Chapter 7: The Pub That Wasn't There
Ellie wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. She hadn't found any clues concerning Nicole's death, and now she had even more questions about the men in cloaks. She leaned back against the wall, her head making a slight 'thud' from her frustration. Suddenly Ellie had the feeling that something was off. There was something odd about the wall she was leaning against. She quickly turned around and couldn't believe her eyes. An old, grubby looking building was standing right behind her. Ellie thought it was strange that she hadn't noticed the building before, not even when she was standing right next to it.
Suddenly a wild thought crossed Ellie's mind. What if the two men disappeared into this building. After all, it did look like a place where a 'bizarre cult' would hold their meetings. After a few minutes Ellie managed to locate the door, which seemed to blend in very well with the wall. She grasped the door knob, and took a deep breath, preparing herself for anything. With one swift movement Ellie swung open the door, and quickly jumped inside. Immediately she saw that there was a large number of people in the room, and she hid behind the closest object she could find, which happened to be a coat rack covered with cloaks. When her eyes fully adjusted to the dim lighting, Ellie could see that she had landed herself in a pub. All the patrons were either dressed in cloaks, or other strange articles of clothing. The barman was carrying a tray of drinks to a table which seated four women. Each of the drinks were weirder than the next. There was a bright flourescent pink one, another was overflowing with foam, steam was emanating from another, and one even had flames shooting out of it. All four women paid with the same strange coins Ellie had seen during her Christmas shopping. Most people were having very animated conversations with each other, while others chose to sit quietly alone. Nobody seemed to take any notice of Ellie, and she was fairly sure that none of them knew she was there, but she still didn't feel safe enough to come out from her hiding spot. Ellie's eyes wandered from table to table. She finally noticed the two men who she had followed into this strange pub sitting at the far side of the room. After several minutes of just simply observing everything, Ellie realized that the pub was looking emptier than it had when she first arrived, but no one had passed her to exit through the door. Where had they all gone?
Suddenly the men in the blue and green cloaks stood from their table and headed towards the back of the pub. Ellie caught sight of a door that had been partially blocked from her view by a thick wooden pillar. After the men exited through the back door, Ellie shut her eyes, trying to think what to do next. Purely fuled by curiosity, an idea began to form in Ellie's mind. She carefully began looking through the cloaks that were hanging in front of her, searching for the smallest one. She finally picked out a deep chocolate brown one, and draped it over her shoulders. Ellie then casually walked over to the back door, trying not to draw any attention to herself, nor make eye contact with anyone. Once at her destination, she confidently opened the door, as if it was a door she had been through a hundred times. To Ellie's dismay there was nothing but an empty walled courtyard with a dustbin and a few weeds on the other side.
"They disappeared on me again!" Ellie said out loud in disbelief.
She searched high and low, looking for a secret passage out of the court yard, but nothing was working, not even the dustbin or any of the weeds. Soon Ellie found herself leaning against each of the walls hoping that a secret door or building would magically appear like last time, but that plan proved to be hopeless as well.
"What am I doing?" Ellie asked herself, coming to her senses. "I followed two strangely dressed men into a very odd pub which I'd never seen before, and now I'm in the back looking for a secret passage way, when I should be looking for clues about Nicole's death."
Ellie turned to go back through the door, but the sound of voices growing louder on the other side made her stop. Someone was coming! With absolutely no where to hide, Ellie scrunched herself into a tiny ball in the most shadowy corner of the courtyard, and prayed that she wouldn't be noticed.
Two women walked through the door, still carrying on with their conversation.
".... such an awful time de-gnoming the yard yesterday. It always gets so out of hand when the children are at school." The first woman said. She was wearing a large orange hat with various feathers that looked unfamiliar to Ellie.
The second woman, who was wearing a light violet cloak, nodded in agreement. Then the first woman pulled out a long, smooth stick from her pocket, and tapped one of the bricks in the center of the wall three times.
To Ellie's astonishment, the brick began to quiver, and a small hole formed in the wall. The hole grew larger and larger until it formed an arch way that led to a cobble-stone path with dozens of shops along either side. The two women stepped through the arch, unaware to the fact that Ellie had been in the courtyard the entire time. Before Ellie could even fathom what she had just witnessed, she had stood up, and ran through the arch way before it sealed itself.