Chapter 99 - BURGLARY

The car came to a halt finally at the white bungalow; Emma's house.

A smiling Emma came out of the car, before Derek could rush over as a gentleman to open up her door. 

She was home.

"Finally.." Maya sighed, bringing up Eva from her laps, allowing the little girl to scoot over to the space which Shane's immediate exit out of the car had created, so that she could step down from the car.

Together, they all walked away from the car, towards the front porch of the house, with Emma leading the way, since she was the one with the locks of the house.

But when Emma got to the door, her eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Her door had been unlocked already, and there was no knob either. Her house has been broken into.

"Derek.." She called, turning away from the door to her boyfriend.

"Yes. What happened?" Derek asked, stepping closer to her, noting the look of fright on her face.

"The door.." She stuttered, pointing towards the white washed door.

"What happened to the door?" Maya asked, stepping around Eva to where Derek was.

The both walked up to the door, and saw that it had already been opened.

"What is happening?" Emma asked the duo, wondering why it seemed everything unknown to her was happening all at once. First, she slept deeply for over a week at Melvina's place, then she lost her memories for reasons she couldn't fathom; they had told her that she had been hit by an iron ball which a kid had thrown to her unknowingly when playing, and now this.

Someone, she didn't know, had broken into her house.

"Emma, stay here with Eva." Derek said, not giving her a reply to her earlier question, since he too didn't know what was going on. He nodded to Maya and his two other friends, and they all walked into the house, leaving Emma and Eva outside.

" Emma, is everything okay? What is happening?" Eva asked Emma, clutching tightly to her hands. She had seen the look of worry on the older people's faces, and knew that something was wrong.

" Nothing really." Emma replied, not wanting to involve the little girl in her mess.

"Tell me Emma. I'm not a kid." Eva whined, stomping her right foot on the ground, looking at Emma defiantly.

Emma hid a smile at the little girl's outburst.

"Someone broke into my house." She finally said, looking away from the little girl to the front door of her house. She wondered what her friends were doing inside.

"A thief?? Oh Emma, I'm so sorry about that." Eva said, causing Emma to smile out this time around.

"Don't worry. My brother and Maya would deal with the thief soonest." The little girl added, pressing Emma's hands in reassurance.

" Yeah. Thanks Eva. You are a good friend." Emma said, knowing that it would please the girl no great deal to be counted as a friend of the grown-ups, not just as a baby sister.

" You're welcome!" Eva shouted, showing off all her teeth with a smile, causing Emma to smile too.

She waited for some minutes, and still, Derek, Maya, Shane and Clem hadn't come out yet.

She decided to go in. What could go wrong? She thought.

"Let's go in." She finally said to Eva, her patience already worn out, clutching her little hand tight.

***

The sitting room was in disarray as Emma stepped into the house with Eva.

"Ohoo,What happened here?" Eva asked, scanning the entire sitting room. The couches were scattered, and their materials, all inside out, and the middle table wasn't there anymore.

It startled Emma. She didn't that there would be theives in this county she was starting to like. 

Staring around, she noticed that the whole set of things were complete, nothing was missing. 

She went into her room, and the other room. It was the same story. Everything was scattered. Her clothes had been thrown out from their boxes, and the wardrobe. Her bed was scattered. Her books included.

But everything was still complete. She checked for her last earnings in the book which she had slotted them into, that had been flung to the other side of the room; but the money was still there. Complete, untouched.

What had the thief been searching for? She thought, dropping the philosophy book on her reading table.

"Where is Maya and the others? Where is my brother?" Eva asked, breaking Emma off from her thoughts.

"I don't know." She replied, noting that she hadn't seen the others around yet. Where had they gone to?

"Let's check at the backyard." She said, holding Eva's hand, and stepping around the debris in her room, walking off to her back yard.

***

The back yard was nothing much to the sight, except the usual veiw of the thick forest.

Staring at the forest, and contemplating whether to go in or not, an imagery flashed through Emma's mind, causing her to cry out in pain, as her brain hurt.

She had seen herself arguing with Maya and Derek in a thick forest, which Maya had called enchanted.

"Emma, are you okay?" Eva asked, worried about the older girl who was bent over in pain. Worse, she couldn't do anything about it.

Where was her brother and her cousin when you needed them? She thought, staring anxiously at Emma.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Emma said, after some minutes had passed, after the pain had subsided. She raised up her head, which had been swung over in pain some minutes ago, staring at the forest.

Something happened there. She thought.

She knew what she had seen in her mind.

It was a memory.

She racked her head, trying to find more bits of it, but to no avail.

Her mind was blank, again.

But she was sure of one thing; they had lied to her again. The whole lot of them, except the little girl besides her anyways.. They had all lied, including her boyfriend,  Derek.