The Keeper: Alexa LeGardien Read Free

from her mother, or two: the prankster responsible for this was a really good forger. For the sake of her sanity, Alexa chose to go with the second option. At least for now.
    “Break time’s over, we gotta go.”
    Matt appeared confused. “Huh?”
    “We should go see what it opens.”
    “What happened in the last three minutes to make you curious?”
    “Nothing.” Alexa hesitated. “Let’s just go.” She headed straight out of the bar to the car
    Matt slapped a twenty by the bar. “Keep the change.” He hurriedly put on his coat without turning back and quickly followed Alexa back to the Mustang.

2
    “H OLD up!” Matt screamed from behind. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
    Alexa slid into the backseat and slammed the door shut. “It’s nothing.”
    He got in the driver’s seat and inserted the car key into the ignition but didn’t turn it. “I’m not driving anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”
    “You can’t be serious.”
    Matt looked directly at her through her reflection on the rear view mirror. “I am.”
    “Fine.” She pulled out the letter and the picture from where she’d kept it in earlier and threw it in his direction. “There.”
    “What is this?” He referred to the picture of the couple.
    She hesitated for a second. “It’s a picture of my parents.”
    Matt’s look was one of disbelief. He gaped at the picture for a long time before glancing back at Alexa. “I thought you had no clue who your parents were, much less what they looked like.”
    “Yeah well, I didn’t want you looking at me like that . That stupid I’m-so-sorry look.”
    He quickly turned away from her to face the front. “Okay,” he said, avoiding interrogating her any further. “What’s so significant about it?”
    “Look at the back of the picture and the letter. Tell me what you see.”
    He stared at both objects for a while before it finally hit him. “Shit. Does this mean it’s actually from her?” He said, ‘her’ referring to her mother.
    “I don’t know. That’s why we have to go.”
    He turned the keys in the ignition and the Mustang roared to life. “This is going to be an adventure.” He smiled to her via the mirror. She tried smiling back but her facial expression eventually fell flat.
    “Cheer up. It’s gonna be okay,” he said, trying to console her.
    “This day just got a whole lot more confusing.”
    —             —             —
    “H AVE you thought about what you’d do if the letter was actually from your mother?” Matt asked.
    “Luckily, I don’t have to, because it wasn’t. And what’s with the mysteriousness of it all. I can bet you a twenty that it’s just a dumb prank.”
    He caught her sad reflection from the rear-view mirror again. “If you really believe it’s not from her, why are you so bummed?”
    She didn’t reply and he didn’t try to push the topic any further.
    Matt took an empty space in a parking lot and looked up at the Victorian era looking building. “This is it.”
    “This place gives me the creeps.” Alexa stepped out from the backseat. “Does this look like a bank to you?”
    “No.”
    “Me neither.” Alexa’s face was riveted with retreat and Matt spotted it.
    There was something about the atmosphere that made her want to turn back and disappear into a dark corner.
    Matt took out the keys from the ignition and went around the car to offer his hand to her as a sign of comfort but she blandly ignored it. “It’s going to be okay.”
    “Yeah, I know.” Alexa quickly backfired. The last thing she wanted was to be perceived as weak. She exhaled some air from her mouth that she didn’t even know had been there and took another look at the building. “Looks more like a washed-up cathedral to me.”
    She cleared her throat. “Let’s do this.”
    As they approached the building, its sight aloe made Alexa’s body to tingle. After making it across the pathway, they finally had