The sun was setting. Ody and Penny gathered their items and hid them with their bikes. Climbing up the tree once more, Penny smiled as she set eyes on Dr. Plomin driving away in the car.
"They've left," Penny spoke to Ody below as she hopped out of the tree.
Nodding, Ody yawned. He started to tip-toe toward the shed. Walking just as quietly, Penny tagged along a few feet behind her brother. Despite the soft crunch of leaves beneath their feet, the two Winters were silent in the crisp, night air.
Neither truly knew what they were looking for, but both were eager to find out. As they inched forward in the night, both their hearts raced.
Nearing the shed, Ody turned his flashlight on. Despite the locked door, it didn't take long for the children to find a loose board in the molded wood they could pull off and enter through instead. Ripping the board away, they climbed in and breathed in the dusty-damp air that filled the shed.
They wasted no time by wandering about this murky place. Instead, they walked directly over to the box from earlier and removed the lid. Climbing down the stairs in the dark, all the hairs on Penny's arms stood up in fright.
At that moment, she no longer wanted to be here. She wanted all of this to go away. She wanted to go home with her father where she could work on her crafts and climb familiar trees. What was she doing here anyway? What would Eric think had happened to Ody and her?
Pausing on the stairs down into the dark, Penny hesitated. Looking up at the shed, then down into the lab, she wondered which she would regret more: getting caught trespassing or not following this lead to discover Devlin's true legacy.
On that Sunday evening, as she stood on the stairs, she took in a deep breath. She decided she would walk into this world she didn't know existed. For that matter, it sounded like only five people knew what the PSE truly was. Four remained while one likely died from it..
Ody flicked on his flashlight about the basement lab in search of where to start. Finding a light switch on the wall, he flicked it on. The foul smell of a recent dissection haunted the lab. Beyond that, Ody couldn't have found the place more wonderful.
The sensation of deja vu made the boy bubble with excitement. This room was exactly like what his life had been before the divorce. He had loved the diagrams, images, and the terminology he read in the papers. They sparked memories, but he had simply forgotten.
After Ody had been forced to move to the city, he'd angrily thrown everything away in his attempts to change who he was to get others to like him more. Even as a homeschooled nerd, he knew that other children didn't have such passions. As soon as he set foot on the pavement of the city that never sleeps, he'd thrown it all away.
Ody remembered the look on Mae's face as he carried box upon box to the dumpster outside. Her face was heartbroken and torn, but he hadn't known another way to disappear into the crowds of Lake Ballard High other than throwing his passions away.
He walked over to a desk and picked up a few pages that looked as if they had been touched recently. Penny followed him at first, but she soon crept away to another room.
Her eyes peered up at the door that stood shut, then up at the golden letters that read the simple word she'd seen as a child many times before: Winter.
Penny's eyes widened in surprise at the letters. She twisted the handle of the door to enter the room. Flicking the light switch on, her eyes drifted about the room.
Inside was a desk with a strange 1900s computer that had wires and plugs messily hanging out the back as if someone had gutted it and redone its circuits.
Tracing her fingers across the wood of her deceased father's desk, she found a microscope and something rather odd—it was an air quality monitor. She picked up the last few papers left on his desk and gazed over the handwriting lovingly.
As she thumbed through the pieces of paper, there was one particular note that caught her eyes. It was a different size paper and the message was in pen rather than pencil.
On the parchment, a certain name caught her eye. Penelope Julie Winter. Penny, to examine the note closer, brought it into the light.
'Dear penelope julie winter,
My dear, I juSt want to tell yoU that I love you more thaN the sun and the moon themselves. Penny, I know it is happening to me like it has to so many others. Honey, I just want you to know that however it ends up, it is not what it looks like. Penny, there is so much in this world that you Do not know; evils and selfishness so preposterous that ignorAnce is the only shelter I found to save you from them. You must understand, mY little firefly, that you Need to be careful. Your brother Is going to be starting on the PSE and he'll need your help. My dear, please be careful because in this great biG world. There are dangers more Horrid than you can even imagine. WhaTever happens in these next coming months, know that I'm with you and Ody alwayS and that I love you. Please, stay safe, my dear. -Your loving father, Devlin Jax Winter'
Penny turned the words over in her mind. Walking out of Devlin's office, she found Ody bent over an open textbook page.
"Penny, look at thi-" Ody began to speak, but he fell silent as Penny's fervent expression. She placed the note over his textbook and slowly turned it so he could read the words.
"The letters, Ody. Look at the way they're written. They're darker and almost by a different hand."
"What's so significant about that?"
"Those letters spell out Sunday nights, Ody. What day of the week is it again?"
"Sunday..."
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...
