The Midsummer Mystery

Caroline Hatter

It's been three days since my 20th birthday, but it feels like a decade has passed since then.

Noises from traffic right outside the windows are fueling me.

The deceiving sweet scent of coffee is wrapping itself around me. Hugging me, squeezing my every last drop of energy into the papers I'm holding. Another one of my study tricks.

I take a sip of my latte and leave the café. My once tight ponytail is falling apart. I take it as a sign to return back home. The sun set long ago either way.

Taking in my surroundings once more, I move slowly as I put on my brown summer coat. The warm light within the café puts my mind at ease, despite the fact that I never was one for tenderness and soft colours. As I leave the café I notice someone else preparing to leave as well. Most people come to this café to either study or chat. This person seems to have been doing neither. "Let's not stick our nose where it doesn't belong." Is what I tell myself, as I drop my gaze to the floor and leave quietly.

The trip from the café to my apartment building is rather short. It doesn't take long before I walk the stairs to my apartment. For a moment, I allow my head to tilt up as I take in the image of several dozen staircases. I haven't quite been myself lately. Constantly falling into a daze. The feeling that I'm missing something is stuck to me like gum on shoes. Everything has been going as it was meant to all my life. How could anything be lacking?

I'm startled back to reality by the notification sound on my phone. I squint my eyes as I pull my phone out of my tiny, black leather bag. Right there on my lockscreen, underneath the time and day... A mail notification from the local university hospital? I quickly unlock my phone with my fingerprint and open the mail.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hatter has passed away in our hospital. Your medical bill falls to 130 000$. We await payment within the next six months. You have been given three additional months to grieve."

I burst out in laughter. What is this? 130 000$? Three months to grieve? It can't be real. I feel this sickening sense of crippling disbelief. Pulling at my neck like a thousand little gummy hands. I break free and rush over to my parents' apartment on the floor above. It's empty inside, so I sit there for hours and wait as hours become days and as days become weeks.

It's now been two weeks since I received the message. I don't know what happened to my parents. I've called the hospital, but they had nothing to add. I've stood up enough to fetch cereal every now and then, but there is too much that needs to be done right here at the table.

In order to pay the medical bill, I have to sell one of the apartments. If there are any clues to what happened, it would be in their home. I'm left with no other option than to sell my own apartment.

My mind is working at 110%. My eyes flicker from side to side. If there are any clues here, I must be careful not to change anything. I doubt anyone would be after them, but as far as I know, there were, and they might come after me next.

The safest route would be to move far away and only come back to look at the clues once I've done some research from afar. I clutch my hands together and let out a huge sigh as I drop my upper body down on the table and smack my face on the metallic surface. I can't even afford to live in the city anymore. At least summer break is in mere days, so I won't have to pause my studies for now. The only issue at hand is to find a place to stay.

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