اکتشاف

Chapter two

Exploring

‘So? What do you think?’ Mum asked Kara.

Owl Hall was a large farmhouse building which surrounded a central courtyard. The house had lots of windows but there were no lights on and inside it was very dark. There was just one security light in the courtyard.

In the centre of the courtyard there was a round pond which had a strange silver sphere in its middle. The first word Kara thought of when she saw Owl Hall was ‘spooky’ but she did not want to upset her mother so she said, ‘Wow!’

Martin knew what Kara was thinking and he started laughing. Kara put a finger to her mouth - she was telling him to be quiet. Then she saw a security camera looking at them.

‘They told me the keys were under the owl on the left,’ Mum said, reaching down. She lifted a stone owl next to the front door and found a set of keys underneath it. Then she unlocked the door and they went into the main house. The entrance hall was quite small with a cupboard and a table.

Above the table there was a photograph of Owl Hall. On the left there was a staircase going up to the next floor and next to the staircase there was a door. There was another door to the right of the table.

‘Look!’ said Mum. ‘Here’s a plan of the house.’ She picked up the plan and a Welcome Pack from the table. She studied the plan for a moment and then pointed at the door next to the staircase. ‘This must be the kitchen,’ she said.

She opened the door and they walked into a large kitchen. Kara had expected an old house to be full of old things but the kitchen was all new. On the right there was a big cooker, some cupboards, a sink and a dishwasher.

There were more cupboards on the left and a fridge with alphabet letters stuck to it. At the end of the room there was a large window and a rectangular table with six chairs around it.

‘What an amazing kitchen,’ Mum said.

‘Where are we?’ asked Kara.

‘Owl Hall,’ said Mum. ‘I told you.’

Kara sat at the table and opened the Welcome Pack. A letter welcomed them to Owl Hall.

Dear guests,

We hope you enjoy your stay at Owl Hall, the perfect place to escape from the stress of everyday life. Owl Hall has four holiday homes. Apart from the main house there are three smaller cottages. All our guests can use the gym and games areas in the main house.

You are welcome to explore the grounds, which include a wood and a small lake where you can swim in summer. While you are here, we hope you will keep a record of your stay on our own private blog.

Best wishes,

The Owl Hall team

Martin sat down next to Kara and stared at her. ‘Kara, I’m bored. Can we go and explore the house?’ he said.

Kara looked across at Mum, who was searching in the cupboards. ‘Can we explore, Mum?’ she asked.

‘I can’t but you can,’ replied Mum. ‘I’ll need to make us something to eat. Don’t go too far. And don’t go outside. It’s too late.’

So Kara and Martin ran from the kitchen and went upstairs. At the top of the stairs there was a bathroom on the right and a large bedroom with a double bed. To the left there was a corridor with a smaller bedroom, a bathroom and another bedroom.

They went down the corridor. Martin jumped onto the bed in the last bedroom.

‘This is my room!’ he shouted to Kara. ‘You can have the other one.’

Kara looked around the room. Its white walls were bare - they had no pictures on them. There was a bed, a chair and a table with a light on it. And that was all.

‘It’s like a prison cell,’ she said.

‘I know,’ Martin laughed. ‘That’s why I like it.’

‘Don’t talk rubbish, Martin,’ said Kara. Then she took out her phone and saw there was still no signal.

‘I can’t believe it!’ she said. ‘We’re cut off from the world.’

‘I think I saw a laptop in your room,’ Martin said. ‘Maybe you can use the Internet.’

So Kara went into the other small bedroom. Her room was much nicer than Martin’s. There were shelves with lots of books. The walls were sky blue, which was her favourite colour, and there were pictures on the walls. One of the pictures was a copy of her favourite painting - The Bedroom by Vincent van Gogh.

Martin was right. There was a laptop on the desk. She turned on the computer and waited. A few seconds later a dark Owl Hall ‘Welcome’ page appeared with the message: Welcome to Owl Hall. Click here to start.

Kara tried to log on to the Internet, but it was impossible to close the Owl Hall page.

‘Spooky.’ Martin was looking over her shoulder. ‘We’re in prison in Owl Hall.’

Kara clicked on the link to enter the Owl Hall site and a new page opened. There were three links on the page:

Explore Owl Hall

Blog

About Owl Hall

She chose the third link.

‘I want to know where we are,’ she explained to Martin.

But there was no address and no map on the ‘About Owl Hall’ page. The page showed the same information she had read in the Welcome Pack. ‘Owl Hall has four holiday homes. Apart from the main house there are three smaller cottages. All our guests.’

‘Well, I can’t find out where we are but I can write a blog,’ she said.

Kara was opening the ‘Blog’ page when she heard her mother’s voice calling from the bottom of the stairs.

‘Dinner’s ready!’ Mum called.

‘Coming!’ shouted Kara.

Kara was shutting down the laptop when she heard Martin close the bedroom door.

‘What are you doing, Martin?’ she asked.

‘Kara,’ he said, sounding nervous. ‘Can I talk to you?’

‘Of course you can, Martin,’ she replied. ‘What do you want to talk about?’

Martin sat down on the bed and looked at his hands. ‘Something’s not right,’ he said. ‘I. don’t know how to say it.’

‘It’s OK, Martin. I’m listening,’ Kara said.

Then Martin started biting his fingernails. ‘It’s this place. this holiday. I’ve got a bad feeling, Kara. Please don’t laugh,’ he said nervously.

But Kara was not laughing. She waited for Martin to go on. Sometimes it was important to give Martin time to think.

‘I think someone is watching us,’ he said.

Kara did not say anything because she had felt the same thing. From the moment they had walked into the courtyard, she had felt someone watching her. She remembered the security camera and the voice that whispered to her. ‘Kara!’ the voice had said. ‘Help me. Let me go!’

‘I think I saw someone in the courtyard.’ said Martin. ‘It was while you were using the computer. You won’t let them take me away, will you, Kara?’ he went on. ‘Please promise you won’t leave me.’

‘I won’t leave you,’ said Kara. Then she reached out and held Martin’s hand.