chapter nine
586 Words
They stood in front of the puzzle for what felt like hours.
At first, neither of them understood what they were looking at.
There were shapes everywhere.
A triangle.
A square.
A circle.
A strange shape neither of them could name.
But the shapes weren't empty.
Inside them were animals.
A bird inside one.
A fish inside another.
Something that looked like a cat.
Then she noticed one that made absolutely no sense.
A pig.
And beside it was something that looked like a fork.
She stared at it.
“Why would my grandmother put a pig inside a shape?”
The boy didn't answer.
He was staring too.
“Maybe it's not a pig.”
She looked at him.
“It has a nose.”
“And four legs.”
“And a tail.”
He paused.
“Okay. It's a pig.”
She almost laughed, but the feeling disappeared when she looked at the rest of the puzzle.
There was a pattern.
Or at least, there seemed to be one.
Every shape contained something.
Every animal was positioned differently.
Some faced left.
Some faced right.
Some had objects beside them.
Some had numbers.
And then she saw it.
The middle.
There was a space.
Not an empty space like the others.
This one was different.
It was almost as though something had been deliberately removed.
She stepped closer.
“There's supposed to be something here.”
The boy leaned forward.
“How do you know?”
“I don't.”
She stared at it.
“I just know.”
They began trying everything.
They counted the shapes.
They counted the animals.
They matched the animals to the numbers.
Nothing.
They followed the directions.
Nothing.
They rearranged the order.
Still nothing.
The boy pointed at the pig.
“Maybe the animals are the key.”
“Then why are they inside shapes?”
“I don't know.”
“Maybe the shapes are the key.”
“Then why the animals?”
Neither spoke.
They tried again.
Triangle.
Bird.
Square.
Fish.
Circle.
Pig.
Fork.
Nothing.
They changed the order.
Nothing.
They tried reading the symbols backward.
Nothing.
She closed her eyes.
For a moment, everything became quiet.
Then she opened them.
The middle piece was still there.
Or rather...
the middle piece was still missing.
She reached toward it.
Her fingers stopped just before touching the empty space.
“Wait.”
The boy looked at her.
“What?”
She whispered,
“It's not missing.”
He frowned.
“What do you mean?”
She slowly looked from the empty center to the strange animals surrounding it.
“It was never meant to be there.”
Silence.
The boy stared at the puzzle.
She stared at the puzzle.
Neither of them understood what that meant.
Then—
click.
They both froze.
Something had moved.
But they hadn't touched anything.
She looked at the center.
The empty space was no longer empty.
There was a tiny mark inside it.
One neither of them had seen before.
She leaned closer.
Her face changed.
“What is that?”
The boy stepped beside her.
“I don't know.”
She reached for the mysterious object.
And just before she placed it against the mark—
the puzzle shifted again.
Click.
Then everything went dark.
And somewhere behind them, something fell.
They turned at the same time.
But there was nothing there.
Only a second puzzle.
One they hadn't seen before.
And this one had their names on it.
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