Chapter 3: Mystery Solving was in her DNA

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Blue slowly opened her eyes. She felt more rested than she ever had. She immediately realized that nothing hurt, and she found herself wondering if she'd dreamt her fall down the elevator shaft. Blue looked around and noticed she was in one of the hospital's rooms and she knew she hadn't dreamt anything. She looked down at herself thinking the only way she wasn't in pain right now was because she was completely paralyzed. Blue wiggled her toes and was surprisingly pleased to see them move. The rest of her body also seemed to work as it should.

A nurse walked in the room. She stopped short when she saw Blue was awake.

"Oh, you're awake," she said without much emotions. "How are you feeling?"

"Surprisingly good for someone who fell down multiple floors," laughed Blue still in disbelieve.

"Good, that's what we like to hear," said the nurse who did not look glad to hear it. "Well, then you're good to go."

"Just like that?" asked Blue. She'd never been in the hospital, but she was pretty sure getting discharged was more complicated than that.

"Yep," confirmed the nurse.

Blue wasn't going to argue with her, she didn't want to stay any longer than she had to. Her misadventure weirdly had her wanting to go home and be with her family and friends. She needed a break from all the intense events she'd gone through the last few days. The nurse was about to leave when Blue remembered the man she'd fell with.

"Before you go, can you tell me if the man I was with is fine?" asked Blue.

"He'll probably be fine. I mean he's like badly injured, but stable I guess."

"Do you know why he was hiding around here?"

"Something about escaping from jail and not wanting to go back or something," explained the nurse before leaving.

Reeling from the news and the nonchalance with which the nurse had just announced it, Blue rested her head back rubbing her eyes trying to get her head on straight. She picked up her phone assuming it would be full of messages from her family and friends wanting to know if she was alright. She had been livestreaming when she'd fell, and she knew her entourage would be worried sick about her. To her surprise, she only had one message and it was from an unidentified contact. She read it and was annoyed when she saw that it was just another person asking her for her help with another mystery. Blue began to put her phone down, but her curiosity took over and she found herself reading the message. It was from someone in New Orleans telling her about, Oubliettes, a small town a couple of hours west of NOLA. The person claimed that when people entered the town, they never came back. All the person knew was that the inhabitants of Oubliettes were troubled and that it was starting to wear off on the nearby towns.

Blue hated that she was immediately drawn to the story. She couldn't help it, mystery solving was in her DNA. She figured it couldn't hurt to check it out before going home for a well-deserved break. Blue texted her family and friends letting them know she was fine and on her way to New Orleans and she also provided her followers with the same information before packing up her things and leaving for the airport.

Blue's plane landed in New Orleans in the mid-afternoon. The moment she stepped out of the airport; the young woman was welcomed with a wave of comforting warmth. The air smelled the way it smells during a warm and humid summer day. It reminded Blue of the numerous wonderful summer she had spent at her grandparents' house in Florida. Those were some of her best memories and she found herself wishing she was ten again and running around the pool with her brother Danny. She smiled to herself as she climbed aboard the car she had rented for the duration of her stay.

Blue rolled down the windows as she drove toward a town neighboring Oubliettes called New Iberia. She felt great and couldn't wait to get to the bottom of the mysteries surrounding the strange town. She was only a few miles away from her destination when she first sensed a shift in the smell. It smelled faintly of rotting meat. Blue figured she must be passing a factory of some sort, but the closer she got to New Iberia the stronger the smell got. By the time she reached the town the smell was overwhelming. It smelled like the inside of a broken freezer full of meat that's gone bad; Blue would know, it had happened to the family freezer once when she was younger, and the smell had lingered for weeks.

Blue breathed through her mouth hoping to avoid the smell until she reached her hotel where she quickly went inside hoping to get away from it. Unfortunately for her she was met with an even stronger smell. As she looked around the hotel lobby she understood where the smell came from, the room was filled with the little trees used in cars to freshen the air. She must have looked confused because a man quickly approached her looking apologetic as if he knew that the situation was less than ideal.

"I'm sorry for the smell, I know it's not very inviting, but I promise you get used to it," tentatively smiled the man.

"It's fine," lied Blue.

"You must be Miss Williams," confirmed the man.

"Yes, that's me."

"Wonderful, let me walk you to your room."

The man took the key to Blue's room and led her outside. As she followed him, Blue took in her surroundings and realized that the town looked like a ghost town. There were barely any open shops and the man leading her to her room was the only person she'd seen so far. The only faint sound that could be heard was coming from Oubliettes which was three blocks away from the hotel Blue had chosen to stay at; not that she had had much of a choice considering it was the only hotel in New Iberia.

"What happened here?" asked Blue.

The man stopped in his track and his smile faded away as he turned to face her. Blue could see the pain and sorrow in his eyes, and she felt sorry for him.

"It's this town," said the man as he pointed towards Oubliettes. "The smell, the noises and the strange occurrences, it makes it hard to live here. It's only my family now."

"I don't mean to be rude, but why stay?" asked Blue.

"My ancestors founded this town, feels wrong to abandon it," explained the man as if he'd accepted that this was his fate.

"What can you tell me about Oubliettes?" asked Blue.

"Nothing much. We don't go near it," explained the man. "And while I realize you're probably here for that, I would highly suggest you didn't go either."

The man handed Blue the key to her room and left her. While his warning would have dissuaded most people from approaching the town, it only made Blue more excited at the idea of discovering its mysteries.

That night, Blue went to sleep early making sure her phone was fully charged and ready to film everything that she would find. She woke up early the next morning packing a few snacks, a flashlight and, of course, her charger before she set out for Oubliettes. The morning was cool and sunny. Blue had a feeling it would be a good day. The closer she got to the town limits the more exhilarated she got. She could barely contain herself when she reached the line drawn across the street. On each side, there were big signs that could read the words "DO NOT GO PAST THIS POINT." The young woman looked around and saw no sign of immediate danger. In fact, the town seemed pretty calm and there was no one in sight. She carefully walked across the line half expecting to disintegrate or something, but nothing happened. Blue didn't know if she was disappointed or relieved that it had been so easy thus far.

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