Awakening

Numbers

-Mr. Chair’s POV-

“Now I’m going to change out of my P.J.’s so everyone turn away,” I heard Loren say. I felt my face go hot and I turned around. I felt a push from behind and saw Stephano pushing me out into the hall. I could hear him smirk.

A little bit later Loren came out and looked up at me. I franticly looked everywhere but at her. Stephano pushed a sword into my hands. I fumbled with it for a second before securing my grip. I saw Loren smile. I frowned.

“Here, hold it like this,” Loren said coming up to me and giving me an example with Stephano’s sword. Or I guess his old sword.

“Uh, okay, thanks…” I mumbled feeling very awkward. I copied her and received a nod of approval.

I sighed to myself. I was such a coward she was obviously quite the opposite. How could I ever compare to her? I probably just looked like some kind of dorky looser in her eyes. But when I looked down at her she winked at me, which made my face explode with heat all over again.

“We should head down this way. It’s not safe here.” Stephano stepped up taking charge. I was thankful for a distraction.

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Emara,” Stephano looked to her, “stay close to me. Mr. Chair you stay behind her with Loren watching our backs. With the display of strength you showed us I think you are more than capable for the job,” Stephano commanded. Everyone agreed except me.

“No, I’ll take the back.” I declared.

“Really?” Stephano questioned.

“Yes, I-I’m sure.” I replied moving behind Loren.

She looked a bit surprise but said, “Alright.”

We made our way down the corridor in this line until we reached a very large room. It looked like a giant cathedral. At the other end was a large door. It looked to be sealed shut and had no doorknob.

“We should find a way to open this door.” Stephano said.

“It will lead to the other side of the building,” I explained observing the room.

I look left and noticed that there was numbers on the wall. I moved closer to the door and saw that there was a number pad on the door.

“There is a password to the door. I think the numbers on the wall are a hint.” I concluded feeling more at ease being surrounded by what I love the most, number puzzles.

“Five, eight, seven, and one, what is that suppose to mean?” Emara asked.

“It is suppose to be a hint, but to what?” Loren observed.

“I guess we’ll just have to try different combinations…” Stephano suggested.

“But there are tons of different combinations! That would take forever. What if the door only gives us a certain number of tries?” Emara complained.

“Yeah, and I have a strong feeling there are plenty more of those things out there, so we probably don’t have a lot of time…” Loren pointed out.

“Well, there has to be some clues to the password…” I said thoughtfully. I stared at the numbers going over different meanings, “If you multiply all of them together you get 280.” I calculated. I turned around and entered 280 into the keypad. Nothing.

“Well, that was a bust.” Emara huffed blowing some of her short hair from her face.

“If you add them together then you get twenty-one. Maybe it’s multiples of seven!” Loren guessed.

I typed in multiples of seven and three. Still nothing happened.

“Wait… what year was the building built? Maybe its 1875, I think I remember seeing it on a painting on one of the walls out there!” I realized.

“Yeah!” Loren exclaimed.

I typed in 1875. Bingo! The door slowly creaked opened.

“Yes! You got it,” Emara called happily.

“Well done, Mr. Smarty Chair,” Loren smiled.

I smiled back. Maybe I didn’t have to be strong…

I turned back around and saw two men standing in the door.

“Please… help…” One of them whispered before both of them toppled to the ground unconscious.