Project C

Book 1 :Missing children

Contents

1. Who’s missing?
2. Planning, Then Action!
3. Rage
4. The Great Escape
5. Unintended invitation

Who’s Missing?

Ring!!!!!! The bell rang and children rushed to get out of their school for spring break. But not all kids were happy about freedom. Jackson, a boy with red - ish brown hair, and eyes the color of sapphire, and Madison, a girl with blonde hair, with eyes the color of rich hazelnut, slumped behind. They were severely upset. Well, the first reason was that their video club turned to an utter flop. And second reason is that one person did not at all seemed to have cared about their meeting. At all. And she, practically was the most important person that the meeting needed. Bobbi was the teachers’ pet. And only the kids had felt her real side. Mean girl. But somehow, Jack and Maddie had her agree to come. And she dumped them. In fact, she was absent, entirely. So, they both were raging about it.“She just ditched us like that!”muttered Maddie.“Now we’re done. I can’t believe we even trusted her”added Jack. Anyways, they were walking (at a surprisingly slow pace) to Maddie’s house. “Maybe she fell sick.”said Maddie. Jack sighed. “This once, only this once, I will be accepting it. But if she was present at school-“Jack trailed off.

The next day, Maddie came to Jack’s house. “Let’s talk to her about yesterday.”he said. “Sure.”replied Maddie. “Wait.” “What?” “You have her number?” “ Oh, yeah, I got it from Mila. She has a kinder heart. Way more kind than Bobbi’s,”answered Jack. He called and put the phone on loud speaker. “H-Hi?”said a very weak voice.

They both instantly knew something was wrong. And since they care about people, they decided to ask what had happen. “Oh, um hi. Is everything Ok? We just called to talk to Bobbi,”said Maddie. “What do you want?!”asked the voice, sounding even more terrified. “Oh no! Please don’t take us wrong. We just want to talk to her about our video club incident. Not to threaten or hurt.”assured Jack. “Hmm…”said the voice, a bit more relaxed. “I’m Madison,”said Maddie. “And I’m Jackson. We’re her classmates. And, um, who is this talking??”asked Jack. “It’s Bobbi’s mother.”she said. “ It’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs.Randal.”said Maddie. “Is everything OK? You sound a bit…. startled.”said Jack. “Bobbi’s gone.”she said, sadly. Their hearts sank.”Gone?!”they both said, terrified. “ No, not gone. Well, she’s missing.”said Mrs.Randal. “Did you complain to the police? ‘Cause we haven’t heard the news.”said Jack. “She’s gone missing day before yesterday. On Thursday.”she said. “But she was at school that day.”stated Maddie.“Who said she wasn’t there in the morning. She left and never returned.”

There was an eerie silence after they said goodbye. “She went missing?”revised Jack. “Huh? That’s why she didn’t come yesterday. And, you know the towns’ police. They never take anything seriously.”said Maddie. “I know. I mean, we can’t just let this go out the other ear. We gotta take action.”said Jack. “Wait, are you saying that we have to take action to save a person, that we are literally enemies with?!”exclaimed Maddie. “Exactly what I’m saying.”said Jack. Maddie sighed. “Whatever we’ll do, is the right thing.”he said. “Well, yeah, the right thing for the police to do!”she replied. “And who’s the person that said police don’t take anything seriously?”said Jack, smiling. “Alright, fine!”said Maddie. “K. Same time tomorrow?” asked Jack. “Yup.”replied Maddie.

Maddie thought about Bobbi all day long. ‘Who would want to kidnap her’ or ‘Did she run away??’ She was completely stumped. But Jackson was on to something. ‘Wait, I know which pathway she takes to go home. And there definitely a camera there. If we can see the footage, then we could check if she got kidnapped in that place.’ He thought. He kept that thought to himself, and decided to tell Maddie the next day. When Maddie came, he didn’t tell her immediately. They sat in his room for sometime, until Maddie broke the silence“I dunno why, but I’ve been thinking about Bobbi’s disappearance all day long. Somethings off about it. I think it’s the fact that it isn’t even on the news. Did they tell the police??”asked Maddie. “Should we check the news?”Jack asked. “Let’s give it a try.”replied Maddie.He switched on the TV, to see a picture of Bobbi. And on the top of that picture, were the words in big letters MISSING:

Roberta (Bobbi) Randal

Planning, Then Action!

Now the police actually have to do something.”said Maddie. “Oh, yeah. Yesterday, I came up with something that could help this case.”said Jack. “What is it?”asked Maddie. “You know the pathway we take home, right?” “Yes,” “So when you go to your house, I need to walk a bit more until my house comes. And that’s the same path that Bobbi takes to get home.” Jack explains. “So, what’s your point?”asked Maddie. “ On the way, there is a camera that captures a 360 degrees view of the place. So if Bobbi had gone missing while she was walking home, then we could see who took her.”said Jack. “Ok… but what if she had gone missing somewhere else?”asked Maddie. “How ‘bout we give this one a chance?”asked Jack. “Then how will we access the footage?”countered Maddie. “That’s when the action comes. So, we tell our parents that you are going to stay over at my house for a sleepover.” “OK” “Then, when everyone is sleeping, we’ll go out.”he said. “Hey, remember, we’re high school seniors, not action movie Sherlocks’.”said Maddie. “Chill! I’ve planned it all out. Even the attire!”said Jack, holding up two black tight suits and two black masks made of cloth.

“Fine. But if we get caught, it’s on you.”said Maddie. “I can live with that.”said Jack. “So you told me how we’ll reach the camera, but how will we see the footage in it??”asked Maddie. “Remember, I’m a bit better at the stealth and athletic sort of stuff, and you’re a bit better at the computer and hacking type of stuff.”said Jack. “Ok, I guess I can figure a way to get it. But we have to get to the footage before the police do.” “Only I and Bobbi’s mother know the way she takes home.”said Jack. “Alright, so, did you already tell our parents about the sleepover?”asked Maddie. “Oh, um, not yet.”he said. “Then what are we waiting for? C’mon!”exclaimed Maddie. They rushed down the stairs and stumbled to Jack’s mom. “You children having fun??”she asked, looking at the smiles on their faces. “Yeah.”said Maddie.

“Um mom?” “Yes,” “Can Maddie stay over. Like, for a sleepover?”asked Jack. His mom looked unexpectedly surprised. Maddie and Jack shared the “Are we sure about this?” look. But when they looked back at Jack’s mom, she was smiling quite happily. “Sure, oh, did you guys plan this just now? If so, then Maddie’s parents don’t know. I’ll call to check.”said his mother. “Phew, for a second I thought she was going to say no.”said Jack, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. “I’m just glad she agreed.”stated Maddie. “Your parents are OK with it. They said you can come or stay here whenever you want.”said Jack’s mother.

Maddie looked at Jack with a wide grin. Jack smiled back. That means that they could do their investigation a lot. While Maddie was taking a short trip to her house to get the sleeping stuff, Jack thought about where the footage center is. The closest one to them was less than mile away. It was about a fifteen minute walk. But he couldn’t think how. If they wandered around the neighborhood with the phone in their hand, and wearing black tight suits, people might spot them and think they are the kidnappers that took Bobbi. If they wore normal clothes, then the kidnappers might spot them and think “Hey. Why not two more children to take?”and just snatch them away. But out of the two options, the first one is the safest. Even if people think they are kidnappers, they can’t fully see their faces under the masks.Jack & Maddie are fast runners too.

When Maddie returned, all they need to do was wait and improvise their plan. A few hours passed by and Maddie figured out the way to hack into the footage centers videos. “Ok, I think I’ve got it.”she said. “Cool. The only thing we need to do now is get some info, and use process of elimination.”said Jack. They went online and looked at the most recent news. Jack was thinking about how they’ll manage to not get seen, so he decided they’ll be out at midnight. Maddie agreed to that. “The most recent kidnapping case happened when we were young.”said Maddie. “But I thought the guy was taken into custody,”replied Jack. “Yeah, that’s what I don’t get.”said Maddie. “Oh wait,”said Jack. “The same dude got released recently. A day before the disappearance, on Wednesday!”said Jack. “But the dude’s house was searched, and nothing suspicious was found.”said Maddie. “Hmm…”thought Jack.

“Wait, which police officer searched his house?”asked Jack. “His name is Dexter Krill. He came with some others too, just in case something happens and there needs to be eye witnesses.”said Maddie. “Is there any history on the lead police officer?”he asked. “Well, only that he had also lost his child because of the same criminal dude, but he still has all his children with him after they found him.”replied Maddie. “I’m guessing that he has a sort of grudge against this criminal?”said Jack. “Yeah, probably.”replied Maddie. ‘But why would they let a police officer that has a grudge on the criminal go and search the same criminal’s house?Wouldn’t they suspect him to do something bad to the criminal?’ Maddie thought.

It seemed as if Jack was thinking the same thing. He took a quick glance at the clock. “I guess we could do this later.”said Jack. Maddie looked at the clock too. It was 11:58 . “Alright kids, time to go to bed!”exclaimed Jack’s mother. She came in the room. “It’s getting late and I haven’t noticed the time. I promised your parents that you’d be in bed by nine, Madison.”said Jack’s mom, sighing. “Sleep tight kids.”she said, switching off the lights. “Goodnight.”replied Maddie and Jack at the same time.They pretended like they were sleeping, and when they were sure she’d gone to her room, they got into action.

Jack went into a separate room while they changed, and when they came out, they barely recognized each other. “Dude, you look like you could snatch me right of the street!”whispered Maddie. “And you look like you’re working with me on doing that,”snapped Jack. “Alright, let’s get goin’,” said Maddie. They snuck into the dark kitchen, filled with the gleaming moonlight. Once they entered the hall, they had to make sure not to step on the creaks. But that wasn’t easy for Maddie, because she didn’t (at all) know the house well enough to know where every single creaky and not creaky wooden boards were. So she accidentally stepped on the creakiest one in the whole entire house. CREAK!!!!!!! Jack slapped his forehead. They waited for something to happen, but nothing did. ‘Phew’ thought Maddie, realizing she had been holding her breath.

Once they got out, all they needed to do was to lurk in the shadows until they reached the footage center. “I think we’ll have smooth sailing from here.”whispered Jack. “But just to stay on the safe side, try not to make any sounds, and don’t even think about stepping in the light.”warned Jack. Maddie glared at him. “Sorry, I know you aren’t stupid, but… well, we’re about to break into a place that has a lot of security, and you’re about to break into a computer to see some locked footage. We’re breaking the law Maddie, and that’s a lot.”said Jack. Maddie sighed. “No hard feelings. I can understand. Well, I’m doing it too, ya know.”assured Maddie. “Alright, let’s start.”said Jack.They walked close to the buildings, the grass and bushes could help them hide. The trees that lined the pathway also helped to prevent most of the streetlights light. Once in a while, they’d stop and look at Jack’s phone to see where they are.

But something unfortunate had happened during one of their breaks. Jack forgot to off the speaker on GPS, and it said “ Take a right on Murphy drive.” And unfortunately, there was a man across the path on the other side of the road. They didn’t know what he was doing at this time of night, but he seemed to have heard the sound and looked pretty startled. “Who’s there?”he bellowed. None of them answered. Jack felt his heart pounding in his chest, and Maddie felt like her heart was in her throat. The man reached for his right pocket, but took his hand out empty. He searched in the other one. Nothing. He grumbled something and turned to his car. Maddie and Jack took that advantage and sprinted to the corner of the block. The man turned around, this time with his phone in his hand, and they watched (from the safety of behind a bush) as he shone the light at they spot that they used to stand at. He mumbled something about ‘stupid cats’ and headed to his house. They relaxed.

After that, nothing really happened. Unless you take the fact that Maddie had tripped over rat pretty seriously, nothing was interesting. When they finally reached the footage center, they were terrified. “You ready?”whispered Jack. Maddie swallowed hard. “Ready.”she whispered back. Jack nodded. “Just follow me.”he said. He snuck behind the building, and Maddie followed. When he went to the edge of the building, he glanced over his shoulder. A guard with a flashlight was facing the opposite direction. They snuck behind him, but they had no way in. The door was locked. Jack knew he could pick it, but if there was such heavy security, there definitely will be an alarm going off. The only option was to pick pocket the guard and steal the keys. And Jack knew only pure thieves would do that. He took a deep breath, then decided what to do. If he got caught, he’d be going to jail. He leaned forward, close enough to the pocket, and as quiet as he can, he put two fingers in the pocket and searched in them. Maddie stared at him, absolutely terrified. Then… BINGO! Jack tried his best not to pull the keys out fast, and trusted himself enough not to make any clinking sounds. Once they got it, they let out a breath.

Jack immediately opened the door, sure to not make any sounds, and stepped in. After they were in, Jack closed the door (also slowly and quietly) and they let themselves breath. “Were you crazy!? I never knew you know how to shoplift! When did you become a criminal!?”asked Maddie, clearly freaking out. “Whoa! Keep it quiet! Ok, fine, confession time, I do know how to do all the ‘mischievous’ stuff, but I returned the keys!”said Jack. “What? When?”asked Maddie. “Right after I opened the door.”he pulled on his pockets, and patted them. There wasn’t any sound, but Maddie wasn’t convinced. She gave him the ‘Death Stare’ and he had to give in. “Alright, alright. Fine.”he said, as he lifted his right hand with keys in it. Maddie was still flabbergasted. She saw that hand a second ago, and could have sworn there was nothing in it.

“Can we get going? There are still probably cameras in the footage center.”said Jack. “Are you going to return the keys?” “Maybe. I dunno. Could be a free pass to a restricted area.”he said, flashing her a smile. Maddie rolled her eyes. “Oh look, there is a map. Why would they even need it?”wondered Jack. “Eh, who cares. It helps us.”said Maddie. They stared at it for a while, and eventually figure out the viewing center was at the 3rd floor. They quietly stalked through the hallways, which was hard because they saw a lot more people than outside and they had nowhere to hide. “Look, there’s the locker room!”said Jack.“What about it?”asked Maddie. “I bet there’s faculty clothes there. We can disguise ourselves.”said Jack. “Good idea.”agreed Maddie. They quickly threw on the loose suits, but kept their masks.

They quietly made their way to the elevator, and pressed 3rd floor. Once they reached it, a man was sitting in front of the screens. “What now?”whispered Maddie. “I got this.”replied Jack. “Hey dude, take a break. We’re here.”said Jack, sure to sound cool. “Oh, thanks bro.”said the man, as he got up. “ What’s with the masks and who’s she?”he asked, pointing at Maddie. Maddie thought they were cooked, but Jack said,”Oh,I got a bit of the cold. And her? She’s an intern. I have no idea why she’d want this job. Well, she wore the mask to be on the safe side.”said Jack. The man bent toward her. “I think you’d prefer another job, but, your wish.”he said, as he walked out the room. After they were sure he was gone, they relaxed. “I think you should be an actor when you grow up.”joked Maddie. “Whatevs, I don’t think you need to hack. The footages are all here already.”said Jack. “But I may need to unlock a password to go to Elmer Street’s camera.”she said. “Alright, hurry up!”said Jack. “On it.”replied Maddie, as she started to type.

Meanwhile, the screen manager went downstairs to get some coffee, but then bumped into the actual person that was supposed to take over after him. “John? I thought you were on shift.”the man said. “Wait, I thought you were there already.”said John. “Who is there, and why’d you let them in?”asked the man. “Oh no. IT’S A BREACH!!!!!” yelled John, as he pressed the lockdown button.

The speakers immediately said “ LOCK DOWN. BREACH DETECTED.” Over and over again. By that time, Maddie had already looked through the footage. “Bobbi didn’t even come to the street.”said Maddie. “Oh shoot.”said Jack, when the lights went red and the speakers screeched. “Hurry! Check the schools footage!”yelled Jack. Maddie immediately typed the cameras name, date, and day, and there it was. There was Bobbi. And there was a man beside her. But she didn’t notice. The man bent over and whispered something in her ear. Bobbi hesitated, but followed him to the car anyways. They can’t see the mans face, because he was wearing a cap, and the car was barely visible. The nameplate was, though.

They didn’t have time to do anything else though, because the doors burst open and faculty and police officers were there. “Now hold on a sec.”said a police officer. “They aren’t adults, they’re high school seniors! Teenagers broke into the center? What type of high level security would be open to teenagers!?” One of the officers quickly snapped a picture of them. “Why are you here? What are you doing.” “Uhh… Nothing you need to worry about.”said Maddie, as she quickly pressed a button that shut down the entire system. She seemed to have hacked that at the last second. They ducked under the officers’ legs and quickly took off. “Hey we have some questions!”shouted the officer. “Ha! And we’d stop for that?”sneered Jack. It was pitch dark, so they bust out using Jack’s phone. But luckily, they had their masks on when the picture was taken, so they can’t figure out their identity.

The police stumbled out after they had left, so they were safe.That night, they slept like rocks, and didn’t wake up until 12:00 PM. Maddie yawned when she woke up, and her whole body ached. Jack woke up with the same groan of pain. “Is it me, or did we run so much yesterday my legs and brain aches?”asked Jack. “I don’t think it’s you.”said Maddie. Her eyes widened. “We got the footage!”she exclaimed. “Oh yeah! By the way, how did you hack so fast at the end, and make the whole thing shut down?”asked Jack. “Yeah, I did it before we looked at the footage. You were looking at the stuff around the room, and I had to code it quickly.”said Maddie. “You’re a pure genius.”said Jack. “So, you still have the keys?”asked Maddie. “Yep. I kept it in a safe spot.”he said. “Children! Time for breakfast. Oh and Maddie, your parents are taking a little time over here, about 3 hours or so.”said Jack’s mom. Once they got ready, they came downstairs. And they were welcomed by the sweet smell of waffles with chocolate syrup. “Geez, you two slept like babies.”said Jack’s mom as she handed them their breakfast.

While they were wolfing it down, their fathers put the news. Maddie and Jack turned pale. “Breaking news everyone! There was a breach at the footage center 1:00 in the night. The police claimed that the intruders were teenagers, and that they were checking some footage. One of them snapped a quick picture of the kids with masks on. The brown haired boy seemed to have taken charge of breaking in and disguise, also exceptional at acting. The girl seemed to be and expert hacker, and managed to shut down the whole system with a single button she had coded.” Jack and Maddie liked the way the new reporter had complimented them, but right now, they made themselves criminals. But luckily, the police don’t know their names, or their complete appearance.

Rage

Oh dear! There seems to be more and more bad things happening by the second!”exclaimed Maddie’s mother. But suddenly, all eyes turned to Jack and Maddie. The mothers looked worried, but the fathers… seemed to have suspicion on them. Maddie’s dad cleared his throat, her father was a police officer though, and Jack knew his mother was a living lie detector. If they joined forces, Maddie and Jack would be mice being chased by lions.

“The kids on the TV, have similar eyes, and hair colors as you guys. Do you have anything to say?”asked her father. She tried her best to stay calm. Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Maddie’s father shushed him. “I think you are good at lying, but my girl isn’t.”he said. All eyes turned to her. Jack depends on her to get them out of this situation. “Dad! Are you serious! You think a daughter of a proud police officer would sneak into some random place at a random, time!?”she yelled, realizing she was standing up.

Everyone looked surprised, including Jack. No one expected her to lie so well. Jack’s mother stared at her for a while, then sighed and said, “Hmm… I can’t believe we thought these kids would do such a thing! They both get amazing grades, and have no reason to break into a footage center.” Jack and Maddie were excused from the table, and when they got to Jack’s room, they sighed in relief. “I’m guessing I’m not the only actor here, huh?”teased Jack. “I can’t believe my father called you a liar! You’ve never lied to any of them! Sure, to that screen manager dude, but not to them!”exclaimed Maddie. “I think it’s because he knows we were the ones, but I’m glad you lied so convincingly.”said Jack.

“Ok, what happened already happened. Anyways, we figured out that Bobbi wasn’t kidnapped on the way home, but at school. But what made her want to go with a complete stranger. Did he blackmail her?”asked Maddie. “I dunno, but I feel like we’re in a race with the police. They might’ve seen the two footages that we have and have a free head start.”said Jack. “I’m pretty sure I deleted the two footages from browser history, but they still might have a chance of seeing it.”said Maddie. “Hey! I think I managed to capture a vid while you were playing the school footage!”said Jack. He took out his phone, and Ta Da! They had a copy of what they had seen. But the thing was, the footage was a bit blurry, but blurry enough to cover the nameplate. Once they noticed that, they decided to let Maddie hack the phone to make it more clear. Although the final result was still a tiny bit blurry, they can spell the name tag out.

They wrote it down on a piece of paper and stared at it for a while. The nameplate showed this: P F c 18862. “I don’t think this is a real nameplate.”said Jack. “I may be able to search the governments list to see if it’s there or not, but most likely no.”said Maddie. “Hopefully yes.”said Jack. He made sure no one was near the door when she had started to hack. It took her a while, but she eventually found the match. “I can’t believe it’s here.”said Maddie. “Wait, are you sure? Check again.”replied Jack. She reread the numbers and letters. “Yep.”she said. “Huh, that’s weird. Could that man be her family member?”wondered Maddie. “Then she’d probably recognize him and greet him. She also hesitated before getting in the car.”said Jack. “And her mother would’ve known…”added Maddie. “First of all, I wonder how stupid she must be to get into a stranger’s car.”said Jack.

“He might’ve blackmailed her. There could be many possibilities.”stated Maddie. Jack nodded. “But she didn’t look scared.”said Jack. “He probably told her a lie,”said Maddie. “I still feel like the released criminal had something to do with this.”said Jack. “I still remember how much convincing it took for Bobbi to accept the meeting. So then the man had to lie something. Something strong enough for Bobbi to follow him.”said Maddie. “Is there any way to access the recently released criminal’s files?”asked Jack. Maddie hesitated. “Well, there is… but his files are only in the FBI’s documentaries. And if we go to FBI level, and we’re caught…” Jack knew what she’d say next. ‘They were going to be dead meat.’ “But they can only track us if we go on this computer. If we could go into another one, then the FBI would go to that location and we wouldn’t get caught.”said Maddie.

I just wonder how many times we need to break the law to help Bobbi.”said Jack. “If we were FBI agents, then all of this wouldn’t be breaking the law. It’d be doing what you’re supposed to do. So we are unauthorized FBI agents.”assured Maddie. “I’m pretty sure that high school seniors aren’t old enough to get a job at the FBI.”stated Jack. “But I’m pretty sure 17 year olds do know how to play pretend.”said Maddie. “Fine, so when are we going to the library?”asked Jack. “What’s the time?”asked Maddie. “Exactly 12 hours after what we did yesterday,” said Jack. “I think it is safe to go. But we do need to convince our parents to let us out after the talk,” said Maddie. “Let’s just try,” said Jack. They went downstairs to find their parents still on the break in fact. “Umm.. can we go to the library?”asked Maddie. All of them hesitated, but if Maddie’s father said yes, then that was it. They were free to go. “No.”he said. “Come on dad! Just the library. It’s not like anyone would kidnap us!” Maddie tried. He shook his head. “When I mean no, I mean no Madison.”he said, sternly. She gave Jack the “Why are you so quiet? Try something!” look. Jack sighed. “Why are you so anxious, Mr.Wilson? There isn’t anything to worry about. The kidnapper out there already has his little prize. They have no reason to want us. And whatsoever, I wouldn’t let anything happen to Maddie, if that’s your concern.”said Jack, in a tone that was even more firm. Maddie was shocked. She only heard the soft side of Jack. She wondered how he would be if he actually was MAD.

Maddie’s dad looked taken back. Almost afraid, as a matter of fact . “Ok, fine.”he said. “Under one condition,” “What?”asked Jack and Maddie at the same time. This time, Jack’s normal tone came back. “You have to be back before dinner.”he said. “OK,” said Jack. He quickly grabbed Maddie’s hand and rushed to the door. “Bye!”she said. Once they were out of the house, they headed for their bicycles. “I never knew you had that tone of voice.”said Maddie. She got onto her bike, but Jack stopped. “Do you really think breaking into the FBI’s most highly secret files will help Bobbi, or make us look bad?”asked Jack. “It would mostly just make us look bad. Oh my! I almost forgot, the FBI doesn’t handle missing children. They aren’t allowed to handle it. CARD has to.” “Card?” “That means Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team.”said Maddie. “So currently, CARD is the one that is handling this situation?”asked Jack. “Probably,” responded Maddie. They just stayed there in silence for sometime. Maddie got off her bike. “Let’s just walk,” she said. They were just admiring the flowers on the branches when someone caught Maddie’s arm. She stopped and looked back. There was this man, he was wearing a black coat, and had a tie. He also had sunglasses on. “Uh… Jack?”she said, unsurely. He turned around. “Who are you?” Jack asked. “The question is, who are you?”asked the man. Maddie struggled for the man to stop holding her hand. “Let go of her.”ordered Jack. He obeyed.

“Sorry ‘bout that. I can’t see nothing,” he responded. “Are you b- I mean, visually impaired?”asked Maddie. The man nodded. They both were unsure about who this dude was. “You two look like the ones on TV…” said the man. Now Jack knew he was lying. “Run!!!”he yelled. Jack grabbed Maddie’s hand and sprinted in the opposite direction at full speed. Once they were sure the man was nowhere to be seen, they noticed they had ran to a place that they didn’t know. “Jack, what was that? I thought he can’t see,” said Maddie. “No, he was lying. He said he can’t see anything, but then he said that we look like the teens on TV. How does he know how we look like if he’s blind?”reasoned Jack. “That doesn’t mean he wants to harm us…”said Maddie. Jack sighed. “You’re not getting it. Why would he need to pretend to be blind if he doesn’t want us to think he was innocent,” explained Jack. “Oh…” said Maddie, starting to understand. “OK, by the way, where are we?”asked Maddie. They took a look around. “Uh…” “Are we lost!?” “Probably,” said Jack, sheepishly. Maddie whined. “We are going to be so grounded, I think we’ll be grounded in heaven too,” she complained. “I guess, we have to find some-“ ‘CRACK!!!!’

They froze. Then, a sudden rustling sound came, whatever was there, started to go in the opposite direction. “What was that?”asked Maddie, whispering. Jack shrugged. Suddenly, a white blur leaped out of the bushes and latched on to Jack’s face. “AH!!”yelled Jack. He pried of the creature, and once they got a good look at the white fur ball, they figured that it was an unusually fat cat. Jack let go of the cat, and it seemed to like staying around them. Maddie leaned closer to look at Jack’s face. He had a thin -but deep- gash from the top of his left eyebrow, down to the beginning of his left cheek. “Now you look like a gangster,” joked Maddie. “Ha! Wanna take a look at your right hand?”pointed out Jack. When she looked at it, there were four gashes (again) by her wrist. “Oh Come On!!! Why the right!!”she groaned. Jack picked the cat up, who was now relaxed. He looked at the collar. “Where are you from, you adorable white demon?”said Jack, mumbling to himself. When he took the collar off, clutching the cat even tighter so so it won’t go running off, he saw that this cat was a service one. It was for blind people. He saw a button on it, and curiously pressed it. It beeped,“Don’t try to find her… you’ll end up in BIG trouble,” it said, in a high pitched and eerie voice. “It is a service cat… is that guy trying to threaten us?? If so, how does he know where we are?”asked Maddie. “And you think I would know the answer to that? Do I look like I can threaten you?”said Jack, sarcastically. “Um… Duh! Your cut makes you look… I dunno, deadly,” said Maddie. Jack rolled his eyes. They decided to keep the collar, and decided to release the cat.

“Ok, so… before this catastrophe, we were talking about what we can do to find someone to help us find our way back,” said Jack. “ Cat — astrophe,” joked Maddie. Jack scoffed. “Let’s get out of here so we can get back to our parents,” said Jack. “Can we keep him?”asked Maddie. “Keep a cat that was sent by the man that threatened us to stop our investigation or else? Yeah, sure, as long as you want to go missing like Bobbi did,” said Jack, sarcastically. “You made your point,” agreed Madde, as she placed the cat down. “But… how will we explain our wounds to our parents, do we just tell them the cat story?”asked Maddie. “Yeah, I guess…” replied Jack. They found a lady walking her dog nearby, and decided to ask her they’re way around. She screamed when she saw Jack. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just thought you were going to snatch me away like that Randal girl,” she said. “What scared you?”asked Jack. The lady pointed to Jack’s face. He touched it, then winced. “Oh, right, that,” said Jack.

“Anyways, how may I help you?”she asked. “Um, can you tell us the way around to Murphy Street?” Maddie asked. “Sure, follow me,” said the lady, as she started to lead the way. Maddie walked beside Jack, and noticed his cut was deeper than it had appeared. “Is your eye, ok?”she asked. “Well, to be honest, it hurts. But I can see everything fine,” he replied. “Why?” “Well… Oh my!”exclaimed Maddie, when she started to notice how much it was bleeding. “You need to see my mom, she’s a nurse, and your cut is bleeding heavily,” she said. He reached for the cut, then saw a lot of red on his hand. He turned pale, and stared at is for a long time. Maddie thought he was scared of blood, but she doubted that when she saw that he didn’t blink, and he turned almost white. “Here we are!”said the lady, snapping him out of his daze. She turned around. “Oh dear, you need to see a nurse,” she said, imitating Maddie. They thanked her, and headed down the street.

“What was that?”asked Maddie. “What was what?”asked Jack, trying his best to stop his voice from quavering. “Well, you creep me out. The first reason is that your whole eyeball is red from the blood, and I think you see red now,” said Maddie. Jack nodded. “And the second reason is that you turned as white as a ghost and stared at your hand so long without blinking. Like you were traumatized by blood. Would you fancy explaining that to me?”she asked. Jack turned pale again, but this time he did turn white. “Hey, are you okay? I didn’t mean to bother you,” she said. “No, it’s not that,” he said. “It’s just that… I… I’m… I… it’s hard to explain now. I tell it later,” he said. If there was any color that was whiter than white, then that was his skin color right now. They walked in silence for the rest of the way. Once in a while, Jack’s eyes would roll back, he’d steady himself from swaying, then start walking at a slower pace than usual. This kept happening until he was so slow, that Maddie had to force herself to stay beside him. But the most disturbing part was the eyes and his skin. The blueness in his eyes were the lightest shade of blue there could be, and he turned pure white. Maddie didn’t know if that was possible, or if it was because of how dark it was outside, but he was that color.

She felt surge of relief when she spotted his house. Right now, Maddie was helping Jack walk, so he won’t sway until he falls down. His eyes were barely open, and there was blood streaming down his face, causing a puddle of it on his light blue shirt. If anyone spotted Jack at a distance, they would surely think that Maddie was helping a dead corpse learn how to walk. She picked up her speed and rushed to the door. It opened before she even rang the bell. Jack’s mother gasped. “Mom-,” Jack wheezed, his voice raspy. Then he fainted. No, that wasn’t the right word. He collapsed. Both fathers carried the limp body to the couch. “My sweet BOY!!” Jack’s mother cried. “What happened to my sweet boy,” she asked, quietly. Maddie didn’t know how to respond. She definitely knew that losing this much blood would make a person feel weak. Jack just… collapsed. But she knew this wasn’t about the blood. There was something else to it. “Mrs. Williams, I - I’m sorry,” she whispered. “No honey, I know this isn’t your fault, I just would like you to tell me how this had happened, that’s all,” assured Jack’s mom. “We were missing how we used to play, and we got bored of the library, so we started to run around, and Jack was it during tag,” lied Maddie. Mrs.Williams was to sad to lie detect again. “And we got so carried away, we ended up in a place we didn’t know where. So we were talking, and we were near the shrubby places,” said Maddie, starting to tell the truth. “We suddenly heard something in the bushes, and a white cat jumped onto Jack’s face. It caused a big scratch, and while we were struggling to get it off, I got hurt too,” said Maddie, as she pulled up her sleeve, revealing the four gashes she got.

“So, this was a cat attack?”asked her mom. Maddie nodded. “So I need to get you both disinfected,” she said. She went over to Jack. “But why did he fall? Too much blood loss?”asked Maddie. “And he turned so pale. And he stared at his blood for so long. And he said he can’t explain why. And his eyes changed color. And-and-and-,” “Maddie,” said Jack’s father, placing a hand on her shoulder. She relaxed a bit. “I know all of you are hiding something about Jack. He’s the my best friend, and not to mention my first and only friend I’ve had in my life. I need to know the reason behind this,” said Maddie. Her dad sighed. “Maddie, we don’t know if you can take it in. When you guys first started to know each other, and had playdates, which was three years ago, Jackson’s parents told us something about him, and we took a lot of time getting over it. At first we even considered to keep you away from him. But he changed, and let the past be the past. But if he hasn’t told you yet, then he isn’t ready, and that means you aren’t either. We don’t want to tell you. We’re afraid he might lose you, too,” he said. “Too?” She looked from face to face of all the adults, each of them nodding when she looked at them. “I’ll stay beside him for the night. Right here,” she said. She thought her father would argue, but instead, he asked Jack’s parents if they could stay here too. They all agreed on Madison’s parents staying in the guest room, and Maddie herself to stay beside Jack. Once her mother had disinfected and bandaged both of them, she gave Maddie a goodnight kiss threw her a pillow, and they all turned out the lights and headed upstairs.

Maddie stayed awake for sometime. Then drifted of to sleep beside him. The next morning, she woke up to find Jack staring blankly into the ceiling. “Thinking?”she asked. He jumped. “Sorry if I startled you,” she said. Jack shook his head. “I’m supposed to be sorry about what had happened yesterday. I must’ve startled you more than anything,” he apologized. “To be honest, I thought you were going to die,” joked Maddie. A shadow darkened his already disturbing expression. “Is there anything I could do to help?”she asked, noticing the change. The shadow shifted from anger to grief. But it all passed by as quickly as it came. “You wanna help?”he asked. Maddie nodded eagerly, desperate to do anything to make him happy. He smirked. “Then make me breakfast, and lunch, and dinner,” he teased. Maddie rolled her eyes, and she nudged him. “Better just to give you sedatives,” she said. Jack chuckled. Maddie prepared herself for the worst as she asked “You haven’t told me why you did what you did yesterday. I asked the parents, and they all said you weren’t ready to tell me.” The shadow came over him again, but this time, darker. She wished she couldn’t admit it, but he looked almost… murderous.

“Oh trust me, it’s quite a disturbing story,” he said grimly. Maddie stared at him, thinking about what to say. She got even more uncomfortable as she noticed the edges of Jack’s lips started to turn into a smile. ‘Why would Jack smile at this so called disturbing story?’she thought. He looked at her and stopped his developing smile. “Sorry. Are you getting uncomfortable?”he asked, as she shifted in her seat. She shoved the thought away and decided to change the topic. They still had research to do, and it wasn’t going to finish itself. “So, I’m pretty sure the research is getting done by itself?”she said, sarcastically. “Oh, right. I forgot about that,” he said. Once they got fresh, they headed upstairs into his room. Jack looked at the mirror. “Wow, you’re right. I do look like a gangster,” he said. “Don’t you think the release of the criminal is more than just a coincidence?”Maddie asked. Jack nodded. He looked over her shoulder as she typed into the criminal website, which didn’t need hacking. “Hey, wait a sec. Scroll back up,” said Jack. He found something that they could relate to. There was a picture of that criminal. He didn’t look like the guy that tried to trick them, but both of them had a resemblance. But Jack couldn’t put a finger on it. “What is it?”asked Maddie. “Dude, I’ll refuse to believe you’re that blind. He’s holding a white fat cat, and it has the same collar as the one that did this,” he said, pointing to his scar. “Huh? Are you sure about that?”asked Maddie. Jack shrugged. “You know that isn’t a proper answer, right,” said Maddie. “Let’s just say… 50 50,” said Jack.

“Hey, but there can’t be too many coincidences at once. There has to be a link. Like how that man knew we were trying to search for Bobbi,” said Jack. Maddie slowly nodded. “How about we search who that guys family is. Maybe there could be someone we saw before,” suggested Jack. Maddie searched it up, but nothing cam. Those things were confidential. “Shoot!”said Maddie. “Probably because if someone got their child kidnapped, they might threaten his family members,” said Jack. “Most likely,” agreed Maddie. They heard the parents’ doors open. “We’d better get goin’ so they don’t think we’re suspicious,” said Madde. They went downstairs and found their parents leaning on the kitchen counter. When Jack’s mom saw him, she immediately rushed to him and gave him the tightest hug in the world. Jack thought she’d choke him to death. “You almost gave us all a heart attack yesterday!”she yelled. “Yeah, sorry,” he mumbled. While all the other parents took turns hugging (and not to mention shouting at) him, Maddie saw his eyes. There was a hint of betrayal, and sadness. She figured it was because the parents told Maddie that Jack did something, which he would’ve told later.

“Um, you kids could go upstairs. We have something to discuss…” said Jack’s father. All the parents shared a nervous look. Jack mumbled something about dumb private talks and trudged upstairs. Maddie followed him.

Once they were up and alone again, they went right back to work. “Oh, I forgot. We can’t access those files,” said Maddie, reminding herself as much as Jack. “Is there any way you can hack into it?”asked Jack. Maddie nodded, then got to work. Once she got those files, they carefully looked at the pictures of them. “Hey, doesn’t this guy look like the one?”asked Maddie, pointing to a guy with similar brown hair, skin color, and facial features. “Yeah, he does,” confirmed Jack. She hacked deeper, and got the personal info about that guy. “He lives near us…” she said. Jack squinted at his address, then his eyes widened. “This guy is Bobbi’s neighbor!”he said. “What!? Does that mean he could’ve kidnapped her?”asked Maddie. “We don’t know for sure…” said Jack. “After yesterday, I don’t think our parents will ever let us go out again,” said Maddie. Jack rolled his eyes. “Oh come on. Let’s let this go, and work on it tomorrow. We deserve a break,” pleaded Maddie. “Fine”mumbled Jack.

They rushed downstairs. By that time, the parents were done talking, and looked better, unlike before.

“Hey, you guys had a long day yesterday. Wanna have some fun?”asked Maddie’s mother. “Yeah!”exclaimed Maddie. And she was pretty sure she was (excluding the parents) the only one saying that. Jack was just there, standing. The tips of his lips were up, but he wasn’t smiling, though. The rest of the day, Jack’s mood got progressively better. And it exceeded better too! They watched a movie, and ate popcorn while doing that. They played video games after that, and decided that Maddie’s parents would cheer on Jack and Jack’s parents would cheer on Maddie. By now, they were playing a card game, and Jack needed to drink water. So Maddie’s father offered to go upstairs and hand it to him. Maddie’s father reached Jack’s room, and took a friendly look around to search for his bottle. But something caught his eye. The computer was left on, and he saw a black screen with coding language on it. He knew that touching other peoples stuff without asking them wouldn’t be the best idea, but he did it anyways. He went to browser history, and looked at what they have searched up. His heart dropped when he found out. From 2 days ago, Maddie had typed a full code into how to hack into the centers’ footages, and how to shut down a building entirely. He immediately looked around the room, only to find more proof that Maddie and Jack were the ones that broke into the footage center. He saw plans and sketches of the footage centers blueprint, and how to break in. He also saw the attire they were supposed to wear during the break.

He was just as surprised as much as disappointed, sad, and angry. He stormed downstairs with the computer, and the drawing. “WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXPLAIN THE MEANING OF THIS!!!” Jack and Maddie turned around, really confused. When they noticed what he was talking about, Jack’s cards dropped to the floor, both of them becoming extremely pale. They just stared, as the other parents rushed up to see what he had found. Both the dads’ turned red with rage, and the mothers became white. “Sh-she lied to us,” whispered Maddie’s mom, looking at her. Jack’s mind went blank. Should they run? Should they tell the truth? Should they hide? He didn’t know what to do. But Maddie seemed to have chosen the first option. She grabbed Jacks hand, so tight, it felt worse than pain. But Jack didn’t complain. She slowly arose to her feet, feeling the adrenaline rush through her body. They took a few steps back. She looked at Jack, who was just staring into pure space. “Jack!”she whisper-screamed. He blinked, snapping out of his daze. They ran to the porch, where everything was twilight. There was a thick forest ahead, since Jack’s mother was a vet, and liked to let animals have their free time (within the fence). The parents came rushing out. “Jack, I can’t believe you-“ Jack’s mother sobbed. “Maddie, I-I have no words. You lied to us. You committed a crime. And now you’re wanted. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE SERIOUSNESS OF THIS!!!!”yelled her mom. Their fathers fumed with rage. “YOU SAID YOU’D NEVER DO IT AGAIN JACK! YOU BROKE YOUR SANITY ALONG WITH OURS. NOW YOU’VE BROKEN OUR HEARTS!!!!! WE CAN’T AFFORD TO HAVE TO KEEP ON FACING THIS-“ Jack’s father stopped himself before he can say anything that could cause permanent damage. More like Jack’s mother stopped him.

Now it was Jack’s turn to rage. His cheeks turned crimson, and she didn’t know if this was possible, or if it was because of the darkness, but she was positive she was Jack’s wound start to bleed again. But it was more than anything she saw in her life. In a matter of seconds, blood covered most of his left cheek and reached his ears. “You PROMISED-PROMISED that you would never EVER lift that topic again! And I could’ve made us rich. But you deserve to be poor! You’re just scared that people will start gossiping about it again!”he yelled. This was the first time that she’d ever seen Jack raise his voice. He sprinted into the thick forest. Maddie was just stuck there. Her legs refused to move, and she looked at her parents. Her mother looked like she was about to cry, and Jack’s mother covered her mouth, fat tears gushing down her face. His father sank to the floor, whispering something about the greatest mistake they’ve made in their lives. Maddie was having a fight in her head. If she chose to stay with her parents, then there was a pretty high chance that she would never see Jack again in her life. A memory came flooding back to her. At school, the day Jack moved there, she was still 14. Everyone nicknamed her “The Blonde Dork” or “know it all.” But when she’d first saw Jack, she was determined to make him her friend. When she sat with him at lunch, she heard whispers about the incident or dangerous boy. But she ignored it. She simply refused to back down. At first he’d ignore her, and slowly, they started to talk. Now, they were each others best friend and only friends forever. Eternity. Forever and ever. She new which option she would take. She also knew, she will not regret it.

The Great Escape

She sprinted into the forest, ignoring the shouts and cries of the others calling her back. The whole forest was lit up with the eerie blue moonlight, as she heard the soft sounds of crickets chirping, and owls hooting. It felt enchanting. She walked deeper into the forest, until she came into a clearing. There were four trees surrounding her, each of them looking wise and ancient. She left all her worries behind, and took in the beautiful scenery of blue light, fireflies blinking here and there. “Beautiful, right?”she heard.

She whipped her head around, and looked into the endless rows of scattered trees. “Up here,” said the voice again. She carefully scanned each of the trees, making sure she didn’t miss any branch. And there he was. “Jack,” she whispered, her voice trembling. He was perched on one branch, with one of his legs dangling off of it. He climbed down the tree, and walked toward her, brushing off the dust on his dark blue coat. She walked in his direction too. The blood was still all over his face. She immediately wrestled him with the tightest hug in the world, willing to never let go. But he didn’t hug her back. Instead, he said, “I’m so sorry, Maddie. For getting you into this filthy mess. I shouldn’t of gotten that stupid idea of saving that dumb Randal girl, now I dragged you into this great escape too,” said Jack, apologizing. Maddie let go and shook her head. “No, Jack. I’m glad you got that idea. This just proves me more that I chose the correct person as my bestie. You’re kind. Sure, Bobbi is an absurd option to save, but you care. You care about lives, and that’s why you’re the best best friend I can ever have. IN MY LIFE,” stated Maddie. Jack shook his head. “You don’t know, Maddie. The things I’ve done, have caused permanent scars in peoples hearts,” he said. Maddie hastily let out a sigh. “Then tell me what you did. I will never, run away from you. Not even if you look deadly right now. Well I won’t run away, as long as you tell me you won’t kill me,” joked Maddie. Jack smiled. The actual Jack smile.

“I promise I won’t kill you. I swear on myself,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Now tell me what you did, or else I will have to show my deadly self,” said Maddie. “Oh really? I wonder what that side looks like. I’ll have my chances with your deadly self,” said Jack, chuckling. “You sure?”she asked. “Positive,” confirmed Jack. “Alright, you asked for it.” She grabbed his hand, yanked it to her mouth, and bit him as hard as she can. “Ouch!!!! What the heck Maddie! What were you thinking!”he yelled in pain. But it came out more like, “OuchwhattheheckMaddiewhatwereyouthinking!!!!” Maddie chuckled as he checked his hand for any bite marks. He was wearing a dark blue coat on top, so it hadn’t affected him as much as it should have. “I repeat, quote unquote, you asked for it,” said Maddie. Jack smiled sheepishly, and said “Ok, alright, I’ll tell you. But please don’t be scared of me afterwards,” pleaded Jack. “Oooh, tough guy, huh?”teased Maddie. “I bet you’ll take that back by the end of this story,” said Jack. “Should I say scary guy instead?””No, no. I’ll stick with tough guy.” “Ok, NOW TELL ME!!!” “Fine, fine. Chillax,” said Jack.

“You remember how many years we’ve known each other?” “Yeah, for 3 years.” “That makes us 14 when we met each other.” “Yes… now what’s your point?” “Before we met each other, when I was 13, I did something horrible. You see, my grandma was gravely ill, and she was my best friend. She was always listening, and gave me good advice. But one day, she collapsed, just randomly. So we took her to the hospital as fast as we can, and the doctor told us devastating news. My gramma had a brain tumor, and it was a very risky operation, but the doctors new it would definitely work if they tried it. Without thinking, my parents agreed, desperate to help her. But they didn’t see the cost of it. That night, I refused to sleep. Weeks passed by, my grades plummeting, and then I snapped. I’ve had enough,” said Jack. Just looking back at the memory made him want to break something. Maddie watched, as his hands curled into fists. He was locking them in place so hard, his knuckles turned white. She gently placed a hand on one of them, and he relaxed a bit. He closed his eyes as he continued. “The next night, I snuck out. Same attire we had, same plan. But this time, it wasn’t for a good reason. I was headed to the bank, to rob it,” he said. Maddie tried her best to keep her reaction in, but a tiny gasp still slipped out of her mouth. Her best friend, tried to rob a bank!? If this crazy catastrophe hadn’t happened, then she would have laughed and dismissed him immediately, thinking it was fake. “That’s what I meant when I told my parents that we could’ve been rich. I was in the bank, and I had all the gold, and money in my bag, but I hesitated. I thought about what I was doing. I was thinking so deeply, that I hadn’t noticed I was staring directly into the lights,”

“When I snapped out of my daze, I had a throbbing headache, and got blinded. I accidentally tripped and fell on one of the lockers, and clicked the wrong numbers. The alarm went off, and I had no escape. But to my surprise, only one watchman came to the door. I don’t know what came over me, and the next thing I knew, he was-” he stared into nothingness for what seemed like an eternity, and then simply just said “Ok, story time’s over.” Maddie wanted to punch him in the face. “YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE ME HANGING OFF A CLIFF LIKE THAT!!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WATCHMAN!!!!!?????”yelled Maddie. This caught Jack completely off guard. “Nope, no way. I’ll just tell you one thing. I knew Krav Maga, and this type of fighting has one rule, and is not used in competitions. The only rule is to try to end the fight as fast as possible,” said Jack, as fast as lightning. “End a fight as fast as possible, in what way…?”asked Maddie. “Sorry, I told you story time’s over,” responded Jack.

This time Maddie was about to punch him for real. But she held back her anger, and decided to push Jack. She bent down, and ran headfirst into Jack’s stomach. When she slammed him, he moved 4 feet back. “MADDIE! HAVE YOU GONE MAD!!??” “TELL ME WHAT YOU MEAN BY END A FIGHT AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!” Jack sighed, and smirked. “I can’t tell, so I’ll have to show you.” Jack started. To walk toward Maddie, and for the first time, she felt scared. But she knew he had no reason to hurt her, and to her relief, he walked right past her. Behind her was a baby tree, and he stood right beside it. “Are you going to break that thing?”asked Maddie. Jack nodded. Maddie snorted, shaking her head. “I told you I’ll show you,” said Jack. He first wrapped his arms around it, and easily tied his legs around it. He held onto a branch, swung sideways, put his legs to the stump, and.. CRACK!!!!!! Maddie’s jaws fell open. “How— what— h— w— HOW??!! JUST HOW!!??”asked Maddie. “I’m stronger than you think I am,” said Jack. Maddie stole another glance at the tree. It was broken, and if Jack can break a tree with a single kick, then what might’ve happened to the officer?

She snapped out of her imagination when Jack yelled “Maddie! You coming or not?” “Where to?”she asked, after she reached him. “Where do you think? To our houses,” replied Jack, rather casually. “What in the world are you talking about! We literally ditched our parents back there,” she hissed. “I do not believe you are stupid enough to actually consider that. Even if we tried to go back, I will probably get a good beating, and you would get grounded, until all there is left of you is bones,” said Jack. Maddie had to agree, that was what was gonna happen. “So, we are going back because…?” “Because we need supplies to live off of, unless you’re a superhuman,” said Jack. “Gotcha. I’ll grab my computer, and you grab your attire, while we’re at it,” “I know mom,” teased Jack. Maddie scoffed. “You should be glad I’m not in that place, or you would’ve gotten a lot of scars.” Jack raised a teasing eyebrow, but words had their meaning. “I’m going to go where you go,” said Maddie. “Ok, then we’re going to my house first.” “What!? All our parents are there!” “I know what you’re thinking, but trust me.” “Alright, change of rules, you go where I go.” “Fine, your wish, but you’ll severely regret it.”

Maddie wasn’t sure, but she decided to push on. Since it was night again, she followed Jack’s protocol, and he led her through the eerily quiet, night streets. “Arrived,” whispered Jack. But to Maddie’s surprise, she heard talking. “But how? I thought there would only be my parents.” As a matter of fact, both Jack’s and Maddie’s parents were there. “Told you,” said Jack, flashing his trademark smirk. They decided to change course, and headed for Jack’s house first. The place was deserted, with the front door locked. There was a paper, hanging on it. It was in Jack’s mother’s handwriting, and it said: “Jack, we are sorry if what happened today hurt your feelings. We dearly want you back — love, Mom, & Dad.”

Jack scowled. “No way that’s gonna happen,” he mumbled, mostly to himself. He climbed over the fence effortlessly. Maddie struggled a tremendous amount, before eventually landing with a big fat OOF! onto the ground. “Nice landing there, gymnast,” teased Jack, as he helped her up. “Karma will get you,” Maddie warned. They snuck up to one of the windows, and Jack attempted to open it. “Ugh, they locked it from the inside,” he grumbled. “Fancy punching it?”asked Maddie. “You expect me to punch my own house?” “Tell me a better answer,” said Maddie. Jack knew a bunch of better answers, that were purely criminal-ish, and needed at least one supply. So he decided to obey her. Maddie had expected at least a few punches to get the window to break, but hey, we’re talking Jack language here. One punch, the whole thing came crashing down. “I don’t know why I’m still surprised seeing you do that,” said Maddie. “When will you start getting used to me, Madison Wilson?”asked Jack. Maddie sighed, as she followed Jack up to his room. Once they were out, Jack had officially won the Stuffing The Most Things In Your Small And Puny Backpack award. The funny thing is, he added his tuxedo in, too. Once they snuck into Maddie’s. House (which was gruelingly hard), she also started to stuff all her clothes in, and hoped that the very much stuffed backpack’s zip wouldn’t pop out of place, or break.

But Maddie won the Stuffing The Most Things In Your Small And Puny Backpack award after him, since she also added a bit of cheese, sandwiches, fruits, and veggies to the mix (literally). Jack groaned at the veggies part. “This is just nonsense, MOM,” said Jack, exaggerating that word. “Mom’s aren’t supposed to be 17, and their sons aren’t supposed to be 3 months older than them,” pointed out Maddie. “You know you are still acting like a quite classical mother, right?” “Yes, I am well aware of that,” “Stop speaking anciently!” “Ok, I’ve been meaning to ask you something…” “And that is?” “Why the heck did you put a tuxedo into your backpack?” “Best to be prepared, oh and, get your most frilliest, princes looking, cute, adorable gown ever, along with super girly hairpins, and slides. I have a feeling we need them.” “You know I hate those type of stuff, right?” “But you told me that your mother insists, and like I said, I’m not trying to humiliate you, my gut tells me they’re necessities.” Maddie rolled her eyes, but she obeyed.

Unintended Invitation

Once they got everything they needed, Maddie flung her backpack over her shoulder, unaware that she was dangerously close to her desk. She knocked over her pencil box, sending all sorts of writing supplies scattering across the floor. “Quick! Grab your computer, and it’s charger, with it-” “Who was that? I’ll tell Arnold to check that, Natalie. Don’t worry, you know he’s a police officer. Arnold! A sound is coming from upstairs!”said a muffled voice, that peculiarly sounded like Maddie’s mom. Maddie frantically grabbed her computer, charger, and portable power bank. They climbed out the window, and ran over the fences. “Wait, let’s see what they’d do if they actually found out that a thief came. You know, if that guy that acted blind tried to attack them,” said Jack. “Okay…” replied Maddie. They saw the lights switch on, and anxiously watched as they saw all the parents — not only Maddie’s father — come and search for traces. “Oh my, it must’ve been Maddie. Her closet is empty, and so are the emergency food supplies under her bed,” said Maddie’s dad. “May I know why you keep an emergency food supply underneath your bed?”asked Jack. “Ya know, like, if a zombie apocalypse happens, and I need to survive on my own,” replied Maddie. Jack laughed hysterically. “Wait, you’re serious?”he asked when he saw the confused look on Maddie’s face. “Yes… and, of course, if an earthquake happens, or tsunami, or—” “Ok, ok, I get it. In case of any emergency fantasy, or real, scenarios,” concluded Jack. “Yup,”

“Shouldn’t we get goin’ now?”asked Jack. Maddie nodded, and followed Jack’s slick moves, as they made their way back into the wilderness. “Ok… so what do we do now?”asked Maddie. “Wait a minute, is that a poster?”asked Jack, talking to himself. He walked over, with Maddie right on his heels. They both examined it carefully. The poster said: “Feel free to join our once in a lifetime experience, on April 12, in the Wyndham Virginia Beach Oceanfront, where our beloved couple, Maria Wilkins, and Jacob SeaWells will officially become a Mr. and Mrs! Just call this number to book a ticket to our well guarded ballroom!

Phone number: - - ****.”

Above all the words, there was a picture of a man with brown hair and a beard in a fancy (and shiny) suit, and a woman with blonde hair tied neatly in a bun with beautiful makeup and wearing a long white gown, with matching silver heels and flowers. “Wow, she looks like a freaking goddess,” said Maddie, dreamy eyed. Jack rolled his eyes. “After you’re done drooling all over the picture, try to search up their names. We need to find shelter tonight, and can do something productive while searching for it,” said Jack, as he carefully plucked it off the tree, putting it in his pocket. “We gotta find shelter first though, so… chop chop!”said Maddie. Somehow, she managed to stuff her computer in the backpack too, and headed north, at least they assumed what was north.

“Wait,” whispered Jack, stepping in front of Maddie. “What is it?”she asked. “I hear something,” he said, his eyes rapidly searching the blue, moonlit night for any signs of movement. They stayed quiet, and sure enough, they heard a rustling sound. Maddie leaned closer to Jack, so no-one can hear her say “Do you think it could be the cat again?” Jack shrugged. “Could be, but in this thick forest, anything can lurk in the shadows,” he whispered back. The sound came again, this time, louder, and closer. Close enough for them to detect which direction it was coming from. That direction can tell anyone, they were being stalked. Adrenaline rushed through their bodies as they slowly shifted their position to face the source of the sound behind them. But all they saw were endless rows of scattered trees, and a very thick underbrush. “Tell me, out of 1 to 10, what is the probability of us being ambushed by humans?”asked Maddie. “Right now, anything is in the range of 5 and up, so… I think a very high probability,” replied Jack. The sound came again, this time, it was so close, they didn’t know how whatever made that sound didn’t touch them. Both of them wouldn’t dare move a muscle. Jack knew Krav Maga, so he can fight off whatever was there. He was still unsure of what the source was. “Should we ask something?”asked Jack. Maddie nodded. “Who’s there?”he asked. “So, you kids remember me?”asked a deep voice. “Who? We can’t see you!”replied Maddie. “My cat seemed to have given you scars, my apologies. This white ball of fluff can’t stay in one place. Oh, and my boy, that must’ve hurt,” Jack could swear depending on his voice, that the man was smiling. “What the heck do you want from us?”asked Jack, cutting to the chase.

“I want you to regret your option of going into the forest, and I will show you with your own eyes, what makes you regret,” said the voice. He stepped into the light, holding Bobbi by the neck, and pointing a gun to her head. “Bobbi,” whispered Maddie. The man took the cloth out of her mouth. “Any last words?”he asked. “This, is NOT going to be the end of her,” said Jack, in a grim voice. The man chuckled. “Oh really? Prove it to me,” he said. He let Bobbi go, pointing the gun to Jack, this time. “Run, Bobbi,” said Jack. Bobbi shook her head. “Run you idiot!”yelled Maddie. Bobbi took one step before the man took Bobbi and pressed the gun to her head this time. His finger started to press the trigger, with Bobbi sweating hard. “I told you you would regret this option,” he stepped further into the light, but he was wearing a quite creepy mask with a quite menacing smile. But he had been focusing on Jack so much, that he hadn’t noticed Maddie was missing. Maddie had stalked up behind him, and pounced on him from the back. The next few seconds went by in a blur. He pulled the trigger, but the bullet missed Bobbi by less than an inch. When the man was in a haze, Maddie pulled him up by his hair, and Jack kicked him hard, square in the face. They were pretty sure the white thing that came out under of his mask was his tooth.

“Nice kick, Jack,” said Maddie. They immediately looked at Bobbi, who seemed like she was going to cry. “Thank you so much for saving me from him,” she said, sobbing as she pulled them in for a tight hug. Suddenly, Jack felt something wet on his head. And again. And again. Then, multiple at a time. “Uh oh, it’s starting to rain. We have to find shelter. Bobbi, do you know where your house is from here?”asked Jack. “From the forest? No,” she said. Jack groaned, and slapped his forehead. “Anyways… what are you doing here?”asked Bobbi. Jack and Maddie shared a look. “Long story short, we were out to find you” said Maddie. “Me? OMG, I love you both so much. I know I was mean to you, and I’m sorry. I don’t deserve such kind people looking for me. I owe you one,” said Bobbi. Now the rain started to pour, so Jack told Maddie to keep the gun, and shoot anything if it tried to attack them. But before he went, he took the gun into his hand. “Don’t consider this cruel, he mustn’t escape,” said Jack. He waited until the first round of lightning. “What is he going to do?”whispered Bobbi to Maddie. “I dunno. He’s unpredictable now. Not in a bad way, though,” said Maddie. But she knew he would shoot the man somewhere. Lightning flashed, and when the thunder started to roar, Jack shot the man in his right leg. They didn’t hear much, due to the thunder, but they were still shocked from Jack’s quick move. “Stay here, and knock him out if he wakes up again,” said Jack. “How do you knock him out?”asked Maddie. “Make Bobbi pin him down, and kick or punch him in the face,” said Jack.

After he was gone, there was a long silence between the girls. “Well… that’s some piece of advice,” commented Bobbi. Maddie nodded in agreement. “Wait, so let me get this straight,” said Bobbi, shouting over the deafening pitter patter of the rain. “What dimension is the calm and quiet Jack from school from and what dimension is this guy from?”asked Bobbi. “Or, has he been hiding that ferocity?” “He was 100% hiding his ferocity,” confirmed Maddie. “Oh, ok. So the real Jack kicks kidnappers in the face so hard their tooth fell out, shoots them in the leg, and gives defenseless girls advice on how to attack kidnappers too,” said Bobbi, plainly. Maddie chuckled. “Yeah, I also found it hard to believe. But trust me, I saw him break glass with one punch, and decapitate a tree with one kick. So this man will be having a broken nose,” said Maddie. “Dang! Those house glasses are an inch thick. And, I mean, this is a real life example of a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Bobbi. But before anyone can say anything else, Maddie felt hands on her shoulders, so she whipped her head around, and blindly shot. “Ooh, ah. Ouch,” she heard a familiar voice say. “Jack! Are you hurt? I’m so sorry!”said Maddie. “No, it’s fine,” he said between clenched teeth. “At least now I know you know how to defend yourselves, and it didn’t hit anything major,” he added, showing her a deep cut on the side of his upper arm.

“You’re lucky you dodged that just in time, though,” said Bobbi, leaning behind Maddie to see the wound. “You guys have packed a first aid kit in those bulging backpacks, right?”she asked. “Um… Maddie?”asked Jack. “Don’t worry, if I have an emergency food supply, then I definitely brought my actual emergency supplies,” she said, as she started to reach toward her backpack. She took out the kit, and started to tend Jack, putting ointment and wrapping his arm carefully with a gauze bandage roll. “Why do you have an emergency food supply?”asked Bobbi. “Oh right, in case a zombie apocalypse happens,” said Jack, teasing Maddie. “Valid reason,” said Bobbi. That was a blow to Jack. “Do all girls believe a zombie apocalypse might happen?”wondered Jack, mumbling to himself. “Done!”said Maddie, as she tucked the kit into the backpack again. “Ok, I found an abandoned store in the complete middle of nowhere, so even though I did a thorough check, twice, around the whole thing, we’ll be getting the creeps in that place,” said Jack. “UGH! I hate liminal spaces,” groaned Bobbi. “Nostalgic eerie—ness, here we come!”said Maddie, sarcastically. Thunder rumbled in the distance as they hurried to lift the man up. Maddie held him by the shoulders, as Jack lifted him up by the legs. Bobbi followed anxiously behind them, glancing over her shoulder once in a while.

“Ok, let go,” said Jack, when they arrived at a furniture store, with not a trace of anything inside it. “That place,” said Maddie, as she looked through the glass. “Looks like huggy wuggy could come out of any corner at any second.” Jack dragged the man inside, and they took sometime to dry out. “Anyone want any snacks?”asked Maddie, as she unzipped her backpack. She handed each one of them a veggie, a fruit, a bit of cheese, and a quarter of a sandwich. “Vegetables? Seriously! You don’t need to act like my mom, Maddie,” complained Bobbi. “I told you that you were acting like a classical mother,” said Jack. Maddie gave them both her deluxe Get What you Get, and Don’t Get Upset look. But they ate, anyways. After they were done eating, they were completely dry. “Ok, so we’re going to interrogate this guy for any valuable info, like where did he plan to take Bobbi, were there any other people working with him, and stuff like that,” said Jack.

“You’re saying that like he’d just tell you if you’d ask,” said Bobbi. “I have my techniques,” said Jack, flashing them a mischievous grin. “But first, we’re going to have to wake him up,” said Maddie. “Yeah, I found a bucket lying in one of the dark, corners, which I won’t dare to search deeper into,” said Jack, sending chills up the girls’ spines’. “And I put it outside so it can get filled with water, and we can splash some on his face so that he wakes up,” said Jack. “Sounds good to me,” said Bobbi. “Let’s do this,” said Maddie. “But first, I want to take a look around,” she said. “What!? Are you crazy? I’m in a condition of which if I hear a sound, I won’t stop running until I pass out,” said Bobbi. “Well, sorry to say, but I’m up for it. So if you don’t want to be left alone here, waiting until we get back, then feel free to do so,” said Jack. Bobbi groaned, but trudged along anyways.

When Maddie said look around, she meant looking into the places Jack didn’t. Once he figured that out, he freaked. “Maddie! I didn’t look into that place for a reason!”he said. “Oh, you’ll be fine,” said Maddie, dismissing him. She leaned in to take a closer look, and found out that there was something moving in the corner. But it turned out to be an unusually hairy rat. Bobbi screamed (one that can be heard miles away) and shot off into the way that she came from. “Bobbi! It’s just a rat!”yelled Maddie. They ran after her, and she replied “Just a rat? Nothing is just a rat! Do you know how many diseases a rat can carry?” “Ok, fine. It didn’t bite ay of us. Now, I think we’ve wasted enough time looking around,” said Jack. “Time for the interrogation.”

“Maddie, can you open the door just to the right of the first turn?”asked Jack. ‘Right to the first turn? What? Ugh, whatever,’ thought Maddie. But sure enough, there was a door close by. She didn’t know if it was the one that Jack specifically told her, or if it was another door, but is was a door, and it led to another ghostly empty room. “Found it!”she yelled. Shortly after she yelled that, Jack and Bobbi dragged the man into the room. “We need to tie him up,” said Jack. “Stay here, and same rules apply from the last time I left you alone,” he said, as he headed out to scavenge the place for anything that can act as a rope. A few minutes passed by, and Jack cam back, empty handed. “Bad news, there isn’t anything lying around here that might help. Good news, when I was coming by, I saw a convenience store probably just a 5 minute walk from here,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a good option going by myself, taking one of you and leaving another alone, or taking all of you and leaving the kidnapper alone. So we’re going to take him, and place him in a corner somewhere, and I’ll be the one that’ll be guarding him with one of you, so who volunteers to go to the store?”asked Jack. “I can go,” said Maddie.

“Cool, and just take your stuff, in case we might need it,” Once everyone had everything they needed, and nothing left behind, they picked up the man, and started out. “How much longer do you think he can stay passed out? It’s been longer than an hour,” said Maddie, with a concerned look on her face. “Hmmm… Bobbi, did he sedate you when he was kidnapping you?”asked Jack. “Yeah, with a napkin. Oh, how long was I gone?”she asked. “A week, or so. And don’t worry, we’ll get you back to your parents in no time,” assured Maddie. “Ok, let’s put him down, and search is pockets, in case we can find something useful,” said Jack. They didn’t find much, just a pocket knife, some raw liquor, and a few other useless gadgets. But they found something that can come into a serious use. “A lock-pick!”exclaimed Maddie, Jack, and Bobbi in unison. “Neat! By the way… is the convenience store open or closed?”asked Maddie. “Open, that’s why I need to keep the man outside,” said Jack, pulling the man into an abandoned corner. “Ok, I’ll get goin’. Stay safe!”said Maddie, as she headed toward the store. As a matter of fact, the sign did say the store was open, and a skinny teenage boy (about Maddie’s age, maybe older) was at the counter. When she came in, the boy just looked up for a fraction of a second up from his book, not more than a glance. Maddie was relieved, since she was wanted, and the less she got acknowledged, the better. She skimmed through the store, looking for ropes. She found a roll of them, and a whip. She figured it might come in handy, for self defense, and, since she was a 8 years old, she loved Indiana Jones. Maddie got the items, and headed for the counter. “That’ll be $20 ma’am,” said the boy. “Why do you need a whip, by the way?”he asked. “Well, why did you put it in the store? For people to buy it, right? I’m just giving this item someplace to go,” she countered. She slipped him a 20 and headed for the door. But due to her unluckiness, she stumbled over a bump on the floor, and the gun fell out of her unzipped section of the backpack.

‘AHHH! Stupid Me!!!!! How in the world can someone forget to zip their backpack!!!’she thought, quickly bending to pick it up. But she was too late. The boy turned pale, as he stood up from his chair. Maddie grabbed the gun. “What’s the matter? Oh, are you scared of this?”she asked, playing around with it. “P-p-p-p-please! D-don’t h-hurt m-me! I-I’m just a kid!”cried the boy. Maddie laughed. “I know buddy, so am I, so, how about, you keep this little secret only between us,” said Maddie, putting the gun to her lips in a quiet sign. The boy slowly nodded, and she pulled her hood over her head, as she walked out of the store.

“Why have you pulled your hood up?”asked Jack, anxiously. “Because I’m your idiot of a friend that forgot to zip her backpack up where a metal weapon is stashed,” said Maddie. “It’s fine, mistakes happen,” said Bobbi. “And you’re not an idiot! Take that back,” said Jack. Maddie rolled her eyes, and handed them the rope. “What’s the whip for?”asked Bobbi. “Just in case,” replied Maddie. They dragged themselves back into “the backrooms” (as Maddie and Bobbi nicknamed the abandoned store), and tied the man up, REALLY tightly. Jack brought in the bucket (the rain stopped a long time ago) in, while the girls were pulling the kidnapper into a corner. “Ok, I and Maddie are going to keep ourselves a safe distance from the man,” said Bobbi. Jack nodded, and crouched in front of the man. He sprinkled water on him, and he blinked his way into consciousness. “What the— children?”he thought. “That’s right,” said Jack. He looked at Bobbi, and the innocent red haired blue eyed girl glared right back. “Why did you kidnap me!?”she demanded. “Don’t talk buttercup, you don’t need to worry ‘bout it,” replied the man. Jack hated the smug look on his face. “Girls, you might want to step out for this,” said Jack. Maddie obeyed, and dragged Bobbi out with her. “Don’t ask me what he’s going to do, they’re probably going to have an unpleasant time,” said Maddie, when Bobbi opened her mouth to say something. “Oh… ok,” said Bobbi, yawning. It was late now, so they were getting tired after a sleepless night.

Maddie led Bobbi to a corner, far away from the room that Jack was interrogating the kidnapper. Bobbi slowly went on the floor, and started to snore, immediately. Maddie chuckled, and shook her head. She’d decided to stay awake until Jack comes out, and tells her what the kidnapper had said while they were inside the room. After what had seemed like an eternity, Jack slowly opened the door, and came out, trying to make as less sound as possible. “What? Maddie, why are you still awake?” Jack asked. “I wanted to know what you learned immediately, so… yeah,” she said. Jack sighed. “I barely got anything out of him. The only thing he said, was wedding.” “Well, the only wedding that’s happening, is tomorrow.” Jack fished out the invitation poster from his pocket, and they both took a look at it. “Well, it looks like an unintended invitation for us,” said Jack. Maddie smiled, and nodded, yawning. “I think it’s time to go to sleep, cause I can sleep for years,” said Maddie, yawning again. Jack nodded, and they both positioned themselves on the floor, dozing off immediately.

Suddenly, they both got startled awake, by a huge clattering sound. “What was that?” Maddie whispered, getting off the floor. Jack shrugged. They both started to walk the direction the sound came from. “BANG!!” The entrance slammed behind them. “The kidnapper! He escaped!” Said Maddie, racing to the door. They ran outside, shivering, due to the chill of night. The man was nowhere to be seen. “The man… Bobbi. MADDIE, SEARCH FOR BOBBI!”yelled Jack, both of them rushing back inside the store. “Bobbi!”they yelled, frantically. No response. Jack ran around the whole building. Bobbi was not there. Bobbi… was gone. And Maddie and Jack, didn’t know, if they’d ever see her again.