I ran.

My lungs were on fire, my legs heavy in pain and the sound of the harsh breathing escaping from my lips.

I ran faster.

So close. So, so close to being in home.

Everything Adrian planned to escape for a trick. A trick which was especially laid out for me and a trick which Adrian fell into. I finally understood how manipulative, cruel and clever that monster can be when it comes to challenges. Nevertheless, I still have the time to take everything in my hands.

After receiving that note, I kept myself locked in the bathroom, rethinking about everything that I had planned out, panicking then pretending that everything was fine when Adrian came back to his room. At first, I was suspicious of him. A lot. I asked him questions, indirect questions, asked him about he was able to find out about this three day trip to California, Arizona and New York, how he was able to get me inside the box very easily through too much security and lastly, how was I able to get out of the mansion quickly.

I can't believe that he tricked his own elder brother along with me! Guilt driven, sleep deprived, not so innocent after what he did to Rylie, Adrian.

I stayed in the bathroom and fell asleep right there, in the bathtub. Woke up with neck cramps, body ache and two blankets over me instead of one which Adrian gave me. Another one of his tactics.

Getting out of the jet and the airport was an easy-peasy task. Given the fact that the Agostini son wrote about a two hour headstart before he would come chasing me, I found it quite easy to simply blend in with the crowd after I crossed the private wing.

My heart jumped in excitement when I got out of the familiar airport and felt the first breeze of the Californian warm weather on me after years. I felt like home. I felt almost complete in my mission yet I was not content because I wasn't exactly at home.

Took the tour bus which stopped almost a thirty minute walk away from my neighborhood and I have been running ever since.

So close. So close. So, so close.

My body was still aching from the night before and I felt weak. Droplets of sweat were trickling from my head and dripping from my chin. The duffel bag felt heavy and a burden to me yet I kept running.

Running for my life. Running for my freedom. Running away from the life I had been surviving in a foreign country.

And, especially, running from Leonardo.

I'm not going to let him catch me, take me back to that hell house and make me suffer after that.

I took a sharp right turn and stopped dead on my track when I finally saw the familiar neighborhood in front of my eyes.

Home.

Tears of joy pooled in my eyes and I fell on my knees, sobbing in happiness. Years of desperate waiting, planning, sufferings and failures, I was finally home.

I was having the time of my life when suddenly I heard a honk. A car's honk.

Everything stopped when I looked behind and saw a black Mercedes slowly pulling up behind me. I couldn't see who was inside the car, but I had a pretty nice guess.

Shit, shit, shit. Two hours over already?

Oh dear God, he is really going after me and make my nightmares come true. I can't let him catch me on my doorstep!

I jolted up, my legs shaking in pain and I ran again.

"MOM!" I screamed when I saw my beautiful home. Quickly, I jumped over the mini door, tripped over a rock and felt a sprain on my ankles, but I kept running till I reached my same old doorstep.

"MOM! DAD! FREDDY!" I banged the door furiously, tears of frustration spilling on my face and my heart beating wildly, adrenaline still rushing in my veins.

Another honk.

My blood turned into ice when I heard it more closer to me and I kept banging the door furiously.

"MOM! DAD! FREDDY! OPEN UP!"

I tried to push the door open myself, but stopped when I saw a lock on the door. My face fell. What...What day is it today? Weekday? Weekend? Are they at work? They do tend to work a lot. I tried my best to think about the timezone difference here, but couldn't think of anything. My body was shaking in fear and I felt something dreadful seizing over my heart.

Oh shit. Nobody is home. I took a step back in shock and gripped my hair in panic.

Nobody is here. Nobody is here. No mother hugs and emotional reunions. I felt my throat getting tighter and tighter as my head started spinning fast. A strange coldness washed over me, my teeth chattered and black spots started to appear in vision.

Think Amy, think. When my parents are not home, where do I used to go?

A ray of hope rose in me and I felt those black spots going away when I remembered my neighbours.

"The twins." I panted and a short laugh of happiness escaped from me. Gathering all my remaining strength, I sprinted back and dashed to my neighbour's house, ignoring the black car which was hardly a metre away from me and knocked furiously on their door.

"MAX! GEORGE! MRS ROBINSON! OPEN UP!" I screamed in desperation as I kept pressing their buzzer and banging their door.

I heard the third honk from the car.

"P-Please, please. I beg of you." I cried and pressed my head on the door, feeling hopeless and scared. "Open the door. It's m-me, Amelia. I can't s-stay out for long. He'll take me away from here."

I gasped in surprise, my heart pounding and took a step back when I heard the door getting unlocked and it opened.

What the...

I looked down to see a little boy with black hair and gray eyes, sucking his thumb and holding an action figure.

I...I don't understand. Did one of the twins got somebody knocked up?

He kept staring at me curiously then pulled out his thumb.

"Nannaaaa. There ish a crwying gwirl here!"

I wiped my face in haste and straightened myself. I looked over my shoulders and saw the black car was gone. Okay, that's a first. He's gone.

"Who?" I heard a distinct, unfamiliar voice and the door opened wide. A lady in her mid sixties wearing a blue apron, stood in front of me, hiding the little boy behind her and took in my distorted appearance.

"Um, hello. May I help you?"

I breathed deeply to calm my frenzy nerves. "H-Hi, Mrs Robinson?"

The lady smiled, showing me her crinkled wrinkles. "Oh no, dear. The Robinson family don't live here anymore."

My heart dropped to my stomach. "They...they don't? Then w-where are they?"

"Oh, where are my manners? Please come in." I stepped into the house and frowned when I saw a different interior of the living room. The twins' parents always kept a lavish lifestyle and it always started from a rich looking living room because they owned a huge furniture business, but now the living room is full of toys and papers. There are drawings and scribblings on the wall.

"Have a seat. Would you like to have anything? Water? Coffee?"

"Water." I whispered hoarsely, feeling my parched throat.

A few minutes later, I finish chugging on my water and sighed in relief. The lady sat in front of me with the boy on her lap.

"All good?" I nodded in response, "May I know who you are?"

I exhaled sharply. "My name is Amm..." I paused in between then said, "Amanda. Just Amanda. Do you know where the Robinsons are? Did they change their neighborhood or something?"

I was too curious about everything here. There was something dreadful already settled in my heart. This place sure felt like home, but it wasn't exactly home.

The lady smiled at the boy, "Cody, why don't you run to your room and play there? Nana has to attend a guest."

The boy jumped from his grandmother's lap and ran away.

"I don't know where they are. This house was for sold so my husband, rest his soul, and I bought it. We only met them once before they left." The lady answered.

My chest tightened. No twins.

"How–How long have you been living here?"

"It's been almost six years now." A bile was rising up from my throat and I wanted to puke. "Are you their relative?"

"Y-Yes." I lied and swallowed hard. "But I haven't been in touch with them for a while."

"Oh. I am very sorry for that." She apologized. "That would explain your constant knocking on my door."

"Yes, I wanted to surprise them." I whispered, my eyes stinging with unshed tears again.

"Have you come running here?"

"Yes, my car broke down." Or should I say my life broke down. "Do you...do you know about your neighbours? The Jones family?"

Her eyes filled with pity and I didn't like it. "Ah, yes. They left the neighborhood weeks after I shifted here. Nice people but they suffered bad things."

I gulped, my heart getting an unbearable pain. "What things?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I heard that their youngest daughter ran away with a drug addict." The lady said cautiously. "Nobody saw it coming. The police and her family searched her for months, but couldn't find her except drugs from her bedroom."

I couldn't process her words, scratch that, I couldn't process anything. It was like everything in me had stopped. Everything ruined. My life. My family. My friends. My non existent career.

I wanted to scream, shout, cry and scold this lady for making up lies about me. Did those weird sunglasses men broke into my room and set up everything? Did my parents ever found a drawer full of stick notes they wrote for me or they found a drawer full of goddamn drugs?!

I couldn't react. All these years I patiently waited to escape and come back here.

They didn't wait up for me...and I hated it.

I was late. Too late. Way too late.

"Are you alright, Amanda dear?" The lady asked me in concern. "Were you related to the Jones family too?"

"Yes." I answered, my voice is void of any emotion. "I was close to both the families. I had lost all sorts of contact with them years ago. I'm sorry," I let out a bitter laugh. "I'm just overwhelmed by the information."

"It's okay, dear." She got up and sat beside me, holding my hand as a support. "Take your time."

I chuckled humorlessly. "Time? I guess I took a lot of it. Do you know where they moved? Did they leave any address or number?"

She shook her head. "I don't know anything. They only said that their eldest son was taking them away from here."

Goddammit, Frederick Jones.

"And the Robinson family? Did they leave any contact?"

She shook her head again and I groaned mentally.

If Max and George have moved away, my family has moved away then going to the Thompson residence to see Maria would be absolutely useless because they must have moved away from their neighbourhood too.

"Even though the families were close and concluded that the girl...Amelia, had run away. Nobody actually believed it." The lady declared.

My eyes diluted in confusion. "What? What do you mean?"

She gave me a sympathetic smile as her grip around my hand tightened.

"Because I know where she is."

*****

I was staring at the gravestone in front of me and surprisingly, I don't feel anything.

Maybe, just maybe, deep down in my heart, I knew that something like this would happen but I was too reluctant to believe it.

I wonder who they actually buried...

I knew there was a man standing beside me for God knows how long, simply staring at me with a huge smirk plastered on his shitty, idiotic face which I want to punch so badly right now.

"So..." Oh! So he finally decided to speak now. "I can't believe that I am actually seeing dead people now."

Silence.

"Next time, remind me to shoot you in the head when you try to escape again."

More silence.

"And one more thing, they buried an empty coffin, but don't worry, we happen to have our personal graveyard where I'll bury you myself...after I kill you." He whispered the last part in my ears which made me shiver.

More deafening silence.

"Oh wait!" I hear some shuffling and watch him place a rose in front of the stone. "May your soul rest in peace, fiero gattino."

I scoffed. "That's somehow hilarious."

"So she finally speaks! Woohoo!" He cheered sarcastically. "I think you know what to do now."

"I have no home. I don't know where my family or friends are. Why do you think that I'll try to escape again?" I asked him.

"Because if you don't, I will not have any fun in killing you." He replied smugly.

I rolled my eyes and kept staring at the gravestone.

"I'll be waiting by the car and don't try to run again." He warned and walked away.

I finally took off my hood and sighed in exhaustion. I bit my inner cheeks to stop myself from screaming in front of the stone and simply let the tears fall on my face instead.

Amelia Jones. Daughter, sister and friend.

How ironic, isn't it? Seeing your own grave even though you are alive and healthy.

With no home, no family and friends to go back to, I have to change my plans all over.

Great. Just great.

Author's note:

A two minutes of silence for Amelia's efforts throughout the whole twenty three chapters. 🙏 😔