THE INN

Chapter: 4 When Someone Visits The Lake

Stiles curiously waited for the morning to arrive. He spent the last four hours trying to convince himself that it was nothing more than his tired mind trying to mess with him. If two days ago anyone would have attempted to explain Stiles why he should not go to Greywald, he would've dismissed it. Stiles had a long history of getting his emotions in the way of his work, but this what not the case here.

Two years ago, Stiles was working on a case of a serial killer. Back then Stiles was obsessed with finding patterns and establishing a commonness within the victims. The case till date remained unsolved. Stiles couldn't get the fragment of failure out of his sub-conscious. For Stiles, this was his second chance to get closure.

Stiles walked back and forth in his room. He checked the time after every fifteen minutes. He made sure his phone had a network so that he wouldn't miss any urgent text or mails from Oliver.

Stiles craved for a cup of coffee. Changing into the clothes he found at the top in his bag, he took his car keys and headed out of the inn. Stiles saw Billy cleaning an old truck. Billy had his headphones on. He was tapping his feet and humming a line of a song, Stiles heard before.

'Hey, Billy?' Stiles called.

Billy dipped the cloth in the pail of water.

'Billy, can you hear me?' he called once more. 'I don't suppose so.'

Stiles went ahead and took out the earphones from Billy's ears.

Billy threw the cloth back into the bucket and turned towards Stiles. 'Dude, I told you if you need anything do not annoy me.'

'I want to ask you a couple of questions.' Stiles said.

'Questions? As in more than one? This ain't no high school.' Billy asked.

Stiles was about to snap back, but then a thought came to him. He pulled a fifty-dollar bill from his pocket and waved it in front of Billy. 'I hope now you won't feel burdened answering more than one question.'

'You know what,' Billy took the note from Stiles and smiled exposing his teeth. 'I love high school. What do you want to know?'

Stiles took a step closer to Billy and whispered. 'Anything and everything you know about the missing people.'

Stiles sensed a sudden change in Billy. His smile was gone, too. Kicking the mud off his shoes, Billy looked away. 'Meet me tomorrow at 12 by the lakeside. Don't tell anyone.

'I don't know anybody here,' Stiles explained.

'You know there are few people around here who loves to keep an eye on everything.' Billy almost whispered.

Stiles find it difficult to digest. 'Should I be alert?'

'You should be scared. I know I would be if I were in your place.' Billy lifted the pail off his handle and went inside the inn.

Bribing a teenager to get some information seemed awfully desperate. Getting people to talk is what Stiles was good at. Here he felt like he was on some other planet. His instincts were constantly telling him to trust Billy.

'I have to wait,' he thought.

After crossing off roaming around the town from his list, Stiles planned to go to the lakeside. He ate a bagel on his way to Berry's. The lake where Billy called Stiles to meet up was just behind the eatery.

Stiles pictured the lake to be either dry or engulfed in dry leaves combined with an unbearable smell of algae. Stiles' mouth was left half-opened when he saw the lake for the first time. A reddish bridge leading to the lake was surrounded by bushes. A white silk cloth was hanging in the shape of an arch, supported by two five-inch light poles. A sky blue criss-cross bench lay on the other side of the lake.

'That is absolutely not what I imagined, at all.'

A crisp churning noise came as Stiles stepped on the pit of dry maple leaves. The lake glimmered in the sun. Blowing some air to clean away the dust on the bench, Stiles settled there. The cold wind came by gushing through the leaves. Half of the leaves left on the ground got scattered.

It was relaxing to watch such a beautiful scene. Peace and calmness were the two words he could think of. Stiles wanted to capture the serenity through his camera lens. Stiles saw the empty bench and realized he forgot his camera.

'I can't go a day without forgetting my stuff,' he thought.

A notification popped open in Stiles' phone. It was an audio message that Riley sent to Stiles last night. Stiles made sure the volume was full.

'Hey, baby brother. I know you won't talk to me, but I think you should know that I know you are not home. Oliver happen to call last night, it was technically a day. He told me about your strange call. We both know I'm going to tell mom. You shouldn't be out here all alone. Please come back. Don't listen to your pathetic boss. Just come back home. How about we go on a road trip once you get back? You can drive and I can read your paper maps.' she paused. Also, Oliver told me about you and Emma. Why didn't you say anything before? Mom will be furious. She had already chosen the venue for your wedding. Big freaking deal. I'm gonna go now, I have a new dead body to look into. Well you know what I mean. See you soon! I know you won't answer me back, take care.' Stiles sat back, Riley's voice was still ringing in his ears. Stiles didn't feel the need to answer his sister back.

'Let's do something else now,' He tapped the camera icon and waited for the camera to come into focus. Stiles took a couple of pictures by the lakeside.

'Perfect day to forget to pack your camera.' Stiles said as he noticed the images he had taken were blurred.

He ran through the rest of the images to make sure they weren't all useless when he saw something shimmering by one of the lotus leaves in the centre of the lake. The image was over-exposed. Putting his phone aside, Stiles got on his knees to have a closer look. Stiles extended his arm to reach for the leaf. He could see something glowing. He saw a long plastic stick lying near the foot of the bench. It had a hook on it. Stiles went over to the other side and brought back the stick along with him.

Stiles leaned forward and tried pulling the leaf. 'Eh...' he sighed in frustration.

The hook caused a hole in the leaf. Stiles threw the stick one last time, leaving the leaf to get attached to the hook. Stiles pulled the stick towards him. It was a thick golden, silk, thread.

'I wasted ten minutes over this. What was I thinking?' Stiles wrapped the thread around his hand.

The wet mud from the stick left stains on Stiles' arm and clothes. Dipping his hand inside the lake, Stiles sprinkled some water on his hand. Stiles heard the sound of a bubble emerging somewhere inside the lake. Stiles tried to hear the noise again when a hand soaked in black blood coming came out from inside the lake and pulled his hand. Stiles backed away. His knees brushed against the stick.

'Ouch!' Stiles screamed in annoyance.

Stiles fell back on the ground. He saw somebody holding a black eagle bow rake. He turned his gaze towards the lake, everything was still.

Slow, he lifted his head and saw a man standing out near the archway. He was wearing a red and a yellow Deerstalker hat with black bow on the top.

'Great, Just great! Who else it could be?' Stiles saw Don, the same man Stiles met the night before yesterday.

Don raised the rake along his shoulder and walked towards Stiles. 'We meet once more. I never imagined you'd be capable to last more than one night in this town.'

Stiles tilted his head. 'Thanks, I guess? By the way, wha-what are you doing here?

Don raised the rake. 'Just came down for a swim. Ha-ha. Just kidding. Grace was right, it's so fun to mess with you. Feels just like family. I have to clean the place up. I hate it when people leave it untidy.'

Stiles bit his lower lip. 'Good for you. I think I should get going. Got a lot of sight-seeing to do.'

'I can see you've been loving your little stay here.' Don looked behind him before addressing. 'When I was your age, I used to go on road trips, too. I was one little spoilt brat. Don't tell anybody.'

'Trust me, I don't want to.'

Stiles started to walk away, but Don stopped him by pulling his arm. 'You look flushed. Everything all right, son?'

Stiles freed himself from Don's grip. ''I-I was exercising and-and I fell. I'm all good now.'

'You sure?'

Stiles nodded.

'You should be more careful, son. It's a strange town, and you don't know anybody here.'

Don watched Stileswalking out. He dumped the rake in the lake. 'Stupid tourists.' he murmured