Comfort Room - Or The Seven Dreams of Frank Diggory

The Sixth Day

‘So why am I here? How did I get here? What should I do next?’ Frank asked feverishly.

‘The guy I mentioned earlier – Ethan Peteros – he set all this up: all the cameras, the sensors, everything.’ Emet reasoned. ‘He also had this call with us each day, at 5.45am. He arranged the money. The Mayor sold the idea to us, but it was Ethan who paid. He must know something. I’ll call him.’ She dialled his number on her mobile phone and then yanked it from her ear in sheer frustration. ‘He’s unobtainable. Which is odd, because he hardly ever leaves his house. He's the only person in this Subdivision who gets all his meals delivered.’

‘Then that’s what we do.’ Frank told her. ‘We go to his house. We wake him up. We get him to answer my questions.’

Emet agreed. ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll take you there. But we need to be careful. He lives up a hillside where there are no lights.’

‘I’ve spent days where you are the only light.’ Frank told her. ‘I can manage a hillside.’

Emet ran inside her house, grabbed a torch from a cupboard and led him back through the inside kitchen, dining room, lounge and out into the street. She locked the front door behind her. They crossed the street between two sleeping and oblivious dogs and headed down past house after house. They soon came to a narrow lane on their left. Emet swung the torch in front of them and they ran to the other side of the lane. She lowered the beam they could see where they were placing their feet and they headed gingerly, over tree roots and rocks, up the hillside until they reached the angular modernity of Ethan’s home.

‘Quite the place. I wonder where he got the money.’ Frank pondered.

‘Cryptocurrency trading. Or so he said.’ Emet told him.

‘No-one makes this much money from cryptocurrency trading.’ Frank told her. ‘It’s like gambling for gullible geeks.’

‘He has cameras all around this place. He’ll know we’re here.’ Emet told him. ‘Any minute now...’

They waited.

Nothing happened.

They waited some more.

Still nothing.

‘Maybe we need a lower tech solution.’ Frank suggested. He approached the door and rapped hard on it. ‘Ethan? Ethan Peteros? I want to know why you spied on me. I want to know why I am here. Answer me!’

Silence.

Nothing.

‘Maybe we should walk around it. See if he’s somehow asleep. Or in another room.’ Frank suggested.

So that's what they did. Guided by the beam of Emet’s torch, they picked their way carefully around Ethan’s house.

It was in total darkness.

He was not home.

Emet had an idea. She grinned mischievously. ‘You know, Ethan is all into technology. I bet the locks in his house are electronic. I can control my laptop from here. Maybe I can open them.’

‘Wouldn’t that be breaking and entering?’ Frank asked her.

‘Well, you're the cop. You tell me.’ Emet retorted, before trying to justify her plan. ‘Look, we’re not stealing anything. We’re just getting into his house to check if he's okay and see if we can find out why you’re here.’

‘So, trespassing.’

‘No. That would imply that Ethan would not want me here.’

‘And?’