INFERNO (Dolan Twins) [ON HIATUS]

4. Missing Half

(Countdown Timer: 23:49:35)
Grayson's POV

For the one hundredth time today, I crouch to my knees to check under something. My phone's LED light emits enough to reveal that I'm peeking under a table made of crooked wood. I reach out and snatch a piece of crinkled paper from the floor, feeling an objected pressed between the two sides of the paper.

"I got something!" I scream, accidentally causing myself to hit my head against the bottom of the table. "Ow!"

"Oh my gosh, Grayson are you okay?" Daisy asks with worry as she helps me up.

"He's fine," Ethan pushes it away. "Gray's just clumsy and dumb."

"I'm not dumb! I'm the one who found this!" I flail my arm up and about, waving the weighted paper everywhere.

"Stop wasting time by waving that thing dweeb," Troy comes up to me and snatched the paper right out of my grasp. "We've wasted ten minutes just searching for a damn clue, so stop acting like a child and-"

"We're not children," Ethan and I grit through our teeth.

"Pfff, you think you're going to intimidate me by doing that?"

"Troy, stop," his girlfriend orders sternly. Rhea tugs his arm in an attempt to pull him away from me. "Give the paper to Grayson, and just leave it alone, okay?"

"Who says I have to listen to you?" Troy looks his girlfriend up and down. He scoffs, "I can say and do whatever I want!" The nineteen year old begins to tear the paper to uncover the item inside.

I cross my arms with a grumpy cloud over my head as Ethan lets out a frustrated sigh. Everyone watches intensely as Troy uncovers the unknown item, tossing away scraps of the red and crinkled paper. My heart thumps out of my chest as we watch him grasp the item in his hands.

"It's a goddamn puzzle piece," he utters with disappointment.

"Lemme see it!" I hold my palm out.

"I doubt you'll be able to decipher anything, but give it a go I guess," Troy carelessly dumps the wooden puzzle fragment into my hand. "Good luck, dumbo."

What makes him think that I'm stupid?

I shake my head to clear the flustered thoughts from my mind. Then I glide the wooden piece between my fingers before staring down at it. A splash of yellow catches my eyes as I hold the puzzle piece loosely in my palm.

Ethan comes up behind me and rests his chin on my shoulder. Both of us stare down at the partial image on the wooden slate, unsure of what we're looking at. From what I can see, the yellow shape seems to make out into the image of a leaf. Well, at least half of an oak leaf.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" I ask my twin.

"A yellow oak leaf?"

"Yep," I nod and shrug my shoulders back to ease the soreness of being in this position.

"So..." Shane asks subtly. "Care to explain what you're doing?"

"Like Troy said, it is a puzzle piece," Ethan assures. "But it has half the image of a yellow oak leaf on it."

"Weird," Daisy mumbles. "But why an oak leaf?"

"Not sure," I shrug. "Wait a second..." my hand slowly flips over the wooden puzzle piece. "There's a message written on the back."

"What does it say?!" Rhea suddenly asks.

"Uh..." Ethan squints at the fine print carved into the wood. "It...it says...uh..."

"...t-the other half will unlock your second eyes?" I hover my flashlight over it.

"There's another piece then..." Chris says.

"Then let's get searching," Troy sighs. "Again."

"Is there anything else that can help us find this other half of the puzzle?" Shane wonders. "Like, there's gotta be a hint around here."

We all know what he means. None of us want to even consider getting on our hands and knees to search for more clues, but if it's to help us find this other half to the oak leaf puzzle, then I suppose it's worth it. So, the seven of us spread out once more, keeping our eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.