The Climb Of Mystery - Sequel to "The Cabin Of Forgotten Stories"

Sunday

"Kenzie, Kenzie wake up!" Lauren whisper-shouted at 9. Kenzie opened her eyes and looked to see Lauren leaning over her bed. Kenzie groaned and hid under the covers. "What is it?" She asked. "Your mom is talking to her uncle!" Kenzie eyes widened. "Like the one who owns the cabin?" She questioned. Lauren nodded. "Well, go listen!" She said. "I will, but if you can ask to talk to him, then maybe he can tell us about Diana!" She suggested. "Diana?" Kenzie asked. "Ugh, just go back to sleep!" Hayley chimed in. "No! We need her to talk to him." Lauren reminded her. "Fine. Diana the lady who lives in the yurt thing?" Hayley prompted Kenzie. "Oh, right!" She remembered. Kenzie got out of bed and wen to her mom. "Morning." She whispered. Kenzie waved to her mom and tried to give her signs that she wanted to talk to him. "... I think Mackenzie wants to talk to you." She said into the phone as she handed it over to Kenzie. "Hello... yes it's Mackenzie... good... Grade 10 in September... ya I know... it's so nice... so I was wondering if you knew anything about a lady named Diana? She lives in the yurt up the cliff on our lot." She told him after answering many questions. He told her that she used to be a singer, but that she stopped halfway through a tour, and retreated to the island for good. "So you don't know why she stopped her tour and just hid here for the rest of her life?" Kenzie asked. "No. I never knew her while she was touring, so I never knew what went wrong." He had said to her. Kenzie sighed. "Okay, thanks anyways."
After breakfast, they took a small boat over to a very nearby island with an ice cream shop. They all got ice cream and sat outside in the sun on the grass, watching the boats come in and out of the bay. "Look, you can see the South Dock of our island from here. It's straight across." Kenzie pointed out. "Ya, And who's that?" Hayley asked as she pointed a lady getting a few bags out of her boat over at the dock on their island. "I don't know." Kenzie replied.
"Wait a second." Annie said. "How old do you think she looks?" She asked. "Maybe about 40." Asher replied. They shared a look. "Do you think that could be?-" "Diana!" Johnny finished. "Do you think we can take the boat back to that dock?" He asked. "We have to try." Kenzie replied as they got up and ran to where the small passenger boat was docked. "Excuse me? Can you bring us to that dock, right over there?" Lauren asked as she pointed to the dock only a two minutes boat ride away. The man looked over them. "The next ride isn't for another 10 minutes." He replied. Hayley groaned. "I've got an idea." Johnny said. "No." Lauren stopped him before he could say what it was. He held his hands up in defence. "It's the only way." Everyone else was confused. "What's he talking about?" Annie asked Lauren. Lauren took a deep breath. "Swimming."
"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no , no, no, NO!?" Kenzie yelled at him. He shrugged. "It's only gonna take like 5 minutes." He told them. "It's gonna take like 2 minutes to GIVE YOU HYPOTHERMIA!!" She shouted back. He waved his hands. "The water's not that cold. It will at least take 10 minutes to do anything seriously harmful." He tried to tell them. "Johnny, I really don't think it's a good idea." Asher tired to tell him. "Hey, it's fine. I did it last time we were here, remember? And I was fine." He said. "Ya, But your lips were blue and you needed to half a 20-minute long hot shower before you could stop shivering." Asher reminded him. "And what if there's a current?" Kenzie asked him. "Oh, there's a current all right." The boat driver informed them. "That's why it's not a good idea to drive the boat there." He explained. "See?" Lauren asked. "It's not safe. And mom would kill you." She told Johnny. He crossed his arms and huffed. "But she's getting away!" He said as he motioned to the lady walking up the stairs from the dock. "It's fine. We know where she lives." Kenzie told him. The boat driver looked a little suspicious of them, but didn't say anything.
When they got back to the cabin, 20 minutes later, they headed straight for the cliff. "Guys, can't we go the other way?" Annie begged. Lauren shook her head. "She'll see us coming up the pathway." She explained. Annie rolled her eyes. "What's the big deal? She's going to know we're there anyways." "Annie, just let it go, okay?" Hayley told her. Annie sighed and quietly continued to climb up the cliff filled with trees, sticks, leaves and logs. When they were about three quarters of the way up, Lauren stopped. "What is it?" Johnny asked. She pointed upwards. "There's smoke." They all looked up. "Do think it's from her house?" Asher asked. "Probably." Lauren answered. "It's like that with our cabin as well. If there's a fire going, the smoke will come out of the top." She explained. "Fire!?" Hayley shouted, worried. "Not like that." Annie told her.
When the reached the house, Kenzie knocked and waited. A middle-aged woman with fading brown hair answered the door. She was wearing sweatpants And an oversized T-shirt, with her hair up in a messy bun. "Hello." She greeted. "Hi. I'm Mackenzie, my friends call my Kenzie, and these are my friends; Lauren, Johnny, Annie, Asher and Hayley. We heard about how you were a singer, and we wanted to hear about it." She explained. Diana gave them a strange look, but let them inside nonetheless. She told them to sit down. She walked over to a chair and sat. "I'm Diana, by the way." She introduced. "We know. We've heard." Kenzie told her. "So, you want to hear about my singing career." She said as she motioned to the records on the overhang above them. They nodded. "Well, I always loved singing, dancing, all that musical stuff. I end tot down auditions, but it wasn't until a family friend who had some connections heard me sing at a high school concert that it really took off. They managed to help me get an agent, and a few years later I signed a contract. I had a songwriter write songs and I would sing them, but when I was around 20, I decided to start writing my own songs. It really boosted my image with the media. A year or so after that, I was scheduled to go on a small tour across the west coast of the U.S.. It started in San Diego and made its way back up to my hometown in Washington. But about halfway through the tour, after the first show in Oregon, someone interviewed my old songwriter, who admitted to writing my old songs, but the interviewer cut her words, and had it all over the news, that I was lying about writing my own songs. I lost all my respect and no one showed up to the next show, the tour was cancelled, but to makes matters worse, someone got a hold of my songs that I had written, but not released yet, they sold them to people who had no idea and now my songs are gone."  She finished. "Wow." Annie said. "Yeah." Asher agreed. "That's so unfair." Kenzie  agreed. "I would hate for that to happen to me." Johnny chimed in. "I'm, well... Me, Kenzie, Annie and Asher are, singers." He explained. She nodded. "Young celebrities I see." Kenzie laughed softly. "Well... something like that." She shook her head. "But, you didn't try to stop them?" She asked. "It was too late." She replied. "Once the media had something out there, it was settled. You couldn't let the world know a mistake had been made with a simple click, the way you can with social media now" She explained. "But, you could tell them now." Hayley suggested. Diana shrugged. "I don't think they'd believe me, besides after I came to terms with it, I got married to my boyfriend at the time, we ended up having two kids, my oldest, my daughter, got married, and they built a place on the same lot, but after her kids were born just a few years ago, it was too hard to get here, so they stopped coming." She told them. "But what about your husband?" Lauren questioned. She gave a sad smile. "He passed away a little over 5 years ago from a heart disease." She told them. Annie reached for her necklace with a picture of Caleb in it that's she always wore, and Asher reached for her hand when he saw. "Why do you still live here?" Lauren asked. "I like it here. It's beautiful scenery, the sunsets from my deck are amazing, and it's perfect for my paintings." She told them. "Paintings?" Lauren questioned. "Yes." She said as she nodded. "Since I've lived here I have begun to paint, I hang some up, give some to family and friends, and bring some to the art auctions held over on the bigger islands." She explained. "Can we see some?" Kenzie asked. She nodded. "All the paintings hung up here are mine." She said. They got up and walked around the room, many, many beautiful scenes of things all around the island, including the ocean and sky were hanging from the walls. "They're beautiful." Lauren complimented. "Thank you." She said as she went to sit down at her stool and easel once more. "What are you painting?" Johnny asked. "The bay, over there." She said as she pointed across the water, and to the main island. "We'll let you paint in peace." Lauren said as she headed for the door. "Oh, thank you. It was nice meeting you all." She told them as they all left.