LIGHTNING FIELD [CEASED]

Lightning Field "Hurry up, Ryan! I think someone's coming!" I hissed at my best buddy, Ryan. It was Halloween, and the Mayor of Ladysmith was holding a huge fireworks show right in front of the 49th Parallel Grocery. Ryan and I, and a few of my other friends, were going to pull off the greatest prank in history. At least in Ladysmith. I'm Raymond, the D student in school, but the mastermind when it comes to thinking up plots and pranks. My mom had bought me a bunch of walkie-talkies to stay in touch with my buddies when we were around town. She had no idea that she was contributing to our prank. Ryan and I were plugging the toilets in the 49th, but I was basically only standing guard. I had barricaded and jammed the door so no one could get in and catch us in the act. So far no employees had tried to ram the door down or anything. The people of Ladysmith were to busy buying stuff from all the different stalls that lined the streets just outside. I nodded when I saw Ryan start rigging the sinks. "Thirty minutes should be good enough." I noted. My dad was a master inventor. He was always busy in his workshop. On occassion, he made my sister, April, and I things. His latest invention that he had given to me was a timed pressurizer. It was perfect for the prank. After Ryan had rigged the pressurizer up to three of the sinks, he turned the rusty dial to thirty. Thiry minutes from now, the fireworks show would be over, and people would start flooding into the washrooms. The pressurizer would activate, causing the sinks to explode, therefore flooding the washrooms. And the toilets would aid the sinks in this, as they were plugged and would over-flow when flushed. Cassandra and Marina were in the girl's washroom, but they were not doing the same thing as us. They were throwing wet paper towels onto the ceiling and the walls, and writing graffiti on the mirrors. Marina was also tampering with the toilets, removing vital parts from the tanks. I had no idea what the result would be, but I knew it would be glorious. Daemion was rigging the cotton candy stall machines to explode in thirty minutes as well. Of course the explosions would be small, not dangerous enough to kill someone, let alone injure. "It's finished! Let's get out of here!" Ryan informed. I nodded quickly, and began removing the garbage bins from in front of the door, and pulled the small board from the door. We casually strolled out of the washroom, and luckily no one gave us suspicious glances. We walked triumphently out of the 49th, and walked into the parking lot. "Well, all we can do now is wait." I said. "I'm gonna get a cotton candy cone while they last." Ryan said. "You do that. I'll be right here." I replied. He ran towards the cotton candy stall just up the road, and I was left staring at the fireworks building. Jessie and Strider were in there, tampering with the fireworks. They were attaching Sud Bombs to them. Sud Bombs were another one of my dad's inventions, they exploded when they hit something hard. When the firecrackers exploded, so would the Sud Bombs. So the air would not only be filled with a fireworks show, but with a bubble bath! Ten minutes until the show would start, and the first step into the prank would begin. But I was still worried. A gang of girls at our school were always interfearing with our genius pranks and schemes. They were everywhere, watching our every move, always looking out to corrupt or ruin our pranks. But there was no way Brittney and her gang could ruin this one, this time. I was always thinking about what they would do to ruin my ideas whenever I thought of a plan. This prank was fool proof, and flawless. I had spent months devising this one, and nothing could go wrong. I thought of what my Uncle Chinouk always said; "I'm and invincible pranking machine, can't nothin' fool me, without askin' my premission first." And I wasn't going to let Brittney ruin this. No. Not this time. I was so carried away in my thoughts, that I had lost track of time. Speakers had been set up around the street, and they beeped as the Mayor began to speak. "Eh-Erm! Greetings citizens of Ladysmith, and visitors from other towns and cities. I have organized this event to celebrate Halloween. The fireworks show will start in just a few momments! Please stay seated or standing, whichever you prefer, and get ready for the show! I would like to thank the Ladysmith Ambassadors for organizing this event, and I would also thank everyone here, for joining us on this special evening!" With another beep, the intercoms clicked off. I stared at the fireworks building with a smile on my face. The countdown began. A man standing on top of the building screamed into a megaphone. "Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" There was a loud crack, and a firecracker shot out into the sky. I watched it intently, knowing what was going to happen next. The fireworks were masked by the soap suds that filled the air. People suddenly started to panic, and the man on the building looked around in confusion. I pretended to look startled too, just to blend in. But then I knew I didn't need to pretend. Ryan hadn't came back from the cotton candy stalls. Before I could think, my worst nightmares were confirmed when I heard a loud boom from down the street. People were scrambling in every direction, and it was soon a frenzy of panicked people and scared animals. Two more explosions followed, and I too started to worry. Brittney. She was behind this, I just knew it. This was her style, wrecking things at the last minute. And what about Ryan? Hopefully he had escaped, and was heading home with the others. I didn't bother to call anyone, I instantly started up the street. People screamed, and I saw people lying on the ground. Many were injured, some died. Brittney had obviously altered the explosion force on the cotton candy stalls. I knew that the 49th was flooding as well. I also saw that the Tim Hortons had waves of water and soap rushing out of its front doors. I had to take a shortcut into the outskirts of Ladysmith because the streets were crowded with people, screaming and yelling. =+= Chapter Two: The Final Straw =+= The streets were empty in the outskirts of Ladysmith. Owls hooted in the trees, and mice scuttled around the roads. Away from the light of the fireworks, it was very dark. I climbed up the hill past the golf course. Mom and dad would know about what happened, they watched the news a lot. I could imagine all the news reporters rushing to the scene at this very momment, supplying my parents with all the info. And they would think that I was behind it all. I had to think of something quick, something that would at least soften the blow when I would get home. I would tell them that I was only going to flood the bathrooms, and then Brittney and her gang came and made everything worse. It was half true and half false. Would they buy it? I re-hearsed what I would say as I walked down Davis Road. "Mom, I know you're mad at me, but the news reporters can't tell you everything. Ryan and I only wanted to plugg the toilets, just for a little fun. But Britteny came with all of her friends and did all that stuff to the fireworks. I swear I had nothing to do with the cotton candy stands exploding." I said aloud. It was perfect. But then again I had thought the prank to be perfect, and it had turned out to be a disaster. My house was in the distance, but something was different. A big white moving van was parked out front. I started to wonder what was going on. The living room window was wide open, and my mom was standing there, looking out at me. I decided to take the basement door, to avoid any conflict with mom. I slowly closed the door behind me, and tip-toed to the stairs. I tore the batteries from my walkie-talkie, just in case someone was stupid enough to call me. I creeped up the stairs silently, staring at my feet the entire time. At the top step, I sighed in relief. I looked up and yelped, and almost fell back down the stairs. Dad was standing there, and I knew that he was going to start yelling, but he didn't. Something was wrong. He shuffeled back into the living room, where the fire place had a fire crackeling inside it. The T.V. was off. Grampa had to be in bed, because he wasn't in his rocking chair. Mom wasn't here either. Would she pop up somewhere out of the blue like dad did? I wouldn't know. "Dad, what's going on?" I said, taking a step into the living room. He didn't look up, he continued to stare into the fire. "Where's mom?" I continued. Finally, he sighed. "She left." He said coldly. Why was he acting like this? She was staring at me from the window when I was outside, why wasn't she here now? Before I could ask any more questions, dad spoke. "Raymond, I know it's been hard for you and your sister. She went out with her friends about two hours ago, and hasn't come back. We havn't got any phone calls from her, either. Your mother has gone out to try to look for her. We've already phoned the police." He said. I sat there for five minutes, processing all the information dad had just thrown in my face. It wasn't like him to just blow the truth right at you. He always started slow, giving clues here and there, then finally telling you what was the problem. I knew then and there that this was really serious. "I have a question to ask you." He started. I nodded. "Do you enjoy being here? In Ladysmith?" I looked at him in shock. He was clearly going crazy over my sister going missing. "Dad, I think you need a rest." I said, patting him on the back. "You're worrying to much. She probably is just hanging out at the Mc Donalds. There's nothing to worry about!" I tried to reassure him. He brushed my arm off his back, and stared at me. "I know about all those fights that you've been getting into at school. Tell me what you really think, Raymond." He said. I stared at the fire. "Why is the moving van outside?" I asked. "Are we moving? Because of this little incedent?" "We've been thinking about moving for a while. Your mother and I have the best jobs we will ever have here in Ladysmith, but I'm afraid it has been the opposite for you and your sister." He answered. "Where are we going?" I asked. "You mean where are you going." He finished. Once again, I had to look at him as if he were a mad man. "WHAT?! You mean, you and mom stay here while I go to some weird hotel or something? Dad! Please think about what you're doing!" I said, panicking. Dad laughed for the first time this evening. "No, we wouldn't do that to you. We've already arranged for your Uncle to come and-" I cut dad off. "I'm going to stay at Uncle Chinouk's?! All right! Wooho!" I yelled, jumping up. "We've already packed your things. They're already on their way to Alberta. I left your Game Boy here, in case you wanted to play that to pass the time." Dad continued. I was so excited. I bolted down the hall to my room, yelling and screaming. I shut the door behind me, and bounced on my bed. Uncle Chinouk lived all the way in Alberta, it was so cool were he lived. He lived in the pure wilderness, with his evil wife Aunt Alice. They lived in the same house, but they never talked with on another. Uncle Chinouk had his side of the house, and Aunt Alice had hers. It was obvious which side belonged to which person; Uncle Chinouk's side was basically falling apart and rotting away, while Aunt Alice's was clean and freshly paint with bright blue paint. Both sides of the house were connected by one single door, that was almost never used. Uncle Chinouk never wanted to see the insanely clean rooms of Aunt Alice's side for even a second. And Auntie Alice hated the mere sight of Uncle Chinouk's pig styish side. We only went over to their house every three years, and I'd only been there three times. I always stayed with Uncle Chinouk. I never dared cross to Aunt Alice's side of the house, so I have never actually seen what it looked like from the inside, not like I'd want to anyways. Uncle Chinouk had a Nintendo 64, with loads of cool games. He played it all the time, so he had all the Paks and accesories that went with it. Whenever he invited his friends over, I always passed the time by playing with the N64. I quickly rushed out of my room, and slid accross the carpet over to dad. "When am I going?" I asked. "Sometime after school tomorrow, Uncle 'Nouk should be coming by. It takes a while to get here from where he is." He answered. This time, I didn't yell as I walked slowly down the hall. I quietly closed my bedroom door behind me. Great. I had to suffer through a full day of school before I could be at Uncle Chinouk's. And Mrs. Kooper would be coming down hard on me with detentions and time outs. And then there would be Brittney, laughing her big head off with her stupid little friends. And the rest of my friends would hate me for ditching them at the fireworks show. And then Mrs. Kooper would have watched the news, so she would blame the whole thing on me too, while my old friends would laugh at me. Tomorrow would be such a disaster! =+= Chapter Three: The Horrible Act =+= I was already walking down the road towards the school, when I saw Ryan waiting for me at the fence. I tried to just walk right past him, but he blocked my path. "You didn't do anything wrong, Ray. Brittney's the one to blame. We're not mad at you!" He said. I looked him in the eyes and nodded. "We can't just let her get away with what she did. That was our perfect, fool proof prank that would prove our greatness!" I suggested. "We need to get the others. Then we'll think of something." Ryan said, and started to run away. I caught up with him and grabbed his hood. "Hey!" He cried, and fell to the ground. "Wait a sec! I need to tell you somethin''!" I said as he got to his feet. "What now?" He said impatiently, brushing leaves off his jacket. "The bell's gonna ring soon!" I looked down and studied my shoes. "This is my last day at school. I'm movin' to Alberta." I said quickly. I looked up to see Ryan's bewildered face. "Tell me what happened." He said. "I'll tell you everything at recess. Go get the gang together." I said. He nodded and ran off to get the others. I ambeled over to the front doors and threw my back pack to the ground. I peeked into the office window to see if the secerutary was there. She was printing something off at the copying machine. Good. I wanted to quickly pull off a little prank before I talked with Ryan. As quietly as I could, I opened the front doors. The doors slammed behind me. I screwed up my face, and braced myself for the horrible shriek of the secerutary, but it didn't come. I tip toed into the office, and the sec was gone. I quickly jumped over her chair, and searched her desk for a thumb tack. I heard her talking with Mrs. McKenzie in her office. I tore books madly out of her desk, and tossed them onto the floor. I found a small circular container, and opened it to find the motherload of thumb tacks. I took a black one, so it would blend in with her chair. I grabbed the paint kit on the shelf behind me, obviously one that she had snatched from a little kid. I tried my best to paint the pointy tip of the thumb tack black. Shoved the container and the paint kit back into her desk, and placed the tack carefully on her chair. Then the door to Mrs. McKenzie's office opened, and I saw the sec standing at the door. I had to hide. If I tried to escape she would catch me, and I wouldn't be able to talk to Ryan later. I stuffed myself under her desk, and held my breath. She talked to Mrs. McKenzie for a while before she started back towards her desk. She put some papers on to her desk, then sat down. I screwed up my face, and she screamed in shock and pain. She got up, and examined her chair, and she flicked the tack of her chair. She yelled in rage, and swiped the papers off her desk. While Mrs. McKenzie rushed out and tried to calm her down, I quickly dashed out of the office, laughing my head off. A few kids were at the office window, taking pictures of the secerutary's rampage. Ryan was waiting with everyone a few steps away. He waved me over. "C'mon. To the forest." Ryan said. Strider glanced at me, and that was the only look I had gotton from any of the others. We walked quickly towards the gaping hole in the fence that led to the forest. Kids were banned from going in there, all because of some massive hole that some construction workers made. The forest was more like a jungle once you got far enough. Vines, huge plants, the whole works. And the big hole to add to that. Mrs. McKenzie was always expelling and suspending people who dared step foot into the forest. She loved expelling people. That was the main reason why she didn't fence off the forest. A little kid was watching us intently, as if he couldn't wait to tell on us. Daemion nudged me, and pointed at the kid. "Five bucks if you get him to go in there." He said cooly, pointing his head towards the forest. I had to do it. If the kid told on us, we would all be expelled. I walked casually over to the kid, and patted his head. "Hey little buddy! What's your name?" I said in the most friendliest voice I could muster. "Justin Bush!" He said in a squeaky little kid voice. "You know why the principle doens't want us going in there?" I said, pointing towards the forest. Justin shook his head. "Because that's were Mrs. McKenzie keeps all the school's money! All the treasure!" I said, trying hard to get him interested. "Treasure? What kind?" He said, staring at the forest. "Like, gold bars, coins, jewels, diamonds, and pearls. There could be more, too!" I said, trying to seem excited. "Can I come with you?!" He said, basically jumping up and down. "Yeah! Let's go!" I said, hurriying him along. Ryan and the others were hiding behind a few bushes, while Daemion was busy drawing graffiti on a tree. I let Justin run on in front of me, so I could push him along. Luckily, duties didn't patrol the grounds before school hours. The bell hadn't even rung yet. Justin went skipping and froliking about, and I was desperatly trying to keep him under control. I racked my brain for anything to make him stop. I grabbed his shirt, and pulled him towards me. "I forgot to tell you that this forest is guarded by the ancient spirits of.. um.. the ancient spirits of Zelda! Yeah, and if you get them mad by yelling and screaming, they uh.. they won't give you any of the treasure." I lied. "Oh, okay. I'M SORR-" He started to yell, but I covered his mouth quickly. "That will only get them even more angry! Keep quiet!" I hissed. Justin shut up for the rest of the trip. "It's just up ahead." I lied again. So far, Justin hadn't questioned me about the treasure being real or not. I had to think of something to do before we went to far into the forest. It was already turning into a jungle, and the Neverending would be coming up soon. The Neverending is what the kids at he school called the massive hole. "Is that were the treasure is?" Justin blurted out. I looked up to see the outline of the Neverending in the distance. It was eerily quiet, no rustle of leaves, no birds singing. It was as if time had stopped. Justin rushed over to the hole. I knew what I had to do. I slowly approached him, staying a few inches behind him. "I'm sorry, Justin." I said. He looked at me. "There's no treasure?" He asked, on the verge of tears. "No. Promise to me that you won't tell on my friends." I said, my mind was racing. What would I do if he said no? "Why should I help you! You tricked me! You lied to me! You're just another big ugly bully that's what! Wot!" Justin yelled, and burst into tears. I punched myself in the face, I was so stupid. I should have just got Daemion to give the kid the money so he wouldn't tell on us. There was only one other option, and I knew I was going to regret it. I grabbed his shirt, and held my breath. "Wh-what are you... d-doing?!" He said, starting to panic. I picked him up and held him up to my face. "This is your last chance. I'll let you go, if you promise not to tell Mrs. McKenzie about me and my buddies. But if you refuse.." I held him over the ominous pit. He screamed, and squirmed. I instantly moved him back over the solid ground. "...or I'll drop you down the pit!" I said, putting my face right against his. "No! No! No!" He screamed. "No?" I said, slowly moving over to the pit. I knew what I was doing was the worst thing anyone could do, the entire neighbourhood would hate me if they found out. But then again, if I let the kid go, how would I know that he wouldn't just go and tell his parents or his teacher anyways? Then the neighbourhood would hate me for just trying to do this horrible thing. But, if I dropped him into the pit, the world would never know. I tore his back pack off his back, and tossed it into the bushes. I closed my eyes and drew in breath. I opened one eye to see Justin staring at me, scared to death. "I won't tell." He whispered. "Please. Don't drop me." He continued. I was suprised that he had managed to stop crying. He stared right into my eyes. Half of my mind was telling me to hurry up and get this over with, while the other half was telling me to stay and think about it. My hand was sweaty and trembling. I cried out when my grip on his shirt almost slipped. I was standing on one foot, and waving my left hand around, trying to regain my balance. Justin screamed and wailed at the top of his lungs. I had no idea what had just happened. I fell hard on my back, a few feet away from the pit. Then I knew what I had just done. I quickly got to my feet, and rushed over to the Neverending. I looked down, and heard the faint sounds of screaming. I froze. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." I continued to say, backing away from the pit. I turned around and ran. =+= Chapter Four: Mary Anderson; The Tattle Tale =+= By the time I had gotten out of the forest, the fields were empty. The bells must have rang while I was in the forest. I slowly made my way over to the school, trying my best to forget about what had just happened. Mrs. Kooper would be enraged when I got to class, and I would probably get a detention. I turned a corner, and saw Mrs. McKenize standing at the front door, with the 'how coulod you do just a thing' look mixed with the 'I'm sick and tired of your trouble making around here' look. I gulped. Another little kid must have saw me going into the forest with Justin, and tattled. Or even worse, a little kid followed us into the forest and saw me drop Justin down the Neverending. I tried my best to smile as I approached the mad principal. "Good morning, Mrs.McKenzie! Sorry I'm late, my dad's car broke down and we had to get my grampa to repair the engine." I lied. Mrs.McKenzie shook her head. "No nead to lie, boy. I already know what's going on with you and your gang. In my office. Now." She said coldly, and pointed towards the door. She stared at me as I wlaked slowly towards the door, and entered the school. I knew it! A little kid must have followed us into the forest, and now I was going to get expelled. One, for going into the forest, and two, killing a little kid. And for leaving school grounds. Mrs.McKenzie was probably happy that she was finally going to expell someone. This was probably going to brighten her day. As I entered the office, I saw my entire gang sitting in seats. I looked around for any teachers, and when there were none, I started talking. "Who told on us?" I asked instantly. I wanted to know so I could strangle this kid later. If there was a later. I threw my backpack aside and sat down at a chair. Strider was the first to speak. "Mary Anderson. We didn't even notice her hiding in the tree that Daemion was doing graffiti on. She saw you take Justin into the forest, and told on all of us." He said. Mary Anderson. The stupid fith grader that was the biggest tattle tale in the whole school. She was even worse than Brittney, by a long shot. Although she never bothered to foil any of our pranks, she was always telling on us for making firecrackers near the forest or anything that we did. She was constantly making our lives hell at school. And now she was getting us expelled. "Why didn't you even try stopping her?" I asked again. "We did! But stupid Mrs. Cleary saw us and we got in trouble for wrist locking Mary. Then Mary escaped and told on us." Daemion said, obviously pissed off. The secrutary entered the office at that moment, and we all froze. "Well well well? What do we have here?" She said in a taunting voice. She sat down at her desk and stared at us. "Raymond, let's start with you. You entered that forest, and brought a little kid with you, whom has not returned with you obviously." She said. "Ah, and Strider. For attacking a female student, and assisting in the death of Justin Bush." She laughed mockingly. I wanted so very much to just punch her face in, just to make her shut up. "Daemion. For drawing graffiti on a precious tree, near the forest which is off limits to students, especially the likes of you!" She finished, and spat on the carpet. "I am disgusted!" She barked, and opened up a droor in her desk. She retrieved her strap. She laughed as she stod up and walked over to us. "Arms way position!" She yelled, and raised the whip into the air. We all extended our arms, ready to be beat. "Raymond! For murdering Justin Bush, and for unauthorized entry to the off-limits forest!" Whack! She quickly smacked my hand with the small strap. I cried out in pain, but tried not to cry. "Strider! For violating the te-" The sec was interupted by the shriek of Mrs.McKenzie. She turned around and smiled. "You had instructed me to beat these boys." She firmly. Mrs.McKenzie stepped in and grabbed the strap right out of her hands. "I think I'll be taking over. Please excuse me." She said. The sec nodded quickly and left the room. I was almost relieved. Mrs.McKeznie placed the strap on the secrutary's desk. "I believe you already know what you have done, and who told on you." She calmly. "I am not going to get into a discusion over this matter. It is clear what needs to be done and why." She continued, examining a poster on the wall. "Raymond, I already know that this will be your last day here. If this act was done because of that reason, you may not return here. Expelled." She said, and moved towards a filing cabnit, and stared at the Kinder Suprise toy sitting there. "Raymond, you may return to your class. This is your final day." She said. I stood up and grabbed my backpack, and walked out of the office without another word. =+= Chapter Five: The Escape =+= I didn't even think about what had just happened as I stomped my way down the hall towards my classroom, where I would recieve an even worse of a punishment from my teacher, Mrs. Kooper. She was the devil, or at least she worked for him. She was always, always looking for the perfect opperatunity to write your name up on the board under the detention sticker. She was also famous for how many time outs she gave out every day, I heard her bragging about it in the Staff Room one time during lunch. And worst of all, she just loved picking on me and giving me detentions for no real reason. She would watch me like a hawk from her cluttered desk, just wishing I would do something bad, then she would snap her long ruler on her desk to get everyone's attention. Last but not least, she would announce what I had done to the entire class, then triumphently write my name under the dreaded detention sticker. I always knew when she was watching me, and never dared catch her glance when she was. When I reached our cloak room just outside out classroom, I threw my backpack at my hook, which missed and fell to the dirty floor. I toke a deep breath before I entered the classroom. As I stepped into the room, every single kid turned around and watched me walk over to my desk. They seemed shocked that I had returned alive from the secrutary's wrath. A few kids noticed my red hand and started to chatter amungst each other. Mrs. Kooper didn't appear to be in the room right now, and I was glad. I sat down, and the kid next to me, Kerry, leaned over to me to whisper in my ear. "How did you survive?" She asked, but I ignored her. I just wanted this lecture that I was expecting from Mrs. Kooper to be over and done with. I could have sworn I heard a gasp from the Staff Room next door, and the click clock of the secrutary's black high heels. Her angry face appeared at the door, seeking me out. Her beady eyes stared me down for about five seconds before she spoke. "Raymond. Come." She said. I was just about to stand up when another face appeared at the door. The look on her face was angry, sweaty, and bewildered. Her dirty blonde hair was a rat's nest. And her sausage fingers shoved the secrutary away from the doorway. Mrs. Kooper stomped like an elephant into the room, keeping her enraged glance on me the whole way to her desk. She sat down on her chair, which caused the floor to tremble a bit. She was clearly furious about what I had done, but there was another thing that was strange about her. She looked almost appalled. As if she had never expected me to do such a thing. Finally she stood up, hand on her head, with a very distressed look on her face. She didn't even loom my way as she faced the class. "Class, a horrible, horrible event has occured today. Four students in this very classroom where involved." She said in a dreary voice. I noticed some kids giving me side glances. Mrs. Kooper still refused to look at me. "It involves the death of a grade one student. Justin Bush. Now students, I must remind you that the area that has not been fenced off is strictly out of bounds." She said, her voice was still calm. I couldn't believe that she wasn't steaming with anger yet. Then I saw her do the trademark eyelash flicker, which ment she was ticked off, and she stared at me. "Raymond Stark! I am absolutly abhorred of what you have done!" She screamed. A bunch of kids looked totally floored at her sudden attitude change. Her face was beaming red, and drops of sweat rolled down her face. She snatched her long ruler off her desk, and came charging over towards my desk. I stood up with my hands in the surrender position, on the verge of tears. I had seen other kids get smacked accross the hand with that deadly thing, and it was not a pretty scene ever. Strider had broken a small bone one time when Mrs. Kooper smacked him really hard. It was horrible, worse than the secrutary. "I'm already expelled! I'll leave right now if you want! Please don't just please don't!" I wailed. She stopped, and relaxed her arm. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up to see her placing her ruler back on her desk. She stared at me hatingly, then faced the class again. She opened her mouth to speak, but the ring of the life-saving bell stopped her. All the kids looked at her for the command to go outside. She smiled at the class, then rested her now angry glance on me, and pointed her finger at me. "This is your last recess." She said. "Get outa here!" She yelled, waving her hands in the air, and at that exact momment every kid in the room bolted out of the doors, yelling and screaming, and went flying down the hall towards the front door. I quickly slipped out of the room too, and ran as fast as I could towards the front door. "Raymond! Get back here young man!" I heard Mrs. Kooper bellow, but I didn't stop. I slammed into the front door, and jumped outside. I had to hide. There were some bushes right up against the school that had small hidden areas behind them, so I slithered behind a tall bush and waited. I heard Mrs. Kooper come shreiking out of the school, and I hoped so much that she would not find me. I could see her searching some of the other bushes, and I knew I was in grave danger. I waited until her head was in one of the bushes, then jumped out of cover. I ran around the corner of the school, and saw the dumpster up ahead. I had no choice. I heard a scream from behind me, and glanced around. Mrs. Kooper was no where to be seen. Yet. I flung open the top of the paper dumpster, and climbed inside, letting the lid slam down behind me. I fell onto a stack of cardboard sheets and a bunch of old comic books. I heard Mrs. Kooper continue to yell, but she was far away. She must have been on the playground. I lifted the lid and peered outside. Coast was clear. I jumped out of the dumpster, making sure to quietly shut it before I ran. I had to find Ryan and the others before recess was over. I was making a run for the field, were some older boys were playing football. Ryan liked to watch them, so I figured he might be there. I stepped onto the field, avoiding the staring faces of other kids, and scanned the area. Sure enough, I saw the gang sitting at the top of the field watching the football players. Ryan noticed me and waved at me. I stayed to the side of the field to avoid the rough tackle football game, and rushed over to where my friends were sitting. "Ray! Buddy!" Ryan said in greeting as I sat down beside him. "So what did your teacher say?" He asked. I didn't want to go over the horrible scene from the classroom again, so I skipped right to the point. I waved at the others to make them look my way, and began. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that we get out of here. Listen guys! You need to help me get away from Mrs. Kooper!" I said, making sure I looked desperate. The other guys looked concerned now. "Why? What happened?" Damien asked. "Mrs. Kooper is seriously outraged. She's looking for me right now! And if she sees you guys, she'll probably take you all with me!" I explained. They all looked at each other. "Okay. If it's really that bad, then we should book it right now." Strider suggested, pointing towards the stone stairs that led onto the road above the school. Then I heard the sound I feared the most right now. Mrs. Kooper's scream as she saw me, and she was already heading towards us. "Run!" I yelled, and I didn't need to tell any of the others twice. Strider was leading as we dashed up the stairs and onto the road. We turned left, which led to a swamp. A gang of really bad trouble makers used to hang out at this swamp before they went on to high school. This gang did graffiti, vandalism, and even attacked people. There were rumurs that they were the ones who dug the NeverEnding, and that they used it to sacrifice people and animals. No one ever went into this swamp. Ever. They were afriad that the gang had placed a curse on the place before they left, to make sure no one ever tried to turn them into the police. We were now running through a thick swampy path surrounded by trees. It was dark. There was no light in front of us, and the further we ran the further away we got from the light entrance. It got even more pitch dark as we went. Finally Strider stopped running. "There's no way she's going to follow us now that we're in here. Even the teachers and adults are afraid of this swamp. We should just sit here and wait. Just to make sure she's back in the school, and given up chase." He said. I managed to see the others nodd. "I think we should get out of this place now. I don't think she'll get even five feet within this place, so we should leave and sneak back to our houses." Damien said. "Yeah. Come on guys." I said, eager to get out of this dark path. But Strider called after us after Damien and I had walked about two feet. "Guys! Wait! Listen! Can't you hear that?" He said, a hint of fear in his squeaky voice. I stopped breathing and listened hard. I could hear something, or someone, walking through the swampy waters to my right somewhere. Whatever it was, it sounded pretty close to us. I backed up a few steps, and shoved right into Ryan. "Hey!" He cried, and Strider shushed him. "We have to get out of here!" I panicked, almost jumping up and down in fear. "Damien! Go check the entrance and see if the Pooper Scooper's there!" Strider commanded. By 'Pooper Scooper', he ment Mrs. Kooper. That was one of her many nicknames that the kids called her when her back was turned. Damien hesitated for a moment, then nodded, and made his way towards the entrance. "Oh god.." Ryan whispered. I looked around the dark swamp waters fidgetly, and knew what Ryan ment. There was a less than pleasant looking figure slowly making its way through the swamp water. Its shoulders here hunched in a creepy way, its arms extended, and its head was cocked in a disgusting mannor. Strider squealed, and lost his balance. When I heard the splash of goopy swamp water from behind me I spun around, to have my worst fears confirmed. Strider had fallen into the water, and he was now screaming. Ryan immediantly grabbed his flailing arm and tried to pull him out. I glanced around quickly before trying to help, noticing that the swamp monster was getting closer to us by the minute. When I turned to face Strider and Ryan again, Strider's condition was worse than I had thought. The water must have been really shallow where he was, mostly mud. He was sinking. Fast. I grabbed his arm and pulled as hard as I could, but to no avail. In fact, I found myself getting pulled towards the mud as well. Ryan didn't give up hope. He cried out, and pulled. I shook my head, not being able to believe what was happening. Ryan tripped, and almost went headlong into the mud as well. He stepped back and examined his muddy hands before burying his face in them. I stared at Strider in disbelief. "Ray!? Ryan!? Guys! Help! What are you doing!?" He screamed over and over again, but I couldn't do anything. I attempted to pull him out one last time before realizing that whatever we were up against was too tough for us. Only Strider's head was above the mud now. There was only one thing left to do. "I'm sorry Strider. We're terrible friends. We should be tougher than this.. thanks for being my friend, Strider. We'll never forget you." I said in a quiet voice, which he probably didn't hear over his screaming. He stared at me for a long period of time, as long as his eyes were above the mud. The look in his eyes was angry, burning with hatred. His brown hair blended in with the mud until I wasn't sure if it was his hair or the mud. I quickly turned and saw Ryan staring into the distance. The swamp monster was gone. This was all his fault. Strider was gone, and he hated us because we didn't try hard enough. Chapter Six: On Our Own Ryan and I slowly made our way out of the swamp, to meet Damien at the entrance. Time had flown by, it was already getting dark outside. Ryan was enraged when he saw Damien just standing there as if nothing had happened. "Why didn't you come in there and help us?! Didn't you hear him screaming?!" He yelled in his face. "What? I thought I would stand guard here, and I didn't hear any screaming." He said simply. Ryan backed off slowly, still staring into his eyes. Ryan still looked angry, loaded with questions and insults to throw at Damien, but he kept them all to himself. "Strider." Damien said in a calm voice. Ryan nodded sadly. I nodded too when Damien glanced at me. "There was nothing we could do. The mud was just.." I started, but Damien raised his hand to signal silence. "It doesn't matter. What's done is done. It isn't your fault. Now we really need to get away from here, before anything else happens." He said. Ryan seemed calmed now, and followed Damien down the road past the school, with me following as well. Damien didn't seem to want to talk to Ryan anymore after that, but he demanded that I give him answers. He pulled me close, leaving Ryan walking behind us. "We need a place to stay. Since you're moving, I think it won't matter if we just crash at your place tonight. Mrs. McKenzie won't call your parents since you're not even going to be going to that school anymore, right? She'll definatly be calling out parents, and we'll be done for. But if we hide at your house.. then she won't find us. We'll be safe. For a while. But I just want to forget about what happened, just for a night or two. Then I'll deal with the teachers that will expell me. I don't want to face my parents, because they probably already know about what happened. Do you get what I'm saying?" Damien whispered to me. I nodded in approval. "Thanks buddy. I'll always be able to count on you!" He said, and we did our signature handshake. Ryan caught up to us, and pulled us apart. "My parents will kill me if I don't come home! They're probably already out looking for me! If they find us together like this, they'll definantly take us all back to out parents!" Ryan informed. Damien gave him a shocked look, and stopped walking. He grabbed Ryan by the shirt, like all bullies do, and looked him in the eye. The look on his face looked calm, but his eyes reflected anger. "Why didn't you tell me this before we ran out of there? We're done for!" He said in Ryan's face. "I'm sorry." Was all that Ryan could muster. Damien released him, and turned to face me, ready to give out orders. "Raymond, you know what this means! All of our parents are probably on the look out for us now, along with a couple cops! There could be a huge search party out for us as we speak!" He said firmly while Ryan struggeled to his feet after Damien had dropped him. I searched for words to say. "Well, we should start running then! My parents are both at work right now, so my house is still safe. It's just a few roads away, so we should start running now!" I said. Damien nodded, and pulled Ryan towards him. "Good. And we're sticking to the shadows until we get there!" He said directly in Ryan's face before letting go of him again. Damien glanced around cooly before looking at me and pointing towards the road ahead of us. "Come on! They're looking for us right now! You'll be dead if you're the one who gets us captured, Ryan!" He said to us both. I did as I was told, and started running after Damien. "Hurry up!" I screamed back to Ryan when he was only jogging. "What an ass!" Damien said under his breath next to me. "He's purposly holding us up! He's glad that the parents are after us! The bastard!" Damien cursed. He never got this angry unless he was in trouble because of the principal or his parents. When he was this angry, you knew not to push your luck around him. He would make sure you were sorted out. Ryan was running after us just a few feet behind us, he looked down when I glanced towards him. "Ignore him! That'll only slow us down!" Damien demanded. We turned a corner, and my house was in the distance. I was breathing heavily. I never really did grow out of asthma, even though my dad insisted that I didn't need an inhaler. I never got tired this easily, and my mind was filled with worry. Damien noticed that I was running a little slower, and another yelling followed. "Hurry!" He yelled at me. I sucked up the pain and worry, and kept running with all the energy I had. A few seconds later, I couldn't hear the thumping of Ryan's shoes on the pavement, and glanced behind me to see that he was now walking, far behind us. There was another thing that I saw that worried me to the point of screaming. Blue and red flashing lights filled the road behind us, and I could hear the screaming of adults from far behind me. Ryan started running again, and fled into the bushes. I hit Damien on the shoulder, and pointed behind us. "They're on to us!" I informed. Damien turned his head, and gasped. "Crap! Hurry, hide behind that house over there until they're gone!" He responded, and bolted full speed towards an old house on the end of the street. I followed him, and we both dove into the front lawn of the house, but got up quickly to run behind the house. We sat against the wall, and listened. "Try to see if they're coming!" Damien whispered. But I shook my head. I hadn't realised until now how loudly and heavily I was breathing. "I can't move." was all I was able to say. Damien didn't seem the least bit concerned. He got up on his own and glanced over the fence. A few minutes later, I could breath again, and Damien was more calm. "I think they've gone after Ryan. We should get going." He said to me. "You okay?" He asked. I nodded. "Yeah, thanks. Lets go." I said, and he helped me to my feet. I thanked him again, and we left the cover of the house. After taking note of our surroundings, we proceeded down the road towards my house. As we got closer, I started to notice something that concerned me. There was darkness behind the windows of my house, when my parents always left some lights on when they left for work. But I thought nothing of it. Damien glanced behind us from time to time, worried that we were being followed. We were walking down my steep driveway, when the horror began. The back door was wide open. I felt scared, so I stopped walking, and let Damien go on ahead. He approached the open door casually, he certainly wasn't afraid. "Everything's clear. Maybe it just got left open." He said, and waved me over. I didn't want to anger him, so I obeyed and shuffeled towards the door. I peered inside, and saw that nothing was out of place. But something was definantly not normal. A light, almost invisible orange-red glow was going from the open door that led to the stairs going upstairs. Damien didn't seem to care, so I followed him inside. "Leave the door open." He ordered, and I happily obeyed. I breathed as quietly as I could, so I could detect any strange noises immediantly. "Lets search the basement first." Damien said. I was glad that our trip upstairs had been held off. But I still wasn't excited about walking through the dark basement. I didn't feel safe being seperated from Damien, but I had no choice. I walked into my dad's small workshop, staring at the dark areas beneath the work tables. I didn't want to go anywhere near them. Everything seemed normal here, so I quickly left. I searched the pile of garbage by the back door with my eyes, again finding nothing unusual. Damien was going through my dad's old room, so I decided to look in the small living room we had down here. This was the place I always hung out in and spent my mornings and afternoons in. Sometimes all day. This room was sort of like a pantry, because this is where we kept all of our canned foods and such. The main reason I came down here was because of the TV, which was pretty old and small, but it had a VCR that I used to record my favorite shows that came on at midnight on Fridays. The only thing in this house that was newer than the fifties era was the new 2002 model television upstairs, that I was not allowed to watch. Everything else here was outdated and old, and we could never have all three televisions running at once. It would just kill the power. I didn't feel scared walking into here. There were no dark corners or tables here, and there was a nice window here to give some light. Even though nothing really scared me, there was one thing that got my attention. There was a small white dot on the small television screen, and I could tell that it was being made by the television itself. I ignored it, think nothing of it. I met Damien by the door leading upstairs. "Come on. We need to find out what's going on." He said, pointing up the stairs. It was dark up there, except for that eriee orange glow. I glanced past Damien, and noticed that the door was closed. "Did you close the door?" I asked, trying not to sound scared. He turned around and shrugged. "No. Maybe the wind closed it. Who cares." And with that he started up the stairs. I hesitated for a moment before following him. The orange glow filled the entire living room and dining room, and a bit in the kitchen. But not down the pitch black hallway, which I so did not want to explore. I wondered where it was originating from, it was really dim and didn't provide much light. I followed Damien into the living room, and what we saw lying on the couch almost relieved me. My dad was asleep on the couch. I let out a sigh in relief, and Damien shoke his shoulder. He quickly moved his head to face us, but something was definantly wrong. His eyes had no color. They were just.. white. And they were staring into ours with great intensity, which made me squeal a bit in fear. "Damien.. lets go.." I started, backing away into the dining room, where another spooky suprise awaited me. I felt something scratch at my foot, and I spun around instantly. I jumped backwards and screamed at what was there. To my great bewilderment, an orange cat was sitting there, staring up at me. I almost felt relieved. It was just a harmless kitty cat that had entered our house through the open back door.. that had mysteriously closed all by itself. The cat opened its mouth and let out a low meow, which didn't sound natural at all. It scared me. The next thing it did was so terrifying, I should have fainted. It slowly extended its tongue, which looked straight and dry. Its tongue continued to extend out of the cat't mouth, straight into the air. After the tongue was about and arm's length, the cat meowed again in that un natural way, and stared into my eyes. Its eyes where black beads of horror. Just like the weird guy on the couch, there were no color to its eyes. Just blackness. It was doing something with its tongue, and I felt like I was going to faint at any time. Suddenly, the cat's long tongue snapped, and the top part of it was only hanging by a small piece of flesh. I screamed, and dashed back into the living room. The terror was far from over. Damien was lying on the carpet, surrounded by a large bloodstain. The guy on the couch was still lying down, but his head was cocked in a way that he could still look directly at me, with his big white eyes. I screamed as I ran past him, and flew down the stairs. What on earth had happened here?! How was this haunted house even possible, and what happened to my parents? They should be home by now! I jumped onto the landing, and stared down the last case of stairs and into the basement. It seemed as if this nightmare had only begun. I wasn't staring down into the basment that I knew. I slowly walked down the stairs, still eager to escape the cat and the man just upstairs. I glanced around the new basement. The ceiling looked like one of those old ceilings that collected dust. To my left, a washer and dryer. Past those was another pitch black hallway. To my right, however, was a completley differnet story. A girl was sitting on a blanket on the floor. I glanced around quickly before taking a few steps forward. I could not believe my bravery right now. There was only a dead end, but I was more focused on the girl sitting on the floor. I stared at her black hair for a few moments, before I noticed her head move. I started, but tried not to make any noise after that. But she already knew that I was here. She slowly turned her head to look at me. I gasped. It was my older sister, not Ali, but Autumn, that had ran away from home when I was only five years old. Her blue eyes were utterly sad and her expression was filled with sorrow beyond comprehension. "Autumn.." I said a quiet voice. "Hello, Raymond." She responded. This had to be a dream. She ran away a long time ago, and had tried to commit suicide enough times before that. My parents had called her an emotional wreck, and they knew that not even counseling could fix her. She smiled at me. "Sit down." She said, nodding towards the other blanket beside her. I did as I was told, then stared at her. Then I noticed the red marks that lined her left leg, and the angry slashes on her right leg. I knew how they had gotten there. "This is a dream." I said aloud. "No." She responded coldly. "What's going on here? What happened to the real basement?" I asked. "This is the real basement. Don't you remember our cat? Or your second uncle, that had that eye problem? Raymond?" She said. She continued to smile at me in a scary way. I pointed at her red cuts. "Autumn.. how could you?" I said in a very quiet voice. She smiled, then showed me her left arm. More slashes and cuts. On closer inspection, I could see the pink outline of several scars. She spoke before I had a chance to say anything. "I know you don't want to feel pain like this.." she whispered. I couldn't stand the fact that she was still alive, and was still trying her best to kill herself. My mind was split, glad that she was here and I got to see her, while the other half of my mind was telling me to run away. Now. The pressure was so intense, that my mind acted for me. I got up and ran to my left, down the dark hallway. I could hear her running after me. "Raymond.. don't leave me! I'm so alone!" She cried after me, but I kept running. This was a nightmare, and I had to wake up. I had probably passed out when I was running with Damien, and I ended up in this nightmare. I just needed to wake up, and this would all be over. I would be on my way to Alberta, leaving this place behind. All I needed to do was wake up. But this hallway and this darkness went on forever. I was running out of breath, and I collapsed, but when I did I didn't land on the floor. I fell into a black void. I looked up and saw that the basement was gone, and Autumn was fallin withg me. "Raymond, how could you do this to me?" She said. I tried to speak, but I couldn't breath. My heart wasn't even beating anymore. I was having an asthma attack, and I was being sucked even deeper into this nightmare. "You won't even speak to me?" She continued. She reached into her jacket pocket, and retrieved two rainbow beaded bracelets. She handed them to me, and I had no choice but to accept them. "Now you will know what I have had to live through. I suffered so you could live a happy life, away from our abusive parents. I died so you could live and be free. I live in hell so you may live in Alberta, the territory of the sacred Bahu Dragons. I have given up my own soul just so you may see the truth that everyone has been hiding from you and I." She was starting to cry now. I could not believe or understand what she was saying. It didn't make any sense. "I would love to tell you what I have been through since I died, and what I have learned from my new friend. But seeing that you can't understand or comprehend the truth.. you wouldn't understand. I would just be talking nonsense. But that's okay. Now you will learn. I'm glad that your desteny is finally being revealed to you. I'm so happy.." She said, and fell even further. I turned in the air to watch her fall into the black void below. I stared at the bracelets in my right hand, and tried to put them on. They would not fit on my right hand, but they fit my left hand perfectly. As soon as they were on my left hand, I felt myself falling even further, and faster. My whole body felt dizzy, like I was twirling in the air, but I wasn't. I was just feeling sick from falling. Without warning, and all of a sudden, I was lying down on a paved road. My surroundings changed so suddenly, I started to wonder if I had woken up, or if I was just in another nightmare. I got to my feet and glanced around. I was standing in front of the trail that led to the swamp. I could hear police sirens in the distance, and I looked down the road to my right. To my astonishment, cop cars, ambulances, and fire trucks were parked out front of my house, along with a bunch of black vans and ordinary cars, a few having news channel logos on them. A bunch of yellow tape surrounded my house. I glanced at my left arm, and saw the two rainbow braclets there. It wasn't a dream. Everything that had happened in my house was as real as real could get. Chapter Seven: Enter the Swamp, enter Alberta I didn't want to be seen by any adults, so I rushed into the swamp next to me. I kept running until I was out of breath, and started walking. I glanced around, and thought I saw the spot where Strider drowned.