"Umm... It's Barker actually." She replied out of habit. She was somewhat used to people getting her name wrong. ((I realize that might have been a typo but I'm running with it.)) Then she stopped herself. "What that shouldn't be right..."

She took the electronic signature pad from the top of the box and double checked the name on it. It was for her... "What the hell?" She looked up to the UPS guy expected to see him smirking with suppressed humor. That had to be a prank. Mike might have planned on offering to let her stay here before today but surely he hadn't had time to set up a mail delivery for her. The delivery guy didn't give any indication that he was playing a joke on her but he could just be a good actor. But just in case she asked. "When was this shipped out?"

Maybe Mike had expressed delivered her something... She checked the pad too, just in case it was listed there.

If not for the tan he may have been as red as a lobster about then but it showed in his eyes as she corrected her name. “S-Sorry, I meant that ...” He had to set down the package and access the electronic tool. The package had tracking though while he was checking she could see this address on the package but her name. There was no return name on the package though there was an address.

Carosca. What the hell …

“Ah, here it is. Last week it looks like, standard delivery with confirmation and tracking on it.” The man added. “I was surprised to see your name listed though. I've delivered her countless times in the past, did you just buy the place?”

She was only half listening to him at this point. She knelt down to stare more closely at the return address. "Carosca..." The name struck a cord of memory that sent a chill down her spine but she couldn't quite say why. She stood back up and took this pad back from the delivery man. "It's not my house. It's my agent's."

Her agent who shouldn't have known she was going to be here until today. She absently signed for the package and smiled a little uneasily at the man as she handed back his device. "I think he must be playing a little prank on me." It was the only explanation. He must have ordered this last week banking that she'd accept his offer and stay here. It wasn't like Mike to play pranks though but no one else knew she was here.

Have you found the yellow sign?

A shudder ran down her spine as the line from the story came back to her. Had she summoned this package when reading the story. Ann had received a parcel from her sister but... She bit her lip as she looked down at the box. "I'm sorry... She looked back up at the UPS guy. "This might sound like a strange request but could you stay here for just a moment while I open this? It would make me feel a little less unnerved about it."

“Of course you'd know Mike,” it was as if it was an obvious matter that he should have seen for himself. It was as if he was questioning the fact that he had made the assumption she purchased this place. He gave an awkward smile, searched for the information then heard her request..

She seemed uneasy about the package for whatever reason and he looked at it again. There was no name there but there was a rather unusual address on it. That stood out, that had to be it. It didn't trigger any alerts as a suspicious package and someone at t he warehouse probably had taken down all the relevant information though that wasn't something he could check on his end.

He knew what packages were in his truck and which needed to be signed for and which did not. This had to be signed for which she had. His job was done though even if he wasn't a fan he would have stayed. He nodded.

The package was light and mostly empty save for a single nondescript envelop that had her name on it in gold. Just her first name. Inside was a black index card, she didn't even have to read it to know what it would say:

Have you found the yellow sign?

Unlike the card in the book though there was something on the reverse side.

The Yellow King

The driver seemed puzzled by this, he had been reading the card too “Yellow King? Wasn't there a play with that character?” He was thinking over it trying to remember. The rest of the box seemed empty enough, such a waste of space …

Kirsty sighed wearily once she read the card. She'd figured as much. It could still be a prank but she felt certain that her powers were really to blame for this. She thought about the book waiting for her upstairs. She wondered if she should refrain from reading more of it today. Not that that was really a solution, she had to read it in preparation for this play.

The delivery guy asked about The Yellow King and she smiled back at him. "He's from a book of short stories actually. There is a play in one of the stories though. It drives the actors mad..." That's were she heard the name Carosca. It was from the play. "I'm sorry for holding you up for something so silly. It really is just a dumb prank someone is playing on me. Is there anything I can do to repay you. Would you like an autograph or a selfie with me. I'm not hugely famous but it would still make for a great story for your friends."

She repaid the delivery guy's kindness and wish him a pleasant day. Then she took the dumb card with it's vague message and headed back to her room. The book was still sitting harmlessly where she'd left it in the reading nook but she ignored it for now. Instead she took out her phone and texted Mike. Might as well eliminate as many culprits as possible.

Text:
Hey Mike. Quick question. You didn't have any packages scheduled to be shipped to me here, did you?

“Tough break,” he commented about those actors though it was just a story. His features did light up at her offer. Apparently he was in the know, he had seen her perform it was evident.

“A selfie would be great, and it's no problem about any hold up.” A picture with a cute babe had more incentive than an autograph in his opinion since she had not made it big yet. Better than sitting on am autograph waiting for her to become famous before it could be used to impress people.

A picture would impress people more with little knowledge of who she was.. The picture taken, he thanked her an had been on his way. Soon after he departed and she had been left alone.

It was about five minutes after she sent her text that she received one back.


No, I did not. Try folding back the flaps of the package.

A hint or joke, maybe he was teasing her about a scene from the novel she had yet to get to.

She considered Mike's text for a moment. He said send the package but his comment about the flaps made her wonder. Was he referring to something that happens later in the book. She happened gotten to that part of he had, in which case there should be any secret in the box flaps of the package. Not if it was something of her conjuring at least. She had left the box downstairs though.

She frowned and picked up the book again but didn't continue reading it. Instead, she headed back to the entrance hallway and scooped up the box and brought it and the book into the living room. She set the book down on the table and sat down on the sofa with the box in her lap and started examining the flaps. Depending on what she found of didn't find she would refer back to the book and see what she was supposed to find on the box.

The box seemed to be nothing other then cardboard. The numbers 25 11 had been beneath one of the flaps. It was small but neat. No reason to hide that but beneath another there was even more information. A string of numbers. (518) 332-1414 Dutchman's Landing.

A phone number? Was that some sort of location too? It was hard to say but turning over the other flaps and a careful search of the box didn't reveal anything else unusual save for these two clues, three depending on whether she grouped the possible phone number with Dutchman's Landing or separated them as the two weren't too close together, close enough to be significant.

Though the possible number situation could be looked into through calling it or looking it up in a phone book or possibly even the internet through her phone is it were a listed number or some business she could get some additional information.

"Curiouser and curiouser..." She muttered to herself. Maybe this was a prank... or a test. The numbers 25:11 meant nothing to her. It could be a code but for what she hadn't a clue. The other part of the mystery was easier to work out. The other set out numbers were clearly a phone number. 518 was a new York area code after all but what did they have to do with Dutchman's Landing. Was it a reference to the Flying Dutchman.

The mystery was sucking her in and she just had to figure it out. She pulled out her phone and did a quick Google search. Okay, there was a park in Catskill, NY called Dutchman's Landing. Maybe that's what the number was for? She could try searching the phone number but those searches rarely turned up much. Besides, there was a faster way of finding out what the number was for. She dialed it into her phone and hit send.

((You have no idea how tempted I was to do that in real life. I didn't want to annoy some random New Yorker though.))

(the area code was the only part that I had to pull up, the rest was absolute gibberish )



One ring. Two. Then there was a voice … one that she had heard, not from the movies though she may have caught Edward Scissorhands it was from that ancient music video they played every Halloween … Thriller … it sounded as distinct as Vincent Price though she knew it was just someone that sounded similar to him.

"Hello, Kristy"i]

There was a pause. He had to have caller ID or something but even if he had her number should have come up as unlisted. It had to be someone that had her number, Mike maybe but this was definitely not Mike. There was a pause long enough for her to calculate all this before he went on.

[i]"I see my package made it's way to you.”

She was surprised at first when the man who answered addressed her by name but after a moment her alarm was replaced by relief. It was a prank. The call had made her certain of it, especially since it had been Mike's message and not her reading the book which had led her to the clue that made her place it. She could relax now. She wasn't recreating some lovecraftian terror with her over active imagination. This was a trick someone was playing on her because Mike had introduced her to the play.

In fact, this was probably a text. Like a pre-audition to prove she was up to the challenge. It was an experiment show after all. Maybe they were trying her ability to improv. She smiled. She was so game for this.

"Ah, so it was your package. Does that make you the Yellow King, then? I'm surprised you would dain to answer my call, Your Majesty." She added a hint of sarcasm to the title. She wouldn't be quite so glib about it if this had been one of her waking fantasies come to life but she wanted to demonstrate confidence if this was someone involved with casting the play. She felt certain she'd made the right choice.

He chuckled a little clucking sound. “You may address me as such if you wish. 25 11. But answering a call from such a beautiful young lady such as yourself requires no daring, it is merely a no brainer. What is more daring is that I've sent a car for you. Look out the window, I'll wait.”

There was a pause as if he could see her, speaking after she had a chance to peek out at the street as a black sedan pulled up and parked. A moment later a man in a black suite and top hat got out of the car, a butler of some sort. She couldn't make out much from her position though she could see that he was wearing gloves, not the usual white gloves or even black but these were yellow.

“I would like to see you. The ride is a little long but I will make it worth it. If you indulge me I will give you the yellow sign, wouldn't you like that?”

The way he spoke about it was as if this yellow sign was worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox.

Kirsty went to the window and frowned slightly at the black sedan and driver waiting for her. This was going a bit too far for a joke and it left her with an uneasy feeling in her gut. "Hmm... Don't you think you are being a bit too forward?" She back away from the window and leaned against the back of the sofa. "I mean, this is only our first conversations and it's really only been a couple of sentences. Aren't you supposed to wet my curiosity first? Draw me in and let the suspense build a bit more before the big reveal?"

"As it stands now I'm not sure I have enough information to foolishly risk jumping into a strange car with a strange man bound for parts unknown. So, I really think you are going to have to do better if you expect me to get into that car." She moved back around to the front of the sofa and sat down again. She scooped the abandoned book off the desk and opened it to the pages she'd been reading. "That or wait until I've gotten a bit further into this book. Maybe I'll be more tempted once I know I more about you and this famed yellow sign."

Another chuckle as she finished. ”Oh, you will get into that car but I won't ruin anything for you. The car will be there and why ruin all the fun?” There was a pause. ”Whenever you are ready, Kristy.”

She got back to the sofa and the book before he continued once again. ”Anyway you have my number.” She could feel that he was smiling though he did not give away anything before disconnecting.

There was much more to the book, she found her place finding that Ann eventually worked out peeling back the flaps of the book, discovering the same numbers she had though she called and that was the difference. All she heard was screaming, screaming of her sister. Begging. More screaming.

Frantically she called the police, the number listed as belonging to a a talent studio for actors, at least that was what it use to be. The place was closed and abandoned but the number was still intact. Police hunted for the person who was paying for that phone line in the Catskill's but they hit a dead end. Ann actually went there, the place being along the Hudson River and she began her search … and that was where things got a little strange.

She had managed to get through about two thirds of it, the characters in the Catskills were odd, almost out of place. It wasn't a small place, there were over 11,0000 people there but it was smaller than the big city.

It got really odd with Ann using her amateur sleuth skills in an attempt to locate her sister, odd in the sense of one of the characters, Yeager, who had been an actor when the studio was open. He knew something …

Looking out the window when she took a brief break to rest her eyes she would see that the car was still there as was the driver still standing there, waiting patiently ...

The story had revealed nothing new about the Yellow King character or his sign but it was proving to heighten her curiosity. The driver was still waiting with the car outside but she still wasn't ready to get into it. Was this really about the play still? Maybe the man on the phone was the director and this was all an elaborate audition. But what if it wasn't. Years of conditioning from her parents and teachers warning her never to get into cars will strangers was hard to ignore. Women had to deal with even more of that sort of conditioning than men...

But seriously, who sends a chauffeur to abduct someone? She wondered if she should call Mike and ask him about it. But would he tell her anything if he was in on the gag? He had told her that he hadn't sent the box... She frowned to herself and picked up her phone again. But instead of calling her agent she hit redial and called the Yellow King again. She put the phone to her ear and waited for the call to connect. When it did she asked, "Why do you want to meet me so badly?"