P.I.E - A Limey Rivalry

Part 9 - An Unaided Observation

A long while after finding him, Sophia directs Toast to the supposed 'marks'. The trip had taken a while; Sophia wasn't the fastest person and their destination was a floor above them.

Toast tried to destress his mind. While following Sophia, he flatly eyeballed the journey. They had been travelling through seemingly endless corridors for the past few minutes. Toast noted the wall paper's hideous green colour, along with the red carpet that they were walking on. Occasionally, they would pass a painting of people Toast could only assume to be part of The Gumball Family. They were an odd looking bunch, from what Toast could see; some were fat and round, others had weird facial hair and Toast was sure that most of the women looked like men. He made sure to remember every painting he saw and where he saw each one. This was partly so Toast wouldn't get lost again and partly to take his mind off the others.

Well, Toast was more worried about Ghost than he was about Bryn, but since they were a single unit at the moment, Toast was regarded them as one. Realising what he had just contemplated, Toast cringed and shattered that thought. Ghost and Bryn were not partners; Toast was Ghost's partner and that will never change.

Sophia came to a sudden stop, which caused Toast to flutter his arms around mindlessly so he did not lose his balance and fall on her. After getting his composure back together, he looked at Sophia for a clue as to why they stopped.

"The first claw mark appeared here," Sophia said, pointing to a part of the wall. As promised, there were three long jagged scars stretching up the wall. They had absolutely ruined the wallpaper.

She pointed in another direction, "My bedroom is right over there, at the end of the couloir."

Toast rattled through the first few questions that his mind came up with, "When did these three marks appear?"

"Around two months back, now. I just woke up one morning and came across it on my way out my room. At first, I thought there might have been an animal in the house: like a bear or something. But I was sure that there wasn't a way that an animal that big could get into the house without making enough sound to wake me. I also checked every entrance and some of the windows on the ground floor. Nothing was smashed or broken, so an animal couldn't have gotten in here."

"How many other marks are there?"

"Eight or nine, last time I checked," Sophia looked around in order to remember more information that may be helpful. "They usually only appear in corridors like this one, but there are two in some of the rooms downstairs."

"How quickly were these marks appearing between each other?"

"Oh... A week or two between, usually. Although, some have appeared within a few days of each other."

"Okay," Toast said, trying to make sense of the data. "One last question for now: When do these marks appear? That is, I mean, are they created at night specifically or anytime during the day?"

"Well I haven't exactly witnessed one being made," Sophia murmured while rubbing her chin, "but I only ever find them in the morning. The wall will be perfectly fine in the evening, but will be violated when I see it again."

Toast regarded all the information. No matter how he shifted the data around, he found no real connection to the basement or the history. The closest relation he could think of would be an animal residing within the basement that leaves at night. However, that didn't explain how the marks usually only appear in places far from the basement door, why there is no other damage to the property aside from large scratches, how an animal could have gotten into the basement or out of it and why an animal would make etch into the walls at all.

Toast held his chin and racked his brain to spot something he is missing. He looks directly at the laceration of the wall that Sophia had shown him.

Then, with an abrupt realisation, Toast snapped his fingers and walked towards the three rugged lines, startling Sophia. "What makes you think that these are claw marks, Ma'am?" he asked her, making her tilt her head slightly.

"I just assumed," Sophia said simply.

Toast shacked his head at her and examined the marks closely, "While these lines do seem jagged, they are also unparalleled. Based on the fact that the indents are deeper at the bottom end of each line, it also seems like something was dragged upward to make them. I believe that these marks weren't created by an animal, but are the product of some sort of tool."

He crotched down until the marks were eyelevel with him. He ran his finger up the length of one of the marks as Sophia considered his hypothesis. "If that's so," she said, "then with what?"

"I don't know," Toast confessed before standing up and sighing. "Where are the other marks? The ones you said weren't in the usual places."

Sophia answered fairly quickly, "The Lounge and the Billiard Room."

Toast had a new sense of fervour. He finally felt like he knew what he had to do. Before then, Toast had felt faintly lost in terms of what to do. It didn't help that he had already gotten lost once. He gestured down the way they had come, "Lead the way, ma'am."

Sophia walked past him with her chin up, saying nothing to him. She wasn't going to thank him until he actually came up with an answer to her questions. So far, all Toast had done was disturb her and made her walk around the house for him. For now, she'll entertain him and take him to wherever he needs to be.

Toast followed behind, happy to know that he can manage an investigation just fine without the aid or support of Ghost.