Red Herring ✔️

3. Ghouls and Goblins

Hemingway Lane. Hemingway Lane.

Did she know where that was? She lived in Hollywood, Oregon, all her life but she wasn't sure she ever heard of this road before.

When the bell rang, Mazie nearly jumped out of her skin. Why was she being so crazy and crawling with nerves. Stuffing her anxiety away, Mazie grabbed her stuff and headed to class, dismissing the note as a mistaken locker.

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During her free period before lunch, Mazie found herself in the library. The young hipster librarian who was only a handful of years older than her prospective students always only wore black. Normally, this wasn't a concern for Mazie considering she enjoyed black a great deal herself. Except black ensembles made Mrs. De Salle look a little witchy. She was only missing her pointy black hat.

Which was mounted on the wall along with an old broomstick and a life-size drawing of a green grinning witch. The entire room was strung with twinkling orange lights and huge fake pumpkin lanterns lit the room in an orange-y glow. Students complained that her decorations weren't bright enough to properly study or read without straining their eyes.

Obviously, Mazie rather enjoyed the dark ambiance. And the lack of light provided solitude in the absence of students. Mazie didn't have to bring the paper with the address on it because she inherently memorized it due to her unstoppable curiosity. All morning long, she stewed over the note until she devised a course of action.

She waved politely to Ms. De Salle when she entered the lib and found a computer facing away from the front of the library. Mazie checked her surroundings before she sat down. There were a few students milling about but all of them minded their own business.

Mazie typed in her name and personal password which was assigned to each student. First, she opened a webpage on Frankenstein, a book report she was supposed to be working on. She would use that page for cover if anyone walked by. Then she opened a Google page and searched "500 Hemingway Lane, Hollywood, Oregon 97061."

No immediate or obvious search results.

She scrolled through the results, most of which related to Hollywood in California or Hemingway the author.

Mazie moved her search to Google Maps to see if she recognized the location in her hometown.

The address led to the middle of nowhere. The foliage in the forest was so thick that she couldn't even see the road or lane that supposedly existed there. No houses or forest properties existed from what she could see.

The uninhabited forests of Oregon that surrounded her hometown were vast and varied. Most people let nature be until developers moved in. Maybe Hemingway Lane wasn't developed yet.

But why would someone put this address in her locker? If it was mistakenly put in her locker, why would anyone be interested in this place?

Was there really something out there?

The electricity went in and out, lights flickering, as the storm finally hit. The sound of the rain pummeling the roof droned on like white noise. She glanced outside at the storm which pelted the windows. The brief distraction centered her back on her search.

She couldn't let this go until she knew for sure that this note wasn't meant for her.

Her own Halloween mystery.

When the electricity finally went out, a student dropped their book which caused Mazie to startle in her seat. To find the source of the clumsy student, Mazie swiveled in her chair.

At the sight of someone lurking behind her, Mazie grasped loudly and placed her hand over her heart.

Christian Slater stood directly behind her, eyes narrowed suspiciously, fists clenched tightly at his side. Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating his haunting features.