Ghost In Red

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I sighed in frustration, shaking my head because of my dearest burglar’s carelessness. There were shoes’ dirt tracks on the white tiled floor, heading to the dumb blonde’s hiding place, and it was why Mimi knew someone could have been hiding inside my walk-in closet. And she’s not wrong.    

I ran back to where Sydney could be, and I saw Mimi with a broom in her hold had been slowly peeking at my hanging dresses and jackets and opening closets here with the hopes to find the thief she was looking for.    

Hmm, where could Syd have hidden?    

“Sydney? Where are you?” I called out my companion, and I chuckled as I realized she wouldn’t answer me. Oh, I know what she had been thinking now, that I am the dumbass one.    

“Don’t bother answering, Syd. And oh, don’t be scared. Mimi has no shotgun with her. It’s a broom, but it could still be a reason why a cute blonde burglar could die. She’ll hit you with that till death. Don't come out, wherever you are.” I told her, and I had looked at the places where the woman hadn’t looked yet. Thankfully, the tracks on the floor had faded and couldn’t be seen clearly because the floor was brownish.    

When I peeked inside the place where I think Sydney could have put herself in, I let out a breath of relief as she was indeed in here.    

“Hi! Are you okay?” I asked her, and she lit up the screen of her phone.    

Then I saw Syd mouthed something to me, “Do I look like I’m okay?”    

“No. But hey, I got an idea.” I answered and tried to peek outside to see where Mimi was now.    

“Make it quick,” Syd whispered, and damn I could hear her nervous heartbeat even from a mile away from here.    

“Do you have my phone number? Call my phone so that she can get out of here to check it out.” I asked her, and she just looked at me with her stoic ‘obviously-I-don’t-have-your-f*cking-number’ face. Yeah, why would she have my phone number in the first place? We aren't friends.    

“Fine. Here, dial it.” I ordered and told her my number, and we only hoped that my phone wasn't dead.    

When it rang, I yelled in glee, and Sydney sighed in relief.    

I heard my ringtone from outside, and I looked at what could be Mimi’s reaction.    

“Oh, she’s about to go out, Syd. Get ready.” I cheerily said and saw how the blonde mouthed me, “And what am I going to do?”    

“Uh… you will… Well, umm,” I began while trying to think of the best thing she could do so Mimi would stop speculating that there was a person who broke into this house.    

“Oh, I remember! I have a secret passage here, heading to the master’s bedroom and one way to my brother’s room. You could use it. The secret door is behind a painting out there. You could hide there for a moment and come back here for my wallet and phone. Speaking of phones… Did Mimi pick your call up?” I suggested and asked her, making her avert her gaze to the thing in her left hold. And her eyes widened in shock when the woman indeed had picked it up now.    

I gestured to her to kill it, and she quickly pressed the end call icon.    

“Come on, let's go before she will come back here and whip your ass, Syd,” I told her and stepped out of the closet first.    

Then I went out to see what Mimi had been doing or if she was coming back here in my walk-in closet.    

When I saw her at my study table and looking at my phone, I went back to Sydney, who had been slowly opening the closet door, trying not to make any sound.    

“Look who had just come out of the closet! Finally!” I announced and laughed when she showed me a middle finger in response.    

“Seriously, Syd. Are you gay?” I curiously asked her, hoping I could get an answer, but I just earned a death glare from her lovely blue eyes.    

“Well, seriously, Hunters? You are asking me that despite this situation of mine? Very nice! Now, which way is the road to salvation?” She whispered, and I shrugged my shoulders while chuckling sheepishly.    

“Come, follow me.” I walked to the wall where the huge painting of mine was.    

“Here. I painted that when I was eleven. I spent the whole summer doing that.” I told her proudly, and I heard her snicker, making me snap my head at her.    

“That is one ugly sh*t piece of art.” She remarked, which made my eyebrows meet in unrest. Is she mocking me?    

“Excuse me? I made that myself. Do you even know how to paint?” I said, pretty offended by her comment, and she just shook her head in reply.    

See? She doesn't even know how to paint, yet she says I suck with this one? Ha! Screw her! That’s my only painting. It's a landscape where there are trees and flowers with grasses.    

“Honestly, it’s lovely. True. You just need to work more on the blending of the colors. This should be lighter here, the foreground… the trees on this side... and a bit darker here and for the background. But it’s pretty good.” She said in a whisper, making me look at her with a bothered face, and she wiggled her eyebrows. Hmm. Why? What does she know about art?    

“So… Are we going to discuss this painting till dawn? Or do you have a plan on telling me how I can open the secret door? Or will we wait for Mimi to barge in here and whip my ass? I don’t want to hurt her, Oj.” She reminded me, and I returned to my senses to do our main purpose in coming here.    

I told her to push a bit hard the five feet by four feet painting so she could walk through the small door that is heading to my little brother’s room or my Dad’s in their closets and stairs heading down to the garage. Thankfully, Mimi knows nothing about the secret emergency passages here, and neither does Candice. It’s only dad, Jonas, and I knew about it. And Mom.    

After Sydney had closed the door back to its place, I told her to head to my brother’s room to stay there for a while as I would try to spy if Mimi could have left my room already.    

---    

I returned to Sydney to tell her that Mimi had already surrendered in finding the burglar and had gone to her room downstairs and was about to sleep.    

“What are you going to do with that?” I asked Syd when I saw she had brought a toy remote control car that I had given my brother on his ninth birthday, and she looked at me and replied, “I got an idea. I might use it for my grand exit. Don’t worry. I’ll buy your brother a new one if your gateman would destroy this. Hopefully, he won’t.”    

“Okay. But come on, let’s get my phone and wallet so that we can get out of here already.” I said and walked ahead back to the secret door to go to my room.    

After Syd had returned the photo album and looked somewhere at my study table drawers, she had found the other things we were looking for.    

“Are my cards in there? Oh, there are a few bills. Alright, let’s go. Should you go back to how you climb up here?” I asked, and she showed me what was in my wallet.    

“Most likely, Oj. I don’t want to walk down your living room and go straight to prison if someone's out there. I’m fine climbing down the downspout by your balcony. Let’s go.” She answered, putting the toy car and the remote inside her tucked-in shirt, and hurried to open the glass door to the balcony, and I followed her, saying, “Suit yourself.”    

She had finally climbed down, and she motioned we were going to head to the front gate, but I stopped her.    

“Actually, Syd… We have a gate in that direction… At the back. And no one’s been posted there. It only has a motion-detecting device and… a CCTV camera. You could climb up there as fast as you could and run for your life if the very bright light comes on and Mr. Gubbels will run after you. Yeah! You will have a lesser chance for someone to catch you than going bravely at the front gate with a guard who got a shotgun, taser, and a pistol with him. What do you say?” I suggested thoughtfully, and she made a thinking face.    

“Great! Why didn’t you tell me that earlier? Oh, never mind. Let’s go burn some calories then.” She whispered and put on her hoodie, and then we crept to the backyard.    

We stood about five meters away from the gate, and my savior had been panting while looking at the camera and its partner, the motion detector. I hope she can pass through that obstacle course.    

“Damn, I should have brought with me a gun or whatever else that could kill those things. Well, whatever. I’m still going. Wish me luck.” She mumbled and began running fast and then climbed up the gate, and I just cheered on her. “You can do it, Syd! You really are amazing!”    

And indeed, the detector had begun blaring that it detected something, and there was a bright light that had illuminated the surroundings. Luckily, the awesome trespasser was on the other side of the gate now. And here comes the cavalry.    

“Oh, Mr. Gubbels! Your tummy is quite big now, and I bet you can’t chase that sneaky blondie. Bye-bye, though!” I jeered at the man with his taser ready to fire, and I went to where Sydney had left her motorbike.    

“Come on, what are you waiting for, Syd? Let’s go!” I asked her when she had already put on her helmet and hopped on her getaway vehicle, but she seemed panicking.    

“The engine won’t start.” She said, and I exclaimed, “What?!”    

Damn, she’s going to be so damn dead.