LeftExchange
SiLeNt ScrEamS
James Hopkins
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Chapter 2
Johnny woke up and was surprised to find that his parents were up before him despite the fact that it was 6:30am. He looked at his watch and saw it was Saturday, something he wouldn’t have remembered otherwise. Leaping from bed, he got dressed quickly and rushed downstairs. He looked out the window, in hopes of catching a glimpse of seeing Nineveh walking past his house. Even on weekends, she always walked to the store around 6:30am, to pick up a can of Pringles. He’d had a crush on her since around the fourth grade, and considering that he was now in the seventh grade, that counted for around three or four years. He just couldn’t understand why she insisted on hanging around with Josephine Hatchett; a rebel dressed as a gothic. She barely ever spoke to anyone, and her grades were terrible, compared to his straight A’s report cards for three years straight.
Sure enough, there she was, walking down the roughly paved concrete, looking around for anyone to come out and play. He sighed a little, but the moment didn’t last long.
“Ooooooh, there goes yer giiiirlfriend.” came a voice from his left, he turned his head to see his younger brother smirking at him.
“Shut up, Billy.” Johnny said through closed teeth. Billy giggled and ran off down the hall. Johnny walked back upstairs and put on his shoes. Just as he was about to leave, Johnny’s mother stopped him in his tracks.
“Oh, Johnny, I need you to take the trash out before you go anywhere.” she said innocently.
“Errrrrrrrrrrrr.........ok mom!” Johnny growled under his breath. He opened up the cellar door, and stepped down into the darkness, where he grasped for the lightswitch. He found it, and flicked it up, but the light didn’t go on “Uch, friggin’ light.” Johnny muttered to himself. He groped around in the darkness for the trash bags his mom had left under the stairs. He found the trashbags where they should be, and brought the first two upstairs and out onto the curb. He went back for the third, and tripped while stepping down into the cellar. When he picked himself up, he heard a whisper in front of him. It was garbled, and he couldn’t hear much of it. The only thing her heard was something like “him”. Shaken, Johnny grabbed the last trashbag and ran upstairs. Walking blindly he managed to find the door and bring the trash outside.
“Oh….OK mom! Done!” called Johnny to the rest of the house. He heard no response, but figured it meant he could go out anyway. Jogging along the street, two figures came into view. He slowed down as he realized that they were Nineveh and Josephine.
“Ugh………Josephine.” Muttered Johnny. “Hey guys!” he called to the two of them. He heard a faint response as they approached.
“Girls!” Nineveh called back. “We’re girls!”
“Heh, well excuuuuuse me!” Johnny said in a joking voice. “What’s up?”
“Nothin’, just chillin’.” Josephine said in a mocking voice of him.
“Did you just crack a joke?” asked Johnny, genuinely surprised. Josephine tisked and said
“Sorry, didn’t know I was the only person on earth without a sense of humor!” The three of them walked along the road until Johnny decided to tell his story.
“Yo, listen.” He began. “I was takin’ out the trash, and the lightbulb was out in the basement.”
“Ooohhhhh, creepy.” Laughed Nineveh.
“Anyway,” Johnny glared at Nineveh, “I took out the first two bags and when I went to get the third, I tripped and I heard somone talking in the basement!” he finished.
“I think you hit your head a lit……” Josephine began
“Hold on!” Nineveh interrupted. “I heard whisp…….wait, were they whispering?”
“Yeah!” Johnny replied, waiting for an answer to who this was.
“I heard it too, only it was about me!” Nineveh said nervously.
“You guys are nu……” suddenly a whisper came from behind them. Johnny reeled around first, then Nineveh. Josephine turned around slowly. What they all saw………..was nothing. They kept walking, only they walked a little faster now. Johnny kept looking around, while Nineveh had a nervous look on her face.
“As I was saying,” Josephine continued. “you’re both nuts.”
“Did you not hear what we heard?!” demanded Johnny with an amazed look on his face.
“Forget it, it was nothing.” Josephine said with a shrug. They kept walking until Josephine asked where they were going.
“Might as well go over to the woods,” Johnny said with a smile, looking at his watch. “It’s only ten o’ clock.”
“What, is that your ‘bring girls so I can make out with em’ spot’?” questioned Josephine very demandingly.
“NO!” yelled Johnny, wishing more and more that Josephine wasn’t there. “It’s just a cool place to hang out!” he continued.
“Fine, but I’m kickin’ yer BEhind if you try to make a move on me.” Explained Josephine.
“Alrighty then. Let’s go!” exclaimed Johnny. Jogging along the path, they entered the woods.
“Hold up,” said Josephine, pointing at a secluded and dark area of the woods. “What’s that?”
“We don’t go there. It’s a dangerous place.” Explained Nineveh.
“Oh, don’t be chicken, let’s go.” Said Josephine while motioning with her hands to follow her. Cautiously, the other two followed her into the dark area. About halfway, Josephine stopped. “What’s this?” she said pointing to a large rock to the left of them.
“How should I know, never been here before remember?” said Johnny.
“Oh, cool,” Josephine marveled. “There’s symbols n’ stuff like hieroglyphics on the rock!”
“Wait……………………………..those symbols……….I’ve seen them befo…….of course!” exclaimed Nineveh, reaching into her pocket.
“Hey!” came a voice.
“Oh, hey George!” Nineveh replied. George stepped out from the shadows, plump and eager as always, and asked:
“Whatcha doin’?”
“We were just about to find out from Nineveh.” Replied Johnny.
“That’s right,” agreed Nineveh, pulling the note her parents had left her from her right pocket. “Look,” she explained. “the drawings on the rock are the same as the one’s on my paper!”
“Yeah, and there’s an arrow pointing from the rock to……..about where George is standing!” explained Johnny.
“I think we’re supposed to move it.” Said Josephine flatly. Agreeing, the four of them all left the woods and brought back their friends. George brought back Blade, your everyday show off, whom, as one might expect, made comments of how he could move the rock himself. Nineveh couldn’t find anyone, but Johnny and Josephine brought back their friend Blake, a kid no one knew much about, but he was a fairly social kid. Together, they moved the boulder about 3 feet to the right, enough so that Nineveh could get inside. She pulled herself in, no thanks to George, who was rather nervous about letting her in. When she came out, George, Blake and Jason had been sent home.
“Oh my god, you guys…….” Said Nineveh when she came out.
“What is it?!” demanded Josephine.
“It says; the kid goes down March 2nd, kidnapped- then killed.”
“That’s tomorrow!” exclaimed Johnny hilariously.
Go to: Chapter 3 of Silent Screams
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Murder at point blank
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