"Please have pads..." Josey whispered under her breath as she tried to pick the lock. Usually she just forced her way in, but the police seemed to be tracking her movements, and there was no way she was going to give them any more evidence if they did catch her. An owl hooted, and the car in the driveway of the house she was trying to break into pulled away. She had been watching them for a while, with the smell of baking radiating throughout the neighbourhood, the family seemed quite excited at their football team's exploits this season, and them driving out to see the big game in the next state over was an opportunity that she rarely got. Two or three days would even be enough for her to have a bath, sleep in an actual bed, and steal a significant amount of food from their cupboards.
The lock clicked, and so did the small wire she was using to push up the pins in its tumbler.
"Shit." She whispered, and opened the door. What seemed like an average living room appeared before her, and she ducked inside and out of the sunlight. She wedged a small piece of paper over the bolt to stop it locking again and took off her faded backpack and dumped it on the sofa. After a good hour of hiding crouched in the bushes near the back fence it felt good to stand up straight. She scurried to the kitchen to her left and opened the fridge.
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Something creaked upstairs. Josie froze, trying to stifle her breathing. Was someone up there? Had one of them bowed out at the last moment due to sickness? Was it a neighbour taking advantage of the cable? Or another intruder, like her?
She shook slightly, and lowered the half eaten sandwich back onto the small plate she had also borrowed. Josie straightened her backpack on the couch next to her, ready to grab it and run. The seconds ticked by, and no more sounds came from up on the second level.
"Or it could just be the house settling." Josie said quietly. Nevertheless, it would be prudent to look around upstairs before she continued; she hid the sandwich out of the way next to the tv cabinet and put her bag back on.
When she reached the top of the stairs she could go left or right. Left to 2 doors or right to 3. She went left. The first room she discovered was the master bedroom, with a giant mattress covered in a thick quilt, no one was there; she nearly missed the ensuite bathroom with shower, toilet and basin, but it too was empty. The next room was a study/computer room, which was also empty.
To the right there was a bedroom, with decorations that suggested it belonged to a young man, 16 or 17. Then came another bathroom, this one with a bathtub as well as the previous. Next was what looked like a young woman's bedroom, with a light layer of dust, much of the closet was empty; perhaps she was away at college? Either way, it seemed that the house was empty to Josie.