Braylan rang the doorbell. After a few seconds, Samuel opened the door, smiling.
"You are late, Mr. Smith. " He greeted.
"Sorry, Mr. Clarkson. It won't happen again. " He replied and Samuel snorted.
"Come in. I have something to show you. " He said and Braylon followed him to his room.
"Yup. It's a cat! Mom got over her fear and we adopted her. " Samuel said after Braylon had entered the room and was staring at a beautiful white Persian cat. She was gorgeous and Braylon had exclaimed,- "Woah!"
"What did you name her? "
" I will call her Flake. " He replied proudly. Braylan touched her head and she hissed lazily. Braylan stroked her gently and she hissed once or twice, lazily, and then allowed him to pet her. The boys played with the cat for a long time and finally-
"So what are today's updates? " Samuel asked, still stroking the cat.
"I haven't seen anything yet. Let's check. " Braylan replied and opened his computer. He opened the recordings and they started going through the recordings one by one. First, it was the living room, then Jayden's room. Jayden entered his room, running, slammed the door, and sat. He murmured something inaudible. After some time, a man was taking to Jayden.
"Bring the headphones! Quick, quick!" Braylan said eagerly and Samuel did what he was told to do. They heard the conversation.
"But he is not. He can't be!" Samuel said. he looked confused.
"I know, Sam! I know! But for now, we have to see what happens. It's important to know." Braylan replied. He looked like he had aged 10 years in the past 10 minutes. He rubbed his eyes and massaged his temples like he had a severe case of headache.
"Do you have a plan or something?" Samuel asked after a few minutes of silence. Braylan shook his head and shrugged hopelessly. He looked worn out.
"I don't know what to do. Let us wait and watch for some time. Then we can figure this out. You should contact Jacob. He should know about this. We should be prepared for every scenario. The worst and the best." He instructed. " I'll see what I can do." He whispered more to himself than to Samuel. " See ya!" He said and stood up to leave.
"Ok, Bye!" Samuel replied and Braylan left after stroking Flake, absent-mindedly for some time. He reached his house within no time only to find he had no keys with him. He called Samuel to ask whether he left his keys in the room or not. After confirming that he didn't bring his keys with him, he rang the doorbell. A minute or two passed and no one answered the door. He rang the bell longer and waited once again. After a few seconds, his mother answered the door.
"What took so long?" He asked casually.
" I was upstairs, cleaning the attic. It takes some time to come out of that place." She replied, smiling.
"Did you find my robot?" he asked.
"Nope. I don't think there are any toys in the attic," she replied and Braylan looked disappointed. " You lost it, kiddo." He nodded and walked in.
"Where's Jayden, though?" he asked.
"He is probably in the bath." Jane went back to her work and Braylan went to his room. He was lost in thoughts. This was strange. He didn't expect something like this to happen. Now his plan would probably work. But it won't help Jayden in any way. He tried to empty his mind as he had a test the next day. He started studying for the test, which was really difficult as all sorts of questions were occupying his mind, leaving very little space for academics.
"Thank goodness you are home! Come and help me, Braylan." Jane said. Braylon turned and saw her carrying a cardboard box. "There is a box upstairs. Go and bring it." She said and started walking towards the staircase. Braylan got up, confused at her behavior. 'She opened the door for me.' He thought. 'It is strange that she acts like I entered the house without her knowledge.' He didn't say anything and went upstairs, grabbed the box, and went down, towards Jane.
"Where is Jay?" He asked.
"He went to the library. He should be home any second now," she replied.
"You really didn't know that I was back?" He asked again and Jane shook her head. 'Then who was it?' Braylan asked himself. 'Who opened the door for me?' He was puzzled, but he didn't say a word. He did his tasks silently and tried to study. It was difficult to concentrate, but he managed to complete all the topics he had to cover. By the time he was done studying, it was dinner time. They eat some spaghetti with meatballs and some Ceaser Salad. After dinner, Braylan went upstairs. He regretted leaving his computer back at Samuel's. He would carry it back every day, but today he decided it wouldn't matter if he left it. But unfortunately, today was the day he needed his computer the most. He had to check the recordings of all three cameras to see who opened the door for him. Obviously, it wasn't his mother Jane as she never left the attic to open the door for him. 'Probably she is pranking me.' He thought o comfort himself. But deep down, he knew his mother was not a prankster. She couldn't keep her face straight. She would burst out laughing even before she started the prank. It was unlikely for her to prank him. He wanted to visit Samuel's house but he had decided to study first. By the time e finished it, his parents wouldn't allow him to go out. So he had to wait till the next day. He could check his laptop after school. He sighed and tossed around in the bed. He was unable to sleep. Every time they thought they were close to solving the mystery, another mystery would pop out in their way. It was like someone was watching them and keeping an eye on their progress. They wanted to harm them. They wanted to do something horrible and they were using Jayden for this. He had some suspicions about this before. But now the suspicions have been proved. Today's series of events proved them. Braylan had to be prepared. 'I should prepare myself. Then I will help others in the preparation.' He thought, just before his eyelids got heavy and his brain fell into the calm and soothing darkness of a dreamless sleep.