Grandfather's secret

It was a dreary day in London. The life-less clouds poured tiny droplets of misery on the already deserted streets as a young girl was making her way home from school. Her hair was soaking wet and her clothes as damp as the Pacific Ocean, 'I'm definitely going to get a cold' she thought. As she crossed the empty street, she gazed fondly at her novelty watch that her grandfather gave her on her 5th birthday. It was given to her after she had a life-saving operation 10 years ago as she almost died from pneumonia.

Just as Sophia was letting her mind drift away the harsh winds pierced her feeble body. Suddenly there was a splash! Within seconds she tumbled down an uneven part of the pavement and fell head first into a large puddle. Sophia sat there in agony as she was left disorientated and bleeding heavily: a large blob of blood had formed on her slender leg. If that wasn't bad enough, she soon discovered that her beloved watch had broken! Devastated, she frantically scrambled on the floor searching for the missing pieces of the watch. 'I have to find them' she thought, 'It's the only thing I have to remember Grandpa'. To her surprise she picked up the circular piece only to find a note hidden beneath the thin protective layer.

The antique-like ominous note read 'For the answers you seek for the questions you have listen closely and pay attention. These clues will guide you to the truth but you must be wary of Aunt Ruth. Behind the cupboard it should lie, where you had your first signs of lost appetite. And where you had collapsed in pain, you should find the prize has remained'.

Sophia's face scrunched in confusion. 'What does this mean? Has it been there the whole time?' Endless thoughts ran through her mind like a cheetah hunting for prey. Despite her gaping wound she knew one thing for sure: she had to get home as soon as possible.

As the sun quickly began to set behind the foggy horizon young Sophia had finally made her way back to her humble abode. The trees looming over the property had greeted her as they swayed to the beat of the harsh winds. Birds subtly sang sweet tunes into the empty air as the atmosphere reflected that of the wild, or as Sophia liked to think, the Lion King. She had just made her way into the doorstep when her grandmother pulled open the door with quite a force. 'Oh my! What happened to your leg my dear?' she had exclaimed. Within minutes her Grandmother Dorothy pulled her teenage daughter to the sofa and popped the kettle on as she submerged her shivering daughter in multiple layers of blankets. 'That'll sort you out for now' she said softly as she went on knitting, 'a typical Friday night' Sophia had thought.

As they both rested on the century-old couch that had been in their family for generations, Sophia caught the piercing glance of her Aunt Ruth who hid behind the kitchen door like a criminal waiting to steal off an unsuspecting victim. It was at that moment Sophia had remembered the ominous note in her watch as she clutched her wrist in shock: she had worn that watch every year since her late grandfather Frank had gifted her. Now that it had broken, she felt like she was missing a part of her. Nonetheless she knew she had to get to the bottom of what the riddle had said, especially knowing that Ruth must be somewhat involved.

The clock struck midnight as Sophia had patiently waited for her grandmother to fall asleep. Having changed out of her soaking wet clothes hours prior, Sophia made her way into the kitchen as she recalled the moment where she threw up and couldn't bear to see the sight of food. Chills ran down her spine as she grimaced at the thought of the pain, she was in all those years ago. As she opened up the creaky cupboard there was a sound in the background and a barely-visible silhouette. Sophia's head snapped back in fear as her heart began to rapidly beat. She tip-toed towards the door only to find nothing. Still shaken Sophia decided to continue the task at hand. She pulled open the bottom-left corner of one of many cupboards in the kitchen, systematically checking for any notes and clues, only to find nothing. She did the same for the other three cupboards and by the time she reached the last one she had begun to lose hope. Just as she began feeling around the cupboard, she felt a bump on the roof... it was a false piece of wood! Sophia quickly grabbed a fork and gently tore open the top and finally found the second clue. It had written ' So I see you made it to step one, that's great to hear. Just be careful of who is nearby. Soon you will find clue two, but just know that you will uncover a lot more than you may be willing to chew.'

Sophia felt the hairs on her neck stand, as if they were in the army and standing to attention. The pit in her stomach grew more and more intense. Soon her restlessness turned into exhaustion as before she had known it her eyes began to flutter as the birds began to tweet harmoniously. It was now dawn. 'I'll have to see this through after a goodnight's sleep... except I don't think I'll be getting much of that.' she thought.

After what felt like 15 minutes of sleep, Sophia woke up drenched in sweat; her clammy palms could've submerged the whole of Europe. Sleep-deprived, intrigued and fearful, she reluctantly got out of bed and stretched her stiff joints. 'Time to get down to business' she told herself.

Despite the eventful night she had prior, today appeared to be an everyday Saturday: slow and mundane. There wasn't much to do in the suburb where Sophia was from as Richmond was mainly surrounded by parks, open-green areas and deer. Before heading downstairs to kick-start her day with her usual bowl of cinnamon porridge, Sophia quickly kicked her clothes and rubbish under her bed. 'I'll have to deal with that later' she huffed as she quickly made her way downstairs.

Sophia sat awkwardly on the dining table gobbling as much food down as her stomach would let her. It was clear that the knot in her stomach was not going away anytime soon. The house was awfully quiet and seemed to be deserted so she used this opportunity to find the next note. Remembering that the original note mentioned the place where she had first collapsed in pain, Sophia felt a distinct burning sensation in her stomach. Was it the panic, was it pneumonia? Endless thoughts ran rapidly through her sore mind as she desperately tried to cling on to her chair... and peace of mind.

After what felt like hours, Sophia's throbbing mind finally started to subside as she had a flashback: it was the garden. She quickly grabbed a bottle of water and made her way past the delicate pantry door and into the garden. It was filled with elegant roses, tulips and garden weeds as her grandmother enjoyed gardening in her spare time. Adjacent to the small garden shed lay a shovel, garden trowel and rake which appeared to be covered in mud. According to Sophia's flashback she collapsed right in the middle of the Rose section, on the left-hand side of the garden, as there was a convenient patch of seemingly empty soil there. Sophia quickly grabbed the shovel from beside the small shed and began to frantically dig at the soil, pouring every ounce of strength she had left of her feeble, bruised body of hers.

After digging for a few minutes, she came across a sinister looking small, black notebook with a picture of 5-year-old her when she was in hospital being treated for pneumonia. A lump in her throat formed as she practically fought back tears and forced herself to open the book. To Sophia's shock there appeared to be an identical watch in the black book, an exact duplicate of the one her grandfather gave her except it looked... authentic. The smooth, gold, circular structure was undeniable as it looked like it truly withstood the test of time. It was like a relic: one that had been passed down from generation to generation and it also had FM engraved on it - her grandfather was called Frank Miller. 'Did this mean that my watch was fake?' Sophia pondered as no amount of time could've prepared her for what she saw next. As she opened up the watch there was an undeniable streak of blood there. It practically drenched the watch as the picture beneath the blood was a young Grandpa Frank. On the other side of said picture there was an eerie sentence that wrote 'They conceal the truth. You must solve the mystery... before it’s all over'. Sophia's head was throbbing intensely at this point as it felt like a jackhammer was being drilled into her mind. There was so much to unpack and she felt her barely digested food make its way up her oesophagus.

Just as she went to leave the garden, she saw something papery lurking at the bottom of the soil. Hidden to the naked eye she scrambled to her knees and dusted off the mud. What she saw had shocked her to her very core though this time in a less sinister way... at least not yet. It appeared to be $20,000 made up of an assortment of American dollars. Having stingy parents meant Sophia was lucky enough to be given £5 let alone a couple of hundred, so when she saw 20,000 big ones, she could hardly contain her excitement. Endless possibilities raced through her mind until she had another epiphany. A menacing one.

The already used shovel, the blood and the unusually empty house had all seemed relatively normal to Sophia... well apart from the blood, but when all these things were combined Sophia knew there was something going on.

Her heart skipped a beat as her legs shook like a leaf soaring in the harrowing winds of England. Somehow, she was able to fight this sensation as she cautiously opened the garish garden doors. Before she could figure out where it was coming from, she saw a blood smear from the kitchen which appeared to be leading to the stairs. Sophia's heart dropped instantly as she grabbed a mop from the kitchen and willed her way up the stairs, despite feeling as though she would pass out at any given moment. As she reached the top of the stairs the blood appeared to stop at a closed door: Grandma's door. In that frightful moment Sophia recalled the original note that she found in her Grandfather's watch and the silhouette that stalked her in the kitchen the night before. 'Grandma's dead and it’s got to be Aunt Ruth. How could she?' Her clammy hands shook violently as she placed her hand on the daunting door knob. After a pause she finally worked up the courage to pull open the door only to find Aunt Ruth's lifeless body lying in her grandmother's bed.

She couldn’t believe what she saw. The whole world stopped and as her life-less legs began to buckle. 'What was going on? Who was the killer?’' Sophia's numb mind was being thrown into overdrive as she struggled to process all that she witnessed in these past 48 hours. Not only was Aunt Ruth dead, but Grandma was also missing. Her parents were working overtime and she was home alone, there was no-one to turn to. Not even Grandpa could save her. She was all alone...

To be continued…