This is a serialized story – be sure to read in order: from A (afterthought) to Z (zealous).
Courtney shivered again. “Nash, let’s get out of here. No matter what you think you need to do, this can’t be it.”
“Court, you don’t understand. This is something I have to do. I have to.”
“But why do you need me? I’m leaving.” She turned and he grabbed her arm. The wind picked up speed and the whistling grew louder. “Where is that sound coming from?”
“Let’s find out. C’mon. Follow me…”
Courtney sighed and gave in, muttering, “This better be worth it.” Louder she added, “Why the heck didn’t you bring a flashlight?”
“Um, I did but turns out the batteries are dead.”
“Figures…”
“What?”
Courtney snorted. “Nothing. Lead the way. I’ll stick.” Under her breath she added, “At least for now…”
They continued on until they were at the end of the hallway and there was a door on either side of them. “First right,” Nash declared as he pivoted to the right and opened the door. Courtney ran into him when he stopped short.
“What?” She peered over his shoulder.
“I, um, well…”
“What?” she asked again.
“I’m not sure how we can go this way.”
“Why not? I can’t see anything.”
As if to help out, a narrow bean of light sliced through the darkness, lighting what was in front of them. Abject filth. Piles and piles of trash. Old newspapers. Torn dirty clothes. Empty food cans. Pile upon pile of garbage. And the smell that wafted towards them made Courtney gag.
“Nash…” she bent over and hugged herself. “I can’t. I just can’t.”
“We have to! Wait, do you still have that horrible menthol lip balm chapstick you always used to carry?”
“You mean the peppermint one?”
“I don’t know. I just know it used to burn my lips when we kissed.”
Courtney surprised him with a giggle as she dug through her belt bag. “You mean this?” She held up a tube labeled Peppermint Kiss.
Nash frowned. “Yeah, that’s the stuff. Now rub some under your nose.”
“What?”
“Under your nose. The smell will disguise the stink from in there.”
She did as he said and took a deep breath in again. “Oh, that’s much better. You want some?”
He shook his head. “I’m not bothered by it. Ready?”
She stalled for a minute, pulling something else out of her bag. “Guess what I found?”
“Huh?”
She pushed a button and light streamed from a mini-flashlight.
“Dang, why didn’t you pull that our earlier?”
She shrugged and pointed to her bag. “I forgot I had it. It was buried on the bottom with the lip stuff.”
He took the flashlight from her and directed the light to the far side of the room. “There. That door. The yellow one. That’s our target.” He kicked a couple things out of the way. “We’ll just work our way through.”
To be continued…
Thank you.
Great idea with the peppermint lip balm. Looking forward to see what they find.
Hang on tight….
I was going to say but my comment disappeared on the last one…2RTHN3L might mean 2 the right or 2 steps right THEN 3 steps left…still don’t know!
Lots more to come!
2 right, then 3 left is what I made of the code…eeeeeh, this is so creepy… I’m all caught up, waiting for the next piece.
With smiles, Jenny @ Pearson Report
I do have to say it’s going to get creepier!
clever!
If it had been me in the story and not Courtney, I would have been gone at the sight of the trash. Happily, Courtney is in the story. I’ll have to remember the tip about the lip balm. Alana ramblinwitham
I knew no one would be carrying Vick’s around with them, that’s often used, so thought peppermint would work.
The Nancy Drew collector in me laughed over the flashlight with dead batteries… but she came to his rescue… and the lipstick might come in handy if a SOS is needed on the window.
You just gave me a laugh….thanks!