The Carvings

Living or dying

"This folder has all the old newspapers from when Martha disappeared, from when randy disappeared, and then from when the search party didn't find a single baby item." John said.

"Yeah, that house is the only exciting thing in this town so when all chaos broke out up there, the reporters went crazy. Finally they had exciting news! They couldn't wait to report it. There were so many news reports that the whole case got it's own folder." Thomas said pointing to the folder.

I was the first to go flipping through the newspapers. I saw things that I already knew. Martha disappeared unexpectedly, Randy disappeared two days after. These newspapers weren't helpful at all. I looked up at Thomas and sighed.

"This is just telling me stuff I already know." I said.

"Wait. I found something." Dan said tossing a newspaper on the table.

The article read that Randy was found in the attic on the day the search party was going on. He had hung himself on June 9th.

"June ninth. That's this weekend." Joan pointed out.

"Mom and Dad's anniversary weekend." Dan said.

"Wait, if Randy hung himself in the attic then who found him? Susan said no one knew about the attic. She didn't even know until we asked her about it." I said standing.

"Weird." Dan whispered.

"Hey, is June ninth the day he hung himself or the day he was found?" Thomas asked.

I scanned the article. "The day he hung himself." I said quickly.

"Why?" John asked.

"Well I have this theory. June ninth is his death date so maybe, he might be more powerful or something. He might pull something that night." Dan said pacing.

"Whoa, he's right." John said.

"Hey guys. Fancy seeing you here." We all spun around to see James standing there smiling. "What are we all talking about?" He asked. Joan and Dan filled him in. They told him about the dream we had, about the break in, about June ninth.

"Wow, when do your parents leave?" He asked when they were done.

"Tonight at 7:00." I said.

"Okay, well we should all come over. We could bring sleeping bags and stuff. We could all camp out in the living room. If Randy does anything, we'll all be there." James said.

"Well, I don't know." Joan said.

"He's right. You guys don't want to be there alone on his death date." Thomas said.

"Besides, it'd only be us six." John said.

"Okay." Dan said.

"Yeah, it might be best." I said sighing.

We all walked back to my house. James walked beside me. Thomas walked beside Dan.

"I'm so excited for our first game. It's going to be legendary!" Dan was saying. Thomas tried to listen but he was busy trying to listen to James and I talk.

"So, how long have you lived here?" James asked.

"Only a week." I said.

"Wow, you've been here long." James teased.

"I know. A week is like a year." I said causing James to laugh. Thomas came up behind us.

"Hey what's so funny over here." He asked with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh nothing." James said. James and I had sped up our walking and Thomas had slowed down.

"So Julia, what's your situation?" James asked smiling.