Lost Souls

32

Katie looked dubiously at the ground. It looked hard and uninviting. Unsure as to how she'd dig through the earth, she dropped to her knees, and immediately felt the dampness soak through her jeans. "Yuk!" she mumbled.

​Picking up a large stone, she started to attack the dirt. Unsurprisingly, the top layer of loose earth and twigs moved easily, but as she started to hit firmer soil, her task grew much harder.

​The crow helped her by removing twigs and small stones from the site, and Katie wondered if he'd been trained to do this sort of thing, or if it was just another one of the strange happenings that had occurred since she'd arrived at the Manor house?

​Her hand was hurting, and her grip loosened as she hit the ground for the hundredth or so time. Dropping the stone, she rubbed her fingers, trying to get some circulation back into them, and to chase away the pins and needles nibbling at her flesh.

​As soon as her hands felt normal again, Katie stuck them directly into the soil and scraped away a huge amount of light brown earth.

After only a few more minutes, her fingers hit something that didn't belong in the ground.

​Katie looked over at the crow, who merely cawed loudly at her and hoped from foot to foot.

​Katie pushed her hands under the object and with one pull, yanked it from the earth. She brushed loose soil from it and gave it a shake. The rattle from inside made her heart jump, and caused her eyes to open wider with surprise.

​Her nimble fingers searched for the lock. Disappointingly, she found a small padlock attached to it, that had been hidden at first by a large lump of sticky clay.

​"I can't open it here," she said to the crow, before she added, "I can't believe I'm having a conversation with a bird!"

​Katie stood up and brushed her knees clean. She then headed back to the house to find something with which she could open the box.

As she walked she turned to see if the crow was coming with her. The bird had disappeared. Katie thought she understood. The bird had played it's part in the mystery and now it had moved on. Who knew, but perhaps it would return to being just an ordinary everyday crow?

​When she opened the front door, Christopher was walking out of the kitchen holding a mug of something hot. Katie heard her stomach rumble, and so did Christopher.

​"Two questions. One, where have you been? And two, do you fancy a coffee?" He said with a broad smile forming across his face.

​Katie grinned. "Yes to the coffee, and quick find me something to prise open a lock."

​Christopher spotted the box for the first time. He'd been more excited to see Katie. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at it as if it was a bomb or other dangerous device.

​"It's clearly a box, but I don't know what's in it until we open it."

​Christopher laughed. "Yeah, it's a box, but what I meant was where did you get it, why's it covered in mud, and why are we opening it?"

​"So many questions. So little time," Katie replied, as she grabbed him by the arm and tugged him back into the kitchen.

​"Hey, careful. I'll spill my coffee," Christopher gasped, as some of his drink splashed out onto the floor.

​Katie put the box on the table, and then went to rummage in the cutlery drawers. She found a large knife and a tin opener. "If needs be, we can use this," she said, holding up her weapons of choice.

​"Might need to saw this off," Christopher warned her as he tentatively twiddled with the padlock.

​Katie pushed the knife into the key hole and twisted hard. The blade pinged out and nearly hit her forearm. "That was close," she muttered to herself.

​Here, let me try," Christopher suggested, as he gently took hold of the knife.

​Again the blade slipped out dangerously.

​"Try the tin opener," Katie said impatiently.

​"Yes dear," Christopher grinned.

​The tin opener wasn't wide enough for the rim on the box and like the knife it kept slipping away from the metal container. "Damn!" Katie said in frustration.

​"Maybe your dad has a saw in his tool box?" Christopher hinted, trying to give her hope at the same time.

​"It's too early to wake him. We'll have to just leave it here until later."

​"You could come and wait with me in the lounge if you want?" Christopher teased.

​"Oh can I?"Katie said sarcastically.

​"It's nice and cozy in there. Your mum very kindly made me a log fire."

​Katie was tempted. "I'd love to Christopher, but I'm not sure what would flip dad the most, me going out in the middle of the night on the instructions of a crow, to search for a box that might or might not contain clues as to what happened here, or him coming downstairs to find his eldest daughter snuggled up in the lounge with a bloke she's only just met."

​"Who said anything about snuggling up?"

​Katie thumped Christopher's shoulder playfully.

​"And did I hear you correctly? You went out because a crow spoke to you?" he added, rubbing his shoulder.

​"I never said it spoke. I did follow it though!"Katie said, hardly believing the words as they escaped her lips.

​"I think your dad's going to be more worried by his daughter's mental illness than a few cuddles," Christopher joked.

​Katie went to smack him again, but Christopher took hold of her wrists and pulled her closer to him until they were touching. He then kissed her fully on the mouth.

​When they broke, Katie felt a strange tingling in her chest. "Let's snuggle," she whispered.

​"What about the box?"

​"Box! What box?" Katie joked, as she took hold of Christopher's hand and led him through to the lounge.