The Secret Ingredient Of Death

Chapter One - The Call

It was a cold night in Windsor. The trees were flowing softly as the wind took them to a nightly dance. All the people of the city had already gone home. Nolan was still up in his apartment that was located near a small café. Sara had come over to visit him. She was visiting London for an important business trip that she had not shut her mouth about.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" Nolan asked her, holding a kettle in his left hand and a box of Lipton's green tea in the other. "Sure, I'd like a cup" she answered gladly.

They both sat down on Nolan's dark brown Finline sofa that he had had for at least 15 years now. Sara had suggested to buy him a new one but he had refused, because he claimed that no other sofa could replace the one that he had now. "It is too comfortable for me to get a new one" he had said. Nolan turned on the TV and started to browse the channels, trying to find something at least a bit interesting to watch. He had no luck with that.

"I think I'll head to sleep now, I have an early morning tomorrow" Sara decided, and got up from the crusty sofa that now was covered in decorative pillows that she had brought her brother as a gift to get the apartment a little more comfortable for him.

Nolan kept browsing the channels until he locked his eyes on one ad. The ad said: "Welcome to the new and beyond magical motel that has been untouched for years, until Mr. Flintmourn decided to renovate it and turn it into a dream! Welcome to the one and only, Flintmourn's!".                                       The ad showed pictures of the ancient wooden house, that had truly been renovated and looked like a completely different building. "Wow, Mr. Flintmourn really did something with that old crap" he stated. He started at the TV for a while after, but as time passed he got bored of it not showing him anything else than some romantic movies or talk shows that he had no interest in, he decided to go to sleep.

The night seemed colder than usual. It was almost as cold as that night was, when something life changing happened in Nolan's life. His dear girlfriend, Nelly Hawkins was out to celebrate her best friends birthday and had a little too much to drink, which ended up being her last night alive. She was found dead by a group of people. Her death was caused by hypothermia according to the doctors, and to this day Nolan blames himself for not being there to prevent that from happening. He simply couldn't forgive himself, although he didn't kill her. The day still haunts his mind and seems to not let him live by.

Nolan woke up to her sister leaving for home. She hadn't even said goodbye to him, which he thought was strange since her sister was always hanging onto him. Nolan opened the curtains to reveal a snowstorm raging outdoors. "Another storm, great" He sighned, and started taking steps towards the bathroom to take a shower.

The water felt warm on his skin as he stepped into the shower, still wondering why his sister had left him without a single goodbye. Maybe she didn't want to wake him up or in that rush that she was in she simply forgot his existence for a moment. He ran his fingers through his hair with shampoo and then washed it away with water as he would've wanted to do to his sleeping problems.

Suddenly he heard his phone ringing from a far. He rushed to get his towel, quickly wrapped it around him and got to the phone. He saw an unknown number calling him and stood there for a moment thinking whether he should answer it or not, since he hadn't had anyone interested in his photography in a long time. He decided to take the call after all, not knowing what it could lead to.