|Tyler 10:00 PM|
Walking. That's what I'm doing. Why? Well, because I just got out of the supermarket and my car is at the repair shop because someone decided to cut in front of my lane and it hit the side of my car and destroying the bumper and wheels and I don't feel that I am in the mood to get a taxi. Plus, walking is exercise, and I need some.
It's a very, very dark alleyway that I am walking in. It has a mysterious tone to it. This is a shortcut I always take to my house.
Footsteps. Walking. Behind. Me. Someone is walking behind me. This isn't supposed to happen because no one goes down this alleyway but me. The footsteps get closer, closer, and closer. I walk faster, faster, and faster.
No one ever walks down here. Ever. My house is at the end of Keystone Road. It's very empty, lonely, and boring. My cat and I are the only one living in that creaking old house.
The footsteps get louder and louder. Scarier, scarier.
Then a dark and firm hand covers my mouth. My eyes widen in horror. Shock, fear. I was being kidnapped!
Does this usually happen to kids like me?
Will I die?
The van started moving.
I was gone.
|Connor 11:23 PM|
I WAS RUNNING home and I glance at my digital watch. 11:23 PM it reads.
Why am I running? Well because this person on the road was very slow. Like a turtle. And then I cut in front of him and since he is so slow I accidentally on purpose ran into his car. That's what you get when your a slowpoke!
I hear a rattling sound in my back pocket. I touch a box. Cookie Dough Bites® is what I pull out. Yum, but no. I can't eat more sugar.
I am putting them back, when: BANG!
Two seconds later, I am flying across a dimly lit street. I feel very, very dizzy and disorientated.
I remember seeing a man. Not his face, but a man with a trench coat and black boots.
For a second, I feel this is the end of Connor.
|George 8:00 AM|
RING! RING!
"What?" I ask into my phone.
"We need you at work, now. Two people have been reported kidnapped. Witnesses say they heard loud banging and screaming and tires squealing away."
"Where were they last seen?"
"One, Tyler Sosa, was last seen on East 23rd Avenue. And Connor Darough, was last seen in the Muvico Theater on 1600 East 8th Avenue."
"I'll be at my office in 20."
20 MINUTES LATER.
I raced in a hurry to work. The lady at the desk told me to go meet Veronica Leon, my partner, at the scene where Tyler was kidnapped. The tire marks on the road coming out of the alleyway look fresh. Like it happened not along time ago.
"Lets go back and talk in your office," Veronica says.
Back in my office, I sit down and hand her a styrofoam cup full with coffee.
"Sit down, please," I say.
She sits in front of me.
"I found something."
She pulls out a paper from her purse. Its in a bag, because it is evidence.
CLUE 1
Let's have some fun,
we are kidnapped,
and we are going to be killed at one.
PLEASE HURRY!
It doesn't seem right. How could they have wrote this when they were being kidnapped? How could both of them now that they both were gonna get kidnapped?
"Who do you think wrote these?" I ask.
"The kidnapper, is my guess, because there is no way they could have wrote a clue while being kidnapped."
"Yeah, I think this kidnapper wants to play a game. What he doesn't know, is that I love games. I never lose," I say, getting up to pour myself more coffee.
Veronica picks the clue up and then another paper slides out from the bag.
Its a picture.
Wait, Connor and Tyler knew each other?
In the picture there is Connor and Tyler in what looks like a front of a house. Connor's head is poking out of the door, while Tyler looks like he is opening the door, with a serious face on. The picture is in black and white and it is very mysterious. Veronica and I look at each other.
Someone is very, very smart.
I am scared. I'm not scared that he is smart, I am scared of what he is capable of doing.
I know for a fact that the kidnapper took this picture. The kidnapper made Tyler and Connor pose for this picture.
This is a very tangled up and dark kidnap case.
|Tyler 12:07 AM|
THE VAN STOPPED at a house. I have a sandbag over my head. Its very, very itchy. I sort of can't breathe. I am being pulled out of a vacuum. Forced to get out. Someone shoves me into a house. I can't see anything, but I can hear everything.
I can hear the clatter of my shoes on the white tile.
"Why are you kidnapping me?" I try to ask, but since I have a bag over my head and the cat got my tongue, my sentence came out like:
"Whyeruoukidnappngmeh?"
It wasn't even a sentence, let alone a word.
He takes off my sandbag and shoves me into a dark and scary room.
When my eyes get used to the dark, I see that I'm in a room with a bed, a phone, and a lamp.
I run to the lamp and pick up the phone.
I dail 9-1-1.
NO INTERNET CONECTION.
I scream and throw the phone across the room, hitting the window. Cracks start appearing. I walk over to it and crack it some more. The glass falls onto the carpet.
I lookup at the window and see that there are slabs of wood stacked together and nailed shut to the wall. The window is boarded shut.
I am trapped.
|Connor 3:25 AM|
MY EYES FLUTTER open. I look to the left and then to the right. All I see are trees and the dark sky full of stars.
The van comes to a heart-stopping halt. At this point I am shaking and almost to the point of crying. I hear an ear-deafening SLAM!
After a while, no one comes for me. No one comes to check on me.
I jump out of the car. I think the kidnapper forgot all about me.
As i'm running, I see someone breaking out of a window.
Oh wow, it's the slowpoke who I crashed into. His shirt says "Game Over" and he has black curly hair.
I guess I'm not the only one who got kidnapped.
|George 8:56 AM|
WHILE LOST IN my thoughts, my phone rings.
Veronica walks outside.
I answer the phone.
A man with a distorted voice says, " I have the kids, if you want to find them go to 8565 32nd Avenue."
The person hung up before I could say anything.
5 minutes later
I'm at the house and I found Clue 2 on the table.
Clue 2
We have escaped
and now we are exceeding towards
the Big Lake.
He is chasing our tails.
HURRY.
I grab my phone and call Veronica.
"I found Clue 2!"
"You did?"
"Yeah and oh, the photo.
I look at the photo of Connor and Tyler running towards a lake.
I tell her clue 2 and describe the picture to her.
"Did you see the lake?"
"Yes!"
"Go there now!"
I race out of the door.
|Tyler 5:32 AM|
Someone saw me.
Is it the kidnapper?
"Hey, my name is Connor . I think I was also kidnapped."
I believed him. I hope he was telling the truth.
I jumped out of the window. I had broke through the window by breaking through the wood with the table. Don't ask me how I managed to pick up that table.
I run with Connor towards the lake in front of the house.
We have escaped.
Then I glance behind me, the kidnapper is following us.
We go into a house. No one is home, thank God.
We hide in a closet.
"Why is he doing this?" I ask.
"I have no clue," Connor responds.
|Connor 9:27 AM|
The closet door burst open after what seems like forever.
Tyler had fallen asleep, but now he was wide awake.
We have been sitting here for hours now.
The kidnapper stands in front of us. We have been kidnapped again.
He takes us both and shoves us into the back of the van. He drives fast. Since we are not dizzy, our brains work.
So, we search around and find the door handle. We open it and jump out of the van.
Pain shoots up my arm when I hit the ground. I hear Tyler yell in pain.
"Help!" We start screaming.
The van keeps on going straight and hits a wall.
People come to rescue. They have come to save us.
Why?
Why are we being saved?
Saved from what?
No one ever kidnapped us.
No one was ever in the car.
We made all of this story up.
We are liars.
We will go to jail for this.
Everything must come to an end.
Tyler and I planned all of this.
We don't want to share why and how yet. We will wait for court.
The detective has to find one more clue.
We know about the clues!?
Well, duh, we wrote them.
I can't believe everyone thought that two normal 19 year old kids got kidnapped.
Wow, I would think people would be smarter than that.
|George 9:29 AM|
I found Clue 3 after looking everywhere. I found it near the lake.
Clue 3
We have been captured again
and now he will begin
We will be removed at 10
HURRY.
The picture is the most mind breaking one.
The picture is of Tyler handcuffed and Connor writing Clue 1.
They wrote the clues.
They faked there own kidnapping.
They are twisted sociopaths.
I call 9-1-1 and report them.
This will be my revenge for wasting all my time by making me play a game no one will ever win.
|Tyler|
THREE MONTHS LATER
Our story has come to an end.
Today the Judge, Judge Corin, gives the verdict of how many years we will go to jail.
"Tell me, Connor , why did you do this?"
"Well, your honor, no one has ever loved us and felt time needed some, you know, attention. I know it wasn't the right thing to do, but it made us feel alive."
"Oh, I see. And Tyler, how did you guys manage to make this story all up with evidence and everything."
"Well. we knew we had to kidnap ourselves. So Connor kidnapped me and I kidnapped him. I ran into him.
The clues: we had already done them. We wrote them, and then we told this photographer to take pictures of us. Lily Jenkins, I think was her name. We then placed each photo in there places for, in this case, George to find them. We then went to 8565 32nd Avenue. We used a phone to call George and we used an app called VOICE CHANGER. We then boarded up the window and broke it. We then went to an abandoned house on the same street and planned out "escape".
"We then calculated how many miles the wall was so the car could crash into it, it was 2 miles. 2 and a half miles to be exact. We put a brick on the gas pedal. There was a stick attached to the brick so we could handle the car.
Then, once we saw cars, we jumped out. The car, surprisingly, kept going straight and crashed.
That's how we managed to fake everything."
"You guys are very smart," she smiles.
I smile at her. I was mad.
"You guys have Histrionic Personality Disorder," She blurts out.
"What?" We both say.
"Histrionic Personality Disorder or HPD is when you want attention at all times. People with this disorder usually start seeing it when they are adults or early adults. You guys get mad whenever you don't have all the attention you want. You guys do not focus very well, either."
"How did we get it?" I ask.
"Well, it is not yet know exactly why, but there is a theory that it is due to biopsychosocial or BPS model causation— which means that it is something that runs in your genes, in your family. If you were to have babies, they would have a risk of HPD.
1 out of 20 people have HPD. It is very, very rare to have this disorder.
"I have assigned you with Maureen Mathews. She is a specialist in Personality Disorder like HPD or Schizophrenia and things like that."
I smile at her again, not knowing what to say or do.
Someone calls break time.
Everyone gets up and I just sit there with my head in my hands, thinking.
I cannot have HPD!
I'm sick.
I'm crazy.
I sit there for 30 minutes.
After thirty minutes, everyone sits down.
"We have reached a verdict," Corin says.
"Connor and Tyler will serve... 2 years in prison for faking there own kidnap and 2 years at the Greater Binghamton Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Center."
Everyone stands up and claps. I burst into tears.
George handcuffs us.
We are going to jail and the whole world knows it.
Connor and I finally got what we always wanted.
We are now the center of attention.
The story finishes on that note and I think it is a pretty good book for an elementary school kid. I wonder if Ben is ever going to become an author like he wants to be when he grows up.
I pull out another one that he gave to me in middle school....
The Garden
I look out of my window into the rainy and gloomy day. The rain casts a grey glow across the sky. The rain drizzles down the window as I look out. We are headed towards the downtown. I look at my phone and see TheDangersOfTheGarden.com. How could it be, how could it be that after everything I have researched, I missed something.
My project that I was about to present was called The Garden and it was an environmental argument piece. I was trying to persuade people not to damage the sacred piece of land called the Garden in uptown Oregon. It was founded in the late 1500's and it was known for its magnificent animals and views, but now there is nothing since on April 21, 2014 a group of people tore it apart to do some "construction work". I was so offended by that but now I could understand why they were cutting it down. According to a bunch of sources, they said that the Garden had released a toxic virus that was poisonous to our environment. They said that they had to tear it apart to stop it from infecting the world. It was logic, all the sites had said.
I just couldn't believe it. How could I have not seen that!
The car stopped and I quietly got out of the car, still looking at the horrifying website.
I walk in and suddenly feel all the eyes staring at me. The joyless eyes all on me... I set my backboard on the stage and just stand there feeling week and nervous. 3.. 2.. 1.. I start talking but then I see everyone smile and my voice cracks. Some people whisper in other people's ears and I cringe trying hard not to cry. Then one person shows me the website I was just looking at. How did they know? I stand there, still talking and I start crying. More and more people start laughing and I can't handle it. I'm chocking out of all of this stress and pressure. Over all the psychological research I do, I don't think someone can handle all this that is happening to me, but I stay on stage still blabbing my mouth. This is too much, I think to myself. My mouth is getting severely dry and I feel a pain in my head. I try to walk of stage but then trip and fall on my face and I hear the laughter behind me and I turn around and see everyone with tears of laughter and pointing their fingers at me. I cry uncontrollably and try to get up but I can't. All this embarrassment is overwhelming and too much. I look for comfort to my best friend, Laura, and find that she is also among the people who are laughing and that's when I realize that I need to get out, but before you know it, I'm free falling and I feel very dizzy. My body simply cannot continue to work so it overpowered and shut down. By this point, I feel that it's the end of the world for me and that I just ruined everything. This was the worst experience in my life, and it was all because I was chocking under the pressure of going on with my presentation or quitting. I didn't want to quit but my body simply just did. My whole world went blank and everything around me just went black.
Beep.. Beep... Beep. I hear the heart monitor in the hospital and I start panicking. How did I get here? What happened? I look around but everything is dark. I look for the source of the beeping sound and realize it's not a heart monitor or anything, but it's my alarm clock.
I notice that I have a pain in my head and I also notice that I just woke up. I look towards the window and walk towards it. I slowly peel the curtains away from the window and see that there are cars driving down the road. People going to work, I say in my head.
Tears pool at my eyes, I can't even believe everything that just happened... everything I just experience was.. a dream. Nothing really happened. It was all in my head. I grab my phone and dial Laura's number and she answers quickly.
"Hey! Are you ready for your presentation today?" She asks.
"Uh, yeah! totally," I say even though I am lost. "Are you gonna be there?"
"YEAH! I'm always there for you!" She screams into the phone.
"Thank you so much! I'll see you there!" I end the call and race to take a shower. I still can't believe that this was all in my head.
I arrive at the theater and set my backboard up and see that everyone is smiling. I can't wait to present my project now. I start talking and everyone nods in approval. I cannot believe that this is way easier than I thought. It's crazy how you brain is scared of what it doesn't know.
I smile at Laura once I finish my presentation.
"Holy cow! That was excellent!" She embraces me tightly and kisses me on the cheek.
"Thank you, I'm glad you liked it," I smile, even though I'm in a different world thinking about how this was an amazing opportunity!
I have taken so much from this experience. I now am a fan of public speaking because I get to share my knowledge with everyone else! I also learned that if you feel well and positive about your project, then its definitely going to turn out well! One last thing I took from this experience is take risks because sometimes what you are scared of really can turn out well!
I take Laura home and tell her all about what my dream was like. She laughs at the end and hugs me.
"Oh, Lynn, oh, you will always be my best friend!" I smile and embrace her.
I love my life.
That last line just gets me so hard. I love my life. I do, now. I used to not but I have learned to and it is amazing. The fact that the whole story was just a dream makes me smile. You always know that Ben is going to put a twist to his stories.
Ben had gotten a little darker in his works in high school:
PREMONITION
Rain poured down. The buses were all parked. It was the end of school, Madison, Ronald, Kat, Perr, and Tyler all were walking to their buses.
666 was the number of their bus.
Madison and Tyler got on, then Ronald and Perr, and finally Kat.
The bus started.
Outside, people were yelling for the bus to stop. It was leaking. But the bus driver was to busy listening to the radio.
The bus tilted to the side and collapsed. The bus driver's cigarette dropped and landed in the leaking oil. At once, burning flames spread. The kids sitting on the right side of of the bus all were swept in the flames. The ones on the left were clinging on for there dear life.
"Help me!!!" Madison pleaded, while clinging onto the seat. She let go.
The flames swept her in.
The raining had stopped.
Perr climbed to the side of the bus were there was no fire. The bus had hit a street lamp and now it was swaying side by side. Then, all of a sudden, it fell. Crushing Perr's whole body. Blood sprayed everywhere.
Ronald jumped of the bus. He was safe.
A car honked, and Ronald looked to his side. The car couldn't stop. It didn't. It ran Ronald over. His bones crushing against the tires. When the car went over him, all that was left was a deformed body laying on the ground. Dead.
Kat covered her mouth when she saw Ronald's body. She screamed into her hands.
She could hear sirens. She was safe.
Just then, a car crashed against the bus. The impact of the crash sent the hood of the car flying.
It sliced through Kat. Her body divided in half. The two parts separated and fell to a heap on the ground.
Tyler was the last one left. How was he going to die?
Tyler was still on the bus, hanging from the seat. And all of a sudden, the bus flipped over onto its tires. A miracle!
He stuck his face out the window, but then the bus tilted again and fell on the side his head was sticking out. The floor crushed his head.
Chapter 1: First Person
"Wake up, sleepy head, it's time to go to the buses," Madison shook me.
"Don't go on the bus! None of you can, the bus are all gonna explode!" I told the class. They didn't believe me. They all laughed.
Madison, Kat, Ronald, and Perr did believe me.
"That's what a guy said sixteen years ago. Except, he was on a plane." Said Ronald.
"But then the people that didn't go on the plane died in the order they would've if they went on a plane. It started in 1999 and ended in 2009." Said Madison.
"So, is it starting again?" Asked Kat, scared.
"It looks so." Perr said.
"Come on, I'll drive you guys home." I offered them.
We walked to my car. A red Ford Mustang. Madison, Kat, and Perr squished together in the back. The car was for only 4 people, not 5. Ronald got into the passenger seat.
"Why don't we go to your house, like, to plan things out?" Madison asked.
"Sure, if it is fine with you guys?" I asked Ronald, Kat, and Perr.
"No prob." They all responded.
"O.K, to my house it is." I told them
***
We got to my house at around 5. We talked for a bit. And then we went over the order that we get on the bus. Madison is always at the front, then it is Perr, Ronald sits with Kat at the end in the middle of the bus and I sit at the end of the bus. I'm last.
We all got the shivers. This was going to be scary.
"In 1999, it was the plane and a bridge collapse. In 2000, it was a bizarre car crash. In 2006, it was a roller coaster accident," said Madison, "and then in 2009, it was a race track accident."
"So, in 2015, it is a bus accident." Kat asked.
"Turn on the news." I said.
Ronald turned it on onto Fox 40.
"Today, there was 5 bus crashes. 5. A world record. It has never happened before. 300 students have died. The reason for all these crashes are still unknown. The parents of the children are now mourning the loss of their children. School will be cancelled until further notice. This is Michelle Dean, Fox 40, we will see you at the 10:00 P.M news."
Ronald turned off the T.V.
I drove them home.
Madison asked if she could sleep over. I said yes.
Kat and Ronald got off at the same street. Mason street.
Perr got off at 24th street.
Back at my house, I told her that she could sleep in the guest room. She would have to wear one of my shirts and the same jeans from today. Oh well.
"Wanna go to the beach? It's open 'til 10." Madison asked.
"C'mon."
"O.K." I said.
We raced toward the beach. I loved it. When we got there Madison jumped into the beach, I guess she hadn't thought about the jeans. So, she would have to wear one of my shorts. Oh gosh.
I jumped in.
Chapter 2: Third Person
Madison swam, and then I lost her.Madison swam deeper into the vast ocean. Then she lost Tyler. She looked in all four directions and found nothing. She swam the opposite way. But the waves kept pulling toward the deep end. But there was no end. Deeper, deeper, and deeper. She felt so disorientated
Then, she felt a sharp pain in her leg. Then her leg went numb, she went to touch her leg, it was just torn and ripped flesh and bone. She had no feet. Then she felt an enormous mouth cover all the bottom half of her body. She could feel layers of teeth and then the mouth closed and cut Madison's body in half. The upper half of her body drifted away, leaving a path of red blood. Her insides spilling out into the never ending ocean.
Chapter 3: First Person
I was swimming deeper until I hit something. I felt it; it was hair, a face. I squinted in the dark. I touched more; a neck, breast, stomach, then nothing. After her stomach it was slimy tangles. long tangles. I carried the body to shore. I kept thinking of a mermaid. I turned the flash light on my phone on. I first noticed red blood on my hands, then that the tangles were guts. And finally, that the person was Madison. Madison had died. I dialed 9-1-1. The ambulance came.
That night, I did not sleep.
2 days later
Chapter 4: First
"Dude, sleep deprivation is bad for you."
"Yeah?"
Perr sat next to me at Panera Bread, I hadn't slept for the last 2 days. I couldn't get over what had happened to Madison.
Her funeral was sad. It had been yesterday.
"Yeah!" Perr said, wide-eyed.
"Yeah, well I can't sleep."
End of discussion.
Ronald and Kat walked in.
"Hey."
"Hey." I said back.
"You look tired." Kat observed
"Well, because he hasn't slept for 2 days." Answered Perr
"Oh." Ronald and Kat said in unison.
My mind went black....
Perr was taking a shower. Blood. Something falling. Then nothing.
"Hey!!" Ronald slapped me.
"Sorry, Where's Perr?"
"He left. It's six."
"How long have Iv'e been out?" I asked
"2 hours. We carried you out of Panera."
"What!" I looked at my surroundings. I was at Ronald's house.
"Where's my car." "Kat drove it here."
"I need the keys!"
I jumped up. Looked for them and spotted them on the couch. I sprang for them. I raced outside.
I got into my car and started it.
I turned onto Union St.
Then in 0.4 miles, I turned onto Hyde St.
Then 1.6 miles, I turned right onto Mission St.
Then left onto south Van Ness Avenue.
I took a slight turn onto south Van Ness Avenue.
Then onto 24th street. I arrived. His car was there. The bathroom light was on. I got out of my car and raced for the front door. Unlocked. I raced into the house and into the shower.
1 hour before
Chapter 5: Third Person
Perr turned on the water. It ran down him. He couldn't believe all this was happening and how. The screw in the shower head loosened. It got looser and looser, then the screw fell. The shower head fell; knocking him out. His mouth stayed open and the water rushed in. Downing him; he reached for the corner shelf to get up, but it made the corner shelf fall. The shelf crushed his forehead and the other shelf sliced through his mouth. Blood splattered the white tiles.
Chapter 6: First Person
Too late. Blood everywhere. A corner shelf separated the bottom of his lip/head from the upper part of hid lip/head. Then there was another corner shelf buried into his forehead.
I called Ronald. Then 9-1-1.
***
Ronald kept asking me how I knew. Kat vomited in the grass. Police men took pictures of the incident. All this was a nightmare.
I needed to get out of this nightmare! Now!
2 days later
Chapter 7: Third Person
Ronald sat at the aquarium starring at the snapping turtles. He was happy that nothing was in his mind. Happy that 2 days have passed without him dying. He was the next person to die. He was paranoid. He was having hallucinations of his deaths. But for once; he could sit and relax.
The snapping turtle hit the glass, a small crack appeared. Ronald didn't notice. Then again, this time a bigger crack.
Then the glass broke. The force of the water was so strong it pushed Ronald out of the way. He hit the other side of the snapping turtle aquarium. It cracked and broke. He was suctioned into a filter at the bottom of the aquarium. His butt couldn't get out. He couldn't breathe! He was drowning. The snapping turtles started snapping at his face. Blood spilled out of his cuts. The suction was to heavy. And BOOM! The filter sucked his guts and insides out from his butt. The aquarium water turned red. Dark red. Security opened the door. The water rushing outside killed them instantly. That was a slip in the process. Kat was supposed to die with Ronald, because in the premonition of Tyler; they are both safe. So, they both die. Kat was waiting with Tyler at the front desk. Safe. She had cut the line in Death's list of deaths. Now she was going to pay the ultimate price.
2 years later
"This is fun." Kat said. It was summer break, school was over. Everything was back in order. The boat was pulling Kat and she was yelling, "yeah!!!" Then, all of a sudden, the cable snaps. The cable sprung free and sliced Kat in half. Her guts flying everywhere. Blood sprayed Tyler's face.
He screamed.
Chapter 8: First Person
I am at the police office because they think that I am responsible for the deaths of my friends. They think it because;
1: I am the one who always called 9-1-1.
2: My fingerprints were on the door of Perr's house.
3: I was always the first person to the seen.
I guess it makes since, but I have to prove I was not it.
He never wrote again. But I guess he'll write in the future. He really is a talented person and the best friend a person could have.
I love Ben. A lot.