Chapter Eighteen
Secret Room
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Lance and Howie were on the first floor, trying to find any way to get out of
the place. They knew they wouldn’t be able to find a way but they had to do
something. Right now, they had just entered some kind of study area. A desk
stood in the back of the room with a black, leather chair behind it. Dusty papers
and books were stacked on the desk. Shelves of books were behind it and many
chairs were scattered around the room. A huge window with a curtain over it
was to the left of the desk.
“Do you think there could be any clues about this place in here?” Lance asked.
Howie shrugged. “No idea. Might as well look around a little bit though.”
The two of them started to check the room out. Lance wandered over to the
desk and started to look around at all the stuff on it. Howie went over to the
book shelves. Lance wiped off the dust of one of the stacks of papers and
started to look through them. They were all just papers with a bunch of notes
written in fancy cursive writing. Nothing important. He went to the next stack
and looked through. At the bottom of the pile was an old, yellowed newspaper
clipping. Lance started to read it.
18 July 1887
After not being seen for over a month, the police finally went to inspect the
Calhoun Mansion for any trace of where Abigail Calhoun may be. Ms. Calhoun
acquired the mansion through her late father, Richard Calhoun. No trace of Ms.
Calhoun was found anywhere. The police described the place as ‘looking like not
anyone had lived there for 50 years.’ The disappearance of Ms. Calhoun has
shocked everyone in this town for she was a much loved figure. We hope one
day that this mystery will be solved.
Lance stared in shock at the clipping. Who was Abigail Calhoun? And why had
she disappeared all of a sudden more than hundred years ago?
“Hey Howie, come take a look at this.”
“What is it?” Howie asked as he walked over. Lance handed him the newspaper
clipping and watched Howie’s expression as he read. He looked as shocked as
Lance had been when he was done reading it.
“What does this mean?” Howie asked.
“I don’t know....this might have something to do with the “game” we’re involved
in now. We have to figure it out. Did you find anything?” Lance replied.
Howie shook his head. “Nothing. I tried looking through the books but they were
all just novels and encyclopedia’s.”
Lance sighed and then noticed the book sitting on the desk. He reached over
and picked it up and wiped the dust off of it. The book was red and in gold
lettering on the front it said ‘The History of the Calhoun Mansion.’
“This is it! This explains the history of this place!” Lance exclaimed.
He opened the book up and as he did a piece of paper fell out of it. Howie bent
over to pick it up and unfolded the paper. On the paper were only four words,
written in neat cursive. ‘to conquer FEAR itself’
“What the hell is that suppose to mean?” Lance stated, confused by the
message.
“Well, obviously there’s more to this message. This is the last line but where’s
the beginning of it?”
Lance started to flip through the pages of the book but nothing else fell out.
“Ughh...there’s nothing here. Where could the rest of the message be?”
“I have no clue. Maybe it’s in one of the other books on the shelves. Let’s look,”
Howie said as he started to walk towards the shelves.
About two hours later, almost all of the books were scattered across the floor
and still there was no sign of the missing pages of the message. That’s when
Howie noticed a strange looking book sitting on the top shelf. It looked to be
made entirely of silver and had the some weird designs on it, like all of the doors
in the place. Howie reached up and tried to grab it off the shelf. It wouldn’t
budge. “That’s strange,” he thought.
He reached up again and pulled on the book more forcefully. This time, the book
tipped downwards and then tipped back into place.
“What are you doing?” Lance asked as he walked up to where Howie was
standing.
“I’m trying to get this book off of the shelf, it won’t come down for some strange
reason.”
“Let me try,” Lance said as he reached up and grabbed the book, only for it to
tip down and tip back up.
“What the.....” he trailed off when he heard a click and then the book began to
glow.
The two of them jumped back, staring at the book. The shelves started to shake
and started to slowly pull apart. The shelves revealed nothing but blackness
behind them.
“What is back there?” Howie questioned as he took a step towards it.
“I wouldn’t get to close if I were you,” Lance said, scared with the possibilities.
“Oh, it’s probably nothing. I’ll just take a quick look,” Howie said, walking up to
the entrance.
“Howie.....no...” Lance started to say but it was too late. A green light started to
glow from within the area and Howie was yanked into the darkness. The shelves
slammed shut and the silver book clicked back into place.
Lance stared in horror at the place where Howie had just been standing.
“Ohh...this is not good......”
Lance took off out of the room, still holding the book the mysterious piece of
paper in his hands. The book lay forgotten back on the floor in the study. As
Lance ran out of the room he heard a laugh coming from it and then the words,
“You can never defeat The Game.”
Chapter Nineteen - Missing
Go back to 'The Game'