Invisible Strings

Chapter 5

"What was that about?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't try to act like you have no idea what I am talking about. You called me darling and f*****g winked at me."

"Oh! that!"

Dev and I were asked to sit in a separate room along with the other pair. This was done in order to prevent us from seeing the game's location and anything related to it, since it would be the same for all of us. But right now my focus was not on the game, it was on my partner, who was acting very, very weird.

"Yes Dev, that is what I am talking about."

But he just grinned at me.

"What?"

"This is the first time you have called me by my name."

Really?

"I think you are getting distracted. Please answer my question."

"Well you know, I was just giving the audience some swoon worthy moment."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, think about it. In two week's time, today's episode will air and everyone will start rooting for you since the nation's handsome swimmer is flirting with you."

"You know those who are obsessed with their looks, their stories never end well and, anyway, why are you even on this show? This is so outside your zone, like you are a sportsperson. Why even do a show like this?"

"Now don't say that, I am here to find love. Isn't that why everyone here has also participated?"

The shock on my face was obvious. Was he messing with me?

"Really? You are here to fall in love. I never took you for a romantic."

"Looks can be deceiving."

"So tell me, did you find anyone worthy of your love here?"

"Yeah."

"Who?"

In milliseconds, he was closer to me than he was before. His face was mere inches away from me. His eyes had a mischievous look. I stopped breathing. I can smell his cologne so clearly now. It was the same one he had been wearing at the party and also during the flight. It has somehow become familiar now.

"What...what are you trying to do?"

He did not say anything, instead he started moving closer. Was he going to kiss me? I swear to god if he tries to, I will punch him. He inched closer and his mouth made its way towards my ear.

"Now is not the right time, Maya." He whispered slowly, painfully slow.

And as fast as he had inched towards me, he moved away. Leaving me with more questions than before. I looked towards him, but his face was unreadable. Any playfulness that was there minutes ago is now gone.

I cleared my throat and said, "I really want to win this game. We could get some advantages if we win, as they have announced."

"Then we will win."

I did not ask him why he was so sure. It felt good to hear it from him. He was confident, and I decided to put my faith in him.

_____________________________________________

Thirty minutes later it was time to go. My stomach was in knots, but Dev seemed calm, which was good. At least one of us had to be calm and collected.

We entered inside the room, and immediately I wanted to turn around and run because whoever designed it did a damn good job at making it look haunted. The flickering light from a single antique oil lamp casts long, dancing shadows across the dusty floorboards. The numbered rooms hint at the vastness of this location. On a chipped marble table in the center of the room lies a faded page brittle and yellowed with age. I picked it up, and it read," Will you be able to solve the mysteries of Blackwood Manor, appease the restless spirits, and escape before the clock strikes midnight?" I said it out loud for Dev to hear it since he was already investigating the drawers, trying to open them one by one.

All the drawers were shut and locked without a way to open except one of them. It has a lock.

"Dev, I think we need to find a key to open that drawer."

"Yeah, that is what I was thinking. Let us search for it."

We both started looking for it.

"Maya look here."

He was holding a large piece of paper.

"What does sit say?"

"Blackwood Manor, once a beacon of opulence and social gatherings, now stands as a crumbling silhouette against the twilight sky. Legends whisper of a bygone era, a time when the Blackwood family ruled the land with both wealth and a touch of cruelty. The rumors swirl around the circumstances of their demise. Some say a sudden illness swept through the family, others speak of a more sinister fate, a darkness that consumed them from within.

The most prominent tale revolves around Edgar Blackwood, the enigmatic patriarch. Obsessed with the occult and rumored to have dabbled in forbidden practices, Edgar is said to have sought immortality by binding restless spirits to the very foundation of the manor. When his experiments inevitably backfired, the spirits turned against him, trapping the entire Blackwood family within the walls they once called home.

Over the years, Blackwood Manor became a recluse, its windows like vacant eyes staring out at the world. Unexplained noises echo from its depths, and flickering lights dance in the dead of night. Brave souls who dared to venture inside have never returned, adding fuel to the chilling rumors. Now, the manor beckons you, a challenge to unravel its mysteries. Will you venture into the heart of Blackwood Manor, face the restless spirits bound within, and perhaps even uncover the truth behind the Blackwood family's tragic fate?"

"f**k it, where is the clue in it?" He said.

"Let's read it again. There must be something."

I looked around me and realised that there were many picture frames hanged but one of them was hung in the wrong direction. And then it clicked.

"In the walls! They are trapped in the walls."

"Who?"

"The family!"

I made my way to that photo and took it off the wall and, sure enough, there was a big hole in it where there was a key. I took it and handed it over to him. He quickly opened it and there was another note inside it.

"f*****g notes." We both say at the same time and then look at each other. Surprise was evident in our faces and then we both burst out laughing.

"Get over here" he says, "let's read together."

You are cordially invited to a Spectral Soirée, hosted by the esteemed Lord and Lady Blackwood.

Mingle with the ghostly residents of Blackwood Manor and partake in an evening of otherworldly delights.

Date: A Night of Broken Clocks.

Location: The Grand Ballroom.

"I think we need to go to one of these rooms." Dev pointed to the various doors all around the room we were currently in.

"Let's go then."

When we tried opening the doors, we realized that they were fake and only one was real, which lead to the next location. The grand ballroom. The moment we entered the room, the huge grandfather clock caught my eyes. I looked at Dev to tell him that but something else caught my attention, like maybe call me crazy, but in this dim-lit room where his face lit up at a certain angle, he was looking so...so..

"Maya!" He was looking at me. Shit

"What?"

"The clock, I think it has the next clue."

"I think so too."

I was grateful that he did not say anything else.

On investigating the clock, we found a rolled-up piece of parchment. It was a spectral dance diagram with strange symbols marking specific positions on the dance floor. The people in the drawing were doing a waltz.

"Do they want us to dance now or what?" Dev said out loud.

As if on cue, music started playing from a gramophone that I did not notice was sitting on a shelf in the corner of the room.

"I think yes. Come on, let's do this quickly."

"What, I don't know how to dance."

"That is fine, I am sure we just have to take a few steps. Here, let me help you."

I extended my hand and he promptly took it. I led him to the center of the floor where a symbol was marked.

"So," he was staring at me waiting for me to tell him what to do, gosh this is awkward, "just keep one of your hands around my waist and with your other hand should hold mine."

He moved closer and did exactly as I told him to. But the next second he caught me off guard. His grip on my waist tightened and he started moving to the music as if he had done this hundred of times before.

"Why did you lie? You know how to dance."

"Seeing you trying to make me understand what to do was quite amusing. It was like a kid trying to teach math to an adult."

God, I hate him.

"I hate you."

"That's fine."

The waltz, a mournful melody played on a dusty gramophone, seemed to mock our forced proximity. I wanted to get away from him. I have tried to be nice to him time and time again, but all he does is try to get on my nerves. I looked up at him with my empty eyes because that is what he was going to get from me now. But his eyes, they held so many emotions that it was impossible for me to decipher them not that I wanted to.

"You know I thought we were getting somewhere. I thought maybe we could work together, but I was wrong."

"We sure could work together."

"No, never. I would never work with you." I said with a finality.

"And why is that?"

"Because you are a douchebag for whom his amusement is everything. You don't deserve my sincerity."

"That's true, I don't deserve your sincerity." He said, but his voice was so soft that it forced me to look at him, but I could not see his face properly, his tall frame was blocking the small light to reach us.

As the final, melancholic notes of the music faded, we stood frozen. The air between us vibrated with a potent mix of anger and something else - regret perhaps.

But I had no idea whose regret it was. Mine or his.

We completed the rest of the mission in silence.

__________________________________________

"Welcome back everyone." Vicky chirped.

"How was the game? Bridget, you tell us."

"It was good, we had a good time solving the puzzles. The whole set was made in a spectacular way. I really enjoyed it."

"That is great. So are you all ready to know the results of who won today?" Philip asked us.

"Yes!" Everyone shouted in unison.

"So the winners who completed this in 15 minutes and 39 seconds are-" the wait for the announcement felt so excruciatingly long.

"- Amara and Peter. Congratulations guys.

"You guys will now be getting a few perks, and also you are safe for next week's eliminations," Vicky said.

"Don't worry you all. There is still a chance. Tomorrow there will be another game and one more pair will get an opportunity to save themselves from elimination."

"Yes, but you will be doing in the same pairs as you did today."

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Another game with Dev?

Oh, f**k me.