by Cody Hyde
Sharon arrived at the East River police station. She was eager to turn Charlie’s photo in. “Alright, here’s his photo, that’s Charlie,” she said, handing the photo to Sheriff Wesley, who sat at his desk eating a donut.
“Okay, thanks, Ms. James, I’ll start the lookout for your son right away,” he replied, setting down the donut and taking the photo.
“Thank you.” She then turned and walked out. Tara followed behind her from a small chair she appeared to have sat down in.
A few miles away, Will was walking back from school with no ride home now that Charlie was gone.
A storm was starting up as thunder struck. Students raced to their vehicles. Will began walking faster as soon as he realized the storm coming.
What he didn’t realize, though, was Greg’s Camaro, in which he was driving in with a group of his friends and his girlfriend Becca in the passenger seat.
“Hey, look who it is,” responded Greg when he saw Will. He was desperately looking to beat the crap out of anybody.
“It’s that Will kid,” responded Becca in a snotty voice.
“Watch this, I’m gonna scare the crap out of him,” said one of Greg’s friends from the back seat. He honked the horn as soon as Will passed in front of their vehicle when he crossed the street.
Will jumped. He turned his head to notice Greg’s car, accidentally glancing at Becca. Shoot, we met eye contact….
“Hey, you just looked at my girl,” responded Greg. “Bad move, kid.” He then turned to his friends, “You guys ready for some action?”
“Yeah!” said all of them in unison. “Go get that little fairy!” ordered Becca.
Will decided to just ignore them. He turned down an alleyway and it began to rain. He threw his hood up and pocketed the mp3 player he was listening to. Go away, rain, he thought to himself.
From a nearby trashcan, a cat meowed as it quickly hurried away when Will got up close to it, casting a shadow on the alley wall.
Will continued to walk, and less than a minute later, Greg’s car turned the corner. Its headlights lit up the dark alleyway.
Will turned around, realizing Greg and his gang were following him. The car had stopped.
“Hey losers, go stalk someone else!” shouted Will.
Greg’s gang just snickered.
Will stared at the car for a few seconds more, blinded by the headlights, then continued to walk. Why does it even matter if I like his girlfriend? He thought. I don’t stand a chance with her anyway.
Greg’s car then began to accelerate. Will began to walk faster. “Hit me, I dare you!” he shouted.
The car stopped again.
“Hit me, I dare you!” mimicked one of Greg’s buddies.
The rest of them laughed. Greg snickered. His girlfriend seemed to be having a laugh attack.
“He said hit him,” said another of his gang.
“Let’s have a little fun, shall we?” announced Greg.
Will stared back at the car, waiting for Greg to make the move.
Greg then toyed with the gas pedal, as if getting ready to win a race.
“Just do it already!” yelled Will.
Greg stomped on the gas pedal, picking up speed dramatically. He was coming down the alleyway fast.
His gang cheered him on, drunk in excitement, feeling as if it were a roller-coaster ride to them.
Will stood there, waiting to see if he would actually keep driving if he didn’t move. Unsure, he jumped aside onto the nearest garbage bag in the alleyway, falling safely, and Greg drove past the spot where Will stood, stopping again.
This time there were no cheers. Becca was hitting her boyfriend with her purse in disappointment. “Geez Greg, it was fun at first, but I didn’t think you were actually going to do it!”
“Ow, Babe, if he wasn’t so stupid, he would’ve moved sooner,” responded Greg. “I was only having a little fun.”
Will got back up. “Hey, you could’ve killed me!” he yelled. “You don’t deserve her!”
With that being said, Greg got out of his vehicle and started angrily walking towards Will, ready to fight.
“Fight, fight, fight, fight!” chanted his friends.
Becca just looked away in disappointment.
“Oh, you’ve asked for it,” said Greg angrily.
Will was unsure how the outcome of this situation was going to turn out. He wasn’t even half of Greg’s size.
He quickly looked around and spotted an empty trash can. He picked it up in defense.
Then out of nowhere, a strange figure stepped out from behind a nearby dumpster on the other side of the alleyway. “Stop,” the strange person said.
Will and Greg then stopped and stared at the man, whose face was under the hood of his trench coat, his identity hidden.
From Greg’s car, his friends from the backseat were staring out at the man as well, not sure if the man was dangerous or not. “Oh,” responded one of them.
“Who is that guy?” questioned another.
Greg and Will continued to stare up at the strange man in the trench coat.
“Who do you think you are?” the man asked Greg creepily.
“Uh-I’m Greg, who are you?”
“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know who I am.” The man then reached his arm out and grabbed Greg by the neck, strangling him.
Greg struggled to breathe.
“I’m your worst nightmare,” said the creepy man.
Will stood there in fright, waiting for a chance to sneak away. He watched as the man continued to talk to Greg.
“Stop,” Greg tried to say as he gasped for air, clutching the man’s hand as its grip became tighter.
The man then let go, and Greg fell to his knees, breathing heavily, his face red. He then quickly stood back up and returned to his car. It was a surprise for Will to see Greg so fearful for once.
Greg then started his car and he and his gang took off from the alleyway and onto the street in front of them.
Will still stood there in the alleyway, staring up at the creepy man in the trench coat who had just defended him. But he didn’t want to stay there and know who this guy was. He just wanted to get home.
Now’s my chance, he thought, and he dashed off down the alleyway in the other direction.
The man shouted at him. “Wait, I need to talk to you! I need to know something!”
Will just continued to run to the closest street. To his surprise, there was Lauren.
“Will, what are you doing out in this weather?” she questioned from her vehicle, which was stopped at a stoplight.
“There’s no time to explain.”
“Well, get in.”
Will quickly walked towards Lauren’s car and hopped into the passenger seat.
The stoplight then turned green.
The creepy man was too late. He watched as Lauren’s vehicle took off with Will.
Will and Lauren were soon discussing what happened in the alleyway while they were on their way to Will’s house to drop him off.
“I’m so fed up with Greg’s crap,” said Lauren.
“Yeah, it’s like he thinks he runs the town or something.”
“I know, right? He’s so not invited to my party.”
“That’s right, you’re party’s tomorrow night, isn’t it?” remembered Will. “I’m still invited, right?”
“Yes, Will, you’re invited to my party.”
“Well, I’m going to be honest with you. If Charlie doesn’t show up tonight, I’m probably going to just stay home and watch some late movies or something.”
“He hasn’t come back yet?”
“Nope.”
“Hmm. Any idea where he might be?” He was goi
ng to have to tell her sooner or later. “Okay, don’t laugh at me, alright?”
“Okay,” she replied.
“You were there at the library when you invited us to your party, remember?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, you know that book Charlie had?”
“Oh, that weird one, with all of the strange writing on it or whatever?”
“Uh, yeah,” answered Will in embarrassment. “Well, I didn’t even believe this at first, but he’s told me some really strange things happened after he read some of it.”
“Like what?”
“Like, of his dead father, and... this other world,” said Will. “A place called the Underground. After the title of the book.”
“Well, that’s really weird. And why are you telling me this?”
“What I need is for you to just trust me on this,” he replied, as they were nearing his house.
“I’m not sure if I want to know where you’re going with this, Will.”
“Just listen,” he snapped. “I need you to come with me to Charlie’s house tonight. I’m going to see if the book is there. I need answers. And I can’t do it alone. Please.”
Lauren just stared at him, then burst into tears laughing.
“Okay, just think about it, please,” he said as they arrived at Will’s house. “And thanks for the ride.” He then got out of Lauren’s car and headed inside.
Lauren watched him head inside and then drove off.
In the Underground, at Dultona’s castle in the room where he sat in his big throne, Muri stepped up to him again. “Dark Master, it is I, Muri,” he told him.
“What is it this time, Muri?”
“I’m very sorry about the boy, I should have prepared better backup for that...but I believe the boy is somewhere in the Unfortunate Forest with one of Bouldan’s men.”
Dultona then let out a roar of anger like never before, frightening Muri.
“I have once again sent the Hunter out after the boy,” told Muri. “And this time, I have found someone who can retrieve for us what we have been missing.”
An unknown person took a step forward, hidden in darkness.
“Bring him around to my side,” ordered Dultona in an evil, satisfied voice.
Muri stepped aside and directed the unknown person around to Dultona’s side of the throne.
It was a ghostly figure of a tall man with short brown hair in black dress clothes who stepped around, kneeling before the Dark Master... Charlie’s father, Joe James.
He had somewhat of a spiritual essence around him because he was dead. The dress clothes were probably what he wore at his own funeral.
“Dark Master, I am very grateful to finally get to meet you,” spoke Joe.
Dultona looked surprisingly somewhat pleased to meet him. “What is your name?” he asked in a low demonic voice.
“I am Joseph Henry James, Dark Master. I am here to speak to you about the book.”
“And what about it?”
“I know where it is.”
“Really?” questioned Dultona.
“And I can retrieve it for you if you can do for me a favor, Dark Master.”
“And what is it you ask from me?”
“All I ask for is for you to bring my spirit back to my body.”
“And you know exactly where the book is?” questioned Dultona in his dark tone.
“Yes,” replied Joe.
“How do you know this?”
“My son Charlie, the one who was just brought here-”
“Your son?!”
“Please, yes my son, but-”
“We want that boy dead!”
“Yes, I know, Dark Master, that’s not a problem, please-”
Dultona lowered his tone. “Really?”
“Yes, and the book fell out of my son’s bag after he departed a bus,” explained Joe.
Dultona ignored him. “Who brought you here?”
“The Soulkeeper,” replied Joe. “I was called upon to speak to you.”
“Is that your god?”
“Yes. I have lived the last years of my life full of anger and hatred.”
“If I do so, the book must be returned once it is in your possession,” Dultona told him. “Do so or your soul will burn with your body for eternity.”
“Yes, Master,” replied Joe in relief.
“Muri, take this man back to his god, the Soulkeeper, in the Lake of Souls,” ordered Dultona. “There, his soul will return to his body.”
“Yes, Master,” replied Muri.
“Go now.”
“Yes, Master.”
Joe then stood up and followed Muri out of the room, the door guards closing the big entrance doors from behind, leaving Dultona with a feeling of greatness that he may soon have the book in his hands, finally....
Chapter 11