2. Discovery

2 hours later

Sue had drifted back off to sleep when Pete went to investigate the noise and stirred again when Karen walked into the room and announced she was hungry. Sue got up and took her daughter downstairs, assuming her husband would be down already – probably with Ben. Sue heard a groaning from the living room and walked in to find her husband half-conscious with a broken, bloody nose. Karen and Ben, who had also made his way downstairs for food, followed their mother in and screamed at the sight before them.

"What the…" muttered Sue, as she assessed the situation

"Hi darling," Pete replied, "turns out there was a noise down here!" he added, trying to inject some humour into the situation.

"Guess so!" Sue smiled weakly, "Anyway, what happened to you?"

"I'm not sure really," Pete responded, "one minute I'm looking around, then I'm smacked in the face by a gloved hand – some sort of intruder I believe"

"Maybe it was a beaver!" Ben suggested, unhelpfully, "Or a cat, or a koala, or a dodo!"

"Dodos are extinct, stupid," Karen retorted "and also beavers and koalas don't live in London except in the zoo" she finished

"Well maybe one escaped from the zoo and got into the house!" Ben replied with a smile.

"But how do animals escape from zoos without some human being silly and leaving the cages open?" Karen said, raising her voice.

"They might have done if…." Ben started.

"SHUT UP BENNY!" Karen yelled.

Ben then hit his sister, who screamed and hit him back harder. The two of them then engaged in a fight, with screams and punches being thrown around at random. At one point, Karen shoved Ben so hard that he stumbled onto the TV stand, knocking it off and smashing the screen.

Upstairs, the commotion had woken Jake up. The twelve-year-old wandered downstairs and chose to ignore the end of the fight going on in the living room (Sue was now shouting at the kids for breaking the TV) and entered the kitchen to get a glass of milk. He noticed the smashed window and the fact that the CD player, computer, radio and his iPod were missing.

"Um, ok" he said to himself, before shouting to the next room – "You might want to come in here, people!"

"What is it Jake?" Sue asked, somewhat annoyed "we were… oh… Pete!" she continued as she noticed the missing items. Her husband walked through, having grabbed a tissue to clean his face. He assessed the situation in the kitchen and decided it was time to call the police. He rang 999 and spoke to the operator, Jake and Sue listened in to the conversation, whilst Ben and Karen had resumed their fight after Ben suggested that next door's dog may have ransacked the kitchen looking for food.

"They'll be here as soon as possible" Pete said, as he hung up. He then noticed Jake's worried expression as his son looked at his face "Just a broken nose, I went downstairs earlier to investigate a noise and the intruder got me. Before you ask, I was knocked out so couldn't chase him. I'm ok though Jakester" he explained.

"What are you doing now?" Sue said, exasperated, as she noticed her two youngest still fighting

"Ben thought that the doggy from the next house beat daddy up and stole the computer" Karen explained, "and I told him he was stupid again" she finished, as she stamped on her brother's ankle. Ben screamed in pain and pulled Karen's hair.

"BOTH OF YOU STOP IT" Pete yelled "KAREN GO WITH MUMMY AND BEN COME HERE!"

Surprisingly, they obeyed him and slowly calmed down. Upon stating that they were hungry after the battle, they were given a bowl of Shreddies each and were told to sit at opposite ends of the table, with threats of being sent to their rooms if one or both started the fight again. A few minutes later, a police car pulled up outside. Two officers came out and walked to the front door. One of them knocked hard on the door whilst announcing their presence.

"If we don't answer the door, they'll have to get in with that really cool big ramming pole" Ben said, excitedly "I want to see them use it. Let's hide!"

Sue gave him a look as if to say 'don't even think about it' as she opened the door and welcomed the officers in.