The cold air washes over her as she steps outside of the airport and admires the deep orange and yellows in the sky. She may not miss many things from her hometown, but the crisp, fresh air that she doesn't get back in California isn't one of them.
Now it was time to get home, or rather, her childhood home. She wonders if she should [[call her parents]] to get them to pick her up or [[get a cab]].
She picks her phone out of her pocket and quickly realizes that her phone is dead. Well, a [[cab]] ride home it is.She decides not to bother her parents and heads toward the nearest available taxi. The ride home only took about 20 minutes but by the time they arrived at her house, the gradient of the sunset disapeared into the dark, star-filled sky.
She pays the taxi driver, takes her bags, and walks toward the front door. She lifts the potted plant and grabs the spare key. As she unlocks the door and steps in, she is greeted with silence.
She's not sure if her parents had gone out or were simply upstairs. All she knew was that she was tired. Should she [[eat a snack]] before bed or go straight [[to bed]]?She walks into the kitchen and grabs a pop tart from the pantry. After unwrapping the pop tart, she hears a faint sound of talking; it sounds like a news channel. She assumes her parents are upstairs watching TV, probably tired. She doesn't want to disturb them so she eats her untoasted pop tart in silence and turns out of the kitchen to get ready for bed. She'll talk to her parents in the morning.
It's time to [[sleep]] after a long day.It was a long day. Not only did she pack last minute, but she almost missed her flight and all that stress made her exhausted. She'll talk to her parents in the morning over breakfast.
She got ready for bed and went to [[sleep]].She walks toward the nearest available taxi and got in.
The ride home only took about 20 minutes but by the time they arrived at her house, the gradient of the sunset disapeared into the dark, star-filled sky.
She pays the taxi driver, takes her bags, and walks toward the front door. She lifts the potted plant and grabs the spare key. As she unlocks the door and steps in, she is greeted with silence.
She's not sure if her parents had gone out or were simply upstairs. All she knew was that she was tired. Should she [[eat a snack]] before bed or go straight [[to bed]]?She woke up. Silence, not even the sound of her dad's coffee brewing or her mom's teapot whistling.
She contemplates going upstairs to [[investigate]] or [[calling]] her parents first.She made her way up the carpeted stairs and finds the TV on. She quickly finds the remote and turns it off.
Her eyes roam around the room, spotting her parents phones on the nightstand. Next, she walks across the room and opens the various sized drawers of the vanity. She finds a planner in the middle drawer. She opens the planner to this week and notices that her parents had an appointment yesterday noon at the [[bank]].
She also reads that her mom has a [[book club]] meeting at 11 am today.
She calls her mom first--straight to voicemail. She calls her dad next and she hears a loud ring coming from upstairs.
She makes her way upstairs to find the TV on and both of her parents phones on the nightstand. Her mom's phone is dead.
She decides to look through her dad's phone. The last calls were from herself, the bank, and someone named KJ, who showed up frequently on the call list.
She clicks on the calendar app because she knows her dad keeps track of all his work appointments here. It looks like her parents had an appointment at the bank yestarday afternoon.
She contemplates asking around at the [[bank]] or [[calling KJ]].
She rushes downstairs and grabs her mom's car keys.
After driving to the bank, not 5 minutes from her home, she walks in and steps up to the desk of the first banker she saw. He was tall, dark-haired, and well-dressed. She notices the banker has gold chain around his neck. There's an anchor--no a money sign (or both?), attached to it.
The banker said that they did have an appointment yestarday and that they mentioned something about going on a trip.
She thanks him and walks back to her car.
She doubts that her parents would leave on trip without telling her, especially when they knew she was coming.
She goes back [[home]] to see if she missed something.She grabs her mom's car keys, rushes out the door, and drives to the community center in a few minutes.
She walks in the modern looking building and heads straight toward the front desk to ask what room the book club meets in. As soon as the middle aged woman told her, she walked past the families and teens hanging around in the cafeteria and pushed past the door labled 3B.
Turns out none of the book club members have heard from her mom. "I'm surprised. Your mom never misses a club meeting. She always has somthing to say," one woman said.
She decides to head to the [[bank]].As she got out of her mom's car parked on the driveway, she decided to ask the neighbors if they knew something. She knocked on the neighbor's door and asked if he saw anything.
The neighbor said he saw them on their way out when he was mowing the lawn. They looked frantic once they came back, a bit after 1 pm. A man came by a while later but he didn't see what happened after that since he went back in the house.
She asked what the guy looked like. The neighbor said the man was in a suit, was an average height, and had brown hair. He came in a sleek new car and there was a money sign overlapped with an anchor hanging from the car's rearview mirror.
She had an idea of who this man may be. She made her way to [[the bank]] to find out.KJ answers on the third ring. After asking about him and what he knows, he explaines that he is her dad's coworker and that they have all have been gambling together. KJ knew her parents owed a lot of money so he connected them with someone who loaned money under the table. All KJ knows about this guy is that he's bad news.
He tells her to check out the downtown casino, "if you know what I mean", he adds.
She ends the call, but soon realizes that there is no casino downtown. She keeps looking in her [[parent's room]].She waits outside.
1 hour later she sees the same banker she saw earlier leaving the bank and starting the same car her nieghbor describes. She decides to follow him.
Half-an-hour later she finds herself in an unfamiliar area. She gets even more confused when they arrive at a random, lonely convenient store.
She doesn't know if it's a good idea to [[follow him in]] or if it's better to [[wait]] outside the store.She starts looking through her parents nighstand but finds nothing that helps. She looks around the room and notices her dad's favorite jacket lying on the floor with a piece of paper sticking out of the pocket. She picks it up to find an unfamiliar address with words on the other side that say "looking for a deal" scribbled in her dad's handwriting.
Should she [[keep looking]] around or [[drive to the address]] and see what she finds?She decides to look through the drawers in the light brown vanity. She shifts through her mom's makeup and hair accessories and finds a small burner flip phone in the left side drawer.
She holds it in her hands for a minute, trying to decipher why her mom would have this.
Only one number is saved. She [[calls]] it.
She doesn't even have a chance to say anything before the person on the other line started speaking:
"Look, whichever client this is, you know I don't give extensions. You either drop off the money at the downtown casino or you know what'll happen; and you really don't want that to happen."
The man ends the call.
This is the second time she heard about the downtown casino. This is all getting really sketchy. Should she [[drive to the address]] she found or turn it over to the [[cops]]?She gets in her car and thinks about what her next move will be.
She realizes what needs to be done, turns on the car, and drives to her [[final destination]].She walks toward the dark stairs and sees light shining through the opening at the bottom of the stairs. She makes her way down the narrow stairs to find a dark, open room with only a few sources of light. She notices a bar in the opposite corner, a few empty tables and chairs, and the two doors on the left and right wall.
Should she check the two doors to the [[right]] or to the [[left]] first?She grabs her mom's keys and heads for the car. Whether this place is the downtown casino or not, she knows she's never been to it.
About half-an-hour later, she arrives to a lonely convenient store. Not sure why her parents would want to come here, she leaves the car and goes in. There's nothing really interesting about this place, from what she can see.
She walks up to to the cashier and says the same words she found on the small piece of paper: "I'm looking for a deal."
The cashier squints at her, as if he's trying to place her, but then motions over to the employee room behind him. She goes over to the door, opens it, and notices nothing but a table, a mini fridge, and stairs to her right.
Go down [[the stairs]] or [[leave]].She speeds to the police station, goes up to the station receptionist, and demands to speak to an officer, as this is an emergency.
While speaking to the police officer she explains the situtation and tells her all about the address she found in her parents room and what KJ told her about the downtown casino.
The polic officer tells her to go home and get some rest, but assures her that everything will be taken care of.
[[A few hours later]]She leaves the car and goes in. There's nothing really interesting about this place, from what she can see.
She's a few steps behind the banker, discreetly watching his every move. She sees the banker disappear through the back room.
She walks up to to the cashier and says she's needs to talk to the man who just walked in.
The cashier gives her a wary look but shrugs and motions over to the employee room behind him. She goes over to the door, opens it, and notices nothing but a table, a mini fridge, and stairs to her right.
Go down [[stairs]].
After waiting for almost an hour, she decided to [[leave]].She walks toward the closest door to her right. She hears banter behind the door and sees men gambling around a poker table once she opens the door. They don't seem happy about the interruption. She shuts the door quickly.
She slowly opens the second door, seeing the back of the a business man. The next thing she sees as she peeks her head in further is her parents tied to their chairs, widening their eyes as they notice her.
The one thing she doesn't notice as she steps in, about to interrupt, is the big man behind the door. She barely makes it through the door when everything goes black.
She walks toward the closest door to her left. She peeks through the first door and finds people arguing over money. Her parents don't seem to be here.
She makes her way to the second door and it's locked. She puts her head against the door and hears silence. Someone taps her shoulder and asks what she's doing snooping around.
Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. She ignores the man and [[leaves]] right back through where she came from.She slams her car door as she rushes into the police station. She goes up to the station receptionist and explains her situation, urging them to do something fast because she has a bad feeling.
She mentions the undergound casino and that her parents are in trouble.
The receptionist sends her to a police officer to explain it in more detail. She tells them to go to the undergound casino as fast as they can.
They assure her that everything will be taken care of.
[[A few hours later]]
She gets in her car and thinks about what her next move will be.
She realizes what needs to be done, turns on the car, and drives to her [[final destination]].She's heating up her food in her parents microwave when she hears the news reporter on the TV mention an underground casino. She moves over to living room to see live footage of the banker being arrested.
The front door of the house suddenly opens and her parents step in. She runs to hug them, relieved.She walked toward the closest door to her right. She hears banter behind the door and sees men gambling around a poker table once she opens the door. They don't seem happy about the interruption. She shut the door quickly.
She slowly opens the second door, seeing the back of the banker. The next thing she sees as she peeks her head in further is her parents tied to their chairs, widening their eyes as they notice her.
The one thing she doesn't notice as she steps in, about to interrupt, is the big man behind the door. She barely makes it through the door when everything goes black.She walked toward the closest door to her left. She peeks through the first door and finds people arguing over money. The banker and her parents don't seem to be here.
She makes her way to the second door and it's locked. She puts her head against the door and hears silence. Someone taps her shoulder and asks what she's doing snooping around.
Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. She ignores the man and [[leaves]] right back through where she came from.She walks toward the dark stairs and sees light shining through the opening at the bottom of the stairs. She makes her way down the narrow stairs to find a dark, open room with only a few sources of light. She notices a bar in the opposite corner, a few empty tables and chairs, and two doors on the left and right wall.
Should she check the [[right doors]] or the [[left doors]]?[[Trail of Clues]]