As the school bell rang, they made their way into the classroom. After the final bell of the day, Alex and Ava arranged to meet up. As they gathered, Ava began to share some unsettling information about witchcraft and cults that had been occurring in our town of Riverwood. She suggested that they should do some research in the library to gather more information and find a way to put an end to Dylan's actions. Alex agreed, and together they headed towards Riverwood's library, which was conveniently located just a few minutes away from their school.
Upon entering the library, a hushed silence enveloped the room. They cautiously found a seat near a table and settled into the chairs, eager to begin their investigation.
The library was dimly lit, with rows upon rows of bookshelves stretching towards the ceiling. The musty scent of old books filled the air, creating an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue. Dust particles danced in the sunlight that streamed through the tall windows, casting a soft glow on the worn wooden tables and chairs.
Ava's voice trembled as she spoke, "Okay, listen. This town has a dark history of witch trials and cults. Back in 1975, I'm sure that the disappearance of those people happened. They don't want to reveal this stuff to anyone."
Alex calmly listened, his eyes focused on Ava. "Go on,"
Ava continued, her voice filled with determination, "We should search for death records to find out more about those disappearances. Maybe we can uncover the truth." Alex nodded in agreement.
With a determined look on her face, Ava got up from her chair and made her way to the dusty shelf. She carefully searched through the books and newspapers, her fingers tracing the spines until she found what she was looking for.
Alex's gaze turned towards the four people sitting in the corner of the library. They were sitting calmly with one book in front of them, engrossed in their conversation. Alex couldn't hear their conversation though. Three of them were wearing different scarfs - one green, one blue, and one white. The fourth person was wearing a black hoodie, black jeans, and white shoes.
Green and blue scarf were sitting together in front of white scarf and black hoodie person. Green scarf spoke up, "Okay. Let's start this. Tell me your nicknames before we tell you the information."
Black hoodie spoke calmly but in a cold tone, "You should give yours first, after all, you asked the question."
Green scarf nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry about that. I am Frank the Tank."
Blue scarf chimed in, "Rob the Bob."
Black hoodie spoke up, "Vin."
White scarf whispered, "K."
Green scarf whispered, he couldn't believe his ears, "Huh? Gay!?"
White scarf immediately banged the table and yelled, causing a loud thud that reverberated throughout the room. With an air of flamboyance, he began striking a series of exaggerated poses, contorting his body into the shape of letters of the alphabet I, J and K. His voice echoed through the library as he screamed so loud, "I, J, K! K from the King Kong! NOT GAY!!! But his voice started to slow down, and everyone's attention turned towards him, including Alex's. The librarian yelled at him to keep the silence, and K finally took his seat.
Alex couldn't help but wonder what they were discussing. He had never seen them before in the library, and their conversation seemed secretive. He tried to focus on his own work, but his curiosity got the better of him. He glanced over at them again, but they were now engrossed in their book, and their conversation had died down.
Ava also heard the scream, but decided to ignore it, then she returned, carrying an ancient ledger with brass rings, its pages yellowed with age.
"Check this out," Ava said, her excitement evident in her voice.
She gently placed the ledger on the table, causing a cloud of dust to rise. As the particles settled, Ava opened the book to a specific page and pointed to an article. "There's a newspaper clipping here and a book titled 'Witches of Ancient Times'."
Ava began to read softly from the newspaper clipping, her voice filled with a mix of horror and intrigue. "On October 23rd, 1975, the police discovered a forest massacre. The remains of twenty people, suspected to be part of a religious group, were found in Riverwood woods several days ago."
Alex's eyes widened in shock. "Damn it, those are our woods."
Ava continued reading, her voice trembling slightly, "Authorities characterized the deaths as a mass suicide, but questions have arisen regarding the mutilated remains and ritualistic posing..."
Alex's face turned pale as he connected the dots. "He must have murdered them, just like he did with June."
Alex exclaimed, "It must be Dylan! The trial, the creepy entity that lived in the woods, worshipped by a crazy cult, and the fact that there have been mass murders in Riverwood within a hundred years of one another. People were disappearing during that time too, and now it's happening again."Ava, wanting to provide more information, pulled out two additional articles and handed them to Alex. "Look, before you jump to any conclusions, read these two."
Alex took the articles and began reading them one by one.
1. 𝙾𝚗 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 15𝚝𝚑, 1987, 𝚊 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚃𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 12 𝙸𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚜, 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝, 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚜𝚘𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚎, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍.
2. 𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 12𝑡ℎ, 2002, 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑜. 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 15 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑠, 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑.
After reading those creepy articles, Alex and Ava both fell into silence for more than five minutes. They kept looking at each other, the weight of the unsettling stories hanging heavy in the air.
Finally, Ava broke the silence. "I think we should go home for now. What do you say?"
A small smile curled on Alex's lips as he nodded. "I guess we should. It's been enough for today."
Agreeing with Alex, Ava suggested, "Let's make copies, okay? Just in case."
"Okay," Alex replied, heading towards the library's ancient copy machine. He carefully assembled the results in a folder, making sure to include the witch trial documents they had found earlier.
With the folder in hand, Alex started walking home. As he made his way, he heard the sound of a car approaching. It came to a stop next to him, and to his surprise, it was Mateo and Maria. They both stepped out if the car.
"Hi there, Alex," Mateo greeted, his tone oddly friendly. "Sorry that I didn't get to beat you the other day."
Confused and frustrated, Alex responded, "Seriously, Mateo? You aren't making any sense, you know that, right? And why do you guys bully Lucy all the time?"
Maria chimed in, her voice filled with amusement. "Oooh, first we'll decide if we're making sense or not. You always interfere whenever we're trying to do something. You always make things worse for us in our plans."
Annoyed by their response, Alex retorted, "You guys are seriously bullies. Do you enjoy bullying people that much?"
Without warning, Mateo pulled his fist back and punched Alex in the face, causing him to fall to the ground in pain."
What the hell, man?" Alex exclaimed, his cheek throbbing. Maria stood nearby, laughing at his misfortune.Kneeling down, Mateo grabbed Alex's shirt and said, "I'm just doing my job, Alex."
Fear gripped Alex as he realized the severity of the situation.Suddenly, a flock of crows emerged from the nearby forest, swooping down and attacking Maria and Mateo. It was a bizarre and unexpected turn of events.
Despite the onslaught of the crows, Mateo and Maria managed to scramble back into their car. Mateo quickly started the engine and sped away, leaving Alex bewildered and shaken. The crows retreated back into the forest, disappearing as mysteriously as they had appeared. Alex couldn't make sense of what had just happened. He sat there
The crows, sensing their retreat, reluctantly dispersed, disappearing into the dense foliage.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Alex couldn't shake off the feeling of unease that lingered in the air. It was a scene that defied logic, leaving him bewildered and unable to comprehend what had just occurred. He sat there, dumbfounded, his mind racing to make sense of the inexplicable events. Absentmindedly, he reached up to touch his cheek, feeling a slight tenderness beneath his fingertips. A small bruise had formed, a subtle reminder of the chaos that had unfolded.
Lost in my thoughts, he was startled by the sound of a car horn blaring beside me. Startled, he turned to see Levin, a familiar face and a close friend, peering out of the rolled-down window. Relief washed over him as he recognized him, a sense of comfort and safety enveloping his being.
Levin's face broke into a warm smile as he called out, "Hey Alex, It's been a while, want a ride home?"
A surge of gratitude flooded through him, knowing that he desperately needed a way out of this bewildering situation. "Yeah, million thanks, I really need it," he replied, his voice filled with genuine appreciation.
Levin motioned for Alex to join him, his eyes filled with concern. "Hop in," he said, his voice reassuring.
Alex opened the door on the right side, the one directly in front of him, and settled into the seat. As be closed the door, a sense of security washed over him. He instinctively reached for the seatbelt, fastening it securely, understanding the importance of safety in uncertain times.
Levin began driving, and they started talking, Alex asked, "So, how are things going?"
Levin replied, "Things are going well, as usual. How about you?"
Alex responded with a hint of sadness in his voice, "Yeah, things are going well."
Levin looked at Alex's face and realized that things weren't good. He could see the worry etched on his friend's face and decided to change the topic. "Don't worry, things will get better. Anyway, tell me about the weird stuff going on in school lately."
Alex looked at Levin, surprised. "What kind of weird stuff?"
Levin sighed and said, "You know, the snake and crow attacks."
Alex's eyes widened in shock. "What? Where? I had no idea."
Levin raised an eyebrow. "Do you really go to school or not? Or do you skip school?"
Alex shook his head. "No, I don't skip school. Fill me in."
Levin shrugged and said, "Well, there was a crow attack on Emma and a snake attack on The Principal Mr. Kennedy. I don't know the details, but Leo and Kimmy were present there. I think Leo was there during the snake incident, and Kimmy was there during the crazy crow attack."
Alex frowned. "That's kind of weird."
Levin nodded. "Not just weird, creepy and crazy too."
Alex nodded, feeling super freaked out, but he didn't show it. "Yeah, you could say that. Sorry, I didn't know about this. Was anyone hurt?"
Levin smiled. "Everyone is safe. Not much harm was done."
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good.
Levin smiled and said, "You know, I'm glad that you guys are hanging out again like you used to back then."
Alex also smiled, but there was still a hint of sadness in his eyes. "I'm glad too. I don't know if it will stick, but it's nice having everyone together. It's been kind of lonely without everyone."
Levin nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I could see that. You guys were inseparable back in the day."
Levin leaned over to turn the radio down, reducing its volume to a mere whisper in the background. "So, how's life been treating you?"
Alex sighed, his gaze fixed on the front window. "Yeah, things have been a little complicated,".
Noticing the subtle change in Alex's demeanor, Levin glanced at him, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. However, he respected his friend's privacy and chose not to pry.
Levin decided to change the subject and said, "I know you miss Alvin, Alice and Sofia as well."
Alex's face lit up with a smile. "Yeah, I miss all of them, especially Alvin. He was like a brother to me."
Levin nodded in agreement. "I miss him too. He was always the life of the party, despite being just a kid."
After a moment of silence, Levin asked, "So what happened to Sofia?"
Alex sighed. "Well, Sofia was adopted when she was 12, and we lost touch with her after that. I think she lives in Miami now, but we don't have her contact information. Only Lucy has her number, but she is doing okay. She is enjoying her new life with her parents."
Levin chuckled. "That reminds me, Alice and Sofia used to have a crush on Alvin."
Alex laughed. "Yeah, they did. But who didn't have a crush on Alvin? He was so cute and handsome, with those piercing blue eyes. Even the girls in the orphanage used to drool over him."
Levin smiled as he reminisced about the past. "Alvin was so cute and incredibly handsome, even as a child. He was really adorable. I used to be jealous of him. Despite me having six-pack abs, a great body, and height, those girls still preferred small Alvin. Oh jeez, I remember how they used to look at him."
Alex smiled, nodding in agreement. "Yeah. He was popular, I mean he was like a celebrity of the orphanage, right?"
Levin chuckled. "Yeah, he used to be our little celebrity alright. I really miss him though. I wish he was here with us."
Alex's expression turned somber. "Yeah. I miss him too. I wish things were different."
Alvin and Levin both smiled at each other.
---Alex's POV---
As the car came to a stop, I stepped out and waved goodbye to Levin, watching as he drove off into the night. Feeling a pang of hunger, I decided to make a quick stop at KFC. The aroma of fried chicken filled the air as I entered, and I couldn't resist ordering a Zinger meal. Satisfied with my choice, I left the restaurant and headed straight back home.
By the time I arrived, it was already late. Climbing the stairs, I reached my room and locked the door behind me. I placed my bag down and collapsed onto the bed, exhaustion weighing heavily on my body. The silence of the room enveloped me as I closed my eyes, ready to drift off into a peaceful slumber.
Phew! What a crazy day it has been. But as I sat up in my bed, I knew that something was wrong. Levin had mentioned three animal incidents, including mine, and that was not normal at all. I have to think about it.
I sat on my bed and started to think. I closed my eyes, and just then, Alvin's words came to my mind. "The calmer you are, the clearer you think," it repeated ten times in my mind.
I took a deep breath and tried to focus. "Now, think about it, Alex," I said to myself. "Three animal incidents within 24 hours. Mateo attacked me, so crows attacked me. So, maybe something similar happened with Leo and Kimmy?"
I quickly opened my eyes and swung my legs over the side of the bed, searching through my bag for my phone. Once I found it, I unlocked the screen and immediately texted Kimmy and Leo about the animal incident that had just occurred.
Within a few minutes, Leo responded, explaining that he had been reprimanded by the principal for neglecting his student council duties. He admitted that it was his fault, as he had been overwhelmed with work. The principal had threatened to suspend him, and at that very moment, they were both inside the principal's office when a snake unexpectedly slithered in and attempted to bite the principal. This bizarre occurrence left the principal in a coma, much like Dan. Leo also mentioned that anyone could have witnessed the snake entering the office, raising suspicions about the incident.
As I absorbed Leo's message, another text notification popped up on my screen. It was from Kimmy, informing me that she and Maria had been attacked by a group of crows while they were outside the school. To their astonishment, one of the crows had snatched Maria's purse, but then, strangely enough, the crow returned it to Kimmy. Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the crows, Kimmy made a decision not to help Maria. Instead, she deleted the video that Maria had taken, capturing Kimmy saying hurtful things about her mom. Kimmy had swiftly eliminated any potential blackmail material.
I thanked them both for sharing the information and placed my phone back on the shelf before lying back down on my bed.
As I reflected on the shocking events that had unfolded, my mind raced with questions. How had a snake managed to enter the principal's office? Was there a connection between the snake incident and Dan's coma? And what had caused the crows to attack Maria? The pieces of this puzzling mystery were slowly coming together, but there were still many missing details that needed to be uncovered.
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