As Cathy turned over the envelope, she noticed that it said, “To Mom, TOP SECERT.” Out of everything else that was in her mail, she decided to read this one first. She opened it up and started to read. “Mom, I love you. There are some things I just can’t tell anyone. I’m sorry. But, I need you to call the cops and tell them I’m in Culver Library! Hurry before it’s too late!!” Cathy fell to the floor and began to scream.
“Steve!” she cried.
“What is it?” Steve replied as he ran toward her. “It’s David. I don’t know what has happened to him! Go call the cops!” Cathy cried.
“Calm down; I am sure he is fine,” replied Steve. As he tried to relax Cathy, Steve put his arm around her and tried to move her toward the couch to sit down. The look in her eyes showed how scared she was. He realized that something was horribly wrong.
…..
David pulled the secret device out of his pocket and realized it looked a lot like some kind of machine, but unlike any he’d ever seen before. He began to examine it and tried to turn the device on. It was locked. He couldn’t find a key hole, or any other way to turn it on. Not that it would matter, since he didn’t have a key for it anyway. Then he remembered the tiny thing attached to the letter. It looked almost like a really old safety pin. Still, it didn’t seem to fit anywhere. As he looked at it, he knew that if he couldn’t figure out how to use it, he would be in serious trouble. Almost instinctively, he reached down and felt the letter in his other pocket. “I can’t believe it has almost been two weeks since some lunatic put this under my door,” he thought to himself.
…..
Richard began to get worried. David was nowhere to be found. David had promised to meet him for dinner two hours earlier. He hadn’t been in the cafeteria and no one had seen or heard from him. David was not at the study group, either. Richard decided to try his cell phone again. It rang once and went immediately to voice mail. “This is not normal; there must be something seriously wrong,” he said out loud. He finally decided to call Kenly, his girlfriend. He thought she might know what to do. Kenly went to the same college as David and Richard. Kenly’s dad is Cathy’s husband. Richard knew it was a long shot, because Kenly didn’t like David, but figured he’d give it a try. “I sure hope she has some answers,” Richard said. Just the thought of her voice calmed him down.
As Kenly listened to Richard explain the situation, she remembered something David had told her the last time she’d seen him.
….
Steve tried to calmly talk to Cathy and find out what was going on. Cathy tried to speak, but all that came out was gibberish. The palm of her hand was sweating so badly that Steve had to get her a napkin. As her unsteady hand picked up the letter, Steve grabbed it and started to read.
….
David put his device away and started to walk around the library. “It’s so dark in here,” David whispered to himself.
“David!” he heard. “David, you’re too weak to face me.”
“Who’s there?” David said aloud. He started to follow the voices.
“David, David, I’m here,” David heard the voice coming from above him. There was nothing there. It seemed to be invisible.
…
As Steve read the letter, the magnitude of the situation came to life. He was in such utter disbelief. “How could this be happening to us?” he thought. “I can’t lose it in front of Cathy. I have to be strong,” he said to himself. Steve calmly grabbed Cathy and gave her a hug. Both silently prayed for a miracle.
Cathy grabbed her keys and ran out to door. She was in such a hurry she forgot Steve.
Running after her Steve yelled, “Where in the world are you going?” “Could you please slow down so I can hear you?”
“I’m going to Kenly’s. She might know what to do. Get in the car!” Cathy said with so much emotion, she didn’t care if it sounded mean. As Cathy and Steve got to Kenly’s dorm, they noticed her door was broken and open. It seemed to have been kicked down.
“Oh no, Steve, this is not good!” Cathy nervously said. Kenly was very conscientious about safety and scared of everything in this world; she wouldn’t have left her door open.
They went in and found another note lying on the ripped-up, beaten-down couch. As Steve bent down to pick it up he read ……
…
After Richard left Kenly’s dorm he realized he needed to go home. He knew he would be safe there. As soon as he parked his car, got out and went inside, he knew what he needed to do. This situation was serious enough to have the police investigate.
Ring….. Ring… “Hello, Little Rock Police Department. What is your emergency?”
“Please come quick. My best friend is missing and something is not right,” Richard pleaded with them.
“Sir….Sir, I can’t hear you,” the dispatcher said on the other end of the phone.
“Please come quickly. My best friend is in serious trouble,” he repeated. But, just as he finished his sentence, the phone went dead. “Shoot, I forgot to charge my battery. I am just going to drive down to the station,” Richard exclaimed.
…
“David….David,” the voice kept taunting him.
David ran under a blue table. When he looked up he saw all kinds of gum. “Gross!” he thought. Instinctively he felt like someone or something was behind him. Almost like he felt its movement or, like he was being watched. When he turned around, there was a black shadow. At least he thought it was a shadow. The library was very dark, and it was hard for him to see anything. He just sat there, scared…shaking. “ I have to get it together. They will not know I am afraid,” he said to himself. He stood up and got out from under the table. Instantly something touched him on one shoulder, but when David turned around, there was nothing there.
…
“We have you now! Where is, David?” the creatures said.
“I do not know. Please just let me go!” Kenly said, crying. “What did I do to you, who are you?” Kenly said, yelling, with a blind-fold over her face. She heard noises all around, left to right. It was hard to make out what direction anything was coming from. She felt extremely disoriented, almost like the whole room was spinning. “I don’t know what to do. I have to figure out what they want from me,” she thought.
…
Steve instinctively read the letter out loud: “I have David, and now I have Kenly, too. I want my key back. You know what I am talking about. Bring it to me at the Culvert Library if you ever want to see them again.”
In total disbelief, Cathy started to cry hysterically. She had no idea what was going on. All Cathy knew was that someone had taken both of her children.
Cathy and Steve both knew Richard would be their only other hope to find David. After all, Richard was his best friend. Nothing made sense, nothing at all.
“This kind of stuff only happens in a movie, not to me,” Cathy thought to herself. As soon as Cathy parked the car in front of their dorm, she ran out and banged on the door. “Richard isn’t here, Steve. What are we going to do?” Cathy said aloud.
“I’ll call him…” Steve said back to Cathy. “Cathy, I’m on the phone with him, he’s at the police office. Let’s go!” Steve yelled up to the second floor…. As they pulled up to the police office, they saw Richard.
“Richard!” Cathy rolled down her window and yelled.
Richard ran up to their car and said, “What is going on? I went to Kenly’s to find David; she said he mentioned a letter, but wasn’t sure what it was. Something just doesn’t feel right. Have you seen David at all?” Richard said eagerly.
“No, we came here to ask if you have seen him!” Cathy said with astonishment. “What about Kenly. Where is she?”
“What….What do you mean? Where is Kenly?” Richard could barely allow his brain to think about the words he had spoken. “Please, God, don’t let Kenly be missing, too,” he thought.
“There is no time to waste. Get, in Richard, and we will explain what we know while we are looking!” Steve yelled from the driver’s seat.
“Okay, let me go get the police officers. I will ride with you guys and they will follow us?” Richard said
“Sure, get in!” Cathy said.
…
“Listen, if I show you where the key is, will you let me go?” David said to the creatures.
“Show us the key first!” the creature said.
David pulled the “safety pin” key out of his pocket. He tightened his grip, afraid they would not keep their end of the bargain. As he held it close to his chest, a light began to glow. Instantly they entered some other world. David could see the creatures very clearly and they looked like……
…
“Please stop!” Kenly pleaded. “I don’t know anything about David or where he is. I don’t even like him. Besides, if you let me go, I can help you find him,” she insisted. She could hear them as they spoke to one another, but she couldn’t make out what they said. Their voices seemed to be muffled by something.
“Fine, we will let you help us find him, but you have to promise to FIND HIM!” said the creature closest to her.
“I will. Just tell me what you want me to do,” Kenly replied. Instantly her chair began to spin. It seemed to be getting faster and faster. “What is going on?” she begged,
“We will follow you home and make sure you lead us to him,” they replied.
The door opened and the creature’s king stormed in. He demanded to know what was going on and asked why Kenly was still there. “We are going to release her to help us find David.” again, the one near her replied.
“We already have David. Release her RIGHT NOW!” the king replied. “Don’t forget the memory zapper,” he said.
“Wait….A memory zapper,” Kenly said. “There is no need for that….” Before she could utter another word- FLASH- she was zapped.
“Now, she won’t ever know what happened.” The creatures laughed.
Kenly woke from a deep sleep. She asked the creatures what had happened and demanded to know who they were. They told her she had gone to a costume party, and her that parents needed her at their house.
“Okay, I am really tired anyway,” she replied.
…
Cathy, Steve, and Richard drove straight to the Culver Library. They couldn’t find David’s car or anything that could be his. When they stopped at a red light, beside the library, Richard looked out his window and saw Kenly. Richard rolled down his window and screamed “Kenly!!”
“Mom, Dad, is that you?” Kenly asked.
“Steve, it’s Kenly!” Richard screamed. He ran out of the car and sat Kenly down on the curb . “Where have you been, and why do you look so dazed?” he asked her.
“What’s the problem, why are you so upset” Kenly asked. “ I was at a costume party,” she said.
Suddenly, Richard got a text from David saying…. “Creatures….. if you find Kenly, asked her what they looked like, smelled like. Ask her if she knows how to find me. I can’t tell you how myself, it’s too complex by text, but Kenly would know if they didn’t erase everything that has happened to her.” Richard was so confused at this point. He could tell something was not right with Kenly. Knowing he needed to tread lightly with her, he decided to ask her what the costumes at the party looked like.
Kenly told them that everyone was wearing really furry costumes. They all looked and stunk really bad, too. “It was amazing, most of them looked almost….. real ,” she said.
Richard started thinking, “Fur… looked real and smelled bad. Oh my gosh, something is really bad. Could it be…… no, that’s not possible? Or is it? A monster? That’s a crazy thought!” he said in his head. “Mr. Steven, we have to go inside the Culver library!” Richard said aloud.
“Yes, I know, but it was dark and it’s closing!” Steve said.
“I don’t care! Let’s go there. I have an idea of what took him, and where he is!” Richard yelled.
Richard threw Kenly over his shoulder and they all took off up the library steps.
Once they were inside, Kenly remembered seeing a place like this, but thought it must’ve been a dream. “This looks so familiar to me. Almost like I was just here,” she said.
Richard now knew what Kenly told him must have been correct. This scared him more than knowing David was missing. “Then David isn’t far from here!” Richard said aloud. He was looking very closely at everything. “My cologne…Richard wore it yesterday, so maybe I can find him that way,” he thought. When he got close to the blue table, he smelled his Polo cologne. As he followed the scent, it was the strongest when he passed the door marked “ Employees Only.” “Through here….we have to go through here,” Richard said.
Once the door was opened, they could tell that it led to a basement of some sort. All of their hands were sweating and their knees felt like they were knocking together. At the bottom of the stairs there was a huge light. It was spinning, and it seemed to be some sort of portal.
“This can’t be,” Richard said out loud. “If I am not dreaming then I must be going crazy. I sure hope they see this, too,” he thought to himself. Looking at his friends, he could tell by the look of astonishment that everyone else was thinking the same thing. Just by their reaction Richard could tell he wasn’t dreaming. Trying not to get too close, he began to examine the light and found a line of buttons underneath it. “I found some buttons. But I don’t know what to do. What if we touch the wrong thing and David is gone forever?” Richard said. “Where in the world are the cops! Did anyone ever tell them we were going inside the library?” he asked.
“I did,” said Cathy. “I thought it would be a good idea for someone to know where we had gone. They said they were on their way to the library, too,” she said.
“We can’t wait for them,” said Steve. “David has been gone too long, and look at what they did to Kenly,” he said. Steve told everyone to get ready. “I am going to push the button,” he said. As he tried to push the red button, he realized he couldn’t budge it. “I need some help! This button seems to be stuck!” he said.
“OK, on the count of three. We will all push it together,” replied Cathy. “One….two….three,” she counted.
Swoosh…… Bang……. Plop
“Cathy, where are we?” Steve asked.
“I don’t know?”Cathy replied.
“This is it! This is where David is.” Richard said to everyone. “Come on, let’s go,” Richard said aloud.
“Look at this! Foot-prints!” Kenly said. “This is amazing. Oh my gosh! There’s David!” she screamed.
“Why is he running?” Richard said, confused yet happy he had found him.
David was shooting with some sort of ray gun. It was grey and silver with green slime in it. Like a killing potion. David was killing all of these monsters.
“Ahhhh!” Cathy screamed.
“David, pass me a ray gun!” Richard said to David.
David passed the ray gun to Richard and he started to shoot.
Swoosh…. Bam……. Whack
All the monsters were gone.
“Let’s get out of here before more come!” David yelled.
“I am right with you!” Richard said back.
They all grabbed David and …..Swoosh… Instantly they were back in the basement of the Culver Library.
….
David found the portal, threw it on the ground, and broke it. “We won’t have any more problems with the monsters ever again!” David said with excitement. They all gave David a big bear hug. Instinctively they all began to run to the exit door.
“I have never been so happy to see daylight,” Cathy said. “Pastor Heath will never believe this story,” she said with a grin.
“Now….. That is funny,” replied Kenly.
They all burst out laughing at the thought of having to tell him.
“Let’s go home. I am starving,” said Steve.
“Me, too,” they all replied unanimously as they got into the car to drive home.
“No way! I’m ordering pizza.” Richard said, laughing.