No one is coming back tonight. They’ve left, okay?

It’s almost too quick, too simple.

One minute I’m standing there, gesticulating urgently in front of the bookshelves, and the next minute the men are… gone.

They must have looked at each other, communicated somehow. Decided it wasn’t worth—

Wasn’t worth what?

I’d threatened them with something ridiculous: waking my mother and calling the police. To do that, I’d need to leave the room, and they were nearer to the door than I was.

Two men. Middle of the night. Soundproof room.

And me, a 13-year-old kid, no weapons, no phone, nothing.

Why did they leave? How did I just scare them away?

I don’t get it, but all of a sudden, I’m ice cold. The house doesn’t feel safe anymore; if those men could get in, maybe others could? Like…

Like the people who emptied the study in the first place, maybe?

My thoughts are tumbling too fast. I need to quit thinking and just act, do something, anything.