It's Complicated

The Hidden Room Under The Stairs

Jay POV

At first, we didn't find anything in this room that was concerning to say the least. There were drawers and chairs with bookshelves. There was even a picture of me on top of a fireplace that you could tell hadn't been used in years, but the picture was what started giving Lloyd and I the chills.

It was a picture from when I was a baby, and the notch in my eyebrow had been evident from looking at it. That meant that something had happened to me before this picture was taken, however that wasn't what was concerning to me. It was the scratches that were found on the picture.

It wasn't your usual scratches either. It was like something had been trying to get in or out. The picture looked as though some parts were being held together by threads. Red splotches had also been sprinkled throughout the picture, but I couldn't figure out if it was paint or blood, but the thought of it being blood made me want to pass out.

"This place gives me the creeps. It didn't really have a big effect on me until we entered this room, and now I think that I don't want to have to be a Ninja ever." Lloyd said as he looked around the room with his flashlight in hand.

"I didn't want to be a Ninja, yet here we are. I also didn't want to be kicked out of my house and sleeping on my Friends Couch for weeks on end, but life has a funny way of throwing everything you planned off guard." I retorted.

"Well someone is a Motormouth." Lloyd mumbled under his breath.

"That is Mr. Motormouth to you." I said as I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Yes, because that is mature." Lloyd said with an eye roll.

Thank god Nya isn't here after all. I couldn't do this with her. I quite frankly cant do this. I wonder if I should call Master Wu.

I looked around the room some more. I was scared that we were going to find a body in here to be honest, and Wu hadn't taught me how to deal with bodies. To be fair, he also hasn't taught me what to do in this situation.

There was lots of dust that had been collected on the furniture. It was clear that no one had been in here for a long time. That was what I thought, that was until we found footprints that went up to a bookshelf, then they disappeared.

The footprints had cleared the floor of its dust, and what was revealed on the floor made my stomach churn to its core. The red splatters that had been splattered throughout the painting was everywhere on the floor. My world had been becoming dizzy, and I could tell that the same had been for Lloyd. I quickly realized that those red splatters were not paint like I had hoped.

My breath and steps were shaky as I moved closer to the bookshelf. I kept trying to count to 10 in my head, but I couldn't make it there. 

I felt Lloyd slowly come up from behind me. I knew that he was hiding behind me, but I didn't blame him. If there was Wu here, I would most certainly have hid behind him by now.

"Do you know what you are doing?" Lloyd asked as I hesitantly started touching books.

"It depends on what you mean. One of these is a lever of some sort based on the fact that the footprints end here, and there is no exit point. I want to know what that is. I also know that whatever it is will make us figure out what all of this red is. I don't know if I want to know though, and it is terrifying me to find out, even if it is a necessity." I replied quickly as I started to move on to another shelf.

"That wasn't what I meant, but good job making inferences on some clues." Lloyd applauded me.

"Then what did you mean?" I asked, still fixated on the books.

"Has Wu trained you to deal with this situation?" He asked.

I was silent for a while, hoping that it would answer his question for him, but I could tell that was terrified. I turned around with the intent to lie to him, but once I actually faced him, I couldn't find it in myself to.

"No, Wu hasn't taught me how to deal with the situation we are in right now. Dealing with whatever is going on right now isn't a usual thing that generally happens in Ninjago City. You forget that he has just now been teaching me different ways to deal with things a couple of weeks ago, even if I have been the Blue Ninja for longer than that." I said as I pulled the final book.

Another room appeared. I looked at Lloyd and saw that whatever he was going to ask wasn't going to be said. I slowly looked back towards the room, and my heart became a runner on track.

 The room appeared to be a storage unit, but based on the little figures on the wall, I could tell that it wasn't the rooms original purpose.

There were pictures of baby animals all along the strip of White that seemed to go along the center of each wall. I saw a changing station and a little bookshelf filled with books for toddlers. There was even a chest far back, but too much stuff had been in the way for us to figure out what was inside. 

The big reveal that confirmed my theory was the crib that was nailed into the right corner. It was white and grey, with lightning painted along the rims. A Mobile of clouds and fake rain and lightning was hung above it. 

However, there was burn marks all along the edges of it. And wood that looks to have been chipped away, even though that could have been from old age.

"I think that this was supposed to be my nursery." I said as I looked at the blanket that had Jason stitched on it. 

"Jay." Lloyd was barely able to whisper.

I turned to see that he was facing in an opposite direction. His light was fixated on something, but his body was in the way. I faced my light so that I could see it.

And what I saw made my heart stop.