20/20 Investigations, Inc. The Wilderness Staircase. Chapter 7.

We began walking down what looked like a long tunnel. There was a gentle downward slope as we walked, kind of strange that we would be going downward. Whoever made this tunnel did a very good job, considering how old it must be. I figure that middle part of the hotel is older than 300 years, so that would be the age of this tunnel too. Maybe it was just a place to hide, or maybe it was for hiding some valuable treasure. As we walked along we kept looking for any possible doors that might be there in these walls but we could find nothing. Finally I could see the end of this tunnel. “Well, this is it,” I said, “we should be under the hotel now.” There was a large wood door on the side wall of the tunnel, but no way to open it. I tried pushing on rocks, but nothing. “There must be a way to open this door,” said Lena, “unless it only opens from the other side.”

“That would be a terrible thought,” I said, “and possible, especially if this was an escape tunnel.” Meow.=Maybe push two stones at same time, like we had to push on attic door. “Hmm, not a bad idea Mr. Cat,” I said as I started to look for 2 possible matching stones. There was only 2, but when we pushed, nothing. “Looks like we might have to go back,” I said to everyone. “But what if we can’t open that door?,” asked Lena. “Then we might be stuck here for awhile,” I said. But I did notice the air in here was fairly fresh so there must be a venting system to the outside, so at least we have air to breathe. Meow,meow!=Oh, look here, odd stone! Muffin was right, the stone was smaller than the rest and about 6 feet away from the door. I told everyone else to stand by the door while I pushed the stone. It pushed in quite easily and then I quickly ran over to the others.

However, the wood door was still shut. “Well, that didn’t help much,” I said, “kind of curious really.” “Kind of scary, is a better way to say it,” said Lena. “Here,” I said to Lena, “push the stone on that side of the door, while I push this one.” “But we did that already,” she reminded me. “Let’s try again,” I said and we did. This time the stones pushed inward and the door slid upward. We all walk inside to find two stairways, one going up and one going down. “Now which way do we go?,” asked Lena. “Well, going up should take us back to the hotel,” I said. “Good, let’s go,” said Lena anxiously. The cats were whispering together. “Okay you two, what are you talking about?,” I asked them. Meow,meow.=We think go down stairs, we just not feel right going up, could be trap. “Hmm, that’s a good thought and I agree, we go down,” I said. I could tell that Lena was not too happy about that decision but she didn’t argue at least.

It was a nice spiral staircase going down and down. “We must be close to the bottom of the outside staircase now,” I told everyone. That’s a big hill on top of us. “Thanks for reminding me,” said Lena, “I’m starting to get a bit panicky being in here, I don’t like it at all!” We were suddenly at the bottom of the staircase and entered a large room with some furniture in it, including some beds. None of the furniture looked old enough to be in here, though it was all old. And everything was very neat and clean. The air was also very fresh in here and I could see a large vent which obviously led to the outside. “It almost seems like someone is living here,” I said rather puzzled. “Maybe it’s that John you mentioned,” said Lena rather scared now. Meow, meow!!=Look!! The cats ears were straight up and eyes big as they stared behind Lena and I. We turned to see…

To Be Continued.

Picture of Mr. Cat kindly supplied by his human, Nina.

Previous chapters of this story, and other stories, can be found on my home page under 20/20 Investigations, Inc.

©2020 Steve McLeod.