The snowy roads of London made the trek much harder for them, and with the retreating villagers of the town, there was nobody to ask for directions from, the group had only themselves for company and they surely appreciated that, though not looking to be the case right now. As usual, Madeleine talked with Jake, blushing at his charming remarks, while Lucia examined the pages she was given, mesmerised by their encryption. Cynthia and Magnus were busy asking the last few individuals on the streets for directions, night had fallen upon them, sinking the streets into darkness once again. Madeleine’s flashlight the reason they could see at all, Aiden looked up to see the last few trains and busses moving down final destinations for the day moving in streaks of light. The sounds of which echoing through the desolate streets, they had started to traverse towards a less urban region of the village, without noticing. Evergreen and frondescence began to develop in the periphery of his vision, with wooden lanterns that hung, glowing gold and lighting the bark. As they continued their promenade through the smaller streets of the town, they noticed the green overtaking the grey, and the snow under their feet felt to be over grass and earth instead of concrete.
“Would you look at that? Isn’t that what we’re looking for?” Jake asked, pointing at a wooden sign that dangled above the branch or one of the trees that towered over them. The name “Kingfisher St.” was pyrographed onto it.
Magnus looked around in bewilderment, “Where are all the houses and shops and stuff? It’s just trees now,”
“Why are you asking us this? We don’t live here,” Cynthia laughed, picking up twigs that plastered the walkway. The moon was levitating above the horizon, shimmering in its luminous glory, and transforming the trees into twisted silhouettes.
“Not much longer left I hope, my legs are starting to feel numb,” Madeleine sighed, “I don’t think you’ll have to worry, I see a couple of buildings over there,” Aiden pointed to the distance, he was correct, through the wood, he could see some small cottages, no larger than his own house back in his neighbourhood, but humbler in their demeanour, sitting side by side, embosomed by the green and daubed in the winter snow. They were neatly organised at the end of the street, with no interior lights on, from what they could see... Apart from one, which had a light dimly flicker in one of the lower chambers, drawing them to it like moths.
“These are pretty nice houses actually!” Magnus chimed with relief, “God forbid we’d have to sleep in anything like that shop...”
“The grass is greener on the other side, they say, lets actually get in the cottage before we make any assumptions,” Lucia reminded, still indulging in her notes, their path was also dimly lighted by fireflies that seemed to hover around in the quiet night sky, it was a beautiful sight, though quite strange to see woodland emanate from nothing.
“Okay then, so this is the place?” Jake asked, examining the front door of the cottage, on the door, the brass numbers “8446” shining from the glow of the lanterns, it was a small vintage cottage which sat comfortably in the middle of a large region of lawn, which hosted shrubs and saplings. Beige bricks with a Daintree dome, a home sheltered within the confines of mother nature. They continued to approach the cottage until the stood beneath the portico.
“Are you going to try the key or what?” Aiden asked impatiently, shivering from the immense cold, a feeling he had evidently not felt before, Lucia reached in her pockets and picked up the small golden key, and inserted it into the keyhole, twisting it. They could hear the mechanisms from within turning as she twisted the key, and before she could remove the key, the door swung open, revealing the entry hall. A vaguely euphoric feeling was shared among the group as they entered the homely confines of the cottage.
“It is pretty warm in here,” Madeleine pointed out, brushing the dry wooden tiles with the back of her hand, Magnus, Cynthia and Aiden immediately clambered up the stairs towards the bedrooms like an enlivened child might do, already calling shotgun on what they’d assume to be the best room. This left Madeleine, Jake and Lucia to explore the lower quarters of the cottage.
“We could always explore tomorrow if you’d like, it is quite late afterall and we’ve had quite the journey too,” Lucia said, yawning, “Sure, but I don’t really feel like sleeping right now, I might do some exploring, get used to the cottage... besides, who knows how long we’ll be here for?” Jake uttered, looking at the door to the living room, Lucia simply shrugged and made her way upstairs, following the rest to the bedrooms, Jake opened the door to the living room, adjusting to the light that came from within, it was fitted with a couple of comfortable couches, a vintage carpet that browned with age, and a small wooden table that sat next to a rocking chair. In the corner of the room, Jake could see a grand piano, which piqued his interest at once. Madeleine found the source of the light, which came from a small flame in the campfire, the small ball of fire dancing within the glass confines of the chimney, which warmed the room. They hung up their coats, Madeleine sitting down on the rocking chair and Jake returning to the piano, cracking his knuckles, he began to play Für Elise, losing himself in the melody. Madeleine looked up, impressed, “I didn’t know you could play piano? C’est impressionant!” She said, clapping at his performance,
“I can do a lot of things, I’m just not very vocal about my talents,” Jake informed, now playing Moonlight Sonata.
“Beethoven fan? I’d assume,” Madeleine asked, Jake nodded, with eyes closed, embracing the piece.
“I’m more of a Mozart fan myself! Haha, but I wouldn’t blame you if you couldn’t play anything by-”
Jake shifted the song once again, to a ‘Turkish March’ by Mozart , which left Madeleine with a face of fascination even deeper than the previous one, “Hmm, how about Chopin?”
“How about Fantasie-Impromptu?” Jake laughed, playing the piece with ease.
“Liszt?”
Jake rolled his eyes, amused by Madeleine sudden investment in his ability, but once again he played another piece, ‘La Campanella’, Madeleine had a grin that went from ear to ear, she loved listening to the oeuvres of old Musicians, it was nostalgic.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“How about one last one?”
“Sure, which one?
“Debussy?”
“Haha! Was expecting a French artist sooner or later from you, how does Clair de Lune sound?”
“Sounds magnifique!”
(...)
“Ok! I can get used to this!” Magnus chimed, jumping onto the rosy duvet of the king bed, his speed securing him the best room they could find, “I am one hundred percent sure I won that race, but the way,” Aiden bemoaned, his arms crossed.
“All of these rooms are pretty nice though,” Cynthia commented, looking around through the hallway, there were at least 3 other bedrooms that could be seen, and dozens of other rooms that were in the perimeter. Lucia didn’t pick, she chose a bedroom to the furthest end of the corridor, calling it a day, Cynthia was the only person who didn’t find herself occupied by the sheer size of the cottage. Walking downstairs to accompany Jake and Madeleine, she noticed that she had been put to sleep as Jake played ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,’ He looked up from the piano and focused his attention on Cynthia, who had just entered the lounge.
“You like Tchaikovsky? I figured the song was quite fitting, given the uh... circumstance,” Jake rambled, pointing outside, at the snowy landscape. “He’s quite good at compositions that are linked with the winter season,”
“I didn’t know you could play the piano,” Cynthia pointed out,
“I get that a lot, apparently I don’t look like a person who can do a lot,”
“You don’t, no,”
“Fair enough,” Jake shrugged, shaking his hands, which were weary from the number of pieces he had performed for Madeleine.
“I’ve been practicing for half a decade, I do enjoy my music,”.
Cynthia nodded, impressed by his talent,
“Is everyone asleep then?” Jake asked, a prompt shrug was the reply, “Seeing as it is REALLY quiet, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were,”
“Are you not tired?” Jake questioned, scrutinizing her with a cheeky smile.
“No, not really, I’d be asleep if I were,”
“Well! In that case, I did some digging around and I found a secret room, either that, or it was VERY well concealed,” he mentioned, pointing to the far end of the lounge, which sat with tenebrosity in the gloom. They could hear the creaking of a door which reverberated around the lounge, Cynthia approached the darkened region with caution, engulfed by the blackness that dwelled, she probed the area, feeling for a door or a secret compartment that could be lingering, but she couldn’t see anything in the with her hindered vision.
“I noticed the creaking sound during the intervals of one of my pieces,”
Jake mentioned, “Hand me Madeleine’s flashlight, I want to check this out...”
Jake did as he was told, tossing her the flashlight, which she almost dropped, “Better at catching than Lucia,” he chuckled, Cynthia looked at him with pursed lips, to which he responded with placating hands and the same cheeky smile.
Shaking her head, Cynthia turned on the flashlight, the dark of the unlit now substituted with light from the lucent flashlight, which did reveal a door, a large wooden door which had the initials “KFM” engrained on the metal, it was padlocked, which had a 6 number combination code on it. Cynthia’s attention had been drawn to another sign on the door, that said “PRIVATE STUDY”
“Well, isn’t that interesting...” Cynthia muttered, examining the code, “Six digits, could be a birthday code, maybe?” Jake mentioned, “Yes... But the birthday of who?”
Cynthia looked down, deep in thought, she had come across a roadblock, until a lightbulb hit her, and a smile began to formulate on her otherwise serious face, “Kieran Filmore, KMF, it makes sense! No?” Cynthia said, with a newfound excitement, “Shhh!” Jake hissed, “You’re going to wake up Madeleine,”
“But you do make a good point,” Jake nodded, “does this mean that this cottage is Kieran's?”
“I suppose so, and if that’s the case, I think the birthday we’re going to have to try out is his,”
“Yup! Have you any idea what his birthday is?” Jake pondered on that thought, eyeing the door with suspicion, “It could be on one of Madeleine’s police documents, that may give us a clue,”
“Or we could ask his sister, who is very conveniently with us right now,” Jake scoffed,
“I'm not going to wake up Lucia, she’s had a long day, just grab the documents,” Cynthia sighed, Jake went over to grab Madeleine’s rucksack and picked up the documents that sat within it, perusing them, one by one, with narrowing eyes.
“Kieran is 21 in this document,” Jake said, “When was the document written? There should be a date at the top,” Cynthia asked, “16/06/1996 is the date,”
Cynthia began counting on her finger, doing some calculations, “So that means that Kieran is born in the year 1975, let me put that onto the padlock” she said, twisting the pad so the last digits had the number “75” on them.
“Is there any way of finding out the birthday of this fellow? Because I can’t seem to find any further information on these documents,” Jake added,
“Oh! I do remember seeing a calendar in one of the bedrooms, perhaps there are some specific dates, we can try them out one by one,”
“Works for me, lead the way.”
(...)
“Here we are,” Cynthia whispered, pointing to the calendar, they had to use the flashlight once again to avoid disturbing Magnus, who was dozing to the side of them.
“We’re looking for any dates that may be marked on here,” She added, Jake nodded, and started flicking through the dates in the calendar, trying several different dates that were marked in black ink, each to no avail. Frustration progressively building up between the two of them as they searched, the further he flicked through the calendar, the less frequent the markings were, which worried them. Until... They came across a date that was marked in gold.
“Should we try this one?” Jake asked, pointing to the date, which was set for only a couple of days from now, 24/12.
“241275, Is that the code we got?” Cynthia asked, Jake inclined his head in agreement as they both made their way back downstairs for what they hoped would be the final time today, they were finally feeling the effects of enervation, and their movement became slower and weaker with every trip they took. Cynthia made her way to the door for the final time, flashing the light at it while she adjusted the pad once more. Slowly twisting the numbers until all were inputted on the lock
Nothing
“Aw man! All of that for nothing,” Jake scoffed, kicking the door in exasperation.
Click*
The door opened to their surprise, swinging gently from Jake’s kick, revealing a small office, filled with notes and drawers, lit by a bright yellow light, behind the desk was a small window that overlooked the back garden, almost invisible due to the vagueness of the caliginous sky, on the desk were notes that appeared frantically written and in a rush. What surprised them the most about the room was the sheer amount of clocks plastered around the room, alarm clocks, grandmaster clocks… dozens of them.
Cynthia and Jake exchanged perplexed glances and looked into the room once more.
“Woah…”