The Story Of The WIndlenot Museum Chapter 2 (Kolchak)

Attention: Shivers is property of Sierra. Richard Cale is my character, and is used in other fics with my blessing. Michael McNeal is a creation of Mike N, who has fics posted on fanfiction.net as well. Carl is Carl Kolchak from the Kolchak: The Night Stalker franchise.

============================================================

The Story of the Windlenot Museum

Chapter 2: Entrance Patterns (Audio)

Richard Cale couldn’t believe his bad luck. All this time, he made sure to stay away from those student who did crazy dares like this, and now, his own bad luck got him stuck in one. What made it worse was that he recognized who had been stuck to do the dare. It was his friend, Michael McNeal. Michael was one of the few friends he had made at school, but he never though Michael would do something this careless. He turned and faced Michael and said, “What the hell do you think you are doing?”

He watched as Michael faced him and said, “Excuse me, this was not my idea. Some of my friends decided to trick me into spending the night here. What the hell are you doing here? Don’t you and Yvette usually do something on a Friday night.”

Richard sighed and said, “Her uncle Uptight is visiting.” He heard Michael chuckle, and heard a coughing sound come from Carl. He quickly remember the reporter and said, “Just to let you know, that’s her nickname for him. By the way, that man is a reporter named Carl. He came to do a story on the disappearances, however, I don’t think either of us planned on getting stuck here.”

He watched as Michael walked over to Carl and said, “Sorry about this. I didn’t know my friends were going to trick me into a dare.”

He saw Carl give a slight smile and said, “It’s all right. Besides, it will make a good story to not include one view on the mysteries, but to have two views. By the way, I don’t think I caught your name.”

He watched as Michael said, “My name is Michael McNeal.” He watched as Michael turned to face him and said, “So, what should we do now? Those four won’t be back until morning.”

Richard shrugged and leaned back against the pillar on the left hand side of the gate and said, “I have no clue.” It was then he heard creak, and looked to see he had bumped a chain that opened the ugly mail box. He then saw a letter fall, and he grabbed it. He glanced at it, and was surprised by the post mark on the envelope. He looked at the others and said, “This is odd.”

He heard Carl say, “What, the letter, or the number in the mailbox?” Richard glance at the mailbox and saw a number on what looked like the mailbox’s mouth.

Richard then looked at the letter again, and said, “Both, since this letter is postmarked 1984.” Richard carefully opened it and read the letter. “It looks like it’s from Professor Windlenot’s lawyer. Something tells me that when this was written, they though Professor Windlenot was still here.”

He then heard Michael say, “Wait a minute. I thought Professor Windlenot killed the kids. Why would his lawyer send a letter here.”

Richard was surprised when Carl said, “Wait a minute. Do you think it’s possible that Professor Windlenot is a victim as well.” He could see the sense in that line of thinking. However, before he could state his agreement, he heard the sound of thunder in the distance. As it went quiet, he started to wonder if their situation could get worse.

Michael McNeal silently cursed when he heard the thunder. He then said, “We need to find some shelter. I don’t think it will be good if any of us get stuck in a thunderstorm.” He watched as the others nodded. He looked up at the museum, determined not to end up inside the place, and then said, “While the museum would be our best bet, I don’t think we should go in there.”

He then heard Carl say, “No way in up there, anyhow. The front door to the museum is locked. However, I did see a gazebo off the left path.” He glanced down the left path and saw that Carl was right.

He then wave his arm and said, “Let’s get over there. I just hope it’s big enough for all three of us.” He then ran for the gazebo. He heard Richard and Carl following him.

As they neared the gazebo, he turned back to see Richard also looking back. He then saw Richard stop and heard him say, “Carl. That small triangular rock. Take a picture.” He watched as Carl nodded and did as Richard said. He didn’t understand why Richard asked Carl to do that, but he quickly stepped into the gazebo. When the others joined him, he heard Richard say, “Did you get the picture?”

Michael looked at Richard and said, “What’s so important about the rock that you needed a picture?”

He watched as Carl held up the picture and said, “Richard and I noticed these strange patterns. He pointed out the one on the stairs to the museum, and one on the door to the place. I saw two more along the path we just ran down. This one looks like two spirals joined together.”

Michael took a look at the picture, and saw Carl holding four more. As he looked through them, he glanced over to see Richard standing at a strange podium in the gazebo. He then continued to look at the pictures and said, “Any clue what they are for?’

He saw Carl shake his head as he said, “Not really, but something tells me they are important. Call it a reporter’s instinct.” It was then he heard a click, and turned to see that the podium Richard was standing at had opened up. He heard Carl say, “How did you do that?”

He watched as Richard just said, “I put the number in that was in the mailbox. However, I think this is a puzzle of some sorts. There are eight posts, three black gears, three white gears, and a handle in here.”

Michael looked over his shoulder and said, “You’re right. It looks like a brain teaser. You probably have to switch the gears in a certain number of moves. Let me try.” He then started to move the gears. He had always liked brain teasers. It didn’t take him long to switch them. He then looked at the handle and said, “Well, shall we find out what this does?”

He saw Richard nod and say, “Yes, besides, I don’t think this gazebo will do much good when that thunderstorm hits.” He nodded in agreement, reluctantly. He had a feeling that something was going to drive them into the museum. He then turned the handle, and wondered what would happen.

When he was done, he heard Carl say, “Will you look at that. Looks like the path leads over the water now. It even appears to lead over to a replica of Stonehenge.” Michael looked over the water and saw what Carl meant. He then watched as Carl left the gazebo and headed over to the replica. He followed, with Richard following him, and was amazed to see in the middle of the stones six panels with various patterns in them. He also glanced up at the wall, and saw Carl taking a picture of another pattern.

Carl finished taking the picture and turn back to the others, saying, “Looks like we found a meaning for the patterns. All these triangular panels have colors that match all these patterns.”

He watched as Richard got onto his knees and started touching the panels, seeing a small panel in each panel turn to reveal a new pattern. He saw a look of joy cross the boy’s face as he said, “It’s another puzzle, a visual one. Hand me all those photos.” He did so and stepped back as the boy went to work.

As he stepped back, he noticed the African-American boy looking at him. Carl turned to face him and asked, “Is something wrong?”

He watched as the boy looked back at him and said, “I just have a bad feeling about this. It just seems like a horror movie. You ever have that feeling you are venturing into a dangerous area.”

Carl laughed and said, “All the time. You don’t know half of the things I’ve seen in my life. Just look at it this way, you aren’t alone in this.” He couldn’t begin to count all the times he had ventured into danger’s path over the years.

His thoughts were cut short when he heard Richard shout, “I did it. Looks like we even found a way to someplace dry.” He looked over to see all the panels and slid apart, revealing a circular stairway down. He then heard Richard say, “Shall we find out where these lead?”

He heard Michael say, “Yes, but we should all stay together. We don’t know what we’ll find.” He nodded, and saw Richard nod as well. He then watched as Richard went down first, and then followed Michael into dark stairway.

When they reached the bottom, he saw the outline of a door, and saw Richard open it. He watched as Richard jumped back, shouting, “Watch out, bats.” He quickly flattened himself against the wall, and saw Michael do the same as the bats flew out. He then watched as Richard entered the door, and followed with Michael.

Before he took another step, he saw a panel and opened it. He saw a switch and pulled it. Soon, he heard the door close and lock, and saw the tunnel light up. Carl then said, “Well, I think we found someplace safe from the rain, but I don’t think we’ll get out the way we came in.”

He watched as the boys nodded, and heard Michael say, “Well, let’s hope this tunnel leads to someplace where we can get out of here.” He then watched as Michael took the lead, and followed with Richard to a fork in the path. He watched as the boy looked left, then right and finally said, “Let’s go right.”

He wasn’t surprise to hear Richard say “Sounds good to me. At least it’s not dark.” He nodded in agreement, and followed the boys. Eventually, he saw another path branch out, and they followed it to a open room with a lake in it.

As they looked it over, Carl glanced to his left and saw a body lying in the sand. He quickly pulled out his camera and took a picture of the sight and said, “Guys. I think we just found one of the people who had disappeared.” He watched as the two boys looked over at the corpse and gasped. He then watched as Richard made his way over to the body. He could tell that the boy had probably figured out who the corpse was.