Moving Closer - The Beginning

He knew that she would not open up anything in front of Ethan but she needed something.

While eating Ray finally sneaked into Rachael's thoughts. He could see only one thought of her's where she was trying to get her message across to him.

"Ray, if you are reading my thoughts please make sure to check your email tomorrow by noon and respond to it. There was something I had to talk to you but I have not been finding an opportunity."

She held on to this thought till they finished the dinner, after which she sealed her thought.

The only thing she hoped was that Ray had read her thoughts. After dinner she sat in the hall in the pretext of watching Netflix series. She waited till everyone had slept.

She opened her email app and started typing email to Ray.

"Ray, I have been seeing some mysterious things in the past few days and I wanted to make sure it was just not me.

Did you feel any eerie sensation when we visited Mariam's shop in the mall? I could sense a wormhole out there. Again it might just have been my imagination.

The second one was in the Church on Christmas. This is something you may be knowing, as you guys have been here for quite a few years now. Did you notice the special effect light to create colour changing hallow on top of the Lord's head?

The last one was the ring which dad gave Ethan. Were you aware of the ring or was it the first time you were seeing it as well?

I have something going on in the background and l can't tell you about it right now, as i am still confirming my doubts. It may just be my imagination as well.

For now I am looking for any kind of information you can give me on the above mysterious events and the ring.

I am sorry for being pushy but it's a little urgent as I'll need this information before the new year eve.

Please respond to my mail as I'll not be able to discuss on it verbally and openly with you and I may need your help in future so please do keep a close watch on your emails.

Do encrypt the mail before responding back to me and keep these details confidential and especially don't disclose anything to Ethan. I'll let you know eventually why I am hiding things.

Oh yes, I just missed to tell you that I am yet to shop for the new year party dress so I am planning to visit that mall again tomorrow. I'll be leaving around 11 in the morning. One of my friends is in NY for her holidays, so I was planning to check with her if she wants to accompany me.

But if you want to come along then I'll not invite her.

- Rachael"

She encrypted the email and sent the mail to Ray. No matter how cautious she was, she knew it was a child's play for Ethan to crack the encryption if he got a hang of anything.

She knew that she could trust Ray when she requested him to keep things confidential.

She had hoped that Ray had read her thoughts but to make sure he reads the email, she texted him. She knew as a ritual Ray would check his messages as soon as he got up in the morning.

"Ray, please see your email in private tomorrow. It's urgent."

Once she had texted him, she watched the series for some more time before finally going to sleep.

—-

December 28, 2022. 7:30 am

The birds could be heard chirping outside. The rays of the sun was trying hard to come in through the tiny gap in between the heavy set thick curtains. Ray Pfeiffer's was a heavy sleeper.

But today his sleep broke earlier than usual. He slowly opened his eyes. He looked for his phone under his pillow. When he turned on his phone he saw it was still 8:00 am and on the screen flashed Rachael's text.

Ray had already sneaked into Rachael's thoughts the previous evening. He opened her message which she had texted him a little after dinner the previous night.

"Ray, please see your email in private tomorrow. It's urgent."

If Rachael couldn't trust that he had sneaked into her thoughts and still had sent him a text, there must be something really important and serious.

He got up from his bed and walked towards the window to open the curtains for the light to come in. As he stood near the window he opened his email to see Rachael's mail right on top of his email stack.

He opened the mail and read through the contents. He did not immediately respond back. He walked back to his bed and sat on it. He was thinking.

Yes, he had felt the eerie sensation in that shop when they had visited the mall to shop for gifts but had hesitated to open his powers out and now with Rachael having a similar sensation he was contemplating whether to investigate. There must be something serious going on as Rachael felt the presence of worm hole.

Trouble seemed to be creeping out in the corners.

And the hallow in the Church he had never seen it all theses years. While the ring which Dad gave it to Ethan, he wasn't aware it. Although now he knew by custom it would go to Ethan, why did his parents hide it from them.

After a few minutes, he finally came to a decision and clicked on reply

" Sis, well yes I did feel a mysterious sensation in that shop in the mall, but I intentionally stopped myself from probing that day. It's a little surprising that such a shop exists on earth.

I did plan to investigate a little later as we were all busy. And I could not open up any of my powers as I had this feeling that the shop may be a bait. So, I had planned to check on it after the new year.

But now after reading your email, even I feel something is not okay. However I have a different plan to check on it. So I'd suggest you to go ahead and shop along with your friend. Let's not take a risk of being together. Stay vigilant.

Just text me if you find anything suspicious. I'll open the ETM channel with additional layers of encryption.

Well, coming to the ring, it was a surprise for me as well. I am not sure asking dad would be right, but let me see if I can convince Ethan to wear it. May be as dad said, it might show up something.

And the hallow, well I have never seen it. If we have sufficient time I'll check on it as well.

I'll not let Ethan or anyone know of this. But I'll still have Ethan accompany me. While investigating I'll make sure to put it across to Ethan in a different way only in situations where I am required to tell him.

You leave it to me, to handle things for now. I'll let you know if I find anything uncanny.

- Ray"

Ray hit the send button and then got up and walked towards the washroom to freshen up.

Ray had to shuffle up his plans. While he was thinking to sit with Ethan and fine tune the Robot today, he pushed this to next day.

And he had been planning to service the car for quite sometime now and he thought he can get it done today. The basement of the mall had a car wash and a service station.

And while the car is being serviced he could do a little bit of his investigation.

He decided to go to the mall post lunch as Rachael was planning to visit in the morning.

Once he finished his morning rituals he came to the kitchen and saw his mum making breakfast and Rachael helping her out.

His mum was surprised to see his son up so early today and was wondering if the sun rose in the west today. She told him that the breakfast would be ready in sometime.

Ray went to the coffee machine to make himself some coffee while Rachael told her mum she will be back in a few mins.

She headed to the common washroom meant for guests and locked the door. She opened her mail to check if Ray had responded and was glad when she saw his response. She quickly read through the contents of his mail and decided to go as per what he said.

She got of the washroom and went to the attached balcony of the hall and dialled her friends number.

——

Authors note: I plan to split up the mystery into multiple tiny chapters. So the length of the chapter may be short compared to the previous chapters.