19
20. 6. 22, Sunday, 14:27
Weatherman: And that’s today’s weather report: sunny skies, so get out there! Passing it back to you, Warren.
Warren: Thank you, Baxter, for that interesting speech. Now, rumours are running around that a member of the prestigious Ashwood family – the most prominent members being Jon Ashwood the scientist and his grandson Damon the director and creator of the hit reality TV show – is currently in HOSPITAL.
Warren: What we at Hermes News Network have found out confirms it’s true. Curtis Ashwood, the lesser-known member of the family, son of Marcus Ashwood and Diane Buchanan, stepbrother of Damon Ashwood, was admitted to the local hospital after being found unconscious and fallen in his apartment, and the window broken. Security reports that no one except a pizza delivery man had gone there, which makes it a mystery as to why, who, when and how.
Warren: Around 5 o’clock yesterday evening, an anonymous call was made to the police, urging them to go to Paradise Apartments and find Curtis Ashwood. When questioned why, the unknown caller cryptically, and frantically, replied ‘Someone’s been shot’.
Warren: Police have tried to trace the call, but according to their representative, the call was made by a payphone some distance away from Paradise Apartments. Not only that, but he or she had muffled their voice, so we have no way of knowing who placed the call. Could this be the work of a guilty miscreant? The call of a disturbed witness who wishes to remain off the radar?
Warren: Which is why we have Veronica Briggs, reporter for the Hermes News Network, currently at St Ignatius’s Private Clinic. Interestingly, St Ignatius Private Clinic was set up by Alpha Biotech Industries, the same company who founded St Ignatius College for Biologists, Chemists and Physicists, as well as the company Jon Ashwood worked for – clearly the Ashwoods still have some connections with the clinic.
(Another screen appears, Veronica shows up)
Veronica: Thank you, Mr. Hampton. With me now at St Ignatius’s Private Clinic is Dr Howard Baldwin, Curtis Ashwood’s doctor. Dr Baldwin, we appreciate you agreeing to this interview. Can you tell us what happened to the unfortunate Mr Ashwood?
Baldwin: He was shot with something in the neck, but whatever the thing was it was removed before the police got there. My guess is that the culprit removed it just before the call was made and before the police arrived.
Veronica: Was he shot by a bullet?
Baldwin: No, a bullet to the neck would’ve caused injuries to the brain, skull, neck, spine and major blood vessels. In fact, it would’ve probably killed him. The wound Curtis received is quite unusual – we are still investigating what could’ve possibly been shot at him.
Baldwin: I won’t say too much to not exploit Curtis’s privacy, but I will say that whatever was shot at him was definitely not a common weapon.
Veronica: What is Mr Ashwood’s condition now?
Baldwin: We’re working on waking him up from whatever coma he is in.
Veronica: Do you –
***
“He’s in a coma,” Lana’s voice said, rising to a dangerously high-pitch. Freddie took one look at her, stuck her head under the pillow and turned off the TV smartly.
The five glanced at each other. Some sighed, some groaned. A few flopped or fell backwards on the chairs or beds they were sitting on in the girls’ room. As a single mind, they all thought ‘not again’.
They all knew what was coming.
“He’s in a coma, they don’t know what was shot at him, he might not wake up, we basically just MURDERED A MAN!” Lana hysterically yelled at them all.
“Lana, I need you to calm down,” Emma began placidly, her eyes rolling. “We didn’t shoot whatever it was at Curtis.”
“I KNOW THAT, BUT IF WE HADN’T GONE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE, THIS NEVER WOULD’VE HAPPENED! HE GOT SHOT BECAUSE WHOEVER SHOT HIM DIDN’T WANT HIM TELLING US ANYMORE! WE’RE BASICALLY PART OF A CRIME NOW!”
“I like the sound of that,” Leo murmured.
“WE CALLED THE POLICE, BUT WE DIDN’T TELL THEM WHAT CURTIS WAS SHOT WITH! SO NOW CURTIS IS PROBABLY GOING TO DIE AND THE PERSON WHO SHOT IT IS GOING TO KILL US ALL TOO!”
“Whoa, whoa, back up there,” Adonis said. “Who said anything about dying? I’m not dying. You’re not dying. We’re not dying. I don’t want to die because of Blowdart Man. That’s a dumb way to die.”
“YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT THAT BEING A DUMB WAY TO DIE? WHAT, YOU WANT TO DIE HEROICALLY? WON’T IT BE BETTER TO NOT LIKE, THINK ABOUT DYING AT ALL?”
“We didn’t call the police, because how the heck do we explain what we were doing at Curtis’s apartment?” Julian pointed out.
“Don’t forget we did that illegally,” Denver reminded.
“YEAH BUT LIKE CURTIS COULD DIE, DON’T YOU CARE?”
“Oh my god, Lana, calm the heck down,” Emma commanded.
“Bro, worst case scenario, they don’t find out what was shot at him, and we’ll come clean,” Adonis said, exasperated.
“Best case scenario the police will figure it out,” Denver agreed.
“IF THEY’RE ANYTHING LIKE THE MOVIES.”
There was a knocking on the door, which swung open to reveal the maid. Judging by her cautious expression she had definitely heard them.
“Uh, Ms Shaw sent me to get you,” she peeped. “The maze run is starting.”
***
Apparently there was a hedge maze in the enormous gardens of the Ashwood Mansion which somehow had gone unnoticed. And apparently there was a ‘maze run’ for every batch of contestants, to create some ‘bonds’ and ‘teamwork’ and all that friendship propaganda your teachers like to tell you about. And apparently while it wasn’t mandatory, everyone showed up anyway out of curiosity.
First every contestant would be randomly paired with another and sent in from different entrances. They would then be supposed to find the items on the list they were given, making it also a scavenger hunt. Whoever made it out of the maze with all of their items first would win rights to choose the menu for dinner, so you can see why they were all clamouring to have the kitchen cook their favourite meal and/or torture everyone else with a distasteful cuisine. It certainly sounded fun and easy enough.
Except the list was in riddles and the maze was larger, way larger, than expected.
Everyone was standing around the main entrance of the maze, facing Gwenda Shaw and Heather Ashwood. Refreshments were provided on tables, and because of the hot weather the staff had to refill the lemonade at least five times already.
“Ricky Selfors with Denver Stein, Anne-Marie Talmadge with Tanya Roswell,” Gwenda called out. “You two teams will be taking the North Entrance.”
“Kyler Naughton and Shauna Cash, Leo Finley and Glen Woods, Eastern Entrance,” Heather continued.
“Julian Vincent and Emma Vincent, Adonis Makylov and Alex Chang,” Gwenda directed. “Yates will lead you to the Southern Entrance.”
“Lana Jensen and Queenie Sowers, Jordan King and Winifred Thompson, take the Western Entrance,” Heather supplied. “Lucky contestants Sherry Olsen and Ben Dover will be using the main entrance, which is here.”
“Everyone got their lists?” Gwenda asked, holding up the walkie-talkie.
“Yep, ma’am,” a voice over the crackling answered.
“Right, we can start now. Enter the maze.”
***
“’Much ado about nothing’,” Emma read out, squinting at the paper against the vicious glare of the sun.
“Shakespeare?” Adonis suggested.
“I remember there was a Shakespeare story set in a garden, but I don’t think it was in a maze,” Alex said. “I hate reading. Anyone?”
Julian shrugged at him.
The four stood in a hall of hedges, neatly trimmed, not a leaf out of place. The grass was free of dead organic matter too, and there didn’t seem to be any snails or ants either, to Emma’s evident relief. Julian was just happy enough to not be wandering the maze by himself.
“Much ado about nothing,” Adonis mused. “It probably has some deeper meaning that we’re making a big fuss over trying to answer the riddle and find the item, but really it’s really right in front of us, hence the ‘nothing’.”
“Or, it might actually just be a pun,” Emma said, staring at him. “’Much’ rhymes with ‘mulch’, which is another word for compost, also known as SOIL, Makylov.”
“Ah, it’s a pun!” Alex said gleefully, rubbing his hands together.
Adonis sighed in the pained and misunderstood way of teenagers everywhere with their parents.
“So we dig?” Julian asked.
“Yeah, we dig,” Alex said, hunkering down and scrabbling at the dirt.
“How the bloody heck do you know where to dig?” Adonis snipped.
“Uh, maybe at the dead end we’re currently at, because there’s a ring of stones here?” Alex called over his shoulder as Julian squatted down to dig with him.
Emma cautiously took a step backwards. “Uh, I’ll work on the next riddle. Actually, there’s a really big grasshopper there too, so, uh, you know what, I’m going to run away – I mean scout the other paths. Bye!”
She dashed off.
Alex was the first to uncover the round, smooth thing: a medallion with the Ashwood crest. “Woo! I’ll go pass this to Emma, you guys run off to find the next path to take. Then we can go look for the other items. Easy!”
“Alex we could get lost in a bunch of corridors and this is a wide open space and don’t tell me you’re abandoning us Alex come back!” Julian tried to stop their short friend, but he was gone with the wind.
“Come on, J, it’s now time to take this path,” Adonis said cheerfully, if not a little savagely, grabbing Julian’s arm and dragging him off.
As you, dear reader, has been keeping track of all the Phobia Club’s shenanigans, you will by now realize that it is, and never will be, a good idea to have Adonis lead the way as he is bound to get lost, and bring you with him. Obviously that was what happened after thirty minutes of randomly choosing a path.
And so when Adonis finally that they were lost and should probably go look for Emma and Alex, Julian, predictably, gave him a chewing out.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WE’RE LOST? YOU SAID YOU KNEW WHERE YOU WERE GOING, AND KEPT SAYING HOW EASY THE MAZE WAS! I TRUSTED YOU! LIAR!”
“Chill, man, someone will find us eventually,” Adonis reasoned, Julian fuming beside him. “I think I hear Kyler and Shauna – we can ask them for help.”
“Did I hear something about you guys being lost?”
Once again Heather showed up, like that song you absolutely cannot get out of your head. Maybe at another time the two would’ve been suspicious about it, perhaps unnerved, but now when they were vulnerably lost – thanks to SOMEONE’s ego – they regarded her in a way a priest would a god.
“Adonis here got us lost, please, please help us get out of here.”
“…I guess we do need help finding Alex and Emma.”
“I think I saw them around there,” Heather remarked, pointing somewhere to the north. “Or that might’ve been Sherry and Ben, I’m not entirely sure. I can take you there if you like – I know this maze like the back of my hand.”
“Yes please thank you you’re our saviour unlike Adonis here.”
“Shut the heck up.”
“Come on,” Heather laughed.
She took them through twisty paths of green bushes and past shadowy forms behind walls. Occasionally they came across a ring of stones or a roughly dug hole, some which were being filled in by the ever-present staff of Ashwood Mansion. Finally they arrived in…a courtyard?
A marble statue of a woman holding out a pitcher spilling water into the fountain was in the middle, with an expression and posture of one who was too tired to hold the pitcher properly anymore. Weeping willows bent forward from the side-lines, all bowing to the fountain, the rosebushes the attendants at the side of the gravel paths leading to the wooden fences encircling the fountain. This was supposed to be some sort of Rest and Recreation Stop, seeing as there were some carts of desserts – blancmange, crust less sandwiches and iced lemon tea – lying around.
“This is the centre of the maze,” Heather explained, waving her hand around. “Sorry, I’m not sure where Alex and Emma are, but a lot of the paths in the maze lead here, so you can wait here if they like. I guarantee someone will come along any minute now.”
“I wouldn’t mind waiting,” Adonis said lazily, making a beeline towards the watermelon.
“Wouldn’t mind at all,” Julian said appreciatively.
“Glad to hear that,” Heather said…
***
“…and that’s all,” Adonis finished, re-positioning his legs from where he was sitting on the chair as everyone else in the girls’ bedroom except Julian was giving him weird looks.
“So basically,” Lana began, exasperated. “When we ask you where the heck you and Julian have been the entire afternoon, you reply with some crazy story and tell us you can’t remember anything after that, only to ‘wake up outside the maze’?”
“You seriously, SERIOUSLY, expect us to believe that?” Denver snorted. “Oh sure, yeah, we totally understand where you’ve been now, napping outside the maze while everyone else searched for you guys! Claim amnesia, because we totally believe you!”
“Hey, we aren’t lying,” Julian protested. “That’s all we can remember!”
“Yeesh, Julian,” Emma berated. “You really think we’re believing that?”
“BRO, I DON’T CARE IF YOU BELIEVE IT OR NOT, IT’S THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!” Adonis hollered.
“So let me get this straight,” Lana said, in the tone of a parent tiredly humouring a insistent child. “You wandered off –”
“That was Adonis’s fault!”
“–and Heather found you, who led you to the middle of the maze,” Lana went on. “Anne-Marie and Tanya were there, and they said you guys weren’t!”
“Furthermore,” Denver butted in. “You then can’t remember what happens next, other than waking up under a tree hours later, if I’m correct.”
Adonis and Julian groaned. Clearly their audience wasn’t going to believe them, but how do you prove that you had amnesia or a blackout from your memory, especially when you appeared to have committed some friendship crime?
“Next time,” Leo said. “If you want to take a nap, inform someone. Would it kill you to – Julian, what the heck is on your neck?”
“My neck?” Julian spluttered. “There’s nothing on my – wait, ouch.”
Everyone leaned in closer, frowning, not entirely certain if this was some prank. But there was a peculiar mark on his neck, small and just noticeable. A mark like a tiny red dot, a scab. And by the looks of it, he had gotten it recently.
“Ow! Think I have it too,” Adonis grunted, lifting up his hand away from rubbing his neck to reveal a bigger mark.
“What the heck happened to the both of you?”
“Did you guys fall out of the tree or something?”
“Are you going to say this has something to do with your so-called ‘amnesia’?”
“Think I’ve seen it before,” Leo said, surprised. He rolled up his sleeve all the way to the shoulder and pointed. “I got an injection several years back and this is the scar.”
“So you’re saying me and J got an injection?” Adonis said incredulously.
“One way to find out,” Lana said, taking out her phone and opening up Google.
Emma peered over her shoulder. “Oh wow, didn’t know you read the news. ‘The Unexplainable Disappearance of Rex Walker’ –”
Lana cleared her throat and selected Google lens, snapping a quick capture of the mark on Adonis’s neck. “It’s a puncture wound, alright.”
“See? We got injected with amnesia serum!” Julian said.
“Likely story,” Denver scowled. “I don’t trust you about the amnesia part, but you got shot with something alright.”
“I told you, we’re not lying!” Adonis said angrily.
“Fred, what do you think?” Emma called out, turning around to face Freddie, who hadn’t joined in the conversation at all since she was busy with something at the desk, rifling through papers and frantically looking under the desk. “Fred?”
“Yvonne’s diary is gone! I can’t find it! And it was locked in the drawer, right here!”