The Silhouette's Prisoner

by Sherry Zeng and Katherine Chou

  Chapter 57 - Andy-Mr. Vampire

  The mean Vampire Dude grabbed me and threw me and Snowy through the wall that was a door. There was a dusty wooden staircase. He dragged us roughly up, and then threw us in a bland room. I cried. Snowy whimpered. I stopped when I saw that the room was filled with cool devices. It even had a real whip!

  "Ha!" He laughed meanly. "I will soon get the others and bring all of you to Jacque! She shall be pound of me." He then looked sad, but quickly went back into being mean again.

  He picked up a whip that was lying on the ground. He brought it down, down, down…

  "Wait!" I blurted, covering my face. I couldn’t help it, but I had so many questions. "Why do you even listen to Jacque? She is so mean to you! What are you going to do to us, I mean we are little kids. In TV, all the kids get forgiven because they are little! And why do you look like a vampire?"

  He stared at me for a long time, holding the whip. His eyes grew shiny. Then he frowned and answered, "You were a bad boy, so that is why you will be punished." He lifted the whip again.

  "But what did I ever do to you!?" I was now frustrated with this guy. "You were the one who lied to us and brought us here! Because of you, Catie and I are here, and we were accused of being intruders! Reasonably, we wanted to escape. Besides, you could have had some logic and not listened to that woman! You let her take control over you!" I yelled at his surprised face.

  Realizing that I said too much, I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to strike. Yet, it never came. I picked up Snowy and buried my face in his fur. He whimpered again. I looked up and saw Vampire Dude crying.

  "You okay?" I asked, being a nice boy. I think I was too harsh on him. I should have just given him a time out.

  "No." he sobbed. "I can’t believe I gave up my beautiful wife, Eileen, for this horrid woman. You are right. I shouldn’t do this to kids this little. It is just not right!" he looked at me with his tearstained face. "I shall let you go."

  I was so dumbfounded that I forgot that he didn’t answer my third question.

  Chapter 58 - Catie-ANDY???

  "Where is Andy?" I shouted. Immediately, the others scuttled to a halt.

  "Uhh… I’m not sure," Sharon answered. Larry turned to tell Snowy to find Andy. However, the white German Sheppard was not here nor there.

  "Snowy!!! Where are you??" Larry asked, panicking.

  "I think that they either got lost, or Vampire Dude took them." I inputted.

  "No! Dad would not hurt Snowy!!" Larry cried.

  I guess he really cared for his dog! We tried to back track our steps.

  "Now, which way did we go?"

  "I think we went left."

  "No, we didn’t."

  "Yes we did!"

  "I remember this air vent!"

  "No, it is the opposite, remember?"

  "If we turned left, now we have to turn right!"

  "Oh yeah!!"

  "Now, then, where did we turn? I think that the passage is where we were."

  "No, it’s not, it is the other passage,"

  We argued with each other so much that we were lost, again.

  Chapter 59 - Andy-Awkward Silence

  Vampire Dude stopped crying and took us out of the "torture room". We had an awkward silence, but then I asked a question.

  "Why did you marry mean Jacque?" I curiously asked.

  "Well, I’m not sure anymore. Well, Eileen and I had been fighting for a while. We divorced. Then, I met Jacque. When I met her, I thought that she was perfect. At that time, she was pretty, young, rich, and exciting. When I proposed to her, she was so elated. Never would I know that I would be her little sidekick, and my son be her little bodyguard. Now, I am really regretting divorcing Eileen." Vampire Dude wistfully said staring ahead, thinking about his past.

  I got bored and blocked out Vampire Dude halfway through his flashback. Snowy was so cute! He was so loyal too. I wanted a dog, just like Snowy. He was so fuzzy, soft, and obedient. I had been begging for three years!! Ok, it was really three months, but you get my point. Vampire Dude petted Snowy’s head, and Snowy licked him. Vampire Dude smiled a sad smile completed with glossy eyes. I felt sorry for Vampire Dude. He looked and sounded very sad.

  Chapter 60 - Sharon-The Agreement

  "What should we do?" I panicked to Catie. "If we go back to Andy and Snowy, we might bump into Jacque, because Vampire Dude probably alerted to her that he found us there! Or, since we are already lost, we might never find our way to them since the passage is so confusing. That way all of us would get in trouble, not just those two! But, of course, we can’t leave our brother to deal with such an evil man!"

  "I say we go back to Andy." Catie replied without hesitation.

  "And save Snowy." Larry agreed.

  David looked at them and enthusiastically nodded his head.

  We were thinking about going after Andy and Snowy when we heard those ever familiar heavy footsteps heading our direction.

  "Oh great." David mumbled next to me as we hurried the other way.

  Chapter 61 - David-My Weird Aunt

  I forgot that Mommy wanted my sweeper/fortune teller aunt, Madame Goga (yes that is her name), to clean the passageways sometime this week. She has very weird relatives! I completely lost track of time. What day was today?? Anyway, we ran in a random direction. (We were lucky that the passageway was soundproof.) I didn’t even know where we were going! Fortunately, we saw light ahead.

  "Where are we?" I panted.

  "I’m not sure, but I am pretty certain that we are at the vineyard! The vineyard and the back door are the only way out without going through the castle. " Larry panted back.

  Collapsing at the end of the passageway, which had an exit as small as a pet door, we stopped and then rested. One by one, we fell asleep. I stayed awake because I know that the workers were also forced to be trained as Jacque’s guards. (It was hard enough for them to be kidnapped at young age to work all day, with no payments. I couldn't wait to tell the police about that one!!) We had to be cautious. However, I started getting drowsier and drowsier…

  Chapter 62 - Sharon-Grapes Are Better Than Apes

  "Found someone here!" Someone with a thick voice yelled.

  Huh? Where am I? I opened my eyes a crack to see a sweaty tan man with a huge beard. Creepy.

  "No, there is way more than one here!" A short, but muscular man grumbled. He appeared next to the tan man. I noticed that they were both wearing a white shirt that said a logo: "Grapes Are Better than Apes." Those must be the workers.

  "Oh, here is that son of Boss." The muscular man gestured to a sleeping David. He lit a pipe as he examined us closely. I froze. I didn’t think they would harm us: they looked defenseless, almost weak, despite those muscles. But I didn’t trust my instincts on this one.

  "We better tell Boss. Remember, this morning she found her victims gone. She told us that if we find them, we all get a day off from work. I did nothing but toil in the sun all day since I was abducted at age ten. I’m tired of this strenuous work!" The short one grunted and ducked through the passage. The tan man shrugged and followed.

  Oh gosh! I thought. This doesn’t sound good. I should wake the others. I jumped up and ran to Catie.

  "Catie!" I silently screamed into her ear. "Wake up! Jacque is coming! We’ve got to warn the others." Catie, the sound-sleeper, merely rolled over. I rushed to Larry.

  "C’mon! Wakey, wakey!" I shouted loudly. Larry grunted and went back to sleep. I panicked. I heard the voices of the workers faraway talking to Jacque, and heard her scream with rage at the news.

  "Great." I mumbled.

  "David! Wake up! She is coming!" I hollered at the sleeping kid. He jumped up shocked.

  "Good, now help me wi.." I began. To my dismay, the sleepy kid slipped and bumped his head on the brick wall, unconscious. I sighed.

  I ran to each sleeping (and unconscious) member and shook them a bazillion times. "Guys! Now, I can hear her walking toward the passage!
" I screamed. Wow. They sure are sound sleepers. Just when I was about to kick them awake, (bad me) Larry sat up and started dragging Catie back into the passageway.

  "Get David and follow me!" he whispered. I grabbed the skinny boy by his collar and half carried, half dragged him after Larry. Now Jacque was in the passage with us. I could hear her trying to squeeze her meaty arms through the tiny door. Behind her, I could hear the workers helping her.

  I wanted to walk faster but Larry stopped walking abruptly and faced the wall. He tapped it five times and a door, in the middle of the wall, swung open. Past the door was a large window-less room. Wordlessly, Larry heaved my sister through the door, and did so himself. He reached out his hand to help with David.

  "Arrrggg!" I heard Jacque scream as she tried to squeeze her big butt into the small door.

  "Hurry!" I whispered urgently as I half threw David at Larry. "She is coming any minute!" Larry nodded impatiently as I climbed into the door. Automatically, it swung close after me. I was about to sigh in relief when I saw who was in this grand red room with us: Vampire Dude.

  Chapter 63 - David-Looks Familiar…..zzz

  I woke up on a silk red canopy bed. Sleepily, I looked around to see Catie sleeping next to me. Across the room, I saw a figure reading together to Andy on a red leather couch. The whole room was filled with expensive red stuff. The only thing that wasn’t red was the walls. They were the same color as the passageway. This place looked familiar.

  Then I fell asleep.

  Chapter 64 - Sharon-Smart Andy

  "Um…what is he doing here?" I gestured to Vampire Dude, who was sitting on the couch reading to Andy, with Snowy at their feet. I looked around. I was in the reddest room ever. "What is this place?"

  "This is my dad’s room. He chose this place because it is in the passageway, and he is really into it. He had to get permission from Jacque to use this room, because she likes it too." Without pausing Larry continued swiftly. "This is the only place we could go, since we were trapped. Besides, I knew my dad wouldn’t really harm Andy and Snowy. I know that he would chicken out at the last minute." He then gently picked up a sleeping Catie and carried her into a fancy red canopy bed. I did the same with David.

  We watched the two sleep for a while, and he grabbed my arm and walked me to Vampire Dude.

  "Dad!" He cried, and Vampire Dude looked up from his copy of A Wrinkle in Time.

  "How did you guys get in here?" he asked, obviously surprised. While Larry was explaining, Andy hugged me, and explained how amazing A Wrinkle in Time was. "I even understand it better than Mr. Johnston here!" He giggled. I wasn’t surprised, I mean, my brother (even though he was immature) has an IQ of 156. Andy is sure smart!

  Chapter 65 - David-My Room!!

  Mommy was chasing me with a gun. A water gun. She was shooting at me.

  "Please!" I pleaded with my back wet. "I will be a good son."

  Mommy merely laughed. "I will never have mercy!" She growled.

  Then her voice changed into a girl’s voice, "Wake up David, you are having a bad dream!"

  Huh? Oh. I sat up and looked at Catie who was shaking me awake. Snowy jumped on me and started to lick my face. Giggling I tried to push him off, then I saw Vampire Dude looking anxiously at me. The blood drained from my face.

  "What is he doing here?’ I asked Catie, trying to sound brave.

  "Don’t worry," was her reply. "He is on our side now!"

  I jumped off the fancy bed and looked around the elegant room. Then it hit me. "This was my room when I was little!" I blurted. "Except that I had many car posters on the walls. Mommy bought those just for me. She promised then that if I get straight A’s in high school, she would buy me a custom made red car." I closed my eyes at those good memories.

  My thoughts were interrupted when Vampi- I mean, Mr. Johnston announced that he would sneak food out of the kitchen for us. Before we could say how hungry we were, he disappeared.

  I walked around the room, my hand gliding along the walls thinking the exciting plans on going to places like Far Far Away. Inside, I was swelling with excitement. Even though it seems months ago, it was only a few days ago when I gave Sharon my map.

  I looked at Sharon now, and saw she was much happier with Larry, Andy, Catie, and me.

  I was still floating around all happy when I remembered that we weren’t escaped yet. I was almost gloomy when I remember Mommy’s high security. With all that guards/ workers and cameras around, how were we ever going to get out? I racked my head, brainstorming, until Mr. Johnston came back rolling the plates of food on a cart. Then I got a plan.

  Chapter 66 - Sharon-Starving

  I scuffled down five fish burgers and a few handfuls of French fries that Mr. Johnston managed to steal from the kitchen. I mean, to a person who was starving, the big trays of salad, cupcakes, iced water, burgers, bread, soup, cold lasagna, and french fries that he brought in were heaven! Everyone was stuffing themselves full. Even Andy, despite his little body, ate three large slices of sausage lasagna, a cup of soup, and five cupcakes. David, who was always starved by his mom, ate big quantities of everything. In fact, he gobbled down half of our stolen food. Snowy vacuumed up the scraps that we dropped under the table. He stole a loaf of bread, but ate only half. We even finished all three gallons of water! When the plates in front of us were nothing but crumbs, all five of us collapsed on the couch, with Mr. Johnston reading in his bed.

  "Your dad is so nice!" Andy mumbled lazily to Larry. Then he dropped straight into his lap and started to snooze noisily. The rest of us, one by one, fell asleep right there on the fancy couch.

  Chapter 67 - David-He Never Thought of It!

  Everyone fell asleep before I could share my plan. I decided to tell them my idea in the morning. First, I need to get Mr. Johnston’s approval.

  "Mr. Johnston." I said as I sat on the bed next to him. "I have a question."

  "What?" he replied, closing his book. "Ask quickly! I have to think of a plan to get us out of here."

  I couldn’t help but smile. "I have a plan though. I was going to ask if you can agree to help me activate it."

  "Go on boy." He looked as if he was trying to hide the "this was a big waste of time" look.

  "You know how Mommy would be asking her workers to watch every exit for us, right?" I began. "So I was thinking it will be safer for us to leave in the open. We could pile in your car, and you could drive us out through the main gate! We would be disguised as injured workers who needed to go to the hospital! Mommy wouldn’t suspect a thing since you are the one who usually take injured workers to the hospital! We could head to the police station. That is where all the people in TV go when they need help." I finished triumphantly.

  Mr. Johnston stared at me flabbergasted. "I never thought of that. It seems like a good plan, and it will be easy. I used to be a makeup artist working in theaters where Eileen was an actor…" He snapped out of his flashback and continued. "Anyway, go to sleep, boy. I will take care of the plan!"

  Chapter 68 - Andy-David’s Plan

  David and his stepdad created a plan! I think that it is cool. We got to hide in his car and pretend to be injured! I used to pretend to be injured to skip school, but the thousands of band aids I put all over my hand never fooled mommy. But that sounded like a fun game!! Yay!!

  Chapter 69 - Catie-Mr. Johnston, a Makeup Artist?

  Mr. Johnston told us a great plan to escape. I was baffled to learn that David was the one who came up with these plans. I was also surprised to learn that Mr. Johnston got everything ready for the plan. He had a bunch of dirty and smelly clothes piled up on the floor when we woke up. Among those clothes were T-shirts that had weird logos on them and other T-shirts featured apes eating grapes.

  He told Larry, Sharon, and me to put on the logo T-shirts and raggedy jeans. Next, he put bandages on our knees and elbows. I shuddered when I saw that the bandages were soggy with red liquid that looked like blood. Luckily, Mr. Johnston assured us that it was on
ly ketchup and dye. Next, he took out all sorts of fancy tools that looked like makeup stuff. He lined us up and started drawing all over our faces.

  When I looked in the mirror, I found a fake black eye, two scratches, and five bruises all on my face! I even had a fake dried bloody nose! I could hardly recognize myself! Wow, Mr. Johnston was super great at make up!! Meanwhile, David and Andy put on the T-shirts that had grape-eating apes. They were pretending to be the injured kid workers. Mr. Johnston worked his magic on all of us.

  Snowy had the hardest part. He was hidden in the trunk of the van. We had to make sure he was covered and quiet. Then, we were all set.

  Chapter 70 - Andy-Not Jaqcue Again!?

  David, my friend thought of a wonderful plan! I knew he was smart… like me!

  Anyways, we packed everything in the van. I even found my old backpack! Then, we slowly rolled along across the moat and down the road. The next thing I saw was a fat figure stopping us in our tracks. As we neared the figure, we realized that it was the amazingly fat Jacque.

  "Hello, my dear Steven. How are you??" She sweetly asked Vampire Dude, blinking her naturally long lashes. "I was thinking about taking a walk when I saw your car and your handsome face."

  "Great honey," he pretended to blush. "I am taking these workers to the hospital. They broke out in a fight today. These kids got hurt by trying to stop the irresponsible teenagers. Tsk tsk." He casually gestured to David and me, who were doing our best to look away. Vampire Dude leaned over to kiss her, when he saw her suspicious face. I followed her gaze. She was looking at David.

  "He looks familiar," she stared expressionlessly. She ruffled her silky brown curls thoughtfully.

  "That is because you have seen him before. He works in the field right out your window." Vampire Dude said nervously answered.

  "Are you sure?" she doubtfully shot back, her big gray eyes suspicious.

  "Yes, I am 100 percent sure." he lied. His face grew red. Larry later told me his father always did that when he wasn’t truthful.