By this point in time, Belle had fully returned to her past as a burglar. Sneaking around from room to room, doing everything in her power to not get caught. But this time, the consequences were far more severe. Her life and sanity were on the line here.

She had never felt more focused in her life.

Currently, the two of them were standing in the hallway leading from the dining room. The entire house was silent, but that didn’t stop them from carefully peering into the next room to see what was going on.

They found themselves looking at the living room. And although they couldn’t be certain, it was a good chance that they could escape soon. Assuming the exit was through the front door.

But this belief only made Ed more careful. They hadn’t experienced anything dangerous yet. And while Ed didn’t know if that was just because they were being very careful, he did know that Buddie wouldn’t let them get off that easily.

If it really ended like this, then he wouldn’t know what to say.

Standing in the living room now, they looked around for the next place to go. There were four doors that they hadn’t been through yet, and a large window.

Once again, Ed went up to check the window, but it wouldn’t budge or break. It was like a solid and immovable wall. That left them with just the doors.

The first door was on the same wall as the one they just came from. The second and third doors was on the wall opposite that, leading further away from their starting point. The fourth door was on the wall in-between those and opposite the window.

Ed wasn’t sure of the shape of the house or the number of rooms, but his best guess was that one of these doors would lead to the bedroom, one would lead to the bathroom, one would lead to the laundry or a storage room, and the final one would lead to the exit.

They had a one in four chance of escaping immediately, and a one in four chance of getting caught immediately.

They couldn’t really communicate with each other at this point. Who knew if their talking would attract the old lady’s attention. Ed decided to leave the decision to Belle, since this punishment was hers to begin with.

I wonder where the exit is? Logically, we can rule out the one next to where we came from, that’s probably the bedroom. But who knows, maybe Buddie wants us to climb through the window in there. He looked over at Belle, who was deep in thought. Let’s just leave this to her.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

After a bit of thinking, Belle moved over to the door that was on the wall by itself. They walked quietly through the middle, not wanting to get too close to any of the other doors. They remained entirely silent, grateful that they were walking on carpet.

Opening the door slowly, they immediately noticed the tiled floor. This was the bathroom. It was small and old-fashioned, with white tiles going halfway up the wall, leading into floral wallpaper. It had a shower, a toilet, and a sink.

There was an open window above the toilet.

Belle was incredibly excited, her eyes gleaming as she stared at the open window. Like she was staring her freedom in the face. But she still stayed calm. She carefully tiptoed into the bathroom and stood in front of the window.

She didn’t know if she was going to fit through the gap, or how she would get up there without making a noise.

Ed was also staring at the window. He could easily escape now. The window was open and there was nothing stopping him from leaving. Even if the window couldn’t open any further, he could just turn into a thread and pass right through the gap.

But if that was the case, what would happen to Belle? He wasn’t sure what would happen if only one of them escaped, but he knew that Belle would most likely have to try and find another way out, and could still get caught.

Ed put his hand on her shoulder, then sent some threads over to the window. As he suspected, the window wouldn’t be able to open any further.

Ed lifted her up to the window, but the gap was just small enough that she couldn’t climb through. He placed her back down on the ground.

As I thought, Buddie put this here to force me to make a choice. Well, I don’t particularly care, so I’ll just stay with her and see what happens. If I die, I die.

Seeing that she couldn’t fit through, she walked back to the living room and looked at the remaining doors. Ed followed behind her as she walked to the set of two doors that they hadn’t been through yet.

Just as she reached for the door, they both heard a sound coming from the other side of the room. Looking back, they saw the door handle twist on the door next to the hallway.

Without thinking, Ed opened the closest door and shoved Belle and himself inside. At the same time, he spread his threads out and closed the bathroom door.

Before the other door fully opened, he had already brought his threads back into his body and closed himself inside the darkened room. Belle’s body was so close that he could feel her chest moving as she breathed. But the room was too cramped for them to be able to move.

They remained deathly still, afraid to touch anything and make any noise. Belle was beginning to panic, while Ed remained calm. Ed’s only hope was that either the old lady hadn’t noticed anything strange, or that she decided to check the bathroom first.

Unfortunately, she seemed to immediately lock onto their location, as he heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer. A few agonising seconds later and the door opened, bathing them in light and letting them see the little old lady that they were supposed to be hiding from.

Ed clutched at his chest, feeling an immense pain.