The Room

Chapter Three

Raven crouched down and carefully pulled out the wooden box. She shut the door with her free hand and looked around for a place to put down the box.

"Ahh, here we go." She sighed, walking over to a table with green velvet padding atop it. 

She placed the box down and marveled at the elegant details that were on it. Raven circled the table struggling to find more hidden lore. She looked at the box's six wooden post. Four of them were shaped liked long, narrow pentagons and two were rounded. She was curious. Could the posts have a secret hidden within it? Raven went to the first post and tried to twist a striped gold 'siding'. She watched in awe as the top of the post raised to reveal a golden circular object tucked away in a compartment. She wiggled it free from its spot and examined it. The front had a tiny lens through it almost like her eyepiece. Raven tried looking through it but it only blurred her vision.

"What does this thing do?" She asked herself, noticing the two arrows on the front.

She matched up the arrows by turning the lens and the cylindrical object extended into a telescope. She smiled and tucked the telescope into her pocket. I'll save it for later, she told herself.

Raven found a stick of cotton only a short time later. It was in the foot of one of the post's legs. She stared in confusion at the black soot on the cotton and took a whiff. Worst mistake ever. She gagged and held it away from her face.

"That's strong," she observed, cautiously taking a second sniff. "And it smells like, paraffin." 

Raven hesitantly dropped it into her pocket and continued her search for other miscellaneous items. She tapped gently on the box to check for any subtle compartments. Raven quickly came across one in particular. Her finger sank into the box briefly as an ancient book popped out. The book felt rough against her skin as she pulled it out. She tried to pry it open but it wouldn't allow her to.

"Is there a lock on this thing or something?" She asked herself, studying the mysterious dials on the front.

She turned the two top ones so that she could fit the wooden dial in the center like puzzle pieces. It was unlocked , finally, once she turned the dial closest to the leather strap. Raven plucked out a wind-up key sitting in a compartment and ripped out the letter. She read the letter word for word as she set the book down. One phrase caught her attention:

It's the final element. Null.

She was puzzled. What was the null? She read on to try and find an answer but the letter only talked about the scientist's (as least Raven assumed it to be) experimentation on the element. Pure crap, Raven thought tossing the letter aside.

Raven observed that one small part of the box was glistening. It had number switches on the front. She peered at it in confusion. What did they do? Out of curiosity, she pulled the eyepiece she still wore, over her right eye. Sure enough the small part of the box disappeared, revealing a bright yellow box. On one side, Raven could easily make out a number seven and on the other, a number five. She knew the numbers had something to do with the number swatches from before so she memorized the numbers. If that's the case, she wondered, then what are the top and bottom numbers? She looked at the top of the yellow cube. All she saw were jumbled curved lines and a few dashes.

"Well, this isn't making things any easier." She sighed tilting her head to the side. "Wait a seco-."

 Her sentence was interrupted by a sudden gasp. When she tilted her head, she created a number. Two. She beamed. Three numbers down, one to go. She crouched down so she could have a better look at the markings at the bottom of the cube. She tilted her head to the left, but couldn't make out any number. She moved her head to the right and smiled. She created the number six. Raven removed the eyepiece from her eye and switched the number slots so that they'd show five to the left, seven to the right two on top and six on the bottom. A swatch folded forward and a switch slipped into view. She flicked the switch and heard gears moving. To the left of her, a small mechanism emerged from a compartment.

"So that's where the pieces go." Raven laughed at the projector set itself up. 

She located the spot where the telescope was supposed to go and positioned it on the circular swatches. She placed the paraffin-smelling cotton stick and swiped the spark wheel several times so that it would light up. With everything in place, all Raven needed to do was wind it up using the key. She placed the key in the proper hole and gave it a few quick cranks. The projector flickered to life. It was ready for use. Raven crouched down and looked through the telescope.

A man dressed in a 19th century-style suit and top hat sat at a table in the film. Raven noticed that his face was scratched out. Who tampered with the film, she wondered. She continued watching as the man looked over at the same box she was investigating. The film stopped and she backed away from the spyglass.

"What the heck?" she exclaimed. "What was the point of that?" 

She tapped her chin, trying to figure out what the film's purpose was. She glanced up at her head briefly, then snapped her fingers. The eyepiece, she remembered. Raven pulled it over her right eye again and looked through the telescope again. The film was different this time. The man, this time was positioned outwards towards her instead of tucked in under the table. The drawing board that was always behind the man, not has several letters etched in with blue scratched.

T...

R...

I...

A...

L...

Trial.