Good Girl - L. Baker

(3) Medusa

She only had seconds before marguerite entered. She looked around the room again. “Something seems off…” What did I forget? “Must have been my imagination.” Once again she had a tray with her, a big grin on her face as she took away the old tray and put the new one in front of her. Somehow this one was worse. It came with a little stove and the food was warm, it made the smell ten times worse. She opened the lid on the pot and a cockroach crawled out, it was hard to keep a smile on her face. Marguerite began to leave. 

She tried to wrap her head around this massive puzzle, did they know that there was a way she could escape? Or was it all part of a game? She didn't know where the door under the bed led, but she intended to find out. No more noises! If she made any more, surely she'd catch on to what she was doing. 

She got back out of bed. Crumple. She stood on a piece of paper that must have been sitting under the bed. She picked it up and there was another riddle. It was hard to see at first but once she picked up the lantern again she read it.  

First, death granted darkness 
To the man from the west 
As the man travelled on, he gave his 
Flesh to four beasts of the earth 
And when he arrived in the East 
He was charred black with ardent joy 

What does that mean? She was more confused than ever. Was it possibly for the lock combination for the door? She walked over, but it didn't take her long to realise the pictures didn't match the description. 

Quinn sat on the side of the bed, the pungent smell of the food clouded the room. She didn't know how to escape and she was scared of what the family would do to her. Would they kill her and feed her to their next victim? Was she there for their entertainment? Was this all a game to them? If so, when will it end? 

She had her head in her hands, trying to rack her brain around the situation. She felt something crawling into her hand, when she looked - it was the cockroach that was feasting on her dinner. She tried not to scream, her hand flew over her mouth as she violently shook her other hand. It flew away. 

In the midst of her panic, she looked at the large painting in the corner again. This one wasn't as terrifying as the one in the clock, it depicted death. The grim reaper stood behind the blind man, his hand on his shoulder. But this one was more gruesome, four birds eating and chewing on a dead man. They were all very random pictures. 

Four birds. Four beasts. He gave his flesh to four beasts of the earth. She got it! She understood the riddle, the pictures had to go up in order of the riddle. The picture in the clock hung up first. First, death granted darkness to the man from the west. The grim reaper was just visible in the darkness of the painting. 

As the man travelled on, he gave his flesh to four beasts of the earth. This obviously means the birds that feasted on the dead man. And last. And when he arrived in the East, he was charred black with ardent joy. The third picture - which was already hung on the wall- was a picture of a man praying, however he was burnt, a raging fire growing behind him. It all made sense now!

Once the pictures were in this order, the book then opened again, this time it was a voodoo doll holding a spoon in one hand and a fork in the other, and in the middle it was some sort of leaf. She was lost again. Did she have a spoon or a fork in here? She rummaged through her pockets and she pulled out the spoon that Marguerite had given her with her first meal. It had a picture of an apple on it. 

A leaf and an apple, where could that be from? She looked around the room quickly to see if she could think, she stopped at the padlocked door. The symbols, some of the symbols were an apple and a leaf. She went over. She didn't know what the fork was yet, but then she put in the leaf and then the apple. She gave it a small tug to see if it would open, but unsurprisingly it didn't. 

She looked in drawers again, careful not to open that broken one again, but nothing. She looked in a long cup that sat on the dresser, she found a lighter in there, but no fork. She felt like giving up again, but she couldn't. She was determined to find a way out! She had looked everywhere, until she saw it. In plain sight, it had been in front of her all along. Marguerite actually gave her the answer to the puzzle. The fork with her dinner. 

She swiped it, on the back was a picture of a snake. She thought the combination was meant to be Adam and Eve, but she wasn't sure. Click, click, click. she turned the dial until she heard the satisfying noise of the lock open. 

She placed the padlock in her pocket and she went in. She went to grab the key, but there was another puzzle she had to solve. She was done, she couldn't solve anything else. She wasn't a big fan of puzzles anyways, and if she was given one and she couldn't figure it out in the first five minutes, she was done. But this was so much different, this had her life on the line. 

A large painting of medusa,  half her hair was gone, and a snake as well. There were two pedestals and a box at the end that was wrapped in red duck tape. There was a cupboard at the end of the room, the bottom bit had been lazily bordered up, she stuck her fork in and the boards came off with ease. Inside there was solid fuel. 

She didn't know if she needed it, but she grabbed it just in case. She never knew what to expect next in here. She looked around a little more, a coat hook with a black hat on it and a jacket. There was a note sticking out the jacket pocket, she picked it up and read it. 

Goddamn Zoe, all Marguerite did was yell at her some, and Zoe went and pulled a knife on her.
Just pulled it right out from behind the dresser! Who knows where else she may be hiding them. 
I better check behind everything in the house just in case.
What am I going to do with that girl? It's like she doesn't appreciate a loving family.

Behind the dresser? The same one in the bedroom? She rushed back in and bent over to have a look, and there it was, taped to the wall in the same red tape as the box. She peeled it off, tempted to wait for Marguerite to come back in and just attack her, but whatever powers she had was beyond her knife skills. She went back through the door and cut the tape off the box and placed her lantern in it. It created a shadow so she could place objects to try and recreate the picture. 

She put a few random things she had in her pockets on, but nothing happened until she pulled out the fork, it had a picture of a snake on it so why not give it a chance. She spun it round, left, right, upside down until she turned it and it made the exact shape of the snake's head. Click. The first part of the puzzle was done, she just needed the medusa hair, but it was such an odd shape. She hadn't seen anything that looked remotely like it. She looked around the small room again to see if she could find anything, the only thing that looked similar was a second lantern hook, but it only had three strands of ‘hair’ but medusa had six. This was until she realised, that was the second one in the room, she could combine them and create the hair!

She ran back to the one next to the bed and tried to pull it off, but it was firmly fixed to the wall with a cork. A quick glance around the room showed her the bottle of wine on the wall that was covered in spiders had a corkscrew sticking out the top. She went over to it, the spiders jumping out at her again, slapping off the only one that landed on her. If only there was a way to get rid of them. The knife was too close contact, they would be able to jump on her, and there were far too many. Is there a way to get rid of them all at once? She had an idea, but she had no clue if it would work. She grabbed the little stove and the solid fuel and lit it with the lighter she found, all the spiders went up in flames, burning up into crisp insects - they would probably eat them if they found it. 

The second bottle of wine exploded from the heat, she hoped it wasn't too noisy, but of course Marguerite heard it and announced she was coming. She knew what to do now, running over to the paintings and putting them all back, using the four beats to cover her mess and closing the door to the next room she finally managed to gain entrance too and of course the lantern went back on the wall.