A Detective and a Middle School Student Work Together to Defeat Lupin

The air in Bramantara's house grew colder and heavier. Daisy and Bramantara's despair was palpable, pressing into every corner of the room. Rose and I stood before Aruna's painting, sensing the whispers they said sometimes could be heard. I stared at Aruna's empty eyes on the canvas, trying to comprehend the horror that had befallen her.

"Rose, the bulge on this canvas is becoming clearer," I whispered, touching the hidden spot behind the painted music box. My mind raced, connecting every piece of information we had gathered, from the riddle, the painting, to Aruna's parents' testimonies, and I knew this was the next key.

Rose nodded. "That's not part of the painting, Arez. It's something hidden within the painting itself. An invisible physical clue."

Carefully, I took out the small cutter knife I always carried and slightly slit the protruding part of the canvas's back. Inside, a small wooden box, palm-sized, was hidden. The box was unlocked, and within it, there was a brass key and a faded piece of paper containing musical notation and the lyrics of a familiar children's song.

I handed the musical notation to Rose. She compared it with the strange musical notation from the initial riddle. "There are similar parts, but also many differences," she murmured. "This... this is Aruna's lullaby."

"A lullaby?" Bramantara, who was standing near us, was surprised. "But that's a very old song! I didn't know Aruna still listened to it."

"Wait," I said, recalling our previous conversation. "Is there any part of this song that has a minor tone or a strange melody?"

Bramantara nodded slowly. "Yes... there's a part at the end that always sounds a little sad. Aruna sometimes cried when she heard it as a child."

I looked at the brass key in my hand. Three keys, one answer, within the whispers of a dream. We already had Aruna's locked diary, and now this brass key. This must be one of the "three keys" mentioned.

"This is the key!" I exclaimed, approaching Aruna's diary on her desk. The key fit. Click! The diary opened.

Inside, there was no writing. Only Aruna's drawings, cheerful children's drawings. However, on the last page, beneath a drawing of a cheerful house, there was a crude scratch drawn with a pencil: a circular symbol with a curved line inside, resembling an ear. And beneath it, faint writing: "She always listens from there. The voice inside the box."

"The voice inside the box?" I mumbled. I flipped through the diary again. No other box.

"That painting..." Rose pointed to Aruna's painting again. "The music box in Aruna's hand in that painting."

I understood. The painting was a clue, not a direct source. The music box in the painting referred to the actual music box. I immediately ran to the living room, searching around. Behind a stack of books in a cabinet, I found an old, tightly closed music box made of dark wood. It wasn't the music box from the painting. This was the real music box!

The music box had intricate carvings, and on one side, there was a small keyhole. I tried the brass key, but it didn't fit. I tried the silver key I got from the previous Lupin mystery, but that didn't fit either.

"There's one more key," I whispered. I processed every detail we had found. Aruna's lost memory, whispers from the painting, the lullaby, and the ear symbol.

"A teardrop flanked by two musical notes," Rose reminded me. The symbol behind the comedy mask. That was the last key. An emotional and musical key.

I examined the music box again. On its top, I saw a very small, faint engraving, resembling the musical notation from Aruna's lullaby. In one corner of the box, there was an engraving of a teardrop symbol flanked by two musical notes.

I tried to turn the musical notation engraving. Nothing happened. I tried pressing the teardrop symbol. Nothing.

"Silent melody." That kept echoing in my head. I closed my eyes, letting my mind try to piece all this information together, searching for an invisible pattern. I imagined the melody of the lullaby, then the silent melody from Lupin's initial riddle. A strange feeling guided me.

"The voice inside the box." I remembered the writing in Aruna's diary. This box must have a voice.

I looked at Bramantara, who was still pale. "Mr. Bramantara, is there any part of Aruna's lullaby that always calmed her or put her to sleep?"

Bramantara thought hard. "Yes... there's a part in the middle, where the melody slows down a bit. That was a very calming note for her."

I knew it. This was a trap. Not a physical key, but a musical one. A melody that had to be played in a certain way. "Melody of darkness." Something that transformed a calming melody into something dark. I had to look at this problem from a different angle, even if it meant accepting unconventional ideas.

I held the music box, feeling the musical notation engraving on its top. I tried pressing the engravings according to the sequence of the calming notes from Aruna's lullaby. I relied on intuition and faint musical memory. Each press was an experiment, a step forward in this labyrinth.

Click... click... click...

As I pressed the notes in the correct sequence, a small section beside the engraving shifted, and a tiny keyhole appeared! The key was the teardrop symbol flanked by two musical notes! I had found the last key!

I looked at Rose. "This is the third key!"

Rose smiled. "Brilliant, Arez. That's admirable reasoning."

I inserted the silver musical note charm necklace we had obtained from the previous Lupin case into the keyhole. The charm fit. I turned it. Click! The music box opened.

Inside, there was a small, worn audio cassette. And a letter.

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You have found the silent melody.

The voice that should soothe, now traps.

Play this recording, and hear the truth.

Aruna has not disappeared. She is trapped in her own dream.

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I played the recording on the mini cassette player Rose pulled from her bag. The familiar melody sounded. It was Aruna's lullaby. However, after a while, the melody changed. There was a faint whispering sound in the background, like a voice slowed down or repeated. The whispers uttered strange sentences, repeatedly: "Go home... go home... sleep... don't wake up... don't wake up..."

"This..." Bramantara stumbled. "This is Aunt Ava's voice! My sister-in-law!"

Daisy cried. "She used to often look after Aruna when she was little. She passed away a year ago."

Rose looked at me. "Aunt Ava. The 'melody of darkness' is Aunt Ava's manipulated voice. Someone recorded and manipulated her voice, mixing it with Aruna's lullaby. That's what trapped Aruna in the illusion."

I processed all this information quickly. The mastermind behind this was Kyle, Aunt Ava's nephew. He had a severe psychological disorder and an obsession with his aunt. He couldn't accept Aunt Ava's death. He believed that by trapping Aruna in a dream, he could make Aruna 'live' again with Aunt Ava, or at least, he could feel his aunt's presence through Aruna. This was the information I got from Bramantara. Kyle was a master hypnotist and capable of manipulating others' minds through audio and visual suggestion. I could see the whole intricate scheme now.

"So, we have to find Aruna in her dream?" I asked.

Rose nodded. "That's your part, Arez. You have to enter her illusion and bring her back."

I looked at Rose and Bramantara. I knew I had to be careful in manipulating this situation, making Kyle believe his plan was succeeding, while I searched for a way to stop him. This required a plan that could change at any moment.

I took the headphones from my backpack and plugged them into the cassette player. I listened to Aunt Ava's whispering voice and the distorted lullaby. This was the final step. I had to anticipate every possibility within the dream world. I had to bring Aruna back.

I closed my eyes, letting the melody of darkness guide me, ready to enter Aruna's dream and bring her back to reality.

I let the distorted lullaby play in my ears. Aunt Ava's manipulated whispers felt like cold tentacles trying to drag me into an abyss. I knew this was the most dangerous step. I wasn't just searching for someone; I also had to fight an illusion created by a disturbed mind.

A sensation of falling engulfed me. My surroundings vanished, replaced by a cold, dense darkness. I felt my heart pound, but I tried to remain calm. No panic. Emotion was a trap in this illusion. I had to maintain self-control.

Then, a faint light appeared in the distance. I stepped forward, forcing myself through the darkness. Slowly, shapes began to form. I was in a child's room, identical to Aruna's room, yet everything felt unsettling. Toys were scattered on the floor, but their colors were dim, as if their energy had been drained. The windows were tightly shut, not with curtains, but with thick drapes made of shadows.

"Aruna?" I called softly. My voice sounded hollow, without echo.

There was no answer. I stepped further into the room. Aunt Ava's whispers grew clearer in my ears, repeating, both soothing and threatening. Sleep... sleep... don't wake up...

I saw a worn bunny doll lying on the bed. I approached it. This was Aruna's favorite doll. I picked it up. The doll felt cold and stiff. I sniffed it, hoping for a lingering scent of Aruna, but there was only the smell of dust and silence. I knew this doll was an anchor, something that connected Aruna to reality.

I began to examine every corner of the room, searching for invisible clues. Nothing seemed obvious. Every object felt like itself, yet also like something else. I had to think flexibly, looking for connections between things that shouldn't be connected. A large wall clock in the corner of the room showed time constantly running backward. This was the illusion of time mentioned in the riddle.

Then, I saw it. On the wall beside the bed, there was a drawing made with chalk. A drawing of a house, similar to the one in Aruna's diary, but with an added eerie detail: a tall shadow with glowing red eyes standing in the doorway. That must be Kyle, the mastermind behind all this. He was projecting himself into Aruna's dream.

I tried to manipulate that image in my mind, looking for a way to bend it. If this was a dream world, then logic could be twisted. I tried to imagine an open door in the drawing, visualizing Aruna escaping. However, nothing happened. This illusion was stronger than I expected.

I sat on the floor, leaning against the silent wall. The whispers continued to spin, trying to lull me to sleep. I had to find a way to wake Aruna up, and simultaneously disrupt Kyle's illusion. This wasn't just about finding clues, but about changing the dream reality itself. I had to use what I got from Aunt Ava.

Suddenly, I remembered something Bramantara had said: the part of the lullaby that calmed Aruna. I focused on that melody in my headphones, trying to isolate the soothing notes, separating them from the misleading whispers. This was the core of that "silent melody"—a note that should have been calming, but had been corrupted.

I began to hum softly, following those calming notes, trying to let them fill the silent room. At first, Aunt Ava's whispers grew louder, trying to drown out my voice. However, I kept humming, repeating the soothing part of the melody. I knew I had to maintain concentration; any mistake could be fatal.

Slowly, the whispers began to fade. The colors in Aruna's room began to come alive again. The toys looked brighter. The shadow curtains on the windows slowly thinned. It was working! I had found the frequency that could penetrate his illusion.

Suddenly, a small voice came from behind the bunny doll on the bed. "Mommy... Daddy..."

It was Aruna! I rushed to the bed. The bunny doll trembled. I picked it up again. This time, the doll felt warm.

"Aruna, wake up!" I whispered. "It's Arez. You have to come back."

Suddenly, from behind the shadows on the wall, a tall figure with glowing red eyes appeared. It was Kyle. His face was distorted by rage. "You can't take her! She's with me! She's with Aunt Ava!"

He tried to unleash new suggestions, his voice thundering, trying to drown out my humming and pull Aruna back. I had to create a diversion. I knew he was fixated on the idea that Aruna should "sleep" with him. I had to convince him that Aruna was already "sleeping" in a safe place.

"She's already asleep, Kyle," I said, projecting my voice with confidence, though it trembled. "She's sleeping soundly. Aunt Ava is taking care of her in a better place than this." I had to lie to deceive his disturbed mind.

Kyle fell silent, his eyes narrowed. He looked confused. I knew he couldn't accept the reality of his aunt's death, and I had to exploit his psychological weakness. This was a battle not just with an illusion, but also with his mental state.

"This melody will keep her safe, Kyle," I said, continuing to hum the soothing part of the lullaby. "Let her rest. She will remain with you in peace."

Kyle stared at me. His shadow began to tremble. "Peace...?"

Just then, the bunny doll in my hand trembled even harder. Then, from behind the doll, Aruna's figure slowly emerged. She still looked like a four-year-old, her eyes hazy, but there was a glimmer of consciousness.

"Mommy... Daddy..." she whispered again.

Kyle staggered backward. His illusion began to collapse. The power of his suggestion weakened. He couldn't hold Aruna if Aruna herself wanted to come back.

I knew this was my chance. "Aruna, let's go!"

I grabbed Aruna's small hand, and together, we ran through the shadow curtains on the window. The curtains tore, and suddenly, a bright light dazzled my eyes.

I opened my eyes. I was back in the Bramantara family's living room. Rose stood before me, holding the headphones that had fallen from my ears. Bramantara and Daisy gasped. On the sofa, Aruna lay, her eyes slowly opening. She still looked weak, but there was life in her previously empty eyes.

"Aruna!" Daisy screamed, immediately hugging her daughter tightly. Bramantara joined them, tears of relief flooding his face.

Rose smiled faintly at me. "Good job, Arez. You did it."

I felt tired, but there was immense satisfaction. This case wasn't about theft or murder. It was about saving a soul from the labyrinth of the mind. Kyle was found by the police not long after, wandering near his house, looking confused and unaware of what he had done.

I looked back at Aruna's painting. The girl's eyes in the painting now looked alive again, and the music box in her hand looked like a natural part of the painting. The melody of darkness had been silenced. And Aruna had returned. I, the lazy one, had once again found something lost, something hidden deep within the realm of the mind. I never expected to become a dream explorer.