I knew what it said before I even read it.
"Yeah, I got one, too," I replied.
"What do you think we should do?" she asked.
"I'll think about it later. Is my friend Anna downstairs?"
"Yeah, she's been waiting for you since, like, forever."
I groaned. "She's going to screw me."
Heather laughed. I walked down the stairs slowly, awaiting the doom I was going to experience.
"Amy!" Anna said, getting off the couch, her curly hair bouncing with her. The light shone off her white teeth, a pretty contrast to her beautiful dark skin. "I've been waiting for you for so long! You slept again, didn't you? I knew it right when you said we'd meet at eleven!"
I rolled my eyes. "So why didn't you change the timing then?"
"Well—"
I raised my hand. "Never mind. There are more important things to do."
"Aren't you going to have breakfast?"
Heather turned to me. "I can make chocolate pancakes."
My stomach grumbled at the last two words. "Yes, you can. Bestow upon me thy magnificent consumables, and I shall be forever indebted to thee, O amazing one!"
They both laughed. Heather bowed, old fashion-style, and walked into the kitchen. I went over to Anna. Pulling out the note from my pocket, I said, "I found it stuck on my bedroom door this morning. And yes, Heather got the same note."
She read it, then looked at me as I plopped down on the couch beside her. "Amy, are you sure you want to do this? For one, this person entered your room, in the middle of the night, to stick this note." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "If it isn't your uncle or Heather, then there's a stranger coming in and going out of your house without you knowing. That's crazy, Amy. And for two, now he's asking you to come to the sweets shop, with information about your parents, and the wall, as a bait. Are you sure you want to do this?"
"But what else should I do, then?" I asked. "I'd already grilled Heather with so many questions yesterday—for how long am I going to ask her about everything? Besides, maybe this person knows more about the wall than Heather does. I need to do this."
"Well, if you've already made up your mind, then alright, I guess. I still doubt you should do this, but..." She sighed. "Don't go alone. I'll come with you."
"Of course I won't go alone," I replied. "But are you sure you want to come? I was thinking Heather should come with me because she got the note. But you didn't."
"I want to come too."
"But—"
She raised her eyebrows. "But?"
She had the challenging look in her eyes, the one telling me that me if I didn't step back, she'd fry me in a pan and feed me to the pigeons. I raised my hands in defeat. "Okay, you can come."
"I know."
I laughed as Heather came out of the kitchen, holding a plate of glorious chocolate pancakes with what I knew was maple syrup. Its aroma filled the room and I took a deep breath, licking my lips as she set it down on the coffee table.
It was a delicious breakfast, but I didn't savour every bite of it like I used to. I might never again. The way my mother made it was special. I realised that after you lose someone you love, you'll be constantly reminded of their loss, particularly during those times of of the day which you would normally spend with them.
I sighed. Every time I thought of my mother, I was reminded of my father and where in the world he might be.
I got up to keep my plate in the kitchen. "We should get going."
"Go where?" Heather asked.
"The sweets shop," I said.
"Will Anna go too?"
"Yes," Anna prompted. "What was it called again?"
"Frost n' Scoops," I said.
"Oh yeah!" she said, eyes wide. "That place where we were having donuts or something and you accidentally slapped Holly's donut from her hand and she slapped you—"
"Yeah, that's the one! Don't remind me!"
She laughed, twirling a strand of hair with her finger. "I'll never forget that."
"Yeah, me neither," I muttered.
"Should we get going, then?" Heather asked.
"Yeah, let's go."
As we kept our plates back and headed for the door, Anna said, "You're sure about this, right?"
"Well..." Her doubts were making me have second thoughts about this. Of course, it wasn't safe. But I had to go and I knew that.
"We could take something for, I don't know, self defense?" I said uncertainly.
"Knives?"
"The only knives I have are kitchen knives," I answered. I think I had a pocket-knife too, but it was probably buried somewhere in my cupboard, never to be found again.
"Might as well take those." Heather goes to the kitchen and brings back three knives. We placed them in our pockets.
Anna still looked doubtful. "Guys, this seems pretty shaky. We should be having a more solid backup than just knives."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Anything that can come in handy. A blade, a screwdriver, a pin. We don't know who we're going to encounter. We should be ready for all possibilities."
"Okay," I agreed. "But possibilities like?"
"Like, say the notes were used as bait by someone who wants to trap us. If we're surrounded, or attacked, we could use a knife or a screwdriver."
I shook my head, knowing she was right. There was a huge chance we were being lured into something unfortunate.
I honestly didn't know if I was supposed to be scared of the dangers, nervous of who we're going to meet, or excited for the information I would get.
I went upstairs to get the blades from the bathroom and screwdivers from the storeroom. Handing one to each of them, I placed my own tools in my pocket. A blade, a screwdiver, a knife.
I hope we don't end up using these against somene, I thought, as we left the house.
It was a little windy today. I couldn't help but feel nervous. The uncertainty of all this gave me the creeps. I was following instructions from an unknown person who stuck random notes in my bathroom and bedroom, and now here we are, armed with kitchen knives, going on an eternal mission to a sweets shop where I was once slapped.
It was a small walk. A neighbour of mine was walking his dog. The sprinklers of another garden turned on.
"We need to be cautious," I told Heather and Anna. "Expect anything to happen. We don't know who we're going to meet."
"You're right," Anna agreed.
My insides were burning with curiosity. I would find out about my parents now. And about the mysterious wall. Finally. It was time to get some answers.
It didn't take long to reach Frost n' Scoops. We stood outside, looking at the bright pink board with ice cream and other donut imagery, with 'Frost n' Scoops!' written in cursive writing. The windows seemed a little dusty, as if the place had been abandoned for sometime.
The sign board said CLOSED.
"Come to think of it," I said, suddenly remembering, "Wasn't this shop open for twelve hours, from ten AM to ten PM? Why is it closed now?"
Neither Anna nor Heather had an answer to that.
I pushed open the door and went in first, the bell's chime breaking the silence.
I was struck by how empty the shop was. The usual line of sweets, donuts and pastries was gone. There was no one at the counter, and all the round tables and chairs were missing.
"What happened to this place?" Anna whispered next to me.
The three of us stood at the entrance, taking in the place. The empty, silent shop sent shivers down my spine. What did happen to this place? It was almost always buzzing with customers.
I was the first to move from my position. I walked behind the counter to look for something important I might find. I opened the drawers. Anna looked through the coffee and other machines, and Heather inspected the rest.
There was nothing in the drawers except for a little cash. Anna hadn't found anything, either.
"What should we do?" I asked, standing behind the counter. "There's nothing here."
"Wait!" Anna suddenly exclaimed, pointing at something behind me. "Was that backdoor always there?"
I whipped around. How did I not notice the redwood door earlier? Was it always there?
I doubted it.
"I think that's where we need to go," Anna said.
As soon as she said that, the backdoor burst open. I shrieked and ran over to join Heather and Anna near the windows. Three men, in black, armored suits, rifles cradled in their arms, face covered completely with helmets, barged out of the backdoor and had us on target before we could even think of the knives in our pockets.
"Hands up," one of them said, gruffly. "Move an inch from your place and you'll regret it real bad."
My heart pounded in my chest as I slowly raised my hands up in defeat. Anna and Heather did the same. We were trapped. A jolt of fear struck me as I thought of what they might do to Heather and Anna. They had guns. And what did we have? Useless kitchen knives.
Who were these people? This was the last thing I'd been expecting, although Anna did warn me about the dangers.
"You do exactly what we say to you," another one said. "You squeak, you're dead." He motioned for us to go through the back door with his rifle. We followed obediently. One of the men poked his rifle on my back, pushing me inside.
I was shoved in first. It was a huge, empty room. The lights of the chandelier—the only object in the room—reflected off the grey, dull walls. It was a strange place—the ceiling and floor were grey too, and it had a musty smell as if it had been here for thousands of years.
The soldier prodded me on the shoulder with his rifle, and I bent down on my knees, hands behind my back, Heather and Anna doing the same.
I heard the clinking of metal and I started struggling as I realised what they were going to do. But I felt a sharp pain as he whacked me on the head. Stars engulfed my vision. I closed my eyes.
He went back to doing what he was going to: he handcuffed me, and the other two did the same to Anna and Heather. I turned my head gently to see them behind us.
"Don't let them do anything," the one near me told the other two. 'I'm getting Mileva.' Saying this, he strode out of the room, shutting the door behind.
"Why did you bring us here?" Anna demanded.
One of them chuckled. "We didn't. You came here yourselves."
Wait, could that mean these people didn't know about the notes? Or anything, for that matter? What had we gotten ourselves into?
My eyes searched for a way of escape. I was handcuffed, but I still had my knife. I was kneeling, but my legs weren't tied. The tip of the rifle was pressed to my head. If I could kick backwards...
The door opened. The man walked in, dragging a chair, followed by the woman who I assumed was Mileva.
She was...beautiful. She had straight, brown hair, chocolate brown eyes that accentuated her pretty face, not too tall, not too short, beautiful hands, pretty lips, and I could go on and on. But she was almost...too perfect.
"This is not what I was expecting," Anna whispered.
"Me neither," I whispered back.
"Quiet!" The soldier behind me pressed his rifle even harder.
"You three may leave now," Mileva said, as she sat down on the chair the soldier had placed in front of us. "Thank you."
After a moment's hesitation, I'm finally freed from the poke of the rifle. They marched out of the room, and now it was just the three of us, and Mileva.
"Alright," she said. She folded her arms and leaned back on her wooden chair. "Did you meet the colonel yet?"
"What?" I asked. "What colonel?"
"So it seems you did not meet the colonel. Let's leave that aside for now." She rubbed her palm. "I have a proposition for Heather and Amy."
"What?" Anna asked. "What about me?"
Her behaviour changed completely. "You didn't get the note, now, did you?" she snapped. "So keep your mouth shut."
"Oh you—"
"Stop!" Heather finally spoke. "We'll just hear what she has to say, alright?"
Mileva smiled. "That's better."
So she knew about the notes. We weren't at the wrong place, after all.
"Now, back to the proposition." She turned to look at me. "You're here to know what happened to your parents, yes?"
"Yeah," I replied. For some reason I hated the way she said your parents. It almost sounded like she was teasing me.
"Okay, so you both—" she waved her hand towards Heather and I, much to Anna's annoyance, "—will tell me every single detail—whatever you know—about the wall. In exchange, I will tell you what really happened to Amy's parents."
I thought about what she said. Finally, at last, I would find out what really happened to my parents. But...it was clear we shouldn't be telling her about the wall. We didn't even know who she was.
But what choice did we have? We were handcuffed and on the ground. It was more like an order than a proposition.
"What if we don't want to tell you?" Heather asked. I panicked a little at that, because only Mileva could tell me more about my parents.
She smiled, almost evilly. "That's not an option, now, is it?" My suspicions were confirmed.
"Okay," I finally muttered. "So who goes first?"
"You," she answered. Of course.
I took a deep breath and told her that my fingers could go through the wall. Heather told her about the hole, that it burned skin and made a pebble disappear.
What we didn't tell her was that the wall was a portal to another world.
"Hmm," she murmured. "Is that all you know?"
"Yes." Heather answered this time.
"Now your turn," I said. My heart thudded loudly in my chest. Finally, I'd get to know what really happened. Where my father was. How my mother reached such a condition. I steadied my breathing, ready to hear the truth.
"Well," she said, "your parents knew everything about the wall."
I let that sink in, realising what it meant. "What? How? When did they—"
"And, they tried to go to the other world."
My mind was racing. She knew about the world. They knew about the world.
"Your father made it. But your mother didn't."
My eyes widened, as I slowly realised what she said. "So that means—"
She nodded. "Your father is in the other world."
*******
A/N: Hello, amazing people! How was this chapter? What do you think Amy is going to do now? Share your thoughts, and don't forget to vote if you liked the chapter! Cheers :)