The air was embraced in the decent smell of petrichor when morning arrived and the wooden mansion remained still in silence at the early hours of dawn.

Rain drops sat on leaves and soaked the earth. The chill that danced within the wind's unseen streams, gave the green forest an illusion of winter in autumn. While brown, maroon and orange kissed the leaves of trees and entirety of once lush shrubs, George Beckham lay on his bed wrapped up in a blanket like a sausage in a hot dog.

George's eyelids hurt and a sharp pain on the left side of his skull was a testimony to his sleepless night.

"Curiosity will kill the cat and it will do so slowly George Beckham." George mumbled to himself as he tried his best to sit up.

After a brief tug of war with a rather heavy blanket and over-sized pajamas, George sat up, left with the battle against his numb legs. The cold had seeped into the epidermis of his skin and an all-night shiver left his limbs feeling inferior to his body.

He stared at the door and counted the steps it would take to exit his room. It seemed like a terrifying ten steps to his slothful personality this morning.

"You're not an old geezer George. It's not even winter yet. Work you, stupid things!" George beat his legs with clenched fists.

He made an attempt to stand but his left foot sent a stinging pain on every nerve of his left lower limb. He looked down.

The big toe on his left leg was swollen and with every little move came excruciating pain. While a hundred pins played tag on George's left foot, his knee also ached a bit.

George limped towards the door but stopped after three steps. He turned right and gazed at the huge hole on the wooden wall.

The rays of sunlight quite dimmed by shut curtains, lingered on the edges of a very vivid dent in George's room.

"Shit! If he sees that, I'm dead." George told himself.

In a second no less, he recalled his escapades a while after midnight. Like one possessed, George threw the blanket out of his bed and rummaged the bedsheets.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he cried loudly.

He thought of the grey box he found hidden in the once sturdy wall, now shattered. A brief recall of the content he discovered in the box sent him on an early rampage.

"I took the photos out of the box...but before that I crawled over here and I...I fell here..." George muttered to none while he paraded the room in short prances of madness.

"Todd and I have to go quickly love!" Richard's voice echoed from down the stairs.

"It seems what you lost in the forest is quite valuable but it's way too early. You haven't even had breakfast yet!" Alice's voice echoed in a firm reply.

George looked up at the red and black themed 'Atasuki' wall clock a few inches above the door of his room. It was the seventh hour of the new day. His mom was right it was way too early for a hike.

"What I left is truly valuable Alice and I need to get it back. Hopefully it's not been washed up by last night's ghastly storm." Richard replied.

"Tell George I didn't want to wake him up. I'm sure he had a hard time yesterday. He needs to rest up." Richard voice vanished and so did its echoes after a deafening bang.

Richard's last words and the sound of the huge door at the main entrance, slamming loudly shot a zap of fear down George's spine. He recalled the theft he committed in his father's room the previous day. The grey box found within the wall was not the only item in his possession a few hours ago. He'd also stolen a grey box from his father's room.

"Oh shit!" he muttered loudly.

George Beckham turned the sheets over. He knelt beside his bedstead, head down, ass up. Without a warning to his nostrils he took in dust, as he searched under his mattress frantically.

In an instant, he sprung up like jack-in-the-box toy. He bit his fingers and paced around the room some more. The questions echoed in his head had sent him on a temporary frenzy. Fear ate every bit of confidence he once had and his limbs quivered like jelly disturbed.

"No! No! Anything but that! No! Please God no!" George clapsed one the bed posts after a brief break from the walk of anxiety.

"I might not agree with the thought of it but that's the only plausible explanation." George resumed his search in a way that would annoy any who believed in order. He managed to drag his bed to the middle of the room, as though his eyes deceived him earlier when he scanned underneath the bed frame.

Clothing settled on places they should not and drawers were emptied. George's room was in a mess and though he knew his mother would nag at the sight of it, he let dirt be. A tidy room was the least of his concerns.

"Shit! Shit! He took it! I sleep for less than twenty minutes and all that hard work...trying to be cautious just goes to shit! Why the fuck did I sleep off? Dad's gonna kill Mary and then me. The order doesn't matter George! You're dead and that's a fact!" George placed his hands on both sides of his head in a false attempt to calm the dull throbbing in his brain.

"All those pictures...the boxes..." he paused.

"Mary! Please tell me he hasn't done anything to her! Please! Please!" George repeated his pleadings to the air about him, as he scurried to Mary's room drenched in sweat that had nothing to do with the weather.

Richard walked briskly, eyes straight, with only one thought in his mind "Retrieve the book with the red leather cover."

"Once I get my hands on that book, that blonde would stop being a bone in my throat. I'm sure it's hidden in that book. I heard them clearly. Shit! I should have taken it three years ago when I had the chance, instead of rushing back because of..." Richard muttered on, while Todd stared at his brother's back.

Todd made sure to walk four steps from Richard, as though a measure to avoid catching his older brother's madness.

"What in the name of...What is wrong with Richard? I know I decided to trust him and let go of Mary...I mean it's the sensible thing to do because Mary is a stranger...It's crazy to choose infatuation over bond by blood...but I..." the voices in Todd's head bickered repugnantly.

"Come on Todd, keep up the pace! We've got no time to waste! If she's truly alive, it might be gone already!" Richard yelled after he took a glance at his brother, who was now ten steps behind.

Confusion and a feeling of betrayal added a few tons to Todd's legs. It got harder to walk and he struggled to breathe. He wanted answers. He needed answers and he needed them now.

"Fuck this!" he screamed and suddenly sat on a pile of brown leaves.

Rage burnt the red lines on Richard's white cornea. His hands twitched and his breath was hot. If there was any thing he hated, it was hindrances. With George back at the mansion, Richard expected a quick and easy trip to his secret destination. He had looked forward to getting his hands on his freedom early this morning, but Todd was being a hindrance.

"What are you doing Todd?" Richard asked through gritting teeth.

"I'm protesting. Isn't it obvious?"

"We're have an important task to fulfil this morning and you sit on the floor like a haughty child, in the name of a protest?! Have you lost your mind?!" Richard snapped.

"The latter question should definitely be directed to you big bro." Todd replied with little courage and a bit of sass.

"What?!"

"You heard me big brother. If there's anyone crazy in this forest it's not even Mary, it's..."

"You're talking about that bitch this early in the morning? I'm this close to shutting that blonde bitch up forever, and getting into Mary's pants is your priority right now?" Richard asked his sibling while he resumed the walk to his destination.

"No one said anything about getting into Mary's pants!"

"You don't have to say it Todd. George is a teenager and the stupid crush he has on Mary might be understandable but you...you always dated a different girl every holiday while you were in college. Now what? You're a one-woman kind of man? Stop thinking with your penis, Todd."

Todd sought for the perfect reply but his brain stopped working after the last sentence Richard uttered. Maybe, just maybe Richard was right.

Richard had walked quite a distance and his legs yearned for break but his heart made them move forward.

"Finally!" a sigh of relief followed Richard's thought.

He finally reached his destination.

Richard arched his back and went into a little wooden shed, about two miles from the wooden mansion.

A sac the size of a throw pillow sat in the wooden shed. Richard took a torchlight from a bag pack he wore and scanned the interior of the shed, as though daylight was insufficient.

"There's no book. She was here! She's taken the book. I need to call Henry." Richard panicked.

He crawled out of the shed with the sac in his hand. The brown sac felt wet underneath.

Richard opened the sac slowly and after a glance at its content, he fell to the ground like Humpty would. His heart raced and his tongue was dry. Sweat rushed out of the pores on his skin and his lungs felt crushed by an unseen force. Richard was afraid.

"What's wrong big bro?!" Todd still a few steps away, ran to his brother's aid.

"What happened? Are you okay? You look shocked. What's going on?"

Richard remained mute.

The look in Richard's eyes caused Todd to swallow. The last time he saw Richard look so distraught was three years ago when he opened an anonymous letter. Todd never saw the content of the letter but he thought the sender a danger. Was Richard faced with the same danger again?

Todd's attention was directed to a brown sac three steps from his brother.

Todd walked to the sac and opened it.

His heart almost flew out of his chest and in an attempt to scream, he found himself out of breath. The horrific sight forced tears out of Todd's eyes.

His chest hurt.

Fear became anger.

Todd turned to Richard.

"What the fuck is going on Rich?"

George opened Melody's room and the door flung open. Mary sat on her bed quietly. Melody was absent.

"Mary are you..."

George paused after he took a closer look at Mary. Crystal clear tears crawled down her pale cheeks. She sniffled while she rubbed her eyes red.

"They're liars. Adults are...are liars!" Mary said.
"Mary, what did he..."

"I'm sorry George. I'm so sorry."

Confused, George took a few steps towards Mary. She stretched a piece of paper towards him.

"I'm sorry but I think you need to see this."

George took the paper from her hand. His eyes widened and before he could conjure up words, Mary handed him another piece of paper.

The piece of paper was an old document. Its once perfect white color had turned brown and tiny grains of sand bounced off it's surface at every move so little.

George looked at Mary and then back at the documents in his hand. He asked a question so simple.

"What the fuck is this?"