The Inn 🛣

Chapter: 5 When Someone Finds A Locket

'I told you not to go to Greywald. It's not my mistake, Stiles.' Oliver said over the phone.

Stiles crossed the road opposite to Berry's. 'I never stated anything about your mistakes.'

'So, you do think it's my mistake somehow?'

'Oliver, I'm not accusing you of anything. I just called to remind you that I need those details on Walden Coben, urgently. I haven't received them yet.'

Oliver waited for Stiles to finish. 'You are not mad at me?'

Stiles recalled his sister's voice message he heard half an hour ago. Stiles was definitely angry, but he was more upset. Stiles wasn't ready to deal with his family just yet. Before coming to Greywald, Stiles had a perfect plan brewing in his head. He planned to tell his family about his mini work trip a secret until after he came back home. After the previous night debacle, Stiles was sure of one thing, he couldn't share his work related stuff with Oliver anymore. Stiles badly needed an alternative. Someone he could talk to and trust. Someone he could share his experiences at Greywald.

'You there, Stiles? I can hear you breathing,' Oliver said in a high-pitched voice.

Stiles pretended to be not annoyed. 'Yeah, I can hear you. It's fine, okay? Now can you just send me the details?'

'You weren't hearing me at all, were you? I sent you the mail like 5 minutes ago. Look into it.'

Stiles took a quick look at his mails. An attachment named, 'Stilessssss' appeared in the notification bar.

'Yeah, I found it.' Stiles said.

'I'm getting a call from your sister. I'll talk to you later, man.'

'What? Don't answer...' Before Stiles could say anything further, Oliver disconnected the call.

Stiles waited for the file to download. Keeping his eyes fixed on the screen, he took a left turn. Stiles let a hand through his hair and accidentally ended up nudging someone in their face.

'Sorry,' he apologized, still looking at his phone.

A girl dragging a blue bicycle with her walked on the side lane. She was balancing her phone between her ear and shoulder. 'Yes, I know, Lizzy. I'll be back in a few days, and then we can all go out on your birthday.' She spoke on the phone.

The girl took a right turn when she saw a hand coming right at her. She almost lost her balance. The phone fell from her hands, she managed to take hold of her cycle before it reached the ground. Her messy light brown hair got caught up against the wind.

Tucking her hair behind her ears, she picked her phone.

'Sorry,' she heard a voice.

She turned to see the guy who hit her, but he was already gone.

'Stupid,' the girl lifted her phone.

She put the phone in the pouch of her red denim jacket.

'Can I help you?' the girl heard a voice.

She looked up and saw a young guy standing in front of her. He had chocolate syrup marks all over his white shirt. A strong mint smell came as he rubbed the excess sanitizer in his hands. 'I can give you a hand, if you'd like.' he offered.

The girl seemed unsure of what to say. 'I... Thank you, but I think I'm going to be fine. Some stupid guy just came out of nowhere and hit me with his stupid elbow. People don't even watch where they go, anymore. They are so-so...'

'Stupid?' he said. 'By the way my name is Reese, and I owe a small restaurant right over there.' He pointed to a red and white restaurant right across the street

'You can call me Skye. S-K-Y- E and your restaurant looks lovely. So, are you a chef too or just a sloppy eater?'

Reese fixed the mirror of the bicycle. 'Both. Is this bike yours?'

Skye tried to set her hair with her hands 'No, it's rented. I really needed some fresh air. Besides, there is no harm in staying fit, right?'

'I've got to go back to the restaurant. Care to accompany me? It's lunch time anyways.'

Skye nodded slightly. 'Sure. I haven't eaten anything since this morning.'

Reese helped Skye in carrying the bicycle across the road. Skye was able to see the exterior of the restaurant clearly. An old white signboard hung at the restaurant door. A small silver bell was attached in the corner of the door which made a rustling noise every time someone opened the door.

The restaurant was even bigger from inside. Skye could smell the chocolate as one of the chefs pour melted dark chocolate over the soufflé. The oval bakery counter was filled with a variety of pastries, cupcakes and cookies.

'It's like a festival in here,' Skye went near the counter to smell the fresh chocolate.

'You can say that.' Reese caught Skye eyeing the blueberry pastry. You here on a holiday?'

'Something like that. I literally want to lick the cream off this beautiful blueberry pastry. Can I order that?' Skye widened her eyes.

Reese smiled broadly. 'Sure. You really can have anything you want.'

Reese's eyes fell on Skye's round golden locket. A vase was engraved on it. 'Your locket is lovely.'

Skye looked down at the locket hanging around her neck. 'Thank- thank you.'

Skye backed away from the counter.

'You okay?' Reese asked.

Skye raised her hand to make him stop talking. 'I'm fine. I just remembered I had plans with my friend today. We decided to have lunch together. She must be waiting for me, I gotta run now.'

Skye rushed out of the restaurant.

'What is it with her?' Reese muttered.

Stiles went back to the inn to clear up his head. He was so sure a hand came from the lake and tried to grab him inside. He replayed the incident in his head again and again, but the end was the same. The information Oliver e-mailed to Stiles didn't have anything that could help him. Stiles already knew most of the inside information about Walden Coben. He was only fifty two years old.

There was a picture below the Word file. It was a mug shot of him from when he was about thirty. A head full of hair and a smile on his face. Stiles remembered seeing Walden's recent picture in the story their channel covered. Stiles mentally compared how Walden looked all those years ago and how he looked at once.

The vision of the night flashed before Stiles' eyes. He sat against the bed, his hand on his head.

'At least I got my suitcase now,' he stared at his laptop lying on the top of his suitcase.

Stiles pulled the laptop towards him and turned it on. Stiles closed his eyes and managed a short breathing exercise to quiet himself. It was something Emma taught him forcefully. He remembered how Emma used to meditate for hours whenever they had an argument.

Stiles transferred the photographs from his phone to his laptop. There was a 36 second long video on it too.

'I must've pressed the wrong button.' Stiles pressed play.

In the video, Stiles could see himself falling back. He replayed the video to make check the hand. No hand appeared in the video, all he could see was himself.

'How is that possible?'

He played the video again and watched it carefully. He saw a golden locket lying beside his hand.

'It wasn't there before.' Shutting his laptop, he said. 'I have to go back there.'