Unexpected and Inopportune

“Where did it come from?”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t appreciate that there’s no address on it.”

The three siblings stared down at the perfectly wrapped brown paper package. As Nathaniel had stated, there was no address written in neat, swirling handwriting. There was just their names; Isabelle, Nathaniel, and Thomas.

Perhaps the stranger thing was the fact that the package had been found outside the sibling’s treehouse rather than their front door. Whoever left it would’ve had to have entered the garden, walked down to the wooded area that backed onto the property, dropped off the parcel, and then disappeared without anyone seeing them.

“And Piccolo didn’t bark or anything?” Thomas asked, folding his arms as he scrunched his nose in thought.

“No,” Isabelle replied, “he’s been asleep on the porch all day.”

Piccolo, the family’s dog, was old and may simply have not noticed the intruder as they dropped off the package. But Piccolo’s sleeping position was perfectly placed directly in site of the garden gate, and the dog was famous for bounding over to anyone and everyone who flicked open the latch.

“What did mum and dad say about it?”

“Nobody answered when I called the hotel. They’ve probably gone out for the day.”

“Do we open it?”

Isabelle and Nathaniel looked at Thomas.

“It’s got our names written on it.” Thomas shrugged.

“That doesn’t mean we should trust it,” Isabelle sighed with a shake of her head. “We should leave it alone until mum and dad come back.”

“That’ll be weeks from now. What if it’s food?”

“If it’s food then we shouldn’t eat it,” Nathaniel cut in. “It could be poisoned.”

“Someone went to great lengths to get this to us, and us specifically,” Thomas continued. “They could’ve just dropped it off at the house, but they didn’t.”

“We should leave it alone.” Isabelle stepped back. As the eldest sibling it was an unspoken rule that if she backed out her brothers did too. Something told Isabelle that that might not be the case when it came to the parcel.

“I’m going to open it.” From his pocket Thomas retrieved his Swiss army knife, the one his grandfather gave him that time they went fishing in Kent, and approached the parcel.

Nathaniel grabbed his elbow, pulled him back. “No you’re not.”

“Oh, come on! It’s not going to be dangerous,” the youngest brother complained as he did about so much else in the world. “Let me open it.”

Nathaniel looked to Isabelle.

Isabelle shrugged, rolled her eyes. This was Thomas’ decision now. If he wanted to put himself in harm’s way then so be it. She’d just stand as far back as possible when that perfectly wrapped brown paper was peeled back.

Nathaniel let go.

Blade flicking out, Thomas cut the string bow off then sliced into the paper. “Oh that’s boring.”

“What is?”

As soon as the paper was removed, the three siblings gathered round again, looming over the contents of the parcel with curious eyes.

“It’s quite pretty actually.” Isabelle was the first to pick up the beautiful, lacquer jewellery box covered in swirling, twisting vines and full blossoming blooms. “It’s heavy, so I’d guess it’s expensive.”

“What happened to leaving it alone?”

“Shut up, Nathan.”

“Anything in it?” Thomas inquired.

Isabelle gave the box a gentle shake. From within came the sound of something bumping around, sliding and clattering against the interior. But the box would not open regardless of which sibling tried to pry it open.

“It’s got a keyhole,” Nathaniel sighed once the box was placed in his hands. “There a key?”

Thomas scoured the paper wrapping. “Uhm… doesn’t look –“

Click.

“Oh!”

“What did you do?”

All eyes turn to Nathaniel and the small hidden compartment he’d somehow managed to open at the base of the box.

“I just… I was looking at the flowers, and one of them was a button I guess.”

From this compartment they pull out a small envelop, once again addressed with simple names.

“This is a lot of effort to go to,” Isabelle remarks, her fingers tearing at the envelope seal. “This better be worth it.” Letting out a small sigh of laughter, Isabelle tipped a small, black key out of the envelope. “Someone’s messing with us.”

“It’s kinda fun though,” Thomas replied.

The key, unsurprisingly, fit perfectly in the lock. With a soft and incredibly satisfying click, the box opened.

Nothing was said as the three siblings stared at the contents. One by one they plucked items out, frowns plastered onto their brows.

A letter, a map, ferry tickets, and a small copper compass.

“I don’t understand,” Nathaniel stated suddenly. His annoyance at the whole endeavour was obvious. He never was one for mysteries. He just wanted to be told the answers straight away. He cared very little for games of hide and seek.

“Here, listen to this.” Unfolding the letter, Thomas cleared his throat. “To my niece and nephews, I am sorry for the cryptic nature of my message, but I’m afraid there was very few options at my disposal. By now your parents will have gone away. I’m afraid to say they will not be returning. There is much you need to know, many secrets have been kept from you, and I hope to be the one to answer the questions you undoubtedly will have. But for now I have some simple but important instructions for you.

“This parcel will not have arrived unseen. I’m afraid you’re all now caught up in something dangerous. You don’t have much time. Men will be coming soon. Dangerous men. In this box you’ll find a map and some tickets. You’ll need to catch the ferry to the mainland, and from there follow the route marked on the map. It will lead you somewhere safe where, it is my hope, more answers will await.

“I hope to see you soon, but for now, you need to run. Pack light and pack fast. Good luck, your loving aunt, Christine St. Clair.”

Silence. Nobody spoke, for nobody quite knew what to say other than the very obvious “what does any of that mean?”

Nathaniel was the one to speak first. “Christine, is she not mum’s sister?”

“Yeah,” Isabelle replied, taking the letter from her brother. “I thought she was dead.”

“None of this makes any sense.”

“Do we do as she asks?” Thomas’ voice was quiet, scared even. His excitement had disappeared, drifting away like steam from a hot bath. The thrill of the mystery had been replaced with the heavy discomfort of the knowledge the contents of the box had revealed.

“I… I don’t know… Mum and Dad are going to come home, aren’t they?” Nathaniel turned worried eyes to Isabelle. “Aren’t they?”

“I don’t think this is a joke,” Isabelle said after a moment. “It feels real.”

“Excuse me?”

Three pairs of concerned, startled eyes flicked up to the man in the brown duster stood by the garden fence.

The man tipped his hat to them, a honey-sweet smile on his lips. “You three wouldn’t happen to know where to find the Oswalds, would you?”

“Uhm, yeah, we're –“

“Yes. They live three doors down,” Nathaniel cut in suddenly. “Number twenty-six.”

“Twenty-six?” The man took a notepad out of his pocket, scratched at the back of his neck as he flicked through a few pages. “Huh. I could’ve sworn it was twenty-three?”

“Nope. Twenty-six.”

The man put his pad away. “Alright then. Thank you.”

The siblings watched until he’d moved out of sight before they spoke again.

“Why did you lie?”

“Christine said men were coming,” Nathaniel explained. “And low and behold, a man appears almost immediately after we’ve opened that stupid package.”

“Oh.”

“Christine said men.” Isabelle shuts the box, tucks it under her arm.

“Yeah?”

“That was one man. Which means there are others.” She looked from one brother to the next. “We need to go.”

“We don’t have time to pack properly.”

“Then we don’t pack at all.”

“What about Piccolo?”

They look to the old dog lying on the porch, bathed in sunlight.

“We’ll take him with us, drop him off at Betty’s as we go.”

“Okay.”

They grabbed what little provisions they had the time for, cramming it all into Nathaniel’s travel bag, before dragging Piccolo off the porch and into the street.

“Look. There!”

A little further up the road, leaning against a black car as he spoke to the driver, was the man in the brown duster.

“Keep quiet and move fast. Let’s go.”

Arriving at Betty’s house, they begged her to take care of Piccolo for a few days. The old woman eventually agreed, but requested some sort of payment once they returned.

The siblings agreed, promising yard work in return, or a pair of helping hands to bring in the groceries.

Just as they were leaving Betty’s front yard, the man in the duster shouted across the street from number twenty-six to his friends in the car. His companions climbed out, shouted back to him about how he must’ve made a mistake and to ask those damn kids again.

And then one of them spotted the siblings.

“Hey! You! Stop!”

“Go! Run. Run now!” Grabbing Thomas’ hand, Isabelle took off at a sprint, Nathaniel beside her. “Run!”

“Stop!”

“You there! Stop!”

Bang.

Gunfire split the air. They were being shot at. The men had guns.

“Keep going!” Isabelle cried.

“Through here. Across the fields. Come on!” Grabbing his sister’s wrist, Nathaniel dragged her and Thomas through the landscape.

The desperate cries of the men slowly faded as the siblings ran further and further away from the neighbourhood.

The gunfire stopped. A car engine started, racing out onto the main road.

“Don’t stop,” Nathaniel urged. “Come on!”

Casting a glance over his shoulder, Thomas watched as their house, their garden, their treehouse grew smaller and smaller in the distance. “Where are we going?”

“The ferry terminal,” Isabelle replied as she ran.

“Why?”

“Because Christine told us to.”

“And we’re going to trust the cryptic letter she wrote? This woman is supposed to be dead!”

“Well clearly she isn’t!”

“A bunch of grown men just tried to shoot us, Tom,” Nathaniel chimed in. “I don’t think we have many options left!”

Taking on final look at their house, Thomas sighed. This is not the adventure he’d expected to be having. This is not what he’d thought the parcel would lead to. This is not what he wanted.

But then adventure never comes kindly, does it? It’s always thrust at you in the most unexpected ways, at the most inopportune times, in the most unexpected places.