I decide to talk to Mr. Silver first. I already ‘heard’ his account from John. Let’s see if he sticks to his story. If it’s a 1:1 replication of what John told me, it either means that both of them have one heck of a memory, remembering every detail or that the whole thing was staged and they’re just reciting their lines. Since I’ve yet to meet anyone with ‘one heck of a memory for details’, it’s going to be the latter rather than the former.
John leads me to the daylight wing. I really don’t know what I
expected with the name, maybe the pearly gates of heaven, with light
and angelic choirs in the background, but in reality it looks just
the same as the twilight wing.
“Huh...wasn’t expecting
something so...mundane,” I comment, “This supposedly being the
afterlife and all that, I mean. I take it, the midnight
wing...”
“Looks pretty much exactly like this, yeah. Since
most of the residents are long term, the differences only start when
you actually enter a room. They are furbished to reflect a
surrounding where the resident feels comfortable in.”
“Even
for the bad guys?”
“The house of dreams is neither heaven
nor hell, Detective. It’s not the job of this place to reward the
righteous or to punish the sinners. It is simply the place where
people go once their story is complete. Some of them aren’t even
dead yet and often return to their respective worlds.”
“Then...do
heaven and hell even exist? I mean, this place basically runs contra
to any religious doctrine I’ve ever heard.”
“In all
honesty? I don’t know. Maybe this is the afterlife, maybe it’s
not. Maybe heaven and hell do exist, maybe they don’t. I only know
that we are here now and that this is our reality. And that will need
to do.”
“You sure this isn’t some kind of dream? After
having a bottle or two too much?”
John shrugs and explains,
“Being part of said dream, I wouldn’t know. But seriously,
there’s no point in getting all philosophical about this place. As
I said: We are here, there’s a case that needs to be solved and
that’s all that matters right now. The sooner we crack this, the
sooner you can go home...wherever that is.”
“What makes you
so sure I’ll be able to go home if I solve this case.”
“Because
that’s how these stories usually play out. A problem or crisis
emerges, one or multiple heroes stand up, fight and resolve it and
everyone is happy after...except for the bad guys, who tend to be
dead by that time, of course.”
“This isn’t some kind of
fantasy story though. It doesn’t work like that in
reality.”
“...yeah, I know. But remember: This is the house
of dreams. Clocks are ticking differently in this place. And there’s
no shortage of people whose story went exactly like I just described
just now. You might want to keep that in mind. Either way, we’ve
arrived.”
I look up at the door John had stopped in front of. It looks just the
same as every other door in this corridor, save for the number of
course. This place really is a hotel.
John proceeds to knock at
the door three times and says, “This may take a moment.”
And indeed, it takes about 30 seconds before someone asks, “Who is
it?”
“Mrs. Miranda Silver? This is John Doe. We talked
earlier. I have a few more questions regarding the incident.”
The door opens and before us stands the fox woman I had seen in the
‘flashback’ earlier. What throws me off my game however, is the
room that expands behind him. It’s not so much a room, but much
rather looks like someone had hollowed out a tree and built a vast
living space within it.
“Please come on in. Simon’s
currently out, but he’ll be back shortly,” the woman says.
We enter the room and I find myself asking, “This place sure is
full of surprises.”
Miranda chuckles and explains, “Yeah, we
were blown away as well when we first moved in. I take it, you’re
new? What do you have to do with the whole thing?”
“I think
I’m supposed to solve the case. At least the barkeeper said
something like that.”
“Oh, so you must be the protagonist!
In all honesty, I thought it was John.”
John laughs faintly
and says, “I thought so too, but then, all of a sudden, this guy
here shows up.”
I think to hear a pang of bitterness in John’s
voice as he says that and make a mental note. But then again, I
probably wouldn’t be too happy if someone butted into my case and
took it away either.
“So, what do you think? Who is that girl and who did it?” Mrs.
Silver suddenly says, all but pouncing me, her tail wagging
curiously.
John clears his throat audibly and says, “May I
remind you about the concept of personal space, Miranda? Furthermore,
it is hardly proper for a married woman to get this close to another
man.”
“Spoilsport,” Miranda snaps, sticking out her tongue
at John, but backs off and I find myself sighing in relief. I sure
hope not all the people I’m going to cross paths with are going to
be like that.
I clear my throat myself and ask Miranda to sit down at the nearby table, reminding her about the purpose of our visit. It may be a blessing that we have met her without her spouse. This way we can get her account without him influencing her.
After asking her about how they found the body, the surroundings and
the color changed again, startling me at first. I really need to get
used to these flashbacks. However instead of the room showing the
body, this time the flashback starts with the three of them walking
down the corridor, having a pleasant chat and looking forward to a
little workout session. All of a sudden however, as they were just
about to pass by room 404, both Miranda and Mirabelle’s ears perk
up and their tails stiffen.
“What’s wrong, girls? We’ve
got 413 today.”
“Something...about this room feels wrong,”
Mirabelle says, staring at the door.
“The spirits are crying.
It reeks of death,” Miranda agrees.
“...seriously? I don’t
smell or feel anything,” Simon replies.
“Because you’re as
dense as a log,” Mirabelle retorts immediately, making Miranda
chuckle.
“Probably just someone performing some kind of
ritual, trying to return to their world or something...know what? The
room is open. How about we crash someone’s party?”
“Now
you’re talking my language!” Mirabelle cheerfully agrees,
producing a spear from seemingly thin air.
Simon on the other
hand draws a strange gun and says with a grin, “This is going to be
fun.”
He reaches for the handle, the door unlocks and the
three of them charge into the room, Simon immediately shouting,
“Freeze!”
The laughter on their faces dies as they realize
that the room is, in fact, empty. Save for the body in the middle of
the arena, of course. It only took them a glance to realize that the
woman was dead, but when Miranda approached her to try and see if
there was anything left to be done, the image of the flashback
suddenly distorted and the next thing we see is the three of them
leaving the room in a fit of panic, heading towards the elevator.
The flashback ends and I blink a few times, wondering what the heck
happened just now.
“Um...I don’t know much about these
flashbacks yet, but...why is there something missing?”
Miranda
shakes her head and says, “In all honesty? I don’t know. I
remember approaching the body and the next thing I know is me and my
friends running for our lives. I’ve been in a few hairy situations
before and I thought I had seen it all, but at that
moment...I’ve never felt so scared in my whole life. Like, if I
didn’t run, I was convinced that my entire existence would be
erased. I know it makes no sense, but that’s what it feels like. We
went to the keeper, told him about the body and he immediately sealed
the room, telling us that he’d take care of it.”
“Wait...he
didn’t even go to see himself?” I ask.
“No. But what he
did is was come to me instead, telling me about what happened,”
John interjects and then adds, “In all honesty, I’ve never seen
the keeper actually worried...but right then and there...he was
worried. If not even scared. He was always the guy who somehow ‘knew’
things, so encountering something actually ‘unknown’...that must
have been a shock to him.”
“Hey, how comes this conversation
didn’t play as flashback?” I ask, noticing the discrepancy.
John
explains, “To my knowledge, they only happen if someone is actually
‘telling a story’. I was merely giving you a summary, so the
flashback didn’t trigger. But please don’t ask me how in the
world that works, I have no idea.”
“...I guess there really
is a lot I have yet to learn about this world…” I mutter.
“So,
did you find out anything yet?” Miranda asks.
“Not much. I’m
only just getting started, after all. See, the work of a detective
isn’t all action packed or exciting how it is often portrayed in
movies. Most of the time it’s actually quite boring, collecting
clues and testimonies. Either way, when will your husband be
returning?”
“Good question...hold on, I’ll call him.”
Miranda pulls up her own bracelet and I take the chance to scan her with my own device.
Miranda (Silver)
Origin: Sigma Star Saga – The forgotten legacy.
Room Number: D453
Abducted into a captured Krill space station by the ‘Enlightened’, she aided Simon Silver, who suffered the same fate as she did during his escape to the planetary surface of an uncharted planet named ‘Eden’. Together with Simon, Esperanza, Kara and Gaia, they took up the fight against the Enlightened, who had ruined their respective lives one way or another to fulfill the legacy of Sigma Star, a genius abductee, who had formed and lead the resistance against the Enlightened in the previous generation.
She is easygoing and friendly with a mischievous streak on her. Before long, she accepts Eden as her new home, having found something more important than ‘a way home’.
Capabilities:
Accessing a pocket dimension for storage purposes
Interacting with the spirits of the forest, allowing her to work magic
Spear fighting
Interesting. That’s a whole lot more detail than what it showed me for John. There is even a button indicating that there’s more information about her available, but I’ll curb my curiosity for now.
“Simon’s still been at the bar. He’ll be coming up now.”
“I
take it, he was still trying to get over the shock of having found a
body here?” John suggests.
“Him? Nah, he was trying to get
information from the other patrons.”
“Wait, so he’s
investigating too?!” I ask.
“Of course. As far as I know,
Mirabelle is also asking around in the midnight wing, whether anyone
had seen anything. We all want to know what happened.”
So basically everyone knows about the incident already...guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but this isn’t going to make my work any easier.
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