"Some words are missing out!" Zen gaped at the piece of paper he was holding on to.

"Sally," Zen shot a provocative wink at her.

"Yes?" She knew the exact reason behind him calling her that. Hiding her identity was crucial at this point.

"Can you hold this gun for me?"

"Absolutely. Don't blame me if I pull the trigger though!"

The man in the chair suffered a sudden thrill of panic at her words.

Zen moved inches closer towards the stout man. He whispered into his alert ears, "Tell us old man, isn't there more to this nonsense you wrote?" An ear-splitting slap landed on the man's cheeks, making the captive sulk with agony.
The irony of slaves captivating another human!

"I've myself tried to break the code several times, I beg you to listen to me, I've never been successful. Neither do I possess the brain to decode it or the audacity to get in trouble. They say piles of illegal money get stacked inside. This isn't the actual door, but a emergency access to that room. The actual door is somewhere over the front, exclusively guarded with high security."

"I think you have said enough. Whatever you answer begins with 'they say, 'I've heard them say', ahh how terrible!"
Zen rumbled at the man. He pulled another pair of pants and stuffed his mouth. The cotton soaked up his feeble moans.

Scarlett sat on the closed toilet, her aching legs demanded rest. She repeated the words in her head. Until now, she had no idea how meaningless words were. Everything sounded like foreign terms.

The striped brass-yellow frame on a white base of the mirror that hung above the sink reminded her of Judith, an 8-year-old young girl capable of killing you with her cuteness. She was yet another orphan with a million stolen love. Judith once got into a fight with her playmate. The fight sparked due to some crazy reason, reportedly, ended up with Judith knocking out Daron's (the boy) already dangling teeth. She had the physique to break a couple more bones of that poor boy if Laura, the maid, hadn't noticed them fighting. That evening, when Scarlett arrived at the orphanage she saw Judith and Daron under punishment. The punishment was to write an imposition- 'I will not fight again' 50 times in the wintry evening of October. For Judith the punishment was excess. She was asked to write an extra line- 'and I will control my anger. That day she wore the exact shimmering frock, the yellow shade matched the tone of the frame.
Suddenly, Scarlett was disturbed by a different thought. She found her legs walking towards Zen.

"I think the answer is umm...a 'star'." She mumbled to Zen.

"Huh-?"

"The writing is 'Serene to a cinder, the closer you get'. Star is a ball of fire the closer you get but a thing of serenity to watch from afar."

"Oh my- yesssss!!" Zen wiped the drops of sweat amassed on his forehead.

She wanted to tell him about the orphans and how she was reminded of a star but then she realized that he knew nothing about the orphanage or the pet name given by her adoring ones.

They walked towards the shelf that conceded the puzzle. He pushed the blocks in a pattern of a 5 armed star, starting from the top middle block. He thrust the 5 randomly moulded blocks in the specific two triangles- one straight while the other inverted, forming a star pattern. Not a block bounced back. On pressing the 6th block, the entire blocks snapped back.

Scarlett banged the vinyl tiles that hugged the wall. The explosion that resulted scared the life out of the old man. She transferred her frustration into the inanimate walls.

"The blocks are the right ones, see? They didn't pop out, but the pattern is just different."
Zen pulled out the piece of paper from his pocket. 'SHOUT YOU BEGIN' he read that out loud.
"Scrambling the words back, It's 'SOUTH YOU BEGIN'."
he gaped at the discovery he just made.

Scarlett rushed her hands on the blocks, sending the huge chunks in its dark home. She started from the bottom this time, she reached the left block in a pattern of a lonely star.

The wall drifted to its left, hailing their expertise displayed. It disappeared into the void with a tiny squeak at the end. "A little oil would do the work" Zen thought.

She wrapped her body around Zen over an elation so deep. This was a huge feat indeed for spooked teens like them.

"What shall we do with this trash?" Zen was of course addressing the man who was part of this malicious trade.

"He will stay there for a while more, won't he? Let's go inside."

They took dreary steps into the room now before them. It was a huge transition. The room was flaunting a vintage style.
A sinister-looking rocking chair filled the grimy space in the corner, its one arm was amputated. But light from the big glass windows submerged the centre of the room. Every corner glistened with homely energy, taking them back home. An analogue clock, broken ages ago, stared at the strangers. Its needles must have decided to stop working on a blissful summer night as the clock read 11:00 perhaps it could have been a rainy afternoon too.
A violet carpet, garnished with daisies, crawled all around the floor.
They inspected the intricately carved cabinets. The top ledges had different labels. When the first drawer was pulled, it read 'arms and weapons'. Beneath it, a huge cupboard was piled up with different weapons including a range of guns and knives. The next ledge read 'survival kit' the drawers had lots of processed food, potatoes and beans squash, stung cheese and powdered milk also. Everything was sealed in air-sucked packets.
"Are they planning to take off to Mars?" She was dazed by the goods found.

There were papers of instructions and route maps. One of the cabins contained money but not as much as the man had exaggerated.
"Scar, this is not a locker or a money piling room. Rather an emergency exit for these smugglers. They are all ready to flee in any emergency circumstances like a police raid. They are smart enough to make this seem like a normal building. You see the balcony outside? The elevated plants? This room is just a mask so that nobody gets sceptical about the things that happen in here."

"Zen! Look here! We have come pretty far away from where the smugglers are! I just hope that we don't get caught anywhere else. Making this far was wearying yet thrilling. We should be on guard no matter what!" They were looking into the paper that had random landmarks.

"You are right! Let's pack these things. There, in those backpacks." Zen said pointing at the bags lying on the side.

"I reckon I know to shut that man's mouth, come," Scarlett said grabbing a handful of money.

They walked back inside, armed with fatal weapons that were discovered minutes ago.

"Take this! I think disclosing our little invasion would be more deadly to you than it will be for us as you will continue working here, as for us we might never come back. And the little money is kept here!"

They set back to the homely room. A feeling of relief surged their body, there were definitely getting out of this cruel kingdom very soon.

Zen was about to roll back the wall when Scarlett uttered, "I will be back, wait here."

Scarlett stepped into the bathroom through the little space left. She leant towards the end the old man's side, sending her high pitched voice down his ears, "if everything turns alright, I hope you find that nasty rat and the scoundrel who never turns the light off!"
She spun the chair, leaving a swivelling man on his chair.

♥♦♥

A/N: how was the chapter?
Where do you think they are off to?? Or are they really going to make their way out??

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I've decided to write longer chapters relative to my previous ones and also I am pondering whether I should converge 2-3 previous chapters into one chapter since they are too short.