Guide • Laurmani

That's Not Normal

Normani

Over the past few days, Dinah has really started to act strange and it's worrying me. Not only has she been with me everywhere I go, including short trips like walking to get the mail down the street, but she's always asking about the riddles. I was still convinced she was doing this. I had ruled out my siblings once the ticket took us to the park and I received a phone number to call which was still sitting on my desk.

They weren't smart enough to pull something like that off and also didn't have that kind of money to either. Dinah however, was acting very strange about it so that led me to think it was her. However, something felt wrong this morning when I woke up.

I went downstairs, had breakfast, waiting for Dinah's knuckle to rap against the door before she would come in, asking to hang out. She didn't however so I figured she was doing something. Her family had came back so maybe she was with them.

Eventually, the day passed to the afternoon and the evening so I decided to go check on her. There were a thousand possibilities for this situation. Dinah was probably hanging out with the pretty mean girls from school, she may have gone on a little trip, was possibly sick, or maybe she was just bored of me.

I walked over to her house and went up to the front door, giving it a loud knock. I was met with Dinah's mother who smiled at me. "Hello Normani. How can I help you?" She asked.

"Goodmorning Mrs. Hansen. I was wondering if you knew where Dinah is," I spoke.

"She flew back to Los Angeles. She said that she told you yesterday," Milika answered as I became confused.

"Dinah never mentioned anything about going to Los Angeles. Why would she do that?"

"To visit some family in Santa Anna. She left this morning at four. Are you sure she didn't tell you?"

I just nodded and stared at her, feeling like some weird things were going on. Dinah hadn't said anything about flying to Los Angeles.

"Maybe she did and I just forgot. When will she be back?"

"In a week probably."

"Okay. Thank you Mrs. Hansen."

"Of course. Have a good day sweetie." I nodded and smiled, wishing her a good day too before I went back to my house. What was going on? Why had Dinah left without telling me? Where was she going?"

After sneaking past my siblings, I went up to my room and shut the door. My eyes went to the slip of paper on my desk that had a phone number on it, ready to be called. Not knowing what was going to happen if I called it, I hesitated as I pulled my phone out.

Slowly, I typed in the number and pressed call, lifting the device to my ear. There was a moment of ringing before a robotic voice answered.

"To The Rock you go, where Pinware will wait. Although tiny, this will not be your place of stay. 60 miles north you will travel. Turn left and you will have a trail to follow," the message spoke before the phone hung up.

I groaned in frustration, stopping myself from smashing my phone into my desk. This was all so angering.

Another clue. Where was this going to lead me? I didn't know where The Rock or Pinware was so I went to my computer and sat down in the chair. I went to google and searched up The Rock, finding many pictures of Dwayne Johnson.

"No, that's not it," I muttered as I thought for a moment. It had to be a place and Pinware had to be a place too.

I tried again, this time searching "places nicknamed the rock." A few showed up with varied names but the one that stuck out to me was Newfoundland and Labrador. It was specifically nicknamed The Rock, unlike the others that had close names.