The Tunnel

"This could help you in your search."

I turned immediately I heard those words from Mrs. Palmer right as I was about to walk down the last step of the stairs. She was standing close to the door, her heads extended and part of her body showing. She turned around and walked back into the room. I wasted no time before I followed her into the room.

She walked few steps towards the end of the room and slightly pushed a frame hanging on the wall. She then pushed a button concealed behind the frame and a hidden door opened immediately revealing a dark tunnel. She slowly walked inside after signaling to me to follow her.

I walked behind her, mindful of each step I took, Drake seemed not to be close-by to know what was happening. Walking for some distance, the tunnel seemed to be getting darker with every single step we took. I brought out my phone from my right pocket and turned on the flashlight, pointing it ahead as I followed the old lady who seemed to know her way.

We got to what seemed to be the end of the tunnel but at a closer look, there was a curtain covering what looked like the entrance to a cave. Mr. Palmer pushed the curtain upwards and turned back.

"Here.' she said walking into the cave, the lights came on immediately she stepped her foot into the cave. She pointed towards the end of the cave. There was a long metal table resting on the wall of the cave. At a closer look, I could see the bottles of purple substances on the table, some syringes and other items. By the side of the table was an iron chair fitted into the ground, there were straps fixed into different angles of the chair like the arms, legs and the top of the chair, they seemed to be fitted to fasten a human or some kind of animal.

"I found this place while in search of clues but I don't think it can be of much help. Leo must have come here to suppress the monster inside of him. So much for his many travels." Mrs. Palmer Heaved heavily in relief, the signs of despair clearly written all over her face.

"Now they have my poor Clara! I fear for her safety. It's been two years already." The old lady seemed to have given up, but I wasn't ready to give up just yet.

I took in a deep breath and scoured carefully at the entire area in search of any clue that could help me with finding out what really happened to my father.

Some of the items on the table seemed really strange. The bottles containing the purple substance seemed very familiar and as I sniffed the top of the cover, I realized that it was wolf bane, then I quickly placed it back on the table. Leo must have used the wolf bane to suppress his wolf especially at full moon nights.

There was some pieces of paper on the table with strange words written on them, a pen strapped to a journal, a statue that looked like a man with a wolf body and a broken mirror.

I opened the journal and flipped through the pages but it seemed to be empty. I knew that there could be more so I grabbed the journal and held onto it firmly. Mrs. Palmer looked at me standing at a corner as I carried out my search.

I continued to walk around the cave sniffing with my nose, looking at every angle and listening with my ears for any little detail that could be hidden in the cave.

I touched several areas of the wall in the cave just in case there was another secret door but I couldn't find any.

"I don't think you would find anything. I already searched,"

"i just need to search a little bit, maybe there is something somewhere, maybe like a clue or something." I wasn't so pleased that Mrs. Palmer had already given up on finding any clue that could lead her to her daughter or the Alliance.

I went back to the table after a fruitless search on the walls of the cave, then a thought came to me. Placing my hand on the table, I slowly moved it through the surface of the table to see if I could feel anything strange but there was nothing. I noticed Mrs. Palmer's sigh behind me, she seemed to have gotten really tired of my fruitless search. Still moving my hand around the body of the table, I bent down slowly and put my right hand underneath the table holding on to it with my left hand. I felt something!

"How could I have missed that?" Mrs. Palmer gasped in excitement as I brought out the burner phone strapped at a corner under the table with a tape. I dragged the tape out of the body of the phone and threw it on the floor. Mrs. Palmer drew closer, her eyes glued on the phone.

"This could really be helpful, do you think this belonged to Leo?"

I had no idea of any response I was going to give to the old lady. I simply looked at her and smiled slowly.

I pressed hard on the power button of the phone and it came on immediately, first was the logo of the phone, it took a long time before it cleared off, then the phone booted completely.

I clicked on the call log icon, there was only one phone number saved as Jason, it had been called for a lot of times. I went back and clicked on the message icon, but there was no message in the phone, not even one.

"Could I hold on to this Mrs. Palmer?" I asked politely and she nodded in response with some signs of hope written on her face. I searched the other areas of the table and the floor but there was nothing. After being certain that I couldn't find any other thing, I left the cave, walked through the tunnel and back to the room. Mrs. Palmer appeared from my back and closed the door, them she carefully placed back the frame on its right position.

"i have to go now, I shall keep in touch."

"Promise me that you would help me find my Clara."

"I…I."

"Promise me!"

I could see the tears clogged around the poor old lady's eyes as she held on to my hands just as I was about to walk out of the room. I turned towards her and nodded with a smile. I wasn't sure how but I was determined to find out what really happened to her daughter.

Mrs.Palmer rushed back into the room towards the bed. She pulled out a drawer from the cupboard close to the big sized bed and came back with a small picture folded carefully.

"This is Clara, they burnt every other picture of her in the house. They took down her social media accounts and any other thing that was related to her."

I took the picture of the beautiful girl from her; she had a sweet smile, her bright yellow eyes reflected her innocence, she had long blonde hairs streaming down her shoulders.

"She was just sixteen. My poor baby!" Mrs. Palmer sobbed softly sniffing in pain. I touched her shoulder and looked her into the eyes with a consoling smile.

"Thank you." I said softly with a smile, then I walked down the stairs. Drake was waiting at the end of the stairs and as soon as he saw me, he looked at me with an inquisitive smile.

I got out of the mansion with Drake by my side, then we walked into the car turning at interval to see Mrs. Palmer watching us as we walked away. She was a lonely woman who had been dealt with cruelly by the Alliance.

The ride from the mansion back to Roseville was very quiet, I reclined my body to the side of the car looking out through the window of the car. Drake held on to my hand with one hand while he drove with the other. The feeling of finding out what really happened to my father remained in my thoughts. The burner phone was firmly in my grip, the picture of Clara close to it.