His Request

Her smile suddenly disappear as she said "Am curious, you haven't told me the item your father can't obtain but only a 14-year-old girl that's not from a prestigious family can. What item is that?" she asked curiously.

"we are yet to find out". James smiled and immediately remarked. "now that your brain is functioning again. Back to where we stopped before you started talking like a fool. I brought this book to show you something…" He began to flip the pages of an old document he has been holding for a while "here…" He stopped excitedly and stretched his hands to show her something on the current page he was in. The page had been torn but gummed together with a transparent tape.

"you don't even know what the item looks like...what is this?" Sandra asked curiously staring into the document. She was expecting to see the image of the item, at least a piece of it. Rather she saw a map. She looked at him and asked again "what is this?" First he showed her a woman, now a map. He didn't even tell her anything about the item other than it will help him stay back. 'did he bring me here to play puzzles with me?' she thought to herself staring at him, looking lost.

"how is the woman you showed me earlier connected to the item your father is after" she asked, oblivious of his gesture. He has been pointing at a spot in the document for a while but she didn't notice.

James lost his patience and shouted "dumb detective, take this and look closer". bringing the document closer to her face. "go through it." he handed it over to her and pointed to the tiny words written below the map. He patiently watched her bend her head and went through the words.

When Sandra was through, she flipped to the next page but it was about another object not related to the item. It seemed that the document was a record of different types of highly valuable item. she diverted her eyes from the document to him and said "it didn't say anything about the item rather it gave description on how to get to the location of the item." She said looking back at the document, wondering if she missed anything. The words there were just making it easier to read the map.

"yes, did you also notice the ripped off page? look." he said touching the middle of the book that had a small piece of paper that looked like it had been torn off. "am guessing this page had the picture of what the item looked like."

Sandra looked at it again and turned her gaze back to him. staring at him stupidly. Why exactly was he showing her all these? What is the use of showing her a torn page?

"it was obviously ripped off like someone wanted to keep the item hidden", He took a deep breath and continued. "that day the picture fell off from my dad's files. I gave it back to him. Later on, I went to his study to search for it because it resembled you. I guessed that she might be related to you. After hours of searching…"

"go straight to point!" Sandra shouted at him, impatiently. he was beating around the bush, confusing her. It's not like she wanted to help him. she just wanted to know more about the item and the lady of course.

He glared at her for rudely cutting him off before he resumed from where he stopped "After hours of searching for the picture, I finally found it in this book, this same page, that have the information concerning the location of the item my father wants to get his hands on. Do you know what this means?, The lady in the picture is surely related to the item. that's what my hunch tells me."

"what kind of item are we talking about?" Sandra asked.

"like I said earlier, I know nothing about the appearance until we retrieve it. I just know that my father desperately wants to get it."

He gestures with his hands pointing at the top of the page as he talked. "also the location of the item and the lady's blood is needed.

"wait…blood?" Sandra starred at him wondering if it was the same document he showed her that says the lady's blood is the key because she didn't see anything about blood in that page or the next. "which document? I didn't see that here." Sandra asked looking back into the document.

"pay attention. The words are faint." He pointed below the words waiting for her to see it. Sandra squinted her eyes for a while before she saw the writings.

*a drop of her blood to open the entrance*.

It was fading. It wasn't typed like the other text in the document rather it was written.

"why did you say the lady's blood was needed?" she asked him curiously.

"because I found that picture in this page. my hunch also tells me that this item is very special. I believe my father have collected all the information needed to obtain the item. the only thing remaining is the key to the entrance and that's the lady's blood. He is currently searching for her descendent since the woman is already dead."

He said calmly. He knew that Sandra has gotten a hint to why he brought her to his place. He wanted to test if she could be the descendent, if Sandra and the woman in the picture were in any way related.

Sandra looked at him with disdain. "you want to use me for an experiment. As a lab rat that I am. You are a psycho. She just happened to look like me. We aren't related and even if we were I won't help you. you better start preparing to leave this country." she said standing up from where she was sitted for a long time. She stretched her body before walked to one of the book shelves and began touching it to find an exit.

James sensed what she was doing but didn't stop her. Rather he followed her pleading "you have to help me with this. I beg of you. after this I will never disturb or bother you I promise. This is my opportunity to impress my father. If you turn out to be her descendent and assist me in retrieving the item. my father will greatly reward you because it will take him ages to find the descendent of the woman in the picture."

She said, not stopping in her actions. "no, it's best not seeing you again. Your absence is the best reward ever. Just imagine how beautiful my life would be. You have already caused much trouble for me. You made my mom lose her job and also lead me into stealing an exam question." she became irritated. she touched 3-5 book shelves and the books in it, but none of them revealed an exit. She turned with a frowned face and shouted "open the door! I need to get out of here. Take me back to school." she glared at him.

James stood still for a while, thinking of ways to convince her to help him. Suddenly the image of a woman on her dying bed flashed through his mind. She looked a lot like James. Her eyes were open and lifeless but there was no movement from her body. It was as if she was in a vegetative state.

His face slowly became pale. He pleaded with Sandra "Sandra I beg of you. please help me, it is really important you do."

"James free me. Am tired of chatting with you. I need to get back to school." She continued touching the book self and mistakenly shifted a book. One of the book shelf slided open revealing a large corridor lighted with bright crimson light. She recognized the corridor and was amazed.

She turned and smiled at him. She realized that she was in James house. it wasn't the first time she had been to his house. she never knew that there was a secret study built within the walls of the corridor. She walked back to where she was sitted before to pick up her bag and quickly, she slided the document into her bag before she walked out leaving James behind.

"Sandra…" he followed her. he was bent on getting her to help him that he didn't notice when she took the book.