Mystery Mansion

For several minutes you and Rukia play hide and seek with Kid and the Thompson twins, their presence staying just within your field of view or your sensory range before they dart off down another corridor or into another part of the castle. Yet, as with every game that your girls decide to play with you after what feels like roughly half an hour or so of chasing, the girls finally dart into what you believe to be a dead end, a small room on the ground level of the castle which to the best of your memory has yet to be occupied.

“Finally,” you whisper as you take hold of the knob on the door, your hand gripping onto the handle as you speak, “let’s get to the bottom of these shenanigans.” With a firm pull you open the door to find…a set of stairs, “what the hell is this?”

Rukia, being rather small compared ot your frame, nudges her way past your body and peers into the dimly lit hallway containing the descending staircase, “It looks like it leads to the basement.”

“That’s why I’m confused,” you mutter, your eyes squinting as they try to adjust to the minimal amount of light that fills the room, “the only basement that I know of is my room…and not to mention that this place was just a room when a moved in, not a staircase.”

After a bit more contemplation you decide to take the lead in walking down the mysterious stairs, your heavy boots clomping steadily upon the wooden constructs as Rukia follows quietly behind, her steps nearly silent as she clings as closely to you as she can on this narrow passage. After a few moments of walking you find yourself before another door, an unassuming and rather normal wooden framed object that seems to have a small sliver of light streaming from beneath its frame.

“Huh,” you mutter in curiosity, your hand stroking along the wood as you speak, “where do you suppose this goes?”

“I have no idea John-kun,” Rukia mutters, her head cutely tilted to the side as she stares as the unknown passage, “but…do you smell that?”

“Hm?” you question, your eyebrow rising with puzzlement as you respond, “smell what Rukia-chan?”

Taking a few quick sniffs of the air Rukia squints her eyes, her brow furrowing as she concentrates on the scent she is sensing, “It smells…kind of like saltwater…saltwater and smoke.”

“Saltwater and smoke huh?” you mumble, your wide shoulders shrugging as you take hold of the doors handle, “Well, I guess we’re not gonna find out sitting here now are we?”