"What is this place?" Ryan whispered as they came to a stop before a magnificent gate made of wrought iron grills. The grills were painted black and rose up high to join the canopy of trees that surrounded the entire expanse of the stone wall that was crawling with ivy. Only a drive way could be seen through the wrought iron grills and beyond that the forests of trees made sure that their vision remained obstructed.
Slowly, Katrina disembarked the car and approached the massive gates where no handles, no locks or any form of locking mechanism could be seen. On closer inspection however she noticed a panel that was mounted on her right hand side of the wall which she approached with more caution than she ever possessed.
"I have come this far, I cannot back down now." she encouraged herself even as she drew a hand to touch the glass panel with a mounted keypad beside it. It looked familiar, like one of those security pieces in the more closely guarded warehouses in the Maracheli industries and enterprises limited, but despite of these she did not know how to react when the screen cackled to life revealing the face of an elderly man. The face looked familiar. A familiar face but one that she could not place try as she may as her mind failed to connect the dots and offer the solution that she so desperately sought.
"Uhm... I received this.. ." she said even as she lifted the white envelope containing the letters and the title deed for the man to see. "it said that I should come here...Now I know that I am not Amanda, but the man at the bank said..."
"Amanda? My niece's daughter? Please come in. Do come in." The man beamed as he waved her over. He did not expect her to walk through the screen, right? Katrina thought as she looked around awkwardly for an entrance she must have missed. "Oh forgive me. Sometimes my age catches up with me and I forget... Now where is that remote? Why Charlie had to complicate these matters so..." he mumbled even as he fumbled around for what she assumed to be the gates' remote controller. After a moment of waiting and what she assumed was a futile search for the controller Katrina finally decided to intervene.
"Uhm... Sir, I think you will find that it is the big button on that console..."
"Oh well, it is. Been right under my nose this entire time." the man chuckled as he pressed what she assumed to be the gates' opening button. Truly enough the gates beeped and opened up revealing the driveway that was beyond it. Knowingly Katrina rushed back into Ryan's waiting car. The gates would not remain open forever. These things were times and as Ryan drove them through the gates, the great doors whirred as they slid back closes behind them. For the next three hundred metres or so the drive way continued winding moving in and out of the little forest, a little jungle that seemed to be teeming with life and all sorts of woodland creatures from tiny birds to bunnies which could be seen hoping from place to place. The occasional quack also filled the air and from that Katrina assumed that there must have been ducks or possibly a pond or stream nearby. With the landscape so beautifully , breathtaking a little creek somewhere had to be the perfect addition to these serene environment. Hundreds of kilometers from Crayon city this little hub was so unique in that even its vegetation did not resemble highland forests that surrounded Crayon city. No, it was not as cold nor was the terrain so rugged. In fact a warm breeze seemed to be blowing in at that particular time and from the scent of it, Katrina could imagine that there was a plain nearby or a meadow with all sorts of flowers y and with all the wildlife around them, she only hoped that it was also full of life.
"This is beautiful. Certainly worthy of our overnight drive here." Ryan said as they came up to pull up in front of a two storey shingle styled mansion. The walls were a plastered white and where a bay window was not protruding from its walls, green ivy covered the rest of its surface. It was not neglected, no. The architecture and landscaping was such that it camouflaged the house, melding it to its environment as it hid it behind a lush green curtain of a thriving ecosystem.
"Welcome! welcome!" an elderly man with a brown walking cane ambled over to them and down the front steps to welcome them and Katrina moved forward to greet him. Slowly, Ryan also exited the vehicle and as he approached the pair he also marveled at his surroundings.
"And this is?" the old man gushed as he finished exchanging pleasantries with Katrina before moving on to greet Ryan.
"A friend... My husband actually." She added with a more sombre tone that did not go unnoticed to Ryan.
"Ryan..." the man shook his hand in greeting. "I am her great uncle. Her mum is my late sister's kid."
"Really? I didn't even know you had any relatives from your mother's side!"
"Me neither" Katrina mumbled to herself still suspicious of the truth behind her newly found relatives. She could not imagine that this information had been kept from her for such a long time and only now was she getting to know about it. There was also that other little matter of Amanda, a person or a name that was not hers and despite their similar circumstances, Katrina felt that she could not fully embrace the knowledge before clarifying all the facts first.
"I know you must have so many questions." The old man said as he turned around to limp back into the house. "Please... Do come in. After all it also your house... I was only house sitting it until you got here."
"You mean you have been here all by yourself?" Ryan butted in.
"No, of course not. There is the house keeper and the gardener... But mind you I can still take care of myself. Bare with us though, the cook is out on a little holiday so the cookies maybe a little dry...You see, Mrs Nimrod is not so big on baking but I do appreciate her pies all the same."