Eve & the Whispered World

Chapter 5: To Lockwood Manor

He continued to ramble while Eve's mind wandered through the events that had lead her here. 

Eve & Lawrence had only met less than a year ago, when Eve entered the Wooldridge Inn and wooed the tavern locals with card tricks and impossible tales of her travels around the world.

Lawrence was a reserved and soft spoken man, while Eve a wandering rogue with an knack for trouble. She often spent entire nights with him by the fire in his tavern. Full tummies, imported whiskey and naturally flowing conversation made for some of the greatest laughs and cries she had ever known.

"Eve, I had spent much of my life buried in books of ancient myths from all corners of the world before discovering what we refer to as the Whispered World" Lawrence had said, on one such night. Eve simply took a sip of her drink and listened to he learned friend. His speech was barely louder than a whisper. 

"Precise calculations often lead me and my company to very specific ancient ruins, jungles and wild lands where the veil between our world and the 'Whispered World' temporarily proves to be thin" he continued. "I'm fascinated by your accounts, how on earth do you so casually encounter entities of the Whispered World, minus any such research?" he asked, a humble smile ever present on his face.

"Honestly Lawrence? ... I haven't the foggiest idea" Eve casually admitted. "It's a bit like a compass in my head if ya know what I mean. I just, feel a pull toward'a place and ... I go, I dunno".

"As good an explanation as any" chuckled the elderly man, as he pushed his specticles up the bridge of his red nose. "I've always wished for all people to possess such impulses."

"I'm often reminded of one anecdote. Is that that of most every ordinary person as he or she closes their bedroom curtains before retiring for the night. In the corner of their eye they notice something that defies reality, be it a giant, a ghost, a ... something. In place of leaping out their window in pursuit such a mysterious wonder, they quickly draw the curtains and attribute some ordinary conclusion to their experience, 'over-tiredness' being my personal favourite."

Eve raised her glass. "To leaping out the window" she cheered, Lawrence returned the gesture with a shaky hand.

After a moment passed, Lawrence walked over to gaze out the nearest window. The midnight rain trickled down the glass. "As a dear friend of mine once said 'The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper' " he said, looking to the old city.

"Unfortunately" he continued. "I believe my friend was wrong. I do think as our senses collectively grow sharper, our ability to recognise the veil between this world and the one that lies beyond is dwindling". 

Later on that night, having indulged one glass too many, Eve aided the elderly man to his room and helped remove his boots before tucking him. With that he said "I've told them all about you ... the Risunā ... dying to meet you".

"Ris - unah?" inquired the puzzled woman. But a roll of thunder in the distance was her only response, as Lawrence had fallen asleep the instant his head hit the pillow.

It was only days later when Lawrence Wooldridge disappeared.

"You're free to go, young Lady!" announced the officer. Eve's mind had wandered.

"Oh, brilliant. Oscar. Yes. Thought I might have to bonk you with my stick"

"Sorry?"

"My uhm, cane. I use it for bonking. Bonk". She awkwardly demonstrated a lazy attack on a defenceless fence. 

"Ha! Yes. Very good. Off you pop then" he said as he hopped onto his bicycle. The officer looked over his shoulder not once but three times at Eve as she waved him off.

"Oh I've just realised I'm waving my cane at the poor fella, he looks unsettled. He was a bit mad, what ya reckon Maurice?"

A tiny creature with a curious face emerged from her hat onto it's rim. It looked like a floppy eared mouse with a curiously wide and innocent eyes.

After peeking his little head out from a tear in her hat, Eve snapped a biscuit from her pocket and watched in amusement as he extended his lanky arms to retrieve and begin nibbling on it as she continued her trek toward the manor.

"D'ya think he'll notice we nicked his biscuits?" she asked the creature, who only continued to munch away.

As she approached, she noticed the symmetrical windows of the tall building were all entirely dark. That was, until a sudden glimmer of candlelight from a second story window suddenly flickered on.

"Someone's home ..." She whispered.

Eve continued her ascent up the driveway, creaked the giant wroth-iron gates open and slowly approached the manor with her hand firmly on her cane.