The House by the Woods

The Solitary Sway

"Several lost slaves found as refugees! A campaign lends a helping hand" Mr Hoggs read through this headline in the front of the Newspaper. This was not the impressive one for him, however. The most intriguing and Gut-wrenching one that he read being the death of an Innocent boy through the woods after having entered a mansion, God how will that headline not grab one's attention! Through all the years of his experience, he have come across quite a lot of similar cases and this did not seem like a venture to him, what bothered him the most was the life of that young boy and the suspicious aura hanging in there. However, he was energised and loaded to solve the case. Another mission on board!

"Still trusting these witchcrafts and evil spirits. Huh? Humans" said the one seated dos-a-dos to Mr. Hoggs on the train. Mr. Hoggs could've started a conversation with the stranger but since he was a growing antisocial pessimist with age, he decided to remain a solitaire for the rest of the travel. "Today's newspaper is just a scrap of negative informations and psychotic delusions... makes the world view as a bunch of hooligans living under a shed. Heh..."

'How pessimistic...' Mr. Hoggs thought. There was also a news article about the scheme that a group of youngsters are bringing up to circulate waste food from homes and party halls to the poor and needy. Poor passenger... probably didn't go through that page still. Mr. Hoggs passed a judgemental smirk.

The stranger was a wonted yet distinctive human. Even his hair strands didn't find time to settle in... it kept clubbing in with its neighbour strands. His haphazardness or restlessness was revealed in his slightly crushed albeit tidy attire that hung over his torso. 'A clumsy man, perhaps' Hoggs presumed.

The complimentary breakfast arrived. Mr Hoggs took a polite sip of the morning coffee... it was more than sufficient for him. He was not hungry. The stranger had a dainty bite of the loaf of bread stuffed with butter.

Mr Hoggs took his phone and read through the offer in parallel when he received a call from a new number.

"Hello. Yes. Mr. Hogget speaking"

"Oh so your name is Hogget? Resembling Arthur Hoggett" the stranger chimed in.

Hoggs decided to ignore and resume his phone conversation. "Yes ma'am. I am on my way there. Will be arriving soon. Could you fill in the briefs with the details..." and the stranger butted in again. "Hi. I'm Tim. Timothy. Please don't tell me you're Arthur Hoggett. Haha! I won't believe".

And Mr. Hoggs crossed his threshold. "I'm sorry Mr. Tim. Did the middle of my phone conversation interrupt the beginning of your speech?" he turned away, not minding the stranger's reaction. "Yes mam. I'll be there shortly... no, these details will suffice for now, thank you very much".

And since then, Tim remained silent, flicking through the newspaper, then he found a new friend and began to converse. Hoggs neither did mind nor did regret. He never cared about judgements.

It was past dawn when Hoggs kicked the floor. He met Mrs Margaret who spoke to him previously over phone, placed himself in a congenial room, took a warm bath and stuffed himself with sumptuous cuisines. The hotel also provided him with a snuggly night dress and a blindfold.

Train travel had already oozed out the energy off of him, however, he wanted to stay active. He sneaked through the window to make himself aware of the ambience. The window was connected to the street quite parallel to the hotel in the mains. The street was all clumsy and messed up with silent houses, dark rooms and only the streetlights on. Even Hoggs room was in dark. Behind him was the moonlight. He had always loved seeing the silent rays in the nights. And as he watched, he took out his diary and made a note under the dimmest of lights.

'TOMORROW

1. Meet Mr Ted

2. First Encounter - The house by the woods (look for traces)'