15 Mysterious Days

Day 1: 12th October

A Sleepless night isn't normal for someone like Luke Stan who never misses any given opportunity to lay down his head to sleep away his time even when he has something important to do.  Even though it doesn't seem right, he can't help it.

To him, it seems that no one in Ceno town will actually sleep that night for the day, 12th of October was an unforgettable day in their lives.

An incident which has never taken place has occurred in the small town of Ceno.

It was the final day at school today, meaning an end to the academic session and nothing more makes a student happier than the thought of sleeping without thinking of assignments and waking up early to meet up with the bus for school.

Luke always feels like it's only that period that actually needs a party in one's life.

But the day was different. He sits up all night trying to remember what actually happened and how it happened. But no traces of evidence can be found.

'This might be a ghost work. But ghosts aren't real. I don't believe in them!'

' Even if they do, which kind of ghosts attacks without trace during the day time and takes away twenty students of Ceno high school?'

This disturbs Luke a lot.

It was abnormal for students to wander off the school premises before dismissal but many has claimed they saw the missing students minutes before the dismissal time.

The closest witness claimed that his friend who went missing was with him and as they were walking towards the school entrance, the friend said he seriously needed to ease himself and with that, went back into the school building.

Thirty minutes and no sign of the friend, the narrator, went in in search of him but couldn't find him. Thinking it was a prank, he went home, ready to confront his friend for leaving him in school like that.

'He was wrong. He was!' Luke reasoned loudly. 

It dawned on the friend to discover that his friend wasn't home and was nowhere to be found.

'The police that was  summoned had no evidence to go home with! Who the hell did such thing and went scot free?'
'Well if this isn't a ghost haunt and it turns out to be a human then, such a person must be talented in his work.'

All this were going on in Luke's mind that he didn't even notice his mom entering his room.

It was until she must have called him three times that he noticed his mom standing by his bedside wearing a disturbing look on her face.

'What's wrong baby boy? I noticed you haven't slept and it's half past ten already.'

'Hey mom. I've been thinking about today's incident. I lost most of my classmates today and I can't even sleep. It's really disturbing mom, it really is.' Luke replied in a deep and sober voice.

'It's alright son, go to sleep and let the police do their job. They will find your friends alive, I believe so.' His mom told him rubbing his cheeks.

Mrs. Stan wasn't a woman of much words. She always goes straight to the point and adds nothing more to the story.
Someone once said that she is the founder of summary writing. And with evidence, it seems so.

'Thanks mom. But if I may ask, how did you see I haven't slept, because as I remember, I made sure my door was well locked before I slept.' Luke replied and threw a question to his mom who was already getting tired of talking even though she hasn't said much.

'Oh about that. Your sister has a spare key to your room. So she said she opened it and called your name to see if you were asleep because she was loud but you didn't respond and getting closer, she noticed you weren't asleep, knowing that you wouldn't talk to her, she reported to me.' Mrs Stan replied, making the story as short as possible.

'I knew someone stole my spare. I'll deal with that tomorrow.'

'Till tomorrow then, for now you need to get some sleep before daybreak.' Mrs. Stan said, covering Luke with his blanket.

'Right. Goodnight mom.'

'Night son. Sleep well.'Mrs.  Stan said and exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Though his mom has talked to him, Luke still hasn't felt at ease.  Thought still fills his mind and he doesn't know how to get them off.

He just feels like he need to let them be.

'What if he come for my family? Then he should take me! It's not like am too important to them anyway but the love is still there. My mom, Dad, lil bro and sister Sam and Maurine and my elder sister Mary are like all I have and don't want anything and when I say anything I mean anything to take them away from me not even Mr. Dark. They're my Fam even though they can be troublesome sometimes.'

Luke always felt like he wasn't too important in his family because he doesn't have anything special to offer. This is mainly because he thinks he is good at nothing while his siblings are experts in anything they plan to do.

Sam and Maurine are very good at music. Their voices always sounds too good that Luke bought a headset with the only money he was able to save.

He never told anyone of his real reason for buying them.

Mary was an author. She started writing at her junior year in school and has won numerous awards for her works.

Sometimes Luke always hear his friends arguing about the characters in his sister's work and try to act normal even though he feel jealous and cheated most of the time.

Nevertheless, he still loves them. 

'Well I do have a couple of friends too but with this incident of kidnapping, I'm not sure I'll see them in a while.'

'What can I say? which parent in their right senses would leave their child to wander off alone irrespective of their age?'

'On a normal basis, my parents don't even think I should leave the house without permission. So I don't know how bad it will be for me this time around. But I know it will be pretty hard.'

Luke's door unlocked and someone opened it, interrupting his thoughts.

It was Mary, his elder sister.

'Hey Luke, I know you're awake.'

'I am. So you now go around hacking people's room in their absence?' Luke replied his sister with anger in his tone.

'Didn't hack it though. I've got the spare. Something just came up.' She replied with a serious look which Luke never actually takes serious.

'Before we talk, hand over the spare key to me.' Luke demanded.

'Whatever' Mary said handing a single key to Luke grudgingly before adding, 'there's another case of kidnap, some other kid from high school just got kidnapped this night. Dad just got a call. I overheard the conversation.'

'This is serious!'

Luke stared at his bedside clock and the time said, 11:59pm.