Shortly after everything was packed, Penny laid back on her bed. After everything that was said, she could not rest. The guilt was crippling. She needed to apologize.
Slipping outside of her bedroom, she heard the hall clock chime ten o'clock. Walking silently down the hall, she spied light pouring out into the dark hallway from under Ody's closed door.
Penny knocked softly on the wood. She entered the room to see Ody sitting on his bed, staring at a piece of paper. She walked silently up behind him, reading the note over his shoulder.
"Ya know that isn't a real address, right?" Penny spoke, causing Ody to jump at the sound of her voice.
Stuffing the note back in its envelope, his face grew red with anger.
"Wait, Ody. I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. Please, can we just be okay for once? Can we just start over? Please?"
Refusing to say anything else, he looked away.
"I saw the note, Ody. There's no use trying to hide it now. What do ya think it means?"
"Go away, Penny," spoke Ody, "It's rude to read over people's shoulders."
"I know. I'm sorry. But what do ya think it means?"
Sighing and looking up at her, he wanted to be furious with the little girl but her innocent brown eyes softened even his heart.
"I... don't know. That's why I was rereading it."
"Can I see it again? Please?"
Ody allowed his sister to sit next to him on the bed—still a little frustrated by her—but giving in to her naive eyes. He pulled the note out and uncrumpled the paper so that she could see it clearer.
"3151 Aldrich Dr, Cazenovia 473324. It's a puzzle," Penny smiled.
"A wha-"
"A puzzle. Devlin used to be obsessed with these. In the past few months, he was constantly working on different puzzles as if his life depended on it. Scrabble, riddles, or simply a wooden puzzle, you name it; he was obsessed with them. I bet that is what this note is ," interrupted Penny.
Frowning slightly at the fact that Penny knew so much more about his father than he did, he chose not to respond.
"Now look. I bet ya one cream soda that that address is not real. Can't ya look it up?" Penny asked, pointing to the cell phone that sat beside Ody.
Choosing not to take the bait this time, Ody picked up the phone. "It's called a cell phone, just so you know." This time there was no trace of contentment in his tone.
"Cell phone, smell phone, does the address exist?" she spoke and Ody smiled a little.
"No. I hate to admit it, but it doesn't exist," replied Ody a few seconds later.
"Just like I thought. Now look closely at the address. 'Aldrich' and 'Dr.' I bet ya that he didn't mean 'drive' by 'Dr' but 'doctor' instead. All of Pa's friends have PhDs, ya know."
"Hmm, but how would you know that?"
"Just look at the rest of the numbers, Ody. The street address and zip code have a total of ten numbers. The zip code has six digits, so it's most likely a phone number instead-"
"I am surprised you even know what that is," Ody interrupted with a smirk.
"Oh, shut up, stupid, and let me finish. Notice how the first three letters in the address are 315. I betcha it's no coincidence that those three numbers happen to be the area code for a phone number from Cazenovia, New York—where we are right now."
"So, let me get this straight, you want me to call this random number that could be some creep, and ask for Dr. Aldrich?"
"Yes."
"But why would Devlin give me a puzzle when he knows I suck at them?"
"Because... he wanted me to help ya with it," Penny smiled, praying that what she said was the truth.
Rolling his eyes, Ody typed the number into the number. The both of them sat silently as they listened to the phone ring on speakerphone—Ody begged for the number not to exist, Penny for the opposite.
When the phone rang for the last time, Ody turned to face Penny, a cruel smirk on his face. Sighing, Penny looked at the note, the confusion plastered on her face.
"But-"
She was interrupted by the voicemail coming from Ody's phone:
"Thank you for calling Winter Therapy. I'm sorry but no one can come to the phone right now. Please call back later or email us at PostSundayExperiment73324@gmail.com. To repeat this message, please press one."
They stopped dead in their tracks. Penny did her best not to say 'I told you so' for Ody's sake. She pressed the number one and pulled out a pen and paper from Ody's desk and scribbled down the email address.
"Winter therapy..." Ody's voice trailed off, "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, Ody. It's supposed to mean nothing."
Expecting Penny to be sarcastic, his eyes widened at the fact that she was perfectly serious.
"It's a detour we're supposed to take. Just look, they want us to email that email, but it probably doesn't exist. If it does, it'll just put us on a watch list of sorts."
Ody glanced at Penny with confusion.
"What... is going on..." his voice trailed off once again.
"The Post Sunday Experiment, of course, you didn't think Devlin was really a botanist, did you?"
YOU ARE READING
The Post Sunday Experiment | COMPLETED 2020
AdventureAfter his parent's divorce, Ody Winter moves to New York City with his mother, leaving behind the rolling hills he and his sister grew up on. Two years later, they learn that Ody's father, scientist Devlin Jax Winter, died from a peculiar suicide...
