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Rated: ASR · Short Story · Mystery · #2103520
There are five houses that follow a subtle pattern. The murder house breaks the pattern.


          Lake Street is a dead end street with a turn, and it
is connected to Main Street. Anyone who is going north
on Main Street could make a left turn onto Lake Street.
Lake Street extends about 100 feet from Main street,
and then it turns to the right, and then it goes north.
Lake Street continues to go straight for about 200 feet,
and then it ends in a cul-de-sac.
          There are six houses on Lake Street. There is one
house on the first 100 feet of the street on the left side, and
then it turns to the right, and then there are five houses on
the last 200 feet of the street.
          There is a brown house on the first 100 feet of the
street on the left side. The brown house is on the south side
of Lake Street. There is a driveway on the right side of the
brown house. There is a wooden fence behind the brown
house. Then the street turns to the right.
          On the right side of the street, there is a red house
right after the turn. The red house is on the east side of Lake
Street. There is a driveway on the right side of the red house.
There is a wooded area behind the red house, and there is
a wooded area on the left side of the red house, and the
wooded area extends beyond the end of the street.
          On the left side of the street, there are three houses.
The three houses are on the west side of Lake Street. There
is a yellow house right after the turn. The yellow house is
directly across the street from the red house. There is a green
house next to the yellow house, and there is a pink house next
to the green house.
          There is a wooded area on the west side of Lake Street
behind the three houses, and there is a wooded area on the
left side of the yellow house, and the wooded area extends
beyond the end of the street. There are three paths that go
through the wooded area. There is a path behind the yellow
house, the green house, and the pink house. All three paths
are about 50 feet long, and all of them lead to a lake. The
lake is about 300 feet long.
          There is a blue house at the end of the street. The
blue house is on the north side of Lake Street. There is a
fire hydrant on the sidewalk in front of the blue house on the
right side, and it is next to the driveway. There is a wooded
area behind the blue house, and there is a wooded area on
both sides of the blue house.
          All six houses on Lake Street are about the same size.
Every house has two floors and an outdoor porch in the back.
          There are two houses that have three bedrooms. The
brown house and the pink house have three bedrooms.
          There are four houses that have four bedrooms. The red
house, the yellow house, the green house, and the blue house
have four bedrooms.
          There is one house that has a secret passage and
a secret room. The other five houses do not have a secret
passage or a secret room.
          Twenty years ago, there was a young woman who was
living alone in one of the six houses on Lake Street who was
murdered. Her name was Julie. The murder happened on
a Sunday night on July 1st. It was a foggy night, and there
was a full moon in the sky. Julie was stabbed to death in
her bedroom. She was stabbed five times. She was robbed.
          The murder was discovered the next day at 4:30 in the
afternoon. Julie was found dead on the floor. The murder house
became known as "The House of Blood."
          Four days after the murder was discovered, on a Friday
at 3:00, the knife was found in the lake. The murder was never
solved.
          The six houses on Lake Street look the same as they
were 20 years ago. The six houses had the same color for
the last 20 years. None of the rooms were changed in any
of the houses within the last 20 years.
          Julie was living in a house that had a subtle difference
from the other five houses on Lake Street. This house had
a subtle difference from the other five houses for the last
20 years. This house does not follow the same pattern as
the other five houses. Anyone who looks at all six houses
from the outside would not be able to figure out which house
has a subtle difference. Anyone who looks at the land around
all six houses would not be able to figure out which house
has a subtle difference.
          There was a 13-year-old girl who was living with her
parents in a white house on Main Street at the time of the
murder. Her name was Anna. Her house was very close to
the brown house on Lake Street.
          One week after the murder, on a Sunday night, Anna
had a nightmare about the murder. One week later, she had
another nightmare. Anna had a nightmare every Sunday night
for three weeks.
          The following is a summary of the three nightmares that
Anna has experienced. In all three dreams, she is standing
in the front yard of a house on Lake Street. There is a hidden
message in all three dreams. All three dreams are describing
the murder house in a subtle way.



          Dream 1: Anna is standing in the front yard of a yellow
                          house on a Sunday night, and she is looking
                          at the house. It's a foggy night. She can
                          see most of the house through the fog.
                          There is a full moon above the yellow
                          house. There is a black cat and a rabbit
                          in the front yard. She hears a woman
                          screaming from inside the house, and
                          then she sees blood flowing down the
                          front of the house in many places. The
                          front of the yellow house is covered in
                          blood. Anna is frightened by the sight
                          of blood, and then she runs to her house.
                          She enters her house, and closes the door,
                          and then she wakes up.


          Dream 2: Anna is standing in the front yard of a blue
                          house on a Sunday night, and she is looking
                          at the house. It's a foggy night. She can
                          see most of the house through the fog.
                          There is a full moon above the blue house.
                          There is a big white dog and a raccoon
                          in the front yard. She hears a woman
                          screaming from inside the house, and
                          then she sees blood flowing down the
                          front of the house in many places. The
                          front of the blue house is covered in blood.
                          Anna is frightened by the sight of blood, and
                          then she runs to her house. She enters her
                          house, and closes the door, and then she
                          wakes up.


          Dream 3: Anna is standing in the front yard of a red
                          house on a Sunday night, and she is looking
                          at the house. It's a foggy night. She can
                          see most of the house through the fog.
                          There is a full moon above the red house.
                          There is a squirrel in the front yard, and
                          there is a bird flying above the house.
                          The bird flies away, and then the squirrel
                          runs away. Then all of a sudden, the fog
                          gets thicker, and it completely covers the
                          house. She hears a woman screaming
                          from inside the house. Then the fog
                          diminishes, and then the fog is completely
                          gone. The red house is gone. The red
                          house has vanished into thin air. There
                          is a pool of blood on the ground where
                          the red house once stood. Julie's body
                          is laying in the pool of blood, and there
                          is blood all over her body. Anna is too
                          scared to scream, and then she runs to
                          her house. She enters her house, and
                          closes the door, and then she wakes up.



          Anna could have been standing in front of the murder
house in one of her dreams, or she was not standing in
front of the murder house in any of her dreams.
          If there was a different house in each dream, then
the murder house would still be the same house. If there
was a brown house in the first dream instead of a yellow
house, and a green house in the second dream instead of
a blue house, and a pink house in the last dream instead of
a red house, then the murder house would still be the same
house. All three dreams would still be describing the murder
house in a subtle way.
          There was an artist who was living alone in a house
on Lake Street at the time of the murder. His name was
Mike. He was still living alone in the same house 20 years
after the murder.
          Mike lives in either the yellow house or the blue
house. If Julie was living in the red house or the blue
house, then Mike lives in the yellow house. If Julie
was living in any other house, then Mike lives in the
blue house.
          Mike's house has a secret passage and a secret
room. There is a secret passage in the living room behind
the grandfather clock. There is a hidden spiral staircase
behind the grandfather clock that leads to a secret room
in the cellar. The spiral staircase has wooden steps and
wooden railings. The secret room is very small. Anyone
who is in the cellar would not be able to see the secret
room. It appears to be a very large post in the cellar.
No one can enter the secret room from the cellar.
          Mike would keep some of his artwork in the secret
room, such as paintings and sculptures. He would also
keep money in the secret room.
          Mike's house has a family room on the lower floor.
There is an object in the family room that can be utilized
to open the secret passage behind the grandfather clock.
This object can either be pressed or turned to open the
secret passage. If this object is utilized, then the right side
of the grandfather clock would swing away from the wall,
and the hidden spiral staircase would be visible. No one
can open the secret passage from the living room. The
grandfather clock cannot be moved away from the wall.
Anyone who is standing on the top of the hidden spiral
staircase can pull the grandfather clock back against
the wall, and close the secret passage, and then open
it again by pushing the grandfather clock away from the
wall.
          The object that opens the secret passage has
either 9 or 10 letters in its name. This object is completely
black, and Mike didn't paint it black. Most houses do not
have this object. If this object is utilized, then it would
make a sound that can usually be heard by anyone in
the living room if the door at the bottom of the stairs is
open.
          Mike made a painting of Lake Street one month
after the murder. The painting shows all six houses on
Lake Street in the summertime. He gave the painting a
name. Three days after he made the painting, he gave
it to Julie's mother.
          The first letter in the name of the object that opens
the secret passage determines the name of the painting.


          If the name of the object begins with a 'C', then the
          name of the painting is "Traces of Love."

          If the name of the object begins with an 'L', then the
          name of the painting is "Silence is Golden."

          If the name of the object begins with an 'M', then the
          name of the painting is "Beautiful Dreams."

          If the name of the object begins with an 'N', then the
          name of the painting is "Summer Sunshine."

          If the name of the object begins with an 'R', then the
          name of the painting is "Another Road to Paradise."

          If the name of the object begins with an 'S', then the
          name of the painting is "A View of Lake Street."



          1. In which house was the murder committed?

               A) the brown house               B) the red house

               C) the yellow house              D) the green house

               E) the pink house                  F) the blue house


          2. Which house does Mike live in?

               A) the yellow house               B) the blue house


          3. What opens the secret passage?


          4. What is the name of the painting?

               A) Traces of Love                  B) Silence is Golden

               C) Beautiful Dreams              D) Summer Sunshine

               E) Another Road to                F) A View of Lake Street
                    Paradise






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