Chapter 28: The Missing Tale

I go back to the book and flip the page to start reading the next story.

"The tale of Donny Dane"

Wait, what? It's empty. I flip to the next page, but it wasn't about Donny, it was just more information about the cave. I try to look over the book if there were any more mentions of him.

"Anything wrong, Rhys?" Yuki noticed me freaking out.

"Yuki, do you know what happened to Donny Dane? There's nothing written about it here."

"Ah, yes. I also came across that page, but I hadn't bother looking into it. But, thinking about it now…" Yuki stroked his chin, "I used to know a man who lives on the other side of town at the 24th street. His middle name's Dane."

"What's his exact address?"

-

The 24th street was on the side of town which was closest to Winterville High. I didn't know why I haven't thought about it carefully, but all I know was that I'm already outside the old residence of Donny Dane. Yuki told me the guy he knew was called Carter and that his middle name was Dane. So, they're definitely related. Maybe. The only problem was if he still lived here. I've been depending my lucks on a flip of a coin this entire time, and it might run out soon.

"Who's there?" A man with glasses only shows the side of his face when he opened the door.

"Hey. My name is Rhys Harrison. I'm looking for a Carter, middle name Dane, that lives here. Is he home?" I should've probably asked for his last name before I went here.

"Carter? He just moved out."

Yeah, I landed on tails on this one.

"Ah. Well, thanks, anyway."

"Wait!" He suddenly yelled out and opened the door fully. Then, he became shy once again, "Uh… why did you say Dane instead of his last name?"

"That's just how I know him. I wanted to ask him something, but anyway, forget it."

"Donny Dane! Are you going to ask about him, Rhys Harrison?"

The man with the round glasses who was named Harold let me inside his house. Now this looks like a classical American house. It was sort of small, but it was hella messy and crowded with boxes and stacks books. It looks like he just moved in here and doesn't bother making his house look like he didn't. I can't exactly tell him that, though. Harold said he want to show me something in his room and I followed him.

"I don't know much about their family, but there is one thing I know." He explained.

We entered his room, which was oddly cleaner than his living room. He goes to the side of his large cabinet and struggled to push it away towards the door. I was getting a little nervous. Is he trapping me?

"Uh, what are you doing?" I try to be calm.

He doesn't respond. Instead, he finished pushing the closet which didn't block the door. Then he pointed at the wall behind the closet. What the hell?

The now blatant wall was filled of cravings of the words 'THE MAGUS IS ALIVE' over and over again.

"Wh-what the… What's this?"

Harold sat in his bed, "Donny Dane wrote that. Er, he carved that. This used to be his room. They tried to paint over the wall, but the words won't disappear, and the family doesn't want to reconstruct the house. So, they've just hidden it the entire time. I only moved in here because they were selling it for a cheap price, and I couldn't afford any other place." Well, I was right.

I go nearer it and feel the scratches, "What does it mean? Do you know the story?"

"I only know a little bit. A real estate agent told me." He replies and I look at him, "Before Carter left, he told me a story. He said that Donny was a madman and a drunkard. He was unemployed and just goes around town. He was talking all about these random stories about, well, anything. Then one day, he just talked about a cave. Since then, that's the only thing he's talked about. He went on and on about this random cave and was muttering nonsense while he was writing these. No one knew what he means by any of it, even his family . Before things got worse, he was sent to a mental facility at the other side of the country when they started to get too annoyed of him. No news of him since. That's all I know."

I look back at the wall and I was trying to form a response. Instead, I was forming theories around the whole thing as Harold pushes the cabinet back to its original spot. The thing I'm fully sure about is the reason why there was nothing written on Haku's journal. They were too late because Donny was already sent somewhere else.

The only problem is… who is the Magus? Donny was talking about a cave, so it definitely would be related. It's a bit of a stretch, but I think I got it. Magus was the sorcerer that cursed Malinda. Her parents hired him. But how would Donny know anything about it? Either way, I got enough information about this one.

As I was about to thank him, another guy with bleached messy hair came inside, "Babe, where are the toy—" Then he notices me. "Who's this."

I stuttered, "Uh, I'm just here for this… thing." I pointed at the wall.

He nodded slowly, "So, are you done? Can you leave now?"