Insomnia, a walk, and a mystery.

Brian and you exchange some small talk before you head up the stairs to your bedroom. Despite your earlier nap you're feeling tired, and look forward to a solid night's sleep.

It doesn't happen. You fall asleep easily but wake suddenly in a dark room. Fumbling for the switch you turn the light on to find it's shortly before midnight. You grumble to yourself, realising that this is another episode of the insomnia that has periodically troubled you for years. From experience you know that lying in bed and trying to will yourself back to sleep will be counterproductive, and you get up and huddle into your clothes, intending to take a walk in the night air.

The cottage is dark and you assume Brian is sleeping. You leave the cottage and take a deep breath, filling your lungs with the clean air. You stroll towards the main campus, enjoying the cool of the night and the moonlight shadows on the grounds of the campus.

You're near the Mellon building when you hear a door open and hushed voices. You see the shadowy forms of at least three people coming out of the side door of the building and making their way towards the upper campus. Curious, you follow them, staying to the shadows.

You're not close enough to hear the actual conversation, but you can tell by the pitch of the voices that they are girls. You assume they are sneaking out to party, and while you're somewhat tolerant of such behaviour you decide to follow along to see what happens.

To your surprise they head for a small stone building set at the base of a knoll in the upper campus. You don't recall enough of your campus map to remember what it was, or even if it was marked, but it looks more like a utility building than a place that rich teenage girls would want to go. Your curiosity piqued, you watch as they enter the building and shut the door behind them. No lights appear in the two small windows you can see, and you wait, wondering what they're up to.

After fifteen minutes you have seen no lights and no movement from the building. You approach it carefully, keeping as much to the shadows as possible. When you get closer you see that the door is not completely shut, but stands open an inch or two. You see no light and listening closely you hear no noise or sound of conversation.

You find it impossible to believe that three teen girls could sit quietly in the dark and not speak. Creeping closer, you listen harder, and are convinced that no noise emanates from the door. The building is quiet small, no more than ten feet on each side and you can't imagine that it contains more than one room. You reach out and slowly push the door open a few more inches, hearing nothing but silence.

Very puzzled, you push the door open wider and look inside. The room appears to be a gardeners storage room, with various implements hanging up or stacked against walls. You see rakes and shovels and lawn mowers.

What you do not see are any girls.