THE OTHER SIDE

The Office

The office was a rather large wood-panelled room. It had two wooden desks in the centre scattered with various leaflets and letters, a tall oak wardrobe, presumably for storing clothes and possessions, and a small tin crate that appeared to have a padlock bound tightly to it. Nothing extraordinary, yet something didn't feel quite right.

With great trepidation, Kacy began to walk towards the two wooden desks, her heart beating loudly. Nervously, she picked up letter after letter and began to read through each one thoroughly, nothing but bills and more bills. The more she read, the more questions began to fill her mind. Why was the children's home in so much debt? Surely, the tireless hours of hard work would be paying off these bills. And what was happening to the money donated to the home? Nothing made any sense.

After carefully pondering these many questions, Kacy's attention was then drawn towards the slightly opened top drawer in the desk. As quiet as a mouse, she slowly opened the wooden drawer. There appeared to be nothing of significance except a small well-used notebook. Carefully, Kacy picked it up and opened the first page. As her eyes scanned the page, she became aware of the many series of four-digit numbers, some crossed off, others not.

As she turned the next page, a small metal key fell out. Picking it up, she looked around the room again and her eyes landed on the locked crate. It might have been just a coincidence, but Kacy had to find out for sure. Slowly, she walked towards the tin crate and kneeled down in front of it. Breathing heavily, she picked up the key and placed it inside the lock. As she twisted the key in the lock, the crate remained stubbornly locked. Angrily, she slammed her hand on the side of the crate and turned the key again. This time, the crate sprang open. But had this noise been heard? Would she be alone for much longer?

Nothing could prepare Kacy for the sight that met her eyes. Inside the crate, there were stacks upon stacks of money. Surely I'm just imaging this, she thought to herself. Kacy closed her blue eyes, counted to ten and then opened them. But she hadn't imagined anything because the money was still there. There must have been at least £100,000 in the crate, so how come there were so many bills?

Kacy stood transfixed as she tried to piece together what she had heard and seen; nothing seemed to fit. What did all these four  digit numbers mean? Were they some kind of code? And how come there were so many bills, yet so much money... And why had Miss Hallow not told anyone about this? These questions filled Kacy's mind as she tried to piece the different clues together to formulate some kind of explanation. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make sense of anything.

The sounds of footsteps interrupted her thoughts and brought Kacy back to the current time. Quickly, without thinking, Kacy closed the crate, pulled the key out the lock and darted out of the room, straight into Miss Hallow...