temporarily, and devote all our time to the case of Amber Hark. And at some point, I blame my friends for engaging themselves into the crime, this would not have been our fate if they didn't. But, my conscience did not allow me to leave them, in fact, I am already involved in this crazy violations of the law, even though I don't want it.

Is there something else I can do than to pursue solving it?

I have accepted to myself that me and my friends will end up with only one of the two, either we will be imprisoned helplessly or we will be imprisoned with honor.

---

Within a few minutes of walking we reached Lance's house. He lives alone there, his mother works abroad to support Lance with his needs. Lance only pays a maid to clean the house, backyard, etc. but she is not stay-in so Lance is still living alone.

"Your maid might see us, she might report us to the police." Ali said, now facing the gate of Lance's house.

"She haven't been working for a few days now, I know my next few days will be chaotic. So, I gave her off." said Lance as he walked towards the gate, and he opened it.

"Well, does she know about the secret basement?" Ali asked.

"No."

We walked in, following where Lance was heading. He went straight to the back of their house so we followed him. He stopped walking when he reached their garden, so we stopped too.We just watched and observed him. Where is the secret basement?

"Can you please hold this, Rique." Lance said as he handed his bag to Rique. He then grabbed something from his pocket after that, and immediately knelt on the ground. He was fumbling on the ground, I don't know what he was doing, for sure Ali and Rique didn't know either. We never asked again. We just let Lance do what he does.

In a few minutes of fumbling on the ground, viola! A tunnel down to the ground was exposed to us. At first glance, it looks like a canal that is often seen on the side of some roads, but the door is made of grass! So it is not immediately noticeable that it is a door to a secret basement. My jaw dropped as I looked down, all I could see was a ladder.

"I'll go first!" I said excitedly and immediately went down. It's amazing because they have something like this. Underground basement. Amazing.

"Slow down, Gicca you might slip," Lance worried but I ignored him because I was covered with excitement. Excited to see the inside of their secret basement! What does the inside look like?

I jumped when I felt that there is only a single ham between me and the floor. I was sat on the ground a bit because of the force of jumping. I stood up and flicked my knees and hands. I looked up and dropped my jaw as the beautiful basement reavealed to me. It looks like a dreamy house!

It's just like a house inside. There is a sofa, table, television, paintings and other household items. Is this a secret basement? Or a secret house? Eliote looks so ready in case there could be zombies in the world. For sure they are safe in their secret underground basement.

Ali went down next to me, then Rique, and Lance went down last. He closed the basement's door. Like me, Ali and Rique also dropped their jaws when they saw the inside of the basement. "Nice!" Complement by Ali.

"We can build a family here," Rique laughed.

Ali just frowned and threw her grimace, "If I will your wife and you will be the father of my children, I would be better go to jail." she said as she released a disgusted sound.

Rique laughed again and grabbed his stomach due tl too much laughter, "As if I want to have a child with you. You're ugly for me. Duh." He was teasing Ali.

The two began to quarrel again. They continued to make noise while I was just watching the beautiful surroundings. This is my dream house. Not too big, but everything is clean and tidy. Ali and Rique quarreled for a few minutes until Lance could no longer stand it.

"Shut up, you two. Listen all, I will introduce you the parts of this secret basement." said Lance.

The two immediately fell silent and a smile formed on their lips. Ali was excitedly stand next to Lance, "Let's go." she said excitedly.

Lance nodded and started walking towards the part he was referring to. "This is the comfort room, the bedroom is over here, here is the shower room, this is the kitchen, and here is the dining area..." he managed to stop walking when he was faced with a big door, the nicest door in this secret basement that I've seen. "Dad's office is here. It is forbidden to enter here. Off limit." he introduced.

We all nodded to him, "Is that all?" Rique asked.

Lance nodded, "Yes, that's all. You can rest now. I know you are tired of our walk." he said which immediately formed a smile on our lips.

We pushed and preceded to run towards the bedroom. We laughed while running. I wonder how big his bed is, if it is small, I should be the first to be on his bed, so I can rest in bed.

Ali pushed me against the wall, the pain in my back aroused. I pushed her back that resulted her to writhed in pain. This woman is crazy, she hurts physically.

I came first than them all, I dropped my jaw and stopped in front of the room when I saw it wide. It is not as I expected. The four of us can fit in the bed! That's a big bed!

Ali ran towards the bed and dived, her body just bounced. ---

After Ali enjoyed the whole bed, we were already able to rest properly. Our bodies lay on Lance's soft bed. Lance was just sitting at the desk, watching the three of us lying down. He does not want to rest.

And it suddenly occurred to me that it was the perfect time to tell them everything. I stood up and I cleared my throat, "Guys, I have something to admit to you." I said that caused them to open their closed eyes.

"What is that?" Ali asked crookedly as she adjusted herself from sitting.

That’s where I started telling everything, I exposed to them everything from my weird dreams to hallucinations crap to Mc who was in my dream, I told everything. The mark of concern can be seen on their faces, as well as traces of shock. I also gave them an explanation as to why I did not stay away from Eliote even though I knew they did not like him. I said that I felt Eliote could help me treat the inexplicable things I was experiencing, and I was not wrong. He helped me. I am well now.

"Now that you have no reason to stick with him, stay away from him." Lance said softly as he stared at me intently.

"Yeah! I really don't like that bastard. He kinda remind me of Rique." Ali said as she rolled her eyes, causing Rique to frown.

"Pardon? I'm cute, handsome, and kind. If you don't like me, then you have a mental problem." Rique said as he also rolled his eyes at Ali like a woman.

"You are cute? Where? I can't see it."

"You're blind,"

"No, I have a beautiful eyes,"

"But you can't see,"

"I see beauties, and I can't see it from you,"

They are starting again. I threw a sigh as I rolled my eyes. I looked at Lance, "They're hurting my ear drums," I told him as Ali and Rique kept making noise. "I can't take a rest in here," I added.

He nodded, "Let's just go to the living room. The sofa there is soft. I'm sure you can relax and rest." he said.

I stood up as he stood up. He opened the door and let me out of the room first. With the loud noise of Ali and Rique, they did not notice us leaving the room. They are free to fight now, even if they'll have wrestling. It is tiring to always be between them.

"You should have told me your problem." Lance said coldly as he adjusted the sofa. "Don't you trust me?" he asked as he sat down.

I lay down on the elongated sofa while he was sitting on the single sofa. I shook my head, "It's not like that, maybe I was just scared. Things happened too fast, and we were always busy, so I didn't have a chance to tell you that earlier. But I really had no intention of hiding it." I said.

"I should have been the first to know that than Eliote," he said in a sad tone.

I pouted, "I'm sorry, I was wrong in that part. I should have told you first, you are my best friend." I said.

He clicked his tongue and threw a sigh, "Okay, what happened has happened, let's just forget it. Just stay away from Eliote. You know we don't get along." he said.

"I can't promise that I can stay away from him right away, it looks like mom and him are getting close. Suprise visits are expected in that case. And hey, I was surprised the other day when he visited me in the house without even telling me, it was only to mom, he spoke to mom... but for now, you have nothing to worry about. There is no Eliote in here, and maybe he will not be able to go near me anymore... tomorrow is not promised, maybe one day, when I wake up, I'll wake up in jail. "

"Don't talk like that. We won't go to jail. So, you need to make sure you don't talk to Eliote anymore."

"How do you make sure we are not going to jail? The law is looking for us."

He threw a wink, "We will not be imprisoned." he said.

"How can you be sure that we will not be imprisoned?" I repeated my question.

He unleashed his smile, "Because we will make a way not to be imprisoned. If we are not gonna be imprisoned, will you not talk to Eliote anymore?"

I laughed softly, "I can't promise. I'll stay away from him but I'm not sure if he won't step on our house anymore. Mom and him are getting close, as I told you." I said.

"I really don't like that man. I don't want him to come near you."

I laughed softly again. Is he jealous? If he is jealous, I want to tell him that he should not be, because he is the one I want, Eliote is just like a clothe of mine which I do not care about.

I bit my lower lip as I nodded, "What if Eliote doesn't want to go away from me? What if he comes closer and closer to me?" I asked.

I'll just look at how he will react, whether he will be jealous or what. I know Eliote will not do that to me. He only came to my life because of the experiment and the help I needed from him.

He frowned and clenched his fist, "With your permission, can I break his jaw to make him stop from going near you?" he asked angrily in tone. His nose and ears are about to be smoked due to anger.

I laughed again, this time I laughed a little louder, "Why do you really dislike Eliote?" I asked.

"He's a bad person. When he opened up to you about how he likes Amber Hark's case, he obviously knew something about our plan. I had a strong feeling that he is your stalker. His eyes are always glued on you. I have strong feeling for that. I know, he knows where the confidential file of Amber Hark's case is. " he said, vanishing the smile from my lips.

It immediately occurred to me how their hatred for Eliote began. It was also about the case of Amber Hark. He also loves the Amber case like Ali, Rique and Lance. But he probably doesn't know that we have the file. We were the only ones in the old room that day, I knew, we were the only ones and no one was watching.

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