This is a serialized story – be sure to read in order: from A (afterthought) to Z (zealous).
Nash opened his eyes after his slide out of the beach scene and shouted, “Courtney!”
She turned and yelled back, “Nash!”
As they hugged, both declared, “I’m so glad to see you!”
Then they both asked, “Where have you been?”
Another hug as Nash asked, “Are you okay? I’ve been all over looking for you.”
“I’m fine, really. It’s been quite the trip. What about you? There’s blood on your jeans.”
He shrugged. “It’s fine. Just a scratch.”
“Well, at least ripped jeans are in style. I’m sorry I pulled you into this mess. I think it’s time we give up and just leave.”
Courtney snorted. “I tried that. Not on purpose, but one of my doors took me outside.”
“We need to go back there. Can you retrace the way?”
“Nash, it was a nightmare. Someone grabbed me and tossed me back into the same room where we started.”
“You’re kidding…” Nash frowned.
“Why would I joke about this. This whole thing is more serious than I think even you expected. I need to know more. Stop being so secretive. Why are you doing this? Are you being blackmailed? Talk to me!”
“I can’t explain it right now, but I need to get you out of here. This is my problem and I need to deal with it by myself.”
“Forget it. I’m staying. There is no way you’re doing this alone. Let’s just figure out what to do next. I’m thinking we need to look for clues.”
“Clues? You mean like the engraving we found?”
“About that,” Courtney cleared her throat. “When I got taken back there, the engraving changed.”
“Changed?”
“And it changed more than once while I was touching it.”
“How can that be?”
Courtney shook her head. “You tell me. It’s like this place is enchanted.”
“Huh. Well, I don’t believe in magic, or enchantment, or sorcery, or spells, or witchcraft. Someone engineered this whole thing.”
“You may be right. But we do agree on one thing. Let’s see where they want us to go next.”
“Clues, right?”
“Clues… Where do we start?”
“We need to attack this logically…”
Courtney broke into loud laughter. “Are you kidding? There’s been nothing logical about this since we got here.”
“You’re probably right, but let’s take time to think things through. I came from a beach scene and a portal like opening led me here. You?”
“The garbage room and yes, it was just as smelly.”
“Are you sure it was the same room as the first one?”
“Actually, no. The only door I could see was the one I entered through.”
“So how did you get here?”
“There was a hidden door embedded in a wall that was covered with old posters.”
“Huh. A hidden door for you and a portal door for me. We need to really examine this room since there aren’t any visible doors.”
“Wait, what?” Courtney spun, looking for doors. “This is insane!”
“I guess our motto now is ‘Nuts R Us’.”
“Okay then, let’s get our squirrel on!”
To be continued…
Thank you.
I don’t believer I have ever heard the phrase, “let’s get our squirrel on!” But I plan to steal it! It’s very appropriate for this adventure and for us readers, lol.
Thanks! I had to come back to read it – forgot I even wrote it. LOL!
I also like “get our squirrel on”. Squirrels, I suspect, can be deep thinkers, especially when they try to figure out how to conquer a bird feeder. Maybe some deep thought is in order, now that Courtney and Nash have reunited. Alana ramblinwitham
I agree about squirrels except when they are crossing roads. Then they overthink…LOL!
That’s EXACTLY what I was going to say! Or maybe they are OVER thinking the road thing!