When All The Adults Were Gone

Chapter 19 - More riddles.

There was a bright light. Too bright for my liking. I tried to block the light with my arm, but I couldn't move. My arm felt as if it was being pinned against the bed, like the effect of gravity had become ten times more powerful, pulling my body towards the core of the earth. That was my dream for the night. The whole eight or so hours that I slept, I was trapped in my own mind, my body paralysed by sleep. I couldn't escape my mind, I was stuck thinking about every single insane scenario my brain could think of. I was consciously awake, but my body was asleep. I was only relieved from my coma by the bright light that shone through my parent's bedroom window.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes only to be blinded by the bright sun that was streaming through the window. I went to check the time on the digital clock on the bedside table, but it wasn't on. 'Oh, right. No parents means no electricity. Yet.' I thought to myself as I looked around the familiar, neutral room that my parents used to sleep in. My eyes came to rest on my mother's dressing table in the far corner of the room. I was intrigued by it for some reason I can't explain. I just had that... How to put it - gut feeling.

I swung my legs out of my side of the warm bed, exposing them to the harsh cold of the January morning air. Shivering slightly, I stood up taking the throw from the bottom of the bed and wrapping it around myself. I walked over to the dressing table watching the light from the window illuminate the brightly coloured bottles of perfume, so it looked like the stained glass window in a church. My mum's jewellery stand was still decorated with many gold and silver necklaces and crystal pendants that diffused the light into all different directions. I watched myself approaching the table in the mirror but I didn't focus on myself too much. I was looking at what was reflected from the drawer.

When I reached the table I saw that the top drawer was unlocked and slightly open. That drawer was never open. It was always locked because it had loads of secret codes and passwords kept inside because my mum helped run the base and was the person who was trusted with all of the important back up information. Filled with curiosity, I poked my hand from underneath the throw blanket and pulled the drawer open a bit more, hungry to see what secrets were kept inside, kept from me for all of my life.

The drawer was stiff and loud. Something inside it clunked and something else rattled, there was also the sound of shuffling paper. I peered inside the drawer to find a stack of coloured paper with the British coat of arms watermarked on the paper. Next to the stack of neatly arranged papers was a drawer organiser that had a wad of emergency cash that my dad always kept for a 'just in case' moment. There was also two small tins one saying 'Scarlett's Teeth' and 'Jamie's Teeth'. Gross, my mother had kept out baby teeth and put them in tins for safe keeping. In the drawer organiser was also a tatty box with my Granddad's war medals and another more well kept, red velvet box with my dad's medals. Underneath was a photo album of all of our family events, childhood photos and holidays. Not wanting to get nostalgic, I decided to leave that for another time. But as I moved out of the light I saw a gleam out of the corner of my eye.

I looked closer into the drawer and saw in the corner, a small ring of keys. There was no label for the keys, nothing to say what they belonged to except a note. I picked it up and unfolded the paper. As I suspected it was from my mum. The note read:

'Scarlett, keep these keys with you at all times. You'll know when to use them'

I rolled my eyes at the riddle but kept reading in case there was some explanation.

'Don't roll your eyes at me young lady. But seriously, when you use these keys, remember me and your dad and that we love you and Jamie so very much. We never chose this but we will do all we can to help fix it. Love mum x'

My mother knew me so well that she knew I would roll my eyes at the note. It made me chuckle but it also made me slightly angry. My parents knew what was going on and they didn't even decide to explain to me what was going on or what I should do. If they loved me at all they would have kept me in the loop of their little secrets. How rude.

I set the note on the dressing table and set the keys on top. I turned to the bed and looked at the small ball in the centre of the bed. I will never understand how that child manages to wriggle all the way into the middle of the bed at night... I walked over to the bed and prodded the ball. I squirmed and let out a faint giggle. "Jamie, time to get up. We need to get dressed and go over to the school." I said through the covers. The ball grew as Jamie stood up and he removed the duvet from his head. I walked from the bedroom, across the hallway to my bedroom to get dressed.

I randomly chose some clothes from my wardrobe, blue jeans and a white jumper. I quickly went into the bathroom to have a shower. The electricity and gas didn't work at all so all I had was cold water and let me tell you. That shower was not fun. I washed my hair and my face and got out not wanting to spend any longer than I needed in the freezing water. I wrapped my towel around me and just snuggled into it like a blanket for a few minutes trying to gain some circulation from the warmth.

When I was dressed and had gotten ready I left the bathroom for Jamie and decided to try and look through the documents in my mum's drawer to see if there was anything there that could help work out what the heck that note meant.

I removed the pile of rainbow papers from the drawer and scanned each page looking for any words that looked important. I went through the whole pile and found hardly anything except the codes for the computers in the offices, the codes for the electricity generator and gas supply but nothing about a key. Either way I went downstairs to the hallway where I had left my rucksack and stuffed all of the paper inside with the experiment 103. I put the keys in the side pocket of the rucksack with the keys to the school and some pens. I stood up and turned around to see a fully dressed Jamie pulling his arms through his coat humming the 'Thomas the Tank Engine' theme tune. I smiled at him and how unaware of the whole situation he was and pulled on my own coat. "Ready to go to the school?" I asked taking his hand and shouldering my rucksack. "Definitely! I'm starving. Oh and I thought of some really good activities we can do with everyone tonight!" He chirped as we stepped through the front door and began to walk down the road to the school.