Hexodynamic - Chapter Three: Into the Attic

Chapter Three

Into the Attic

His letter stated that, should I be worthy, I would find the keys to this adventure hidden in locations on the farm. The letter wasn’t the only item in the envelope, however. A pad of paper with nothing but numbers was enclosed as well.

He didn’t explain what the numbers meant, and I was afraid to show it to my parents, for fear of them asking too many questions and squelching my chance for adventure. So I read. I looked up books in the library about codes, forms of secret communication and the like. Back then we didn’t have tools like the internet for quick research—this project took me a long while.

Ω

“I heard the voice again earlier,” Rian whispered to Blake as they cleaned up from dinner.

“Where did you hear it?” Blake asked, wiping crumbs from the table.

“In the kitchen, and then again at the bee shed.”

“You went out to the woods again, eh?”

“The voice led us out there,” Rian replied quietly as they folded the tablecloth. He glanced over his shoulder into the kitchen to make sure Val and Kathlene couldn’t hear. “Val still doesn’t believe me.”

“Well, what has it been telling you? And how many times have you heard it?” Blake asked. He grabbed the wicker broom from its resting spot in the corner and began sweeping under the table.

“I don’t know, maybe ten times?” Rian said. “She mostly says nonsense.”

Blake looked into Rian’s eyes, amused. “It’s a she, then?”

“The voice is a girl.” Rian opened the armoire and deposited the tablecloth inside. “I don’t know what she wants because she just speaks gibberish. But we can definitely rule out bugging—I think it’s a real ghost.”

“Bugging?” Blake asked.

“You know, when someone plants a recording device in a room. It could have explained my bedroom, but I hear it all over the farm.” If only I could have found that key, I’d know what she wanted me to find in the attic. He had looked for the key for three hours without success. Val had given up after about twenty minutes, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

That frightened him slightly. Maybe someone murdered her up there, and she wants me to find out who did it, he thought.

“Hmm.” Blake stopped sweeping the floor and stroked his moustache. “Yes. Well, I think I’ve solved the problem of your ghost.”

“Really?” Rian asked, taken aback. “What is it, then?”

“I can’t tell you that, son; you have to figure it out on your own! However, I doubt she’ll say anything else to you.”

“How can you tell?” Rian asked.

Blake leaned down next to Rian’s ear, and whispered, “Magic.” He winked. “The question is this: do you want to hear her again? If you don’t, then the voice won’t come.”

Rian was silent as he swept the pile of dirt into the dustbin. “So, you believe me then? I’m not just dehydrated or something?”

“I believe something is going on in your head that you need to solve. You’ve experienced nightmares that you need to come to grips with. And for you to do that, you need to confront them. Now run along and wash up—there’s plenty to do before the sun goes down.”

Ω

Rian rolled over on his bed. He lay there, only subconsciously aware of his surroundings. A dim light was keeping him from falling completely asleep. Why didn’t I turn off the night light earlier? He thought sleepily, rolling over again and trying to get comfortable, too tired to get out of bed.

Then he slowly opened his eyes, confused. He didn’t remember having a night light.

Rian glanced across the room at his window. An unnatural pale, blue glow flowed into his room from outside. He threw his covers off and jumped out of bed, heart pounding as he approached the window.

A small blue orb floated on the other side of the glass, swirling in white wisps of smoke and mist as it slowly bobbed up and down. Rian squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing them with his fists. When he opened them, the light was gone.

Rian shook his head and took a step closer to the window, searching the dark grounds of the farm. Light from the moon outlined the yard, but there wasn’t a trace of the blue glow.

“I need to see a shrink.” Rian turned to go back to bed.

Sho vutshs shua shloattal nus shan Lushs,

Thumsham omsat’n Saum omsh Ushs.

Rian started, looked out the window again, and cocked his head, listening carefully. He thought he heard the voice, but her words seemed mixed together—almost as if she were speaking a different language. She hadn’t been as loud as before, sounding like rustling blades of grass.

Rian placed his palm against the window. “What do you want?” he pled, his whisper fogging up the window.

Val wouldn’t believe him when he told her what he’d seen. She’d raise her eyebrow and smirk as if she knew he was faking it for attention. But he knew he wasn’t seeing things. Something supernatural was trying to contact him—a ghost or spirit of some kind—he could tell.

Out in the dark, a dim light popped into existence near the shed, the same pale, blue glow as before leaking out from underneath a rock. The whispers surrounded his ears again, filling them with the sound of wind—the words still drivel to his ears.

Ush niashsa shes sho shteoam ginns,

Shenus uht ella om tassam giamms.

The light underneath the rock pulsed slowly, growing light, then dim, beckoning him to come outside. Puzzled, Rian thought he understood what the voice wanted him to do, even though he couldn’t understand the language—unlike earlier.

The light continued to pulse, beckoning him outside. Rian’s heart pounded as he tried to decide what to do. According to Uncle Blake, if he wanted it to, the voice would go away. He wasn’t sure, however, that he wanted that. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. Exhaling, Rian opened his eyes.

The light continued to pulse.

“I’m coming,” he whispered.

Pulling on his socks and shoes, Rian glanced up at the clock on his desk. The hands still pointed to 7:20, and he could barely hear the faint tock, tock, tock, tock it made as the second hand ticked back and forth. He grabbed his jacket and quietly left his bedroom. Walking down the stairs, Rian stepped over the creaky floorboard and tip toed his way to the door.

Rian approached the pulsing light near the shed, anticipation stirring in his chest. Kneeling down in the grass, Rian lifted the stone from the ground and blue light illuminated his surroundings. The light slowly began swirling inward, condensing into a bright, blue ball at the center of the depression left by the rock. Rian shielded his eyes from the brightness as the light continued to swirl, gathering speed. With a tiny pop, the light extinguished, revealing a small silver key.

“That’s where you’ve been hiding,” Rian said as he picked up the key. Ecstatic, Rian rushed into the shed and set up the step ladder near the attic door.

“Please work,” he whispered, sliding the key into the groove of the lock. He felt the tumblers in the mechanism give way as he twisted. The door clicked open, swinging downward. Without hesitation, Rian clambered up the ladder and pulled himself into the attic, ready to solve the mystery of his poltergeist.

When his vision adjusted to the room, his stomach lurched in surprise.