Another Heartstring Broken

Chapter 1: A Note

It took me a few days but I biked back to the shack my sister and I lived in after my trip. I opened the door and pulled the bike in behind me. "I'm home." I announced to no one. I thought for certain she would be home. I looked around the shack for a second, it wasn't a very big shack, and found some stuff that had fallen on the floor. 

The pile on the floor consisted of old drawings we'd made and some random trinkets we had collected over the years. On the bed I found a slip of paper with a place and date and another paper with something written to me. 

"002 Restful Boulevard, Peace County, 10:00 pm, July 12th." was written on the slip. 

"If you want your precious girl back, you'll be at this address at this time and if you don't we will tell the world what you did. 

- D.J." 

I read over the note again and got increasingly worried. I grabbed two pictures from the pile for good luck, grabbed my satchel, put on my best clothes and coat, and set off on my bike, knowing I was cutting it close. It was the 12th of July, it was also 9:23 pm. The address was known by many people in town as "The Havre Manor," a place I had never seen myself going to before. 

The Havre's were basically a family of rich snobs who only cared about themselves. They ran the town in a way. The government had to lean on them for money a couple times and that gave them a bit of power. I left as fast as possible to make sure that she was safe. 

The manor was enormous. It had to have been the biggest house I had ever seen, but I wasn't here to sit in awe, I was here to get Jane back. I walked up to the door and they opened for me. "Auto....matic?" a whispered, there was no one holding them open. I walked in and they closed behind me. I asked the man in the middle of the hall where I could find a Havre with the initials D and J. The man stared for a moment. "Do you think they meant out back?" he asked. 

I stood confused as another person came from the front as I did. She wore a long red dress and had long black hair. I looked at the man and asked if he got a note signed by D. J. as well. He nodded but then put a finger to his lips, as if to hush me. I took into account his figure, grey suit and a patch or two of grey greased back hair. The lady came up to us and asked, "Do you two darlings know where I can find one by the name of D. J.?" I was surprised at this. "E-Excuse me?" asked a rather small sounding voice from behind a nearby curtain. 

A little girl, in rags, was half hiding herself in the curtains and half attempting to be seen. "D-Do any of y-you k-know a p-person named D. J-J.?" she was shivering. I slowly walked toward her, in order to not frighten her away. I thought for a second and showed her the note that was left at the shack. "S-So you're here t-to find someone too th-then?" She asked. I motioned for her to come closer to the hall's middle with the other two. She took a few steps closer but then stopped. 

"Wh-Who are y-you? A-And why sh-should I trust y-you?" She had asked a good question. At this point it made sense not to trust me, so I responded in truth. "My name is Samuel Smith, you may call me Sam if you wish." I held out my hand to the child. She had short black hair and some dirt on her cheeks. In a weird way she reminded me of Jane. 

She took my hand and I guided her, slowly, toward the middle of the hall. As I turned to face the lady and man once again, they seemed to have multiplied. About 6 more people had joined the group, I started to wonder why so many people were in this hall. I thought about the size of this manor, how many rooms were in here anyway? "It's warmer near people." I told her. She froze in place. Our hands slipped apart and I turned around. 

Tears seemed to be welling up in her eyes. "A-Are you g-gonna take m-me away?" I looked at her confused for a second then hear a voice. "Thank you one and all for coming to this little meeting." The voice sounded like a male, maybe in his 40s, but we couldn't see him. We all tried to look for the owner of this voice as he continued, "You are gathered here today to participate in my little experiment. You see in the midst of you are murderers. You have to solve a few things before you can leave. Who are the murderers, where your friends are, and how you are all connected." 

I walked back to the little girl, who is clearly shivering. "Once you do that you may leave if not, then you may not. Okay? Good luck!" I knelt down, took off my coat, and put it on the little girl. She looked at me confused. "It won't do you any good if you're freezing now will it?" She looked happy as I stood back up to face the rest of the group.