Sasha went back inside the house and ate the remaining food from last night's dinner. She refused to call on her family again, believing they went out to have some fun and left her alone at home. They just left her outside and played on their own.
'I'll eat this food and let them be hungry. It's their punishment for leaving me behind.' she thought.
She left the dirty dishes on the table and went to her room. Taking her clothes from the closet, she dropped them on the floor as she looked for her towel. Shuffling towards the bathroom, she took a quick bath to get rid of the itchy feeling on her body and walked back to her room. She stopped by the kitchen to get some snacks and went on. Not bothering to tidy up, she dropped on the bed and fell asleep.
'Plonk!'
A sound of something dropping woke her up and her eyes glinted in excitement.
"Nana, did something break? Where have you been? Why did you leave me outside? I got mosquito bites in my body now." She called out and started to complain. She saw that it's night time again and felt her stomach rumble.
She ran towards the back of their house and saw her Nana's wooden wall of plants crumbled on the ground. The plants are scattered on the floor and each pot are broken.
'Did someone rob our home?' she thought.
"Nana? Baba? Are you home now? I won't do it again, I promise." She went back inside and found the house still empty. The plates where she ate from last night and this morning are still on the table.
The house is still silent. Nobody answered her calls. Realizing she's been really left alone, she started to cry.
'Waaaah!'
"Nana!" She called out as tears and snot flowed from her face. It's true! They really left her! She cried even harder.
As she cried her heart out, the air rippled and some tears in the space can be seen. The ground shook and cracked open as if to swallow her. Before she got sucked on one of those cracks, a shadow flashed by and pushed her away.
"Careful!" Sasha heard an unfamiliar voice say.
'Thud!'
Sasha fell on her butt and her body bounced backwards but she did not notice the pain, she instead shouted.
"Who are you? Do you know where my family went? Did you take them? Where are you?" She rambled on but nobody answered.
She roughly wiped her tears and looked around. There was not a single soul moving. Sniffling her tears, she tried to focus more and notice something different in her surroundings.
There were new plants that suddenly appeared in their garden. There were even tall trees that she never knew were there.
'What's going on? Where am I?' she asked but since nobody answered, she kept looking.
She stretched her little arms to touch one of the trees but her hand went through it. She can definitely see those trees but when she tried to touch them, her hand just went through like a mirage.
She looked at her arms and touched her face. She felt the sticky skin full of drying tears on her cheek so she stretched her hand again to touch the trees and this time, she was able to hold them.
She stretched her hand a little further when the space rippled and she felt a pang on her arms before her body was briefly lifted up and thrown away from the tree. Her head crashed on another tree and before she lost consciousness, she saw a big black cat hover over her and spat out some words.
"Stupid brat!"
Lisa and the black cat, Luca, have been camping outside this peculiar family's house for days now but they haven't started to go out and explore yet. Lisa devised a heat signature scope that allows them to see if there are no people at home. This way, they would be able to avoid running into the homeowners if they search through the house.
Every morning, they would see the father and his younger daughter ride their car to town. The older brother and sister joins them as well while the mother and younger son stays at home. Sometimes, a hawk flies out of the house towards town and comes back in the afternoon together with the rest of the family. The house was never empty. When the mother goes out with the family, the older brother and sister stays. The same scenario is repeated for a couple more days and the pair of woman and cat never got the chance to check out the house.
Since gaining access into this family's yard, the spot where their tent is raised became separated from the rest of the lot hence they were able to move underground if their supply gets exhausted. But while they have no problems with supplies, their patience to wait is wearing thin as the days go by. This is especially so with the little black cat who wore a face darker that it's color.
"I will leave the tent tonight." Lisa looked at it with alarm as the cat stubbornly refused to take its gaze away from the house.
"Let's wait." Lisa calmly said.
"It's been a couple of months now, Lisa and you saw that no one ever leaves this house." It went back and pointed on a screen that shows four variety of shapes and sizes that glow in orange move around the house.
"When one leaves, another returns. That house will never be empty!" It mewled. Lisa looked at it and chuckled as it's adorably small face tries to look mad.
"I've waited for five years, Luca. A few months is nothing to me." She smiled. Luca felts its eyes go red and, unable to keep its tears, it wailed as it jumped on her arms.
'Waaaah!'
"I feel so incompetent. I can't even help you at all. I'm so sorry Lisa. I should have done more. I should have." It kept rambling on and Lisa felt its tears drenched her clothes.
"Luca. You have been a great help and will always be. You done have to do more. We'll do it together. Just be patient. We'd be able to go back to Toradashi soon." Lisa said, patting its shiny, black fur to comfort the crying cat.
"What if. What if they never leave?" Luca asked, its voice even tinier now that it cried. Lisa's eyes never left the screen so when a new heat signature suddenly appeared on the screen, her eyebrows furrowed. She looked towards the house but did not see anyone entering it. She felt her heart jump. Could it be?