Umer Ayaz 9B

Maze OF Secrets
It had been years since the Andrews had any guests, at least none which people of
Oakville were aware of. The Andrews were a wealthy, old couple who lived their lives in
their relatively old manor. Present on the northern, hilly side of the town, the grand build
was surrounded by ancient willows and enveloped in what seemed to be an everlasting
mist. It was truly a mystical place with a gloomy setting. The couple preferred to keep
themselves hidden away from the rest of the town ever since their beloved son left them
15 years ago.

They also had a loyal gardener named Arnold. He would walk with a limp and had weak
sense of hearing due to the aftermath of participating in a war. A few weeks prior to a
major event, while he was working on the garden in the afternoon, he felt his sixth sense
tingle as he felt the presence of another being approaching the vicinity. He heard the dogs
barking near the gate and rushed there at lightning speed but only managed to catch a
small glimpse of a tall dark hooded figure before he vanished, camouflaging in the
environment like a chameleon. He brushed the issue off thinking it was one of the teens
from the town trying to play around or pulling a prank on him.

A few weeks later, on a late night when the sky was inky black dotted with bright stars.
Arnold had worn his night suit and was heading towards the kitchen to boil some water
in a kettle for a cup of tea when he heard some rustling in the bushes. Instead of going to
check it out he went and filled up his kettle with water and put it down to let it boil. He
heard more noises, this time coming from inside the house. He thought the Andrews
would be asleep by now considering how late it was. Concerned with this extraordinary
noise he steadily sneaked towards the main lounge and found that the noise was coming
from upstairs on the first floor. Now he started to tiptoe up the staircase limping on every
step he took. There he found their room dimly lit with what seemed to be a fire. He heard
some mumbling inside. He felt the presence of a dark eerie. He put his ear upfront trying
to hear what seemed to be a conversation through the small opening left in the door. He
heard a sharp voice talking to another deep voice. “Master, do you feel it was really
necessary to end them in such a way,” asked the sharp voice. He was sure these voices did
not belong to the old couple considering their energy, there was something wrong. What
could they be up to, before he could put anymore thought to this mystery, he heard the
other person talk. The deep voice replied with anger “Of course it was necessary, do you
not know what they have done to me in the past, they deserve to die and so will others
related to them.”
Arnold felt his heart sink suddenly these two people had just murdered the Andrews.
They were also planning many more murders. He had to report this to the police before
the matter gets out of hand. He silently backed off to go and call the police when he
heard a distant noise. It was the kettle whistling loudly notifying that the water was
heated. He heard a bit more murmuring before the loud sound of glass shattering. He
immediately knew what was happening, so without thinking any further he stormed into
the room. He stopped in his path to a halt completely frozen almost as there was a force
holding him in place which would not let him move. Dumb struck at the scene he was
facing; he could not process what he was seeing. It was a disaster as if a hurricane took
place. There were broken vases, decoration pieces, and a torn painting littered across the
floor. There was blood on the floor with two people who lay dead. His eyes went towards
the shattered window which seemed to have been their route of escape. There were
millions of questions, theories and thoughts running through his mind, but he knew this
was not the time for them. He had to do something; however, he was unable to put his
finger on what.

Miles away in London, a young boy woke up as the time of dawn approached and the sky
slowly transitioned from night to day. He yawned and stretched, then trudged to the
bathroom. He brushed his teeth and washed his face to freshen up. He swiftly wore his
clothes when his mother called out, “Mike! Son, come downstairs quickly and have your
breakfast so you don’t get late for school.” He put on his socks, grabbed his trainers and
skipped down the stairs, two stairs at a time. He put on his backpack and grabbed a toast
or two munching it down with large bites as he waved goodbye to his mother and
followed the sidewalk. It was getting warmer as the sun rose in the sky but was not
enough to keep them warm as the chilly northern winds soon followed.

“The school day passed fairly quickly you know John,” said Mike. “That is what you feel as
teachers are biased, always appreciating you, if you were in my shoes, you would not be
saying that” commented John who ambled along with Mike across the sidewalk. “Alright
then there is no need to be offended by that, see you tomorrow,” answered Mike. “Fine
Goodbye!” said John. “Bye!” Mike replied as they turned in the two opposite directions at
the bend in the road. Mike continued in silence only to be finding a hooded figure outside
his house. He found the man in his yard. “What are you doing her- before he could finish
his sentence the man jumped over the fence and started to run away from the house.

“Come back here!” shouted Mike as he swiftly followed chasing this suspicious man. They
ran across the paved pathway house after house until the end of the street where they
turned right at the bend. Here it was complete chaos, it was crowded with people. He felt
that he lost the person but continued looking, excusing people and making way through
the crowd. He turned to an empty deserted street. It seemed completely desolate. He
heard footsteps in front of him; there he was the hooded figure standing broad and tall.
“There you are, who are you and what were you doing at my house?” Mike demanded.
The hooded guy replied, “You will learn soon.” Mike pointed his finger and opened his
mouth angrily to say something; he was knocked out into a concussion by someone
behind him. It was another hooded man, relatively shorter than the other one.

Mike woke up in a torch lit tunnel as he looked around it was just him there. He could
not remember how he got here. His head still hurt badly from the concussion. He barely
got up, lightly rubbing his head. He looked around to find any clue which would help him
get out of here. After searching for what seemed like forever in this never-ending tunnel
which twisted and turned in just about any direction. He felt exhausted and was about to
give up when he found a damaged book which looked to be a diary. He scanned the book
carefully looking for any clue. He found the names Andrew Axel, Jasmine Andrew and
Tom Andrew written in the book. He found the words dead in front of the names Andrew
and Jasmine and a symbol in front of Tom which looked like he was these murderers’s
next victim. He noticed there was another list and much more information but the thing
which caught his sight was the map of this tunneling system along with exit points
marked. Mike rushed towards what seemed to be an exit while finding another map
which showed the location of an old grand looking house surrounded by willows. Being
an adventurous person, he grabbed a torch, with his new confidence he marched across
the narrow way not knowing what would be waiting for him if he ever finds the place
mentioned in the picture…