Inadvertent Destiny #003 - Unknown World
A story about an unwanted destiny with a big responsibility part #003
Unknown World
There was no better place to investigate missing people than the location they had gone missing from. In this case, that was the house. The police had said they had searched everywhere and found nothing, but Evan was convinced there was something to be found, the police just hadn't looked hard enough, or they hadn't known what to look for. So, once he got home, he proceeded to turn the house upside down...starting with his parent's bedroom. He took out boxes, clothes, shoes, souvenirs, anything that looked like something could be hidden inside. It took him over two hours of searching before he came upon her first useful clue. It was inside a box, one that obviously hadn't been brought out in years, going by the amount of dust it had gathered up. It was a hard-covered book, whatever the title was, it wasn't written in English, rather, some language Evan didn't recognize at all. He blew the dust off the book and opened it. It wasn't really a book. Well, it was, but inside if it didn't hold any words, instead, he found a large key nestled inside and underneath it, some words, equally in whatever strange language the title of the book was in. Evan slowly lifted the key from the hole in the book as he wondered what the words meant. As if the book had heard his thoughts, the words suddenly began to take a different form, alarmed by the movement, Evan dropped the book to the ground and stood up, but he remained in the room, even as his thoughts told him he should be running from whatever this was. The words stopped moving and he walked closer to observe it. They were in English now, it read: For every key, there is a lock. Find it, wherever you work. He stared at the words for a while, trying to make sense of it as he looked down at the large key. What kind of lock would a key this large be for? And what did the book mean by ‘find it where you work’? He didn't work anywhere here, so….. Where you work. His parents. The grocery store. It took him a while longer to find the keys to the grocery store inside his mother’s handbag, after which, he rushed out of the house, taking with him, the book, the key, and his wallet. At the back of his mind, he wondered about the girl, if he would ever see her again. Maybe she was part of the entire puzzle to finding his parents, maybe she would be waiting at the store. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was heading into as he got on the first bus heading toward the grocery store, but whatever it was, if he couldn’t find his family there, he could very well just disappear with them at the most.
The grocery store was deserted, save for the make-shift shrine in front of it, where various members of the town had placed flowers, pictures and anything else they could in memory of his family. Evan looked at everything with a mixture of anger and disgust. They had these things laid out like his family was dead or something, they weren’t dead, they had just gone missing. All of this was unnecessary. He wanted to kick the flowers aside, but realised he would be making a scene and there were people milling about, someone would think he was wrought with grief and it was messing with his head and before he could say a thing, there would be some intervention organized on his behalf, which was sure to set him back on his investigations. Rather than do that, he slowly moved aside the objects and opened the door. The familiar jingle of the bell above the door echoed in the room, it sent chills down his spine. The store was untouched, the inside warm. Evan walked in slowly, the entire room causing him to get nostalgic, the entire place was untouched, just as they must have left it. He stopped in front of a shelf, where a film of dust had gathered. He stared at it for a while and then kept walking around the store, there was supposed to be a lock somewhere, he didn't expect it to be in plain sight of course. These things were usually hidden somewhere, it would help if he knew where. He opened the book in his hand as if it was going to give him an answer. His heart fell when he saw nothing, even though he didn't expect to see any clues, it still left him feeling disappointed that there was indeed nothing. The bell jingled, signifying the entrance of another person and Evan turned around swiftly. Her. She stood there, looking as nervous as he remembered her. It was like she was permanently in that state; nervous, fidgety, like something or someone, was coming for her. He pushed aside thoughts of her state of mind, he need not concern himself with such, all he needed her for was to find his family and if she had the information he needed, she could remain in that state of nervousness. She held his gaze for a brief period, then looked ahead and started walking toward the back of the store. Evan followed her, he wanted to call her attention and ask her who she was but figured that if he spooked her, she would go running off again. Maybe she was taking him to where his family was. She walked to the storeroom, where some of the supplies were kept, stopping at the door. She turned to him and stepped aside. He glanced at the door and back at her, was this where they were kept? He looked at the key in his hand and at the lock on the door. There was no way s key this large was going to enter a lock that tiny. Was this a joke? Her eyes remained on him like she was waiting for him to make a move. He shook his head and stepped forward, maybe when she realized this obviously wasn't the door, she would take him to the real thing. As soon as he got close to the door though, just like the book had done when he was at home, the door began to change in form, until Evan stood in front if a hardwood though…..with a lock large enough for the key to fit in. He turned his gaze to her in excitement and with a smile. The first one he had allowed himself have since he got the call that his family had gone missing. This is the closest he had come to find them, the closest anyone had come. Her expression changed from that pensive, nervous look, morphing into a tiny smile. It was barely visible, but he noticed it. He slipped the key inside the lock and turned it. In one click, the door came open. He stared at it in wonder as it slowly opened to reveal what was certainly not the supplies. The other side of the door looked to be a garden of sorts. It looked for off, but very close. What exactly was this place and how did the grocery store have such a place? Was it even part of the grocery store? What kind of freaky stuff had his parents been part of? He turned to ask his new adventure mate if she had any tips for him, but he found that she had left once again and he was pretty much on his own. He turned back to the view ahead, feeling his heart beat faster, he thought of closing the door and going to find someone else… maybe Dean? As soon as the thought came to him, he felt himself getting sucked in by a force he couldn't resist. He had no time to think any further or save himself from whatever was pulling him in. He felt himself falling through the air almost immediately until he landed face first on a pile of…..grass? He groaned softly at the impact, but funny enough, he barely felt any pain. Nothing felt broken, he blinked a couple of times. Wherever he was, the place was incredibly sunny. “Get up, we don't have time to waste” Who the…? Evan's eyes opened up to find the same girl looking down at him, her expression one of annoyance. She looked eager to get going and he was the one wasting her time. She looked different. Not only were her eyes green, but he noticed her hair had also taken a neon green color and her skin was darker, her nose was aquiline, but it looked far thinner than any human's nose he had ever remembered seeing, making her look even more unique. Who was she? “Get up” she urged, this time grabbing him by his arm and pulling him up. He got to his feet and found another odd thing, she was shorter…...or was he taller? Damn, something was messing with his head. “Where are we?” “Skoran” she replied as she dragged him along. What the hell was that? “I've never heard of it”. “You are not supposed to have heard of it. We do not belong in your world”. “My world? What do you mean?”. She didn't reply to him. Evan dug his heel in the grass and dragged the girl, in one tug, she was thrown against his chest, “Listen, I don't know you, I don't know this place and I obviously don't know where you’re dragging me to. I demand an explanation if we must go any further” He said firmly. “There is no time!” “If I'm going to die wherever you are taking me to, I sure as hell have time to find out what this is all about first” he insisted. She looked at him for a short time and then sighed in exasperation when she saw he wouldn't budge, “My name is Fich. I was the one who helped them find your family and take them.” she began. Evan stared at her in shock. So, this was a slaughterhouse? They had sent her to get him and kill him “No,” she said quickly as if she had heard his thoughts, “I want to help you find your family. Your parents….they have been here before. They came when your mother was pregnant with you. They should never have come”. “How did they get here?”. “We do not know….but they have kept in contact over the years, they only stopped ten years ago in your world. Our leader was worried that they may have exposed us, he sent me to find them and if I didn't get them, he would kill me”. Evan raised his hand to his temple. This was too much information for him at this point, “So, are they hurt? Is he planning to kill them?”. “No, it is neither of that. They want you, they want to see you”. “See me? Why?”. She looked at him as if in question, “You do not know? They did not tell you?”. Now, he was agitated, “Know what? Tell me what?” he asked at the top of his voice. “You must come with me, it is not in my place to tell you this” she stated. Evan just stared at her in disbelief. Did she really expect him to follow her when his own fate was hanging in limbo? When he had no idea if he was truly going to the slaughterhouse or not? Then again, did he have a choice? He didn't even know his way out of this place. The only thing he knew was that his family was here and he had told hisself he would either get himself out or get lost with them. If this girl was taking him to his family, he would rather see them, than run back without knowing what had befallen them. He steeled his mind, he would find out whatever funny business his parents had gotten up to and how he was involved in all of it.