20
21. 6. 22, Monday, 09:44
They say the most said phrases in the world are ‘okay’, ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’, but today was proving that otherwise – ‘Have you seen a brown journal?’ was definitely the phrase most uttered. Keep in mind it was just in the morning too. That question in question was also followed up by ‘About yea big’, ‘really old-looking’ and ‘Inside full of pieces of paper’.
Usually in the mornings or weekends the Phobia Club split up to go find their friends and hang out with other contestants at various locations throughout Ashwood Mansion. The Library, the Game Room, the gardens, the balconies, the maze, the lounge or in someone’s bedroom. Which meant that there were more places for them to cover in their search to retrieve Yvonne’s diary, sadly.
Then again the possibility that it had been stolen wasn’t ruled out yet either, especially with Adonis and Julian’s claims of amnesia (Denver and Emma still didn’t really believe them on that).
But alas and alack no one had seen it or taken it. For that matter, Ben, Anne-Marie, Kyler and Queenie hadn’t even known it had existed.
And there was Heather, the only one who had touched the diary, knew what it looked like and knew what was inside. Shockingly for someone who seemed to be everywhere at once, they couldn’t find her today. At all.
While Emma and Lana were remaining neutral on who had most probably stolen the diary, Freddie was permanently convinced Heather had taken it and was midway in convincing Denver and Leo too, Adonis and Julian had argued that Heather couldn’t have taken it, since they were her alibi during that afternoon, which led to them pointing out that with their ‘amnesia’ they couldn’t be sure, which led to the other side accusing them of prejudice, which led to…you can see where that fight was going.
However to Emma and Lana’s relief the fight was forced to be shelved as it was time to head to the Rooms – and today also happened to be the day when they would be Zoom calling with ex-contestants’ families later, shortly before dinner.
***
Calvin121: Hey, it’s Alex, Ben, Emma, Julian, Lana, Leo and Tanya, right? Sorry, I can’t remember your faces, I’ve only watched one episode of the new season.
Moons: I’m actually Adonis, and that’s Denver and Freddie.
Calvin121: Ah, sorry.
MilkyWay: Hi, Mr Perry, is, uh, Lisa with you?
Calvin121: Please, call me Calvin. And no, sadly, Lisa is away on vacation with my parents right now.
LiterallyDead: According to your email, you say you think you have some information for us?
Calvin121: Well, yes, I suppose you could say that, but why don’t you ask the questions?
IAmNotADwarf: Sorry to intrude, but can we know the real reason as to why Lisa left the show?
Calvin121: She was booted off, I thought everyone knew that.
Fido: Wait, what? But from the article we read they say she left of her own accord.
Calvin121: Oh, that. Someone saw her going to Damon Ashwood’s private office shortly before she got booted off, so I think that’s where the rumour that she asked to leave came from.
Wolf_1: Uh, okay. Next question, did Lisa act a bit strange when she came home?
MilkyWay: It’s okay if you don’t want to answer.
Calvin121: If that’s fine, I’d really rather not answer. But, uh, sometimes she’ll seem to try to remember something, mostly names. She seems to think she knew those people but I don’t think so.
Moons: Thanks. Did Lisa…really weird question, don’t judge, but does she have any keys? That she brought back from Ashwood Mansion?
Camera: Keys that look like these?
Calvin121: That actually looks familiar. Wait, I remember now. Lisa had a key ring she passed to me…she even told me to mail them to you guys. Is this some weird secret Room of Fear adventure?
Fido: Sort of. Can you mail it to us as soon as possible?
Calvin121: Sure. So this is, like, some hidden quest-to-find-the-keys thing to up your levels?
IAmNotADwarf: Yup.
MilkyWay: One last question, sorry for the privacy intrusion, but can you remember any names Lisa mentioned?
Calvin121: Uh…I can remember two. Curtis…Curtis Wood. I think. And…
Camera: And?
Calvin121: John Ash. Something like that.
***
KawamotoMana: Is my microphone on?
Sakuma-C: Yes, Mother.
KawamotoMana: Hello everyone.
MilkyWay: Hi, Mrs Chiyako! We wanted to call you guys to ask you a few things, but they might be a bit too personal, so it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.
Sakuma-C: Fine by us, but can I know what you meant in your email? I’m a big fan of Room of Fear, but even that doesn’t make sense.
Fido: So basically we kind of discovered this hidden series of puzzles in the Rooms, and we wanted to get some help on it. You said while Sazana isn’t here, she wanted to pass a message to us?
Sakuma-C: Ah, so there’s like a hidden set of challenges? Wow, I wish I was on the show, but too bad I didn’t fit all the requirements.
KawamotoMana: Sazana’s message is a bit strange, but I suppose it makes more sense now. ‘Find the raven, the crow and the magpie’ was what she said. She muttered something else too, something about flowers.
Sakuma-C: She also said ‘owe it to CA’. Does ‘CA’ mean anything to you? A person, an acronym?
Camera: Well, actually, yes.
Moons: When Sazana came back from the show did she have anything else with her?
KawamotoMana: Oh, what was that thing I told her to sell off, Sakuma dear?
Sakuma-C: A key. And well, sorry for not telling you Mother but Sazana didn’t sell it off…she made me promise to mail it to someone named…George?
Wolf_1: George Reeves?
Sakuma-C: Yes, that’s him. But I couldn’t find his address at first, so she told me to mail it off to some post office to another country – I forgot, sorry – and he’ll pick it up there.
IAmNotADwarf: If you find the post office, could you send it to us?
KawamotoMana: Of course.
***
NormanM: I’m guessing Camera is Julian, Fido is Winifred, IAmNotADwarf is Leo, LiterallyDead is Emma, MilkyWay is Lana, Moons is Adonis and Wolf_1 is Denver?
Wolf_1: Yeah.
MilkyWay: Is Megan with you?
NormanM: Yup, she’s right next to me. Sorry, my webcam broke last week and I haven’t a gotten a new one yet so I won’t be turning on my video.
Camera: It’s fine.
NormanM: Right. So, what’s this interview about?
IAmNotADwarf: Nothing much, just a few questions we hope you don’t find too personal.
NormanM: Uh, Megan wants to talk to you privately, so I’ll be leaving – bye.
(NormanM has changed their name)
Megan: Is it true?
Fido: Uh, what’s true…?
Megan: Norman showed me your email. You found the Trail, and I’m assuming you’ve already spoken to Curtis, judging by the headlines in the news.
LiterallyDead: Yeah, how’d you know?
Megan: I need you seven to listen to me. Bad things are going to happen if you continue the Trail. Quit now before it’s too late. Lisa, Gerard, Tyler and I left the show on purpose, and the things still happen. Don’t let this happen to you too. Quit. Please.
Moons: With all due respect, Curtis told us the same thing and yeah, we know something more dangerous is going on, but we’re not quitting until we find out exactly what is dangerous.
Megan: That’s the thing! I don’t remember! None of us do! Anyone who has ever discovered the Trail never remembers once they leave Ashwood Mansion. Some of them go mad because they drive themselves crazy trying to remember. I don’t myself, and I don’t want to try, because whatever happened led to this.
Camera: That sounds familiar.
Fido: I’m actually starting to think your ‘amnesia’ story is real…
Megan: I can only remember snatches of things. You won’t get hurt, not physically. But you’ll never be the same. You’ll forever be haunted by that missing gap in your memory. You’ll only ever remember that you were afraid, afraid of something. And we all left with scars, physically too, but you’ll never remember why. Last time I checked with them, Tyler’s gone to therapy, Gerard’s family left the States and Lisa is practically a wayward juvenile. That’s why you have to give up. Now.
LiterallyDead: I’m sorry, I don’t think I get it.
Megan: I have to go now, but give up. You’re going to be scarred if you don’t.
MilkyWay: But –
***
Some people take colourful notes in notebooks and make jotted doodles on sticky notes. Some people make Word documents and PowerPoint slides. Others simply just memorize everything, though that would be hard for people who aren’t blessed or cursed with a photographic memory.
The Phobia Club went for the more interesting and fun route: an investigation board.
Made from a large piece of cardboard they had rescued from the trash, they hid it in the girls’ bedroom under the bed, since Emma, Lana and Freddie were the only ones not sharing a room with other contestants. Having no access to a printer, Lana was constantly sketching out pictures of everyone involved – if it was someone they didn’t know they just scribbled an overlarge question mark on a paper. Titled ‘The Trail’, the homemade, untidy, indecipherable investigation board was tacked up with notes, drawings, connecting yarn, maps fashioned from graph paper and evidences that could be put up, because one couldn’t stick a tack through a pen unless one had a hammer and a soundproof room.
Yellow sticky notes were stuck underneath people as profiles, namely the Ashwood family, known people who had found the Trail before and all contestants, though most of them were taken down because a) it was already proven they had nothing to do with the Trail and b) it was taking up space, as SOMEONE couldn’t be bothered to find a bigger piece of cardboard. Green sticky notes were slightly larger to fit the summarized version of unsolved events like Adonis and Julian’s blackout, Curtis’s shooting and the theft of Yvonne’s diary. Orange ones signified events that started it all or Trail clues; blue ones had landmark portrayals glued on top with a quick description at the bottom; pink ones simply just had contact numbers, emails and addresses. Everything was messily linked by red string, which often got tangled up with clumsy fingers and the occasional strand of hair.
New developments were being added to the board today, so a review of everything they had so far seemed appropriate.
“We signed up to join Room of Fear on Friday, 18th February and got accepted on Wednesday, 18th May,” Adonis started. “We found the note” – he tapped a finger on the slip of paper – “on around 5th to 7th August, but before that, Denver and Leo discovered Yvonne’s diary around 20th to 22nd of May.”
“Don, we don’t need dates,” Denver said pointedly. “’Not entirely sure if this event has any relevance to the case’…alright, who wrote this note? ‘Interview with Leith Banks-Ashwood was interrupted by Gwenda Shaw. Leith hasn’t been seen since, but according to twin Conrad went to go stay with friends.’”
“Then we solved what the paper meant by checking out the Rooms, where we found a bunch of keys and phrases that once joined, led us back to the paper where we figured out it spelled ‘Insect’,” Leo listed, tracing his finger along the red string. Originally we ran into a dead end in my Room. Queenie’s Room turned out to be the right one, we sneak in, find the hidden entrance, open it using the keys and discover the hidden hallways, also known as the ‘ventilation systems’.”
“There we arrived at a fork after travelling for a while, and taking all the paths led us to finding more keys. The middle path led us to a cupboard in the kitchen, where we found another key which was a knife and opened up an exit to the woods,” Emma said. “At the back of the compass we found a few symbols carved there, an ‘X’ and wavy lines. We discovered that the lines represented the pool, which had tiles forming a map of the woods.”
“Once we dug under the trees that made the ‘X’ we found a box containing a letter, blueprints, pen, photograph and some other things of Jon Ashwood, which led us to trying to find who Curtis Ashwood is. Once we found out who Curtis was by breaking into Damon’s office, we hitched a ride to the city and found him – ooh, look, shiny,” Freddie said, ending it with a completely off-topic grab for a coin on the floor.
“There we found out that Jon had developed a serum to remove fears, but the test subjects showed that it couldn’t be released into the world. He hid it at first to hide it from thieves, but then decided it should stay hidden, telling everyone he had failed. But some other people still wanted that serum, so he got his grandkids Curtis and Marie to find it, but after Marie died Curtis quit the Trail,” Lana went on. “By then Room of Fear had started, if I’m correct, and some contestants found the Trail too and followed it unknowingly. But then all of them, if we are to believe Megan Moore, lost their memory after being booted out or left of their own accord, so they neither remember anything about the Trail or the serum, except that there’s something we should be afraid of. Someone knows the contestants found the Trail, and something happened to make them erase their memories.”
“So basically we have to find out WHO is wiping the contestants who find the Trail’s memories,” Julian ended. “That probably means they know who finds it and doesn’t, plus monitors them, which I will now assume means that person is in the Mansion or somewhere nearby, like hiding in the woods…crap, it means we’re being watched too. That’s why Yvonne’s diary was stolen! They were spying on us, found out that we found out about the diary, and there’s something in there they don’t want us to find out about!”
“There’s nothing in there, I translated everything,” Freddie deadpanned. “The idiots who took it didn’t know that some pages were ripped out!”
“The bigger question is, who’s watching us?” Adonis demanded. “There are very few people who even know it exists, and those who do have their memories wiped!”
“Okay, then let’s see WHO knows about the serum that we know about so far,” Lana decided. “Curtis, Marie, Jon’s colleagues are at the top of the list.”
“Curtis is out of commission, AND he helped us,” Emma said flatly. “I don’t think its him.”
“Marie’s dead, I found the news article about it,” Denver supplied.
“Assuming Jon’s colleagues are around the same age as him, they all would either be dead or too old by now,” Julian said. “Do you think Damon knows?”
“I doubt that,” Emma said, frowning. “If he knew, wouldn’t Jon enlist him to help destroy it?”
Leo banged his hand on the coffee table, startling everyone. “Blowdart Man.”
“Right,” Freddie nodded. “I’ll bet my chocolate and granola bars he’s been watching us from day one. How else would he know we went to Curtis? He shot him, probably because he was afraid Curtis was going to reveal too much. He’s probably the ones who wiped Adonis and Julian’s memories too. Don’t their wounds look like something a dart could make too?”
“Then from now on, we have to keep everything quiet,” Adonis ordered. “Blowdart Man might be watching or spying on us this very minute. We’re going to pretend to drop the Trail for a while, to throw him off the scent.”
“Then everything else we do has to look like something else,” Denver agreed.
“BUT WHAT IF HE SHOOTS US?” Lana glanced around frantically, as if Blowdart Man could be hiding underneath the bed or under the table and somehow remain unseen.
“You’re going to hate this,” Freddie muttered, just barely loud enough for them to hear. “In stories, this is when they initiate the buddy system.”
“I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE MY PRIVACY!”
“NO WAY AM I HAVING SOMEONE FOLLOWING ME 24/7!”
“NUH-UH, WHAT NEXT, NO LEAVING OUR ROOMS?”
“Fine, then that’s what we’ll do, much as we all will hate it,” Lana sighed. “It’s not that bad, just if we go out of the Mansion, be sure to be with someone all the time – we’re most vulnerable out there.”
“Curtis was in his house and he got shot,” Leo argued. “How is outside or inside any safer?”
“Look at it this way, Blowdart Man can’t shoot us in the Mansion, because if he did, the help or someone would know. It was just Curtis and us, so he knew we wouldn’t say anything.”
“I have a question,” Emma announced. “Everyone we’ve spoken to has been warning us against continuing the Trail. Should we? Even if we know that someone’s is stalking us?”
“Well duh,” Adonis said. “You think I’m abandoning this? I’m not afraid of some dude with a few darts.”
“I’ve been waiting for something like this to happen all my life,” Freddie protested. “Do you really think you can go back to our boring, suburban lives after this whole book-worthy thing happening under our noses?”
“Even if we know what’s going to happen?” Emma prodded.
“Of course,” Lana said, surprising everyone. Out of all people, it was the deathly afraid, paranoid, OCD screaming girl who was agreeing? “The serum should be destroyed. The contestants’ work shouldn’t be for nothing. Besides, Curtis can’t do it. We owe him.”
“We can make a backup plan that will trigger our memories back like in the movies if they get wiped,” Leo offered.
“Do you really think I’m going to get left out while the six of you run off on some crazy adventure that will probably end in a trip to the ICU and an eternity of therapy?” Denver asked. “Definitely not.”
“Alright, just making sure,” Emma said, relieved. “C’mon, let’s review all the clues we have now. The unsolved ones, I mean.”
“We still have to translate that message Christopher gave me,” Freddie said, removing the paper with the jotted numbers off the investigation board.
“And what Sazana said, ‘find the raven, the crow and the magpie’,” Julian said. “Are we supposed to look for actual birds, code names for people, statues or art?”
“We also haven’t explored the whole ventilation system yet,” Lana added.
“Plus all these keys,” Adonis said, jangling the ring. “I have this Spiderman-sixth-sense that we’re going to reuse them again.”
“One thing at a time, people, hold your horses,” Denver said, holding up his hands. “Let’s solve Chris’s clue first. Fred, read out the numbers.”
“2, 12, 21, 5, 16, 18, 9, 20, 19,” Freddie said aloud. “That’s the first line. The next sequence: 12, 5, 9, 20, 8, 2, 1, 14, 11, 19.”
“Latitude and longitude? GPS coordinates?” Leo suggested.
“Too long and unspecific,” Emma disagreed.
“What if,” Lana butted in, eyebrows shooting upwards and nearly disappearing behind her bangs. “They correspond to letters?”
Adonis grabbed a sticky note and a pen, furiously writing out the alphabet and numbers underneath them. Once they tacked that on the board, he wrote out the numbers in Christopher’s message.
“B-L-U-E,” Julian said, squinting.
“P-R-I-N-T-S,” Denver finished. Emma nearly ripped the thing when she tore it off the board and spread it out on the table. For the first time they properly read the title of the blueprints…: ASHWOOD MANSION.
How unfortunate none of them had paid good attention during D and T class.
Disappointedly resolving to figure out the bewildering lines and labels another time with the help of Google Lens, they re-focused their attention on the rest of the message, referring to the number-alphabet sticky note.
“The next line…I think it’s a name,” Adonis reported.
“L-E-I-T-H,” Freddie spelled out slowly. Everyone turned to look at each other.
“B-A-N-K-S,” Lana gasped softly.
“Well, I think it’s time we paid the Banks family a visit,” Adonis said, grabbing the sticky note with Allison Banks’s address.