3 DEEPER

It was dark, we couldn't see a thing, but the ground was muddy and grassy. We Didn't know what to do next until someone from afar shouted: "Come now, time is ticking." It was a middle-aged man's voice, and he seemed to be carrying a lamp. We followed the light and the sound of the muddy footsteps to a small house. "excuse me, but where are we? Can you explain to us what's going on?" Cheryl shouted. We still couldn't see him clearly; he stood far away from us. "come now, the time is ticking," he repeated. He had left the lamp at the doorpost of the house, so we figured we would get in. I reached out and grabbed the light, and when we looked over, he was gone, which startled us a little. We entered the house, which was quite ancient. There was a golden phonograph with a record, a rocking chair, a bookshelf, a wooden couch, a small desk with several compartments, an electronic lamp, an old telephone and what seemed to be an empty wine bottle.

I sat down slowly in the desk chair as Cheryl laid on the wooden couch. The pain from the hailstones was now kicking in, and I couldn't move. It was tranquil, so I decided to turn on the phonograph. It was orchestra music because why not. "So what do you think is gonna happen next?", Cheryl asked. "I’d rather not, ouch!” I replied. “hey, are you okay?” she asked while sitting up. “ yea, am fine, just a bruise,” I answered. “ I should call for help…”, she suggested. “ no! Besides, there’s no one here, and if there were, I don’t think they’d be much of help”, I replied. But as I was resting my head, the old phone started ringing. I don’t know. Maybe it’s fatigue, but neither of us thought of using it to try and get help.

We sat up and stared at it as it was ringing. It rung for some minutes until Cheryl decided to pick it up. “ Hello?.....” After a moment, she hung up and sat down, looking confused. “what? Who was that? Hey”, I mumbled. I could tell by the frown on her face that it was not the news I anticipated for since a few seconds earlier. “ it’s the voice of the face from earlier, it gave me the next riddle and told me the clues are in this house, we have two hours,” she said while pacing around the little space that was there. “what? I don’t think I can do this again,” I said bitterly. “we have to,” she said. Then immediately I stood up I heard a rumbling sound from outside. We quickly opened the door and noticed a mountain behind the house. “ Of course it’s lava,” I said sarcastically.

We had two hours before the mountain erupted and the lava melted us. “so what’s the riddle this time?”, I asked while we entered the house. “ The voice said my voice is tender, my body is slender and am often invited to play yet wherever I go I must take my bow or else I have nothing to say, what am I?, so what do you think is the answer?”, she said. “ wow that’s a tough one,” I replied. “let us look for clues then,” she suggested. “okay you take the bookshelf I’ll look in the desk compartments,” I said. We split up and started looking for clues. But as I was digging inside the unlocked compartments, I noticed a peculiar, odd-looking notebook. I took it and opened it, and it was handwritten. “ I think you should come and see this,” I said. She came over and what she saw scared her. We both sat down and stared at what was inside.

Inside the book was tons of scribbling. But what stood out was a sentence which was boldly scribbled “…if you’re reading this then am sorry you’re here but whatever you do don’t…”. The sentence was not completed. “what do you think they Meant?”, she asked hesitantly. “ I don’t know but it seemed very important, come on maybe they’re other notes help me look.”, I suggested. I started searching the desk compartments but couldn’t find anything suspiciously convenient. Cheryl searched the book shelf for any clues but unsuccessfully.

So I decided to study the note book as I thought of the Riddle’s answer. In the note book were symbols and scribbled words and numbers. It looked like whoever wrote them was solving equations and riddles too. But what about the symbols what did they mean? As I was looking through them I noticed something familiar. “whoa!”, I exclaimed. “what?”, Cheryl said while coming over. “What! It’s the face from the ocean', she said. “yea, but look at it’s face closely, whoever drew this also drew symbols on it.”, I said. The symbols were unfamiliar and the face looked different from the one we saw. We were too caught up in the note book that we forgot about the riddle. “wait we’ll look at the book later let’s solve the riddle first”, Cheryl said as she wrote the riddle down on a piece of paper from earlier. “yea, you’re right”, I said. “so what has a tender voice, a slender body and…”. “wait!” I interrupted. “have you noticed something about the song in the phonograph?”, I asked. “you mean the thousands of songs that have played?”, she said sarcastically. “actually it has been one song on repeat the whole time”, I said. I had been listening to music my whole life when am sad, happy, anxious, stressed out, excited, music was part of me. So wherever there was music I’d notice it’s repeat even if am not a big fan of the genre.

The song playing was a classical number and I don’t know why but it felt like it had something to do with the riddle. We listened to it from the start but we still couldn’t figure out what it was. As we sat there suddenly the phone rung. Cheryl looked at me hesitantly and gestured me to pick it. I obliged but I was shaking and my heart was racing. Why were they calling again. I picked it and did say a word and after a few seconds I put it back. “what? Who was it, what did they say”, she intuitively asked. I stood up still aching from the bruises and told her it was a voice saying we have fifteen minutes to hand in the answer. She stood up hastily took the piece of paper and sat down mumbling the riddle repeatedly. I on the other hand still believed the answer was on the phonograph. I went over there and stared at it for a second and turned it off then on again repeatedly. Nothing happened. I took out the record and looked at it closer but still nothing stood out. So I put it back on the phonograph and continued studying it. As I was about to give up after some minutes, I noticed something ordinarily familiar. It was a musical symbol on the phonograph. It was encrypted.