The last day of November was my birthday and all my brothers gathered together (what was quite impressive) in the evening at the house and ordered loads of junk food. We watched the first part of the Harry Potter movies, which made me really happy as I am a huge fan of the whole series. Of course, my brothers wouldn't be themselves if they haven't mocked it a bit. They were making fun of the plot and teasing each other more than really truly watching it, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed this evening.
I even got a birthday cake from them and they sang a happy birthday song for me. I was blushing a lot because I wasn't used to drawing their whole attention on myself. They also give a few rather expensive gifts including some clothes, accessories and that drawing set I'd seen when I'd been shopping for school with Will. It scared me a bit because it meant that Will was a better observer than I'd expect and I wasn't sure how to feel about it.
Later, it was around 1 am., Shane and Tony turned on a horror movie. I was falling asleep, but I had so much fun that I didn't want to go to my bed yet. Really, even Vince chilled out a bit and that was unusual. I even managed to forget for a moment that they are the same men, who hide guns in drawers.
My eyelids were super heavy and the scene in the movie was really tense, that's why when suddenly Shane and Dylan attacked me from both my sides, I immediately awoke and screamed as loud as never before.
"Are you insane?!" I yelled, at the beginning with irritation, but my anger quickly disappeared when I saw all of them laughing out loud. Tony and Shane were rolling on the floor, Dylan almost choked and his shoulders were shaking, Will spat his beer and Vince facepalmed.
"That's not funny!" grunted, but the corners of my mouth lifted.
"It is."
"Totally is."
"You're funny, little sis."
I rolled my eyes and when they started to laugh because of something again, I decided it's time to go to my bedroom. To every one of them, I came up and thanked for all the presents and a nice evening. Firstly, I hugged Shane, who stroked my hair, then Dylan, who smirked at me, then Will, who kissed me on the top of my head, then Vince, who caressed gently my back and, at the end, Tony, who just stiffen and didn't do anything, but to my "goodnight" he murmured an answer together with the rest.
The next day was Sunday and I took Mona, Audrey, and Marshall to the cinema and then to get some ice cream. Everything was earlier discussed with Vince, who paid for it. I was over the moon and I have to admit that my birthday was amazing. Of course, I also had some worse moments, when I missed my mom and grandma, but countless pleasures saved me from deepening my sadness.
However, days were passing and everything came back to normal. I, encouraged by my friends, was moving further and further. What could I do about it, they turned out to be some bloody Sherlocks. All of them. They got intrigued by my brothers and didn't want to let go till we won't find out what's going on with all those weapons. I wasn't brave enough to ask my brothers face to face about it, so I did the thing that most of the teenagers would do in my place. I decided to investigate it on my own.
For example, I came back to the library, when no one was around. I wanted to see if the gun was still there, but the drawer turned out to be locked and the key disappeared. I started to nose about the house in search of other weird stuff, but I haven't found anything suspicious. I had an idea to break into one of my brothers' rooms, but I wasn't ready to take such a risk.
However, one day Mona and Audrey visited me. When they finished admiring the Monets' residence, we sat in my room and the more we stayed there, the more we plotted. Finally, Mona said we should search the room of one of thems.
"You're crazy." I cut her off. "You know I don't want to do it."
"You don't have to. I'll do it. Or Audrey." she offered.
"What?" gasped Audrey. "No chance. I won't let get myself caught on snooping around one of the Monet brothers' room. It's a suicide."
"Now, IF you get caught. It just won't happen. We need to plan it well. Someone will keep nit, someone will act if necessary... They won't know."
"It's the worst of your ideas, Mona"
"It's a very good idea. Working together we'll achieve the goal which Hailie is just not able to achieve only by herself."
I was listening to their talk, more and more leaning towards Mona's plan. She was right, they were my only allies now, here, in this house. Audre noticed my face and raised her eyes.
"Fine." she said after a moment. " But it's you, Mona, who'll go into the room. I can keep nit."
"Fine." repeated Mona. "But you have to swear that you won't let anyone catch me. Otherwise, I'll turn you in as well."
Audrey and I, together, shrugged in agreement.
"So now's the question. To whose's room are we breaking in?"
I wondered. Vince's bedroom I rejected right away. I respected him too much and well, I was too scared to sneak in there. I couldn't even imagine his reaction if he found out. I had the feeling that Will was too right, so it didn't pay to us to go to his room. Nor Shane's as I imagined the worst thing we could find there were boxes of condoms on every step. So here we go. Only Dylan's and Tony's bedroom left.
"Maybe Dylan's? Tony frightens me." admitted Mona.
"Well, I am afraid of both of them.." mumbled Audrey.
"I'd prefer to go to Dylan's room as well, but Tony is the one who seems to be less careful. I think we're more likely to find something in his bedroom." I pointed.
"Yeah, but you already know that Tony has a gun and if we find it, he may have the same explanation. Our plan will only make sense when another one of your brothers will turn out to be suspected." argued Audrey.
I nodded, feeling the thrill going through my body.
"It sounds sensible..." I admitted.
Around fifteen minutes later, I was standing next to the stairs. I threw around some coins, pretending that I dropped my purse and now I was kneeling to pick them up. At the end of the corridor, there was Audrey to who I was supposed to yell the exact words "I found my lucky coin!" in case any of my brothers would show up. Audrey was kneeling next to the doors to Dylan's room. Mona knocked at them quietly. She no longer looked excited. Her nervousness was very visible. When no one answered, she gently opened the door and peeked inside, ready to apologize and leave if Dylan was inside.
He wasn't. Mona took an insecure step forward and soon she disappeared into his bedroom, making me almost frozen out of stress. If one of my brothers stood on my way now, my terrible acting would surely turn us in.
Suddenly, I thought that the whole plan isn't a good idea. It was a terrible idea. Minutes were passing and I felt like throwing up out of nervousness. I was expecting the sight of my brothers like a death sentence.
Luckily for me, the only person that showed up was Eugenie. She looked up from the bottom of the stairs and asked if everything was ok.
"I found my lucky coin!" I yelled, panicked. With the corner of my eye, I saw that girls started to evacuate. Eugenie raised her eyebrow.
"Do you need some help with those coins?" she asked.
"No, no, no, thank you, I've picked almost all of them already. No help needed. Thank you." I babbled, wanting to go back to my bedroom as fast as I can.
Eugenie just shrugged and disappeared in the kitchen and I got up and chased to my room, feeling a huge relief. It worked. I panicked too much when I saw Eugenie, but no one uncovered us.
I entranced my bedroom, immediately drawing Mona and Audrey's fearful looks. They stood around my bed, both pale.
"It's ok, I'm alone, it was just Eugenie." I explained quickly, but their expressions didn't change. Instead, Audrey grabbed her jacket, that was now laying on the bed. I just noticed it, before it'd hung neatly on the back of my desk chair.
Now I knew why it changed its location. Audrey had to throw it on the bed in a hurry to cover something. Something, that Mona brought with her from Dylan's bedroom.
I recognized the item right away and took a step back.
Another gun.
That was now laying on my bed.