The Girl & The Rubik's Cube

Part 5: The Pieces Fit

I had to walk three miles in the bitter cold to get to the address. But I had made it. The long day of traveling and solving puzzles was about to come to an end.

The address was a private home that was in no relative proximity of another house. Whatever Morgan had waiting for me inside, no one was around to see it. She had carefully orchestrated all the clues to lead me here. This must have been her childhood home.

Her father was...inside? I had to solve a Rubik’s Cube for him? Seems a bit...strange to me.

The house was a small brown ranch that looked run-down. From the street, I could see that no lights were on inside. But on the front door was another note.

THE DOOR IS OPEN. LET YOURSELF IN

It didn’t feel right to walk into a house in a town I had never been before. I wasn’t about to turn back because of nerves.

The door was indeed open, it creaked as I let it swing on its own momentum from a slight push I gave it.

There was darkness all around me. I had no clue what I was walking into. My heart was racing as I tried to make sense of my purpose here. Was I supposed to wait for her to come find me?

I grabbed my phone and accessed the flashlight app I had installed, turning on the light that’s used as a flash for the camera was a way to light my surroundings. In my immediate path was a living room of medium size. An old two-seat couch faced forward at an old television set with a tube in the back. I turned the light around the room and found an arrow drawn on the wall in magic marker. It pointed straight ahead.

Cautiously, I walked through the living room, my sneakers skidding across the floor making a squeaking noise with every step. The house was outdated, and I could feel some of the panels on the wood floors dipping just slightly as I put my weight on them.

The arrow led me into a small kitchen. It looks liked nothing had been updated since the 1960’s and the cabinets all looked as though they had been painted over far too many times. Next to the counter was an old dark brown table that sat four people. On the table was an iPod with headphones resting on top of a note.

PRESS PLAY, SET THE MOOD, AND ENTER THE DOOR BEHIND YOU TO THE BASEMENT

Set the mood? What mood? What the hell is all of this? Assuming Morgan was downstairs, she owed me quite an explanation for everything that occurred today. The iPod was an older model with a click wheel and it felt heavy in my hands. I ignored the request to play whatever was loaded on it and opened the basement door with the iPod in one hand, and my phone shining a light in the other.

There was a faint glow of red light coming from the basement. Looking down the stairs in the darkness of the main floor, I start to second guess myself. I stood in the kitchen trying to decide if I should see what’s down there, or just count my blessings and forget this whole thing before something bad happened to me.

“It’s ok,” her voice traveled up the stairs and hit my ears like a soft massage. It had been silent until that point and the sound made me caught me off guard, but the familiarity of it was warming. “Come to me.”

I took one step down the stairs, hypnotized by the lure of Morgan. Then another step. And another. With each step more of the basement came into view under the ceiling. The red light was shining brighter.

And then I saw her. We made eye contact. Morgan was lying on a bed, completely naked aside from black nylon stockings. She smiled at me. “You’re finally here.” I smiled back at her, a wave of relief coming over me. I took another step, exposing more of the basement into my line of sight. Next to the bed Morgan was lying on, an unsolved Rubik’s Cube was mounted on a metal pipe with a circular base. Attached to the cube was a series of thick strings running towards the ceiling. From where I stood I couldn’t see what the strings were attached to, but I stared at the cube for a few seconds trying to make sense of the contraption.