ATTRACTION ─ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱʙᴜʀʏ

~2~

The hot breeze from the burning fire raging inside the building engulfed me as I entered the lodgings. The temperature inside was quite a contrast from the freezing cold of Winter outside.

Tired and fatigued, I was just about to make my way up the stairs to my room when I was stopped by a friendly voice.

"Good afternoon Enola dear."

I turned around to see Mrs Lonnie, the sweet elderly wife of the landlord flashing me a kind smile - the kind of smile that leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Good afternoon to you too." I replied, returning her sweet greeting. "Did anything come for me in the post?"

"Let me check." She answered, making her way over to the small desk at the side of the hallway then looking through to see if she could find one that was addressed to me.

She pulled out a brown envelope on which I could see 'Miss Posy' written on it.

"Oh, that one is mine." I quickly said, stopping her from putting it back in drawer.

"Are you sure darling? This one is addressed to a Miss Posy. Which is quite strange given that no one named Miss Posy lives here."

"Well that's me, thank you" I replied, swiftly grabbing the letter from the confused Mrs Lonnie then hurrying up the stairs to my room to avoid anymore questions which she may have had.

I rummaged through my pockets until I found the small key which would let me into my abode.

Entering the room and closing the door behind me, I placed my newly bought Chrysanthemums and the letter on the small wooden table near the door.

Then, as I had done so many times, I swiftly picked up the vase in which my flowers from the previous week had withered away and emptied it out, throwing the dead flowers in the bin and adding in fresh water.

I placed my new Chrysanthemums into their new home then placed the vase back in its usual spot near my bedside table.

I picked up the letter addressed to my fake name of Miss Posy then sat down on my bed with it, excited as to what it's contents could be.

I had mailed many people who's cases I had read about in the paper and who may need my detective abilities to help them.

I usually never got a reply back, only once or twice on small cases which I had managed to solve easily.

Carefully, I opened up the envelope to read the letter inside.

Neatly written on the letter was:
Dear Miss Posy,
we do not need your assistance to help us find our daughter. We have many other well renowned detectives willing to help us.
- The Crofts

My earlier excitement vanished as soon as I read the contents of the letter. It had been a while since I had worked on a big, exciting case so I was very disappointed with the Croft's decision that they didn't need my assistance.

"Well that's just ruined my whole mood" I thought to myself as I got up off my bed and threw the disappointment of a letter in the bin.

I walked over to the small window in my room and looked out onto the busy streets. People were bustling about, no care for those around them, trying to get to where they were supposed to be.

I could see the market where I just was a couple of minutes ago and right near the market was a paperboy, selling today's paper.

"Oh no!"

I had forgetten to buy today's paper!

I was never really that interested in the news, I just bought the paper in hopes that my mother had left me another cipher.

I wasn't in the mood to go back out into the cold to buy the paper but I still needed it just in case.

"Maybe Mrs Lonnie is done with reading hers." I thought as I left my room to go see if she wouldn't mind me reading her copy.

The hallway was empty and she wasn't anywhere to be seen but on the small desk was today's edition of the newspaper.

"She wouldn't mind if I just borrowed it for a couple of minutes, right?" I thought as I swiftly grabbed the paper then hurried on back to my room.

It was just the same old stuff going on in the news: chaos in the government, a rise in prices in the market and the case of missing Alexa Croft but I had no interest in that anymore as I had been turned down.

I flipped the paper to the end and skimmed through to see if there was any message for me.

'Aenol emet em ta het nrdgae moroortw ta ixs ni teh ginneve- het opopnimocn'

Mother is that you?