A Single Rose (a Valentine's Story)

Chapter 14

Hint 4: Seek the animal which Sherlock Holmes searches for in the Baskervilles

I stood, staring at the note as I wracked my brains.

This one had me absolutely stumped. I gathered that he was making a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel, 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. But it had been a little while since I had last read it, and it was such a nuanced work that I had trouble reconciling the idea of a 'hound' to anything in or around the school. We didn't keep any great, monstrous 'hounds', nor could I recall anything resembling such a thi-
Of course!

It hit me with sudden clarity. Sort of.
It must be the dog mural on the wall outside the art classroom or no, wait- the dog statue outside the drama room!

Here I was torn, this was the first hint that led to more than one destination.

The art room mural was decidedly not of a hideous 'hound' - being a memorial of a cute Cavalier called Charlie (who apparently was the school mascot some twelve or so years ago) - but it was canine in nature. And then the drama room statue of Bentley the Beagle - another mascot from closer to twenty years ago from what I could gather - was also quite cute.

In any case, the term 'hound' was obviously not referring to the monstrous kind found in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, but rather just general class of dogs.

Though I paused, a bemused smile on my face as I reflected that 'hound' in everyday English was usually used as a blanket term for hunting dogs - of which both Cavaliers and Beagles were initially part of. For both had been bred for it, albeit hunting somewhat smaller prey than their larger counterparts.

But then, this didn't help my current predicament as much as I had hoped. Initially I thought that maybe I could make a distinction based on which one was a hunting dog and which wasn't - thus deciding whether to go to the mural or the statue first - but since both were initially part of the hound family such a hope was dashed.

Or was it...?
After all, I had a tendency to overthink things, and sometimes the answer had been simpler than I realised.

Beagles, intially bred for catching hares, were the more commonly known hunting dogs - their baying as they hunted, often heard in movies or tv shows (especially prominent in one of my favourite childhood classics, 'The Fox and the Hound') was after all quite iconic.
On the whole, it was less common knowledge that the breeds merged into Cavaliers had historically been used for hunting small birds.

Having come to a conclusion of my clue-solving which had so thoroughly drawn me in, I allowed myself to properly read the second half of the note.

Reason #4: Your authenticity

My 'authenticity'?
This time, my face remained neutral.

To be honest I wasn't quite so sure about that. It gave the same bitter taste in my mouth as I got when overhearing Michelle calling someone else, or myself, so 'special' or 'unique' with a cruel curl of her lip. In themselves they were lovely words, and I'm sure that they were both once given and taken as compliments. But now, in today's world, they were a mockery.
An almost-insult.

Were they saying that I was too 'authentic'? That my annoying nature was shining through too much? That I should take more effort to hide my true self? (And trust me, I had tried).

These questions of negativity took no effort to appear, they just bubbled out of me and clouded my thoughts. There had been a time where I had tried to fight back, but as time had gone on and my hope had dimmed, I had fought back less and less, until they took on a life of their own. Their despair seemed to fill the air, engulfing me.

But today, today was different. Hope had been regaining it's courage, and now it dared to challenge these thoughts with a,
No. That's not true.

I could almost feel the darkness tremble slightly, hear the negative thoughts go "huh? What's all this then?", see the flickering ember of hope spark slightly and cast it's light on the void of darkness.

Hope spoke up even louder, almost shouting.
That is not true. Look at the other reasons!
Your Kindness! Your Intelligence! Your smile when reading a good book!
Sure, they could have phrased it better, but I'm sure they mean it as a positive thing, not a negative! All the other reasons were positive and this one is too! Don't give up!

My head twinged. Okay, okay! I'll view it as positive for now. In any case, I need to get going if I'm to find the next clue.

Having confirmed my choice of where to go to find the next note, I tucked the hint in my pocket and got a grand distance of three steps towards the drama room before the 5-minute warning bell for class rang across the school.

Dash it!

I'd have to wait until second break to go and see, since I had a double Chemistry period next. Talking of which, I was going to be late - late! - if I wasn't quick about it.

With this, I rushed off as fast as I dared (which in this case took the form of an awkward fast walk) to my locker to grab my equipment before heading to the Chemistry classroom - which was thankfully only just down the hall - joining the line just as the teacher appeared around the corner.

Phew.