A/N- I don't feel like I need to put the summary and the disclaimer in every chapter, ya'll already know that the only thing I own is the plot. I'm just putting this note here to say sorry for the gross out body horror in this chapter, but it is slightly important to the plot of the story.
B&B
Shirley sat down on the chair behind her. Someone had taken a picture of her sister's house and hacked into their camera to make sure they saw it. The video had restarted after the picture, which meant that the camera was now useless and someone else had control of the feed.
"That was Aunt Sally's house, I think we should call her." Sally said nervously.
"Do you really think whoever hacked the camera would want to hurt her?" Saul asked.
"I don't know, but that was really sketchy, I think she needs to know that something is going on." Sally said, picking up her phone.
"Maybe it's just a prank?" Darlita suggested.
"Darlita's right." Shirley said, after recovering from her momentary state of shock.
"I am?" Darlita asked, confused.
"It's probably just someone fooling around, there's no need to call Sally." Shirley said, getting up and walking over to the window.
"Who would go to the trouble of taking a picture of Aunt Sally's house and hacking our camera just for a prank; she doesn't exactly live nearby, you know." Sally said.
"Someone who knows about the camera and wants to stop us from succeeding." Shirley said, turning around to glare at Sally.
"What are you implying?" Sally asked defensively.
"Just that you've been opposed to the idea of borrowing from Forrester from the very beginning and now the camera isn't working." Shirley said.
"Ok, yes, I have a problem with using my little sister to steal designs, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sabotage my own company!" Sally snapped.
"I'm not saying you did it on purpose, maybe you let something slip while you were in Australia." Shirley said.
"I think I would know if I said something I shouldn't have, Grams." Sally said.
"Well, how else would someone find out about the camera?" Shirley asked.
"It doesn't matter, what matters is the fact that whoever has control of the feed knows where Aunt Sally lives and just sent us a really sketchy picture of her house; that has to mean something." Sally said. She was really getting tired of being accused of something she didn't do and she couldn't shake the feeling that her aunt may be in danger.
"Well, what are you going to tell her if you call her? That we put a camera on Coco to borrow Forrester designs, but someone hacked it and sent us a picture of her house? Yeah, that will go over well." Shirley said sarcastically.
"Maybe if I just told her to be careful..." Sally started.
"You're not calling her!" Shirley snapped.
Just then, Sally's phone rang with the ringtone she had set for her aunt. "Well, she's calling me and I'm going to answer it." Sally said.
"If you mention that camera, I will pull every dollar I have invested in this place." Shirley threatened.
"Hello?" Sally answered her phone.
"Hello, darling, how's my favorite niece?" asked Aunt Sally's deep voice on the other end.
"Everything's great, Saul and Darlita are great employees and Grams has been a big help in getting this place up and running." Sally lied through her teeth.
"Well, that's good, but I asked about you." Aunt Sally said.
"Oh, I'm fine, I've just been under a lot of stress." Sally replied.
"Don't worry, it does get a little easier once things pick up; and don't let my sister get to you, she has a habit of losing sight of what's really important, but she'll eventually learn her lesson." Aunt Sally said.
Sally looked over at Shirley, who shot her a warning glare. How did Aunt Sally know that Shirley was being a little harsher than usual? "It isn't that bad, but I'll remember that." She said.
"I grew up with her, darling, I know how harsh she can be sometimes." Aunt Sally said, sounding like she didn't believe what Sally had said for one minute.
"Yeah, anyway, Aunt Sally, how have you been?" Sally asked, trying to get the subject off of her grandmother.
"Oh, I've just been relaxing as usual." Aunt Sally said.
"Anything interesting happen lately?" Sally asked, hoping her aunt would say something that allowed her to let her know what was going on without mentioning the camera.
"Well, I did burn my arm making french fries the other day and now it's bandaged from wrist to shoulder, it was pretty disgusting; want me to send you a picture?" Aunt Sally asked.
Sally laughed. "I'm sure you're going to anyway, speaking of pictures, I heard some creeper is taking picture of people without their knowledge and no one knows what they're doing with them; I was wondering if you'd noticed anything unusual." She said, grateful for a reason to talk about what she really wanted her aunt to know.
"I haven't lately, where did you hear that?" Aunt Sally asked.
"Oh, just some video." Sally said, not technically lying.
"Well, it's sweet of you to worry about me, darling , but I'm sure I'll be fine; you forget I'm no longer wheelchair bound." Aunt Sally said with a laugh.
"Yeah, I'm sure you will, but could you...I mean...just be careful, ok." Sally said nervously.
"Don't worry, if it will make you feel better, I'll keep my eyes open for anything unusual and maybe you should do the same if you're that worried about it." Aunt Sally said.
"Sure." Sally said, feeling comforted by the fact that her aunt was at least aware of the situation without knowing about the camera.
"Great, well, I'll let you go, I really need to do my nails and I'm sure you have a lot to do too." Aunt Sally said.
"Yeah, I still have some important decisions to make, oh, and thanks for the advice." Sally said.
"Any time, darling, and if you ever need me, you know I'm always just a phone call away." Aunt Sally said warmly.
"Thanks, I'll remember that." Sally said, smiling. She hung up her phone as set it down on the desk.
"Do you feel better now? Scaring her over something that might be no big deal?" Shirley asked.
"She wasn't scared at all, Grams, in fact, she seemed more concerned about us." Sally said.
Sally's phone beeped on the desk, signaling a text.
"Gross!" Darlita exclaimed, looking at the picture that came up.
"Whoa, is that your aunt's arm?" Saul asked, horrified.
Sally picked up her phone and looked at the picture her aunt had sent her. It was her left arm with horrible second and third degree burns from her wrist to her shoulder. "Wow, she wasn't lying, that is nasty." She said.
"Let me guess, she was cooking." Shirley said.
"Yeah, she was making french fries." Sally replied.
"She's always been a disaster in the kitchen and yet she continues to try; you get that from her." Shirley said.
Sally knew there was an insult in there somewhere, but she chose to ignore it. Instead, she sent a text to Aunt Sally.
Cool! LOL!
"Ok, everyone, we need to get back to work." She said, after sending the text.
"But, what about the camera?" Shirley asked.
"Is it fixable?" Sally asked Saul.
"Not without finding out who has control of the feed." Saul said.
"There's your answer, until we can do that, we're not going to think about it." Sally told Shirley. "Now, back to work, everyone."
Saul went back to the storage room to finish sorting the fabric, Darlita went to her desk to file her nails, Sally sat down at her desk and turned her creepypasta video back on, and Shirley went to find something to do.
To an outsider, it would look like they had all just wrapped up a meeting and were going back to what they had been doing before, but the atmosphere in the building told a different story. The air was thick with tension and fear. Everyone, even Shirley, was still thinking about what had happened with the video and no one could shake the feeling that something was very wrong.