Wishing: Chapter Five

As expected, the bookshelf split and swung back.

I took the first step forwards. Megan shadowed my footsteps.

The room was a half circle, with bricks as walls. It was completely empty, except for the small desk on one side, holding a lamp (one that was already on) that lit the room, and the tall metal filing cabnet next to it.

"What..is this?" I muttered, mostly to myself.

I slowly approched the desk, not checking nor caring if Megan was following. Sitting on the top of the desk was a single file. It looked pretty thin, so I knew there wasn't much in it.

With shaking hands I grabbed the file and read the top.

I didn't believe it until Megan spoke the words aloud. "'Le Basso,'" she whispered, her voice shaking.

We exchanged a glance. Megan's expression was a mixture of fear and excitment. I'm sure mine matched.

I shoved the file towards her. "You open it," I spat, knowing I didn't have the courage.

"'kay," Megan said, her voice still barely more than a whisper.

I watched as Megan sat the file on the desk and opened it, pulling out a piece of paper. She did this over and over, quickly examining the contents. It only took a few minutes before she shot me a look and said softly, "You need to read this, Storm."

She closed the file and handed it back to me. I carried it back into the library, where everything seemed more real.

I pulled out the first paper, reading it to myself. The print was smeared, so I kept having to re-read things over.

"Verona, Italy..." I muttered mostly to myself after reading through the first paper.

"Hmm?" Megan said, looking over my shoulder.

I pointed to some words on the bottom of the page. "Did you see this? 'Verona, Italy.' That's where Le Basso is located."

"Storm, I read the whole paper, but.. I don't fully understand exactly what Le Basso is."

I paused, biting my lip. That was the part that had confused me, too. "From what I read... it's some company. An incorporation. And I'm thinking that they might have had something to do with Dad's murder."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

For the first time in quite awhile, I flashed Megan a sly smile. "What? Well, I'm going to track them down, of course."

***

I sat facing a cop. Another cop.

It was my dad's visitation. Maybe I'd like to spend it mourning like the rest of the people here, but no, I had to get interrogated again.

"Please, Storm, explain again exactly what this man looked like."

I sighed. I didn't want to have to repeat Scar-Face's appearance again. I'd done it so many times already. "He was tall. 6'2" at least. He had thinning brown hair. Incredibly tan. And three long scars going down his right cheek."

"Alright, thank you."

"Can I go now?"

"Well, I actually have some more questions I'd like to ask you-"

But I didn't wait. I stood up, walking out of the backroom.

My father's coffin sat at the end of the long aisle. It was closed, the way I had asked for. People sat in the pews, some crying. Occasionally someone would walk up to the coffin to say their last good-byes.

I couldn't stay in here. I wasn't going to cry. I had done that already. But I needed to get out. It smelled like death.

I pushed past the people and ran straight to the bathroom. The walls were painted in bright colors. Purple, blue, pink. Absolutely fantastic to have in a funeral home.

The bathroom was empty, thank God. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, eventually hopping up to sit on the sink. I waited a few minutes before checking underneath the sink to make sure the backpack I had stored there earlier was still there. To my ultimate relief, it was.

I pulled out my cell phone and checked the time. 6:27 PM. Megan was supposed to meet me here in three minutes.

Okay, I can't admit I was proud about what I was about to do. Ditch my dad's visitation to travel to Ohio with a girl I barely knew, just because we got some strange letter from somebody we didn't know.

But of course I was doing it anyway.

Clutching the black bag against my chest I walked into one of the stalls to change. At the moment I was wearing black dress shoes and pants, and a black v-neck t-shirt with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath it.

I swapped out the shoes for dark blue Converse sneakers. The dress pants changed into jeans. I shred off my two shirts and put on a very thin red t-shirt. Over all of that I pulled on my black cotton coat, that buttoned up and hung down to my thighs.

Had to keep warm, didn't I?

I ended up just ditching the dress clothes in the stall. For a moment I pondered what whoever found the clothes would think, but I quickly brushed the thoughts aside.

Leaning against the bathroom sink, waiting for Megan, I mentally ran through a list of what was in the bag. My dad's secret credit card, which, after doing some investigating, we found out was connected to a bank account with millions of dollars. How in the world my dad had the money, I hadn't the slightest idea. But right now, I could find out he was really a wizard and not be surprised.

A few changes of clothes, all light things of course. A first-aid kit. My cell phone, and the charger in case the battery died. The whole file on Le Basso, even though I could only read one page (the rest was written in Italian, which I spoke, but didn't read). My passport and birth certificate, just in case. A flashlight. Some loose cash. Several other things that seemed like necessities at the time I was planning it.

I didn't intend on bringing Megan with me. But she insisted, and I couldn't help but think over C's words that Megan could really be a good ally to have.

The bathroom door swung open with a loud creaking noise, causing me to jump and snap out of my thoughts.

Megan Lucide strolled in, wearing a huge smile, like we WEREN'T at funeral home. She was dressed almost exactly identical to me, down to wearing the exact same coat. Her shiny brown hair fell down her back. My blond hair was up in a pony tail, to keep it out of my eyes.

"Ready to go?" Megan asked casually, rocking back on her heels.

I let out a deep breath. "Y-yeah. Let's go."

We silently walked out of the bathroom, and completely out of the funeral home. Even though it was only 6:30, it was already past sunset and the sky was quickly darkening. Lucky for us, the parking lot and whole block were lit by streetlights.

The train station was a block away, taking only five or six minutes to get there. We walked in silence the whole way. I wasn't sure what we could have said, anyway.

So I just thought. Thought about what we were doing. What could be awaiting us in Sylvania, Ohio? And what about Le Basso? Did we really plan to travel all the way to Italy?

I walked coolly into the train station with Megan right behind me. Normally train stations are incredibly loud and crowded. Living in mid-Illinois, I didn't go into a lot of train stations, but I knew what they were like.

Now that it was night time, it wasn't so busy. Sure, people milled about in the lobby, getting on or departing a train.

Megan and I walked straight up to the window. The lady smiled at me, but I'm sure it was fake. She probably thought we were lost children looking for our parents or something.

I slapped the credit card down on the counter, sliding it under the window. I gave her a serious look so she knew this wasn't a joke. "Two tickets for the seven o'clock train to Sylvania, please."


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Prologue -----> http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1730006-Wishing-Prologue
Chapter One ------> http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1730060-Wishing-Chapter-One
Chapter Two ------>
Chapter Three ------>
Chapter Four ------>
Chapter Five ------> You're Here