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[Cameorntheraison]

I liked this chapter, it was really funny. Can't wait for more!

I’m glad you enjoyed it! Im really sorry this chapter took forever. Alright, here’s chapter 5 , I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 5

I knew something was off the second I stepped in the car. The air felt heavier, thicker.
“ Hey, Isabella” Addy said as I opened the door and sat down. Addy didn’t seem like herself. The cheery smile from her face was gone, and she she was resting her elbow on the door, holding her head in her hand.
“ Hey” I said suspiciously as I buckled my seatbelt.
“ Um, are you.. okay?” I asked when Addy didn’t answer. Actually, she didn’t even lift her head, just quickly glanced at me. Addy shrugged.
“ Yea, I’m fine” she said, still looking down. I turned to Ryan.
“ She’s been acting weird all morning.” He said with a shrug.
What the heck?
“Addy, are you okay?” I asked more seriously this time.
She glanced at me again.
“ I’m fine”
I eyed her suspiciously. She was lying, and I knew it. For something to make Addy seem even a little down, something terrible had to have happened. In all the years I’ve known her, there were only two times I’ve ever seen her like: when her dog died when we were in fifth grade, and when her grandfather died when we were in sixth grade. She came to school the next day and for the next week she didn’t say a word to anyone other than me, and when she did talk to me she told me she was fine. Which obviously, wasn’t true.
“ You’re lying.”
Addy shook her head.
“ Look, I’m totally fine, okay?”
I decided that I’d talk to her more when we got to the animal shelter. Whenever I see someone upset, like my brother or my friend, I’m the kind of person that will not leave them alone until they talk to me and feel better.
“ Alright guys, have fun today, be safe!” Mrs Henderson said as we climbed out of the car. I thanked her and said goodbye, immediately rushing over to Addy once she was out of the car.
“Addy, tell me. What’s wrong?”
Addy started walking faster.
“ nothing!”
I caught up to her.
“ Addy, I know there’s something wrong, and you know I’m not going to stop bothering you until you tell me.” I said as we walked into the building.
Lucky for me, our lists told us we had to mop the floor. After we had put our bags in the volunteer lockers, we went to get the mops.
Volunteers are allowed to keep their phones on them during the day, as long as they aren’t getting less work done because of it. As Addy started mopping, I noticed her phone kept vibrating as she put it in her pocket.
“ Is something wrong?” I asked. “ It sounds like somebody really wants to talk to you.”
There’s been times before when I’d been hanging out with Addy and she had to leave because of an emergency. Ryan broke his arm and was at the hospital, her uncle passed out and had to go to the hospital. A lot of people go to the hospital in her family a lot. Which is why when her phone kept buzzing, I figured there was an emergency. Maybe something happened in her family and she wasn’t telling me.
Addy just shrugged. “ It’s nobody” she said, and I thought I heard a hint of sadness in her voice.
“ Addy.”
She looked at me, then looked down again.
“ Look, I don’t know why you’re freaking out. Why do you care about my problems?”
That part surprised me a little bit.
“ Addy, the last time you were like this, your dog had died. Did something happen?”
Addy sighed. “ It- no, nothing happened.”
I shook my head. “ I know you’re lying, and I’m not gonna leave you alone until you tell the truth.”
Sighing again, Addy stopped mopping for a second.
“ Fine, you want to know the truth?” She asked, turning to me.
I nodded.
“ Do you promise you won’t kill anyone?” She asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
“ Why would I kill someone? I’m not a violent person.” I said, wondering why she sounded so concerned.
“ Sixth grade. Beatrice Smith. Ring a bell?”
I tried to hide the fact that my eyes went wide and my mouth gaped open. It didn’t work.
“ Uh, What are you talking about?”
“ Beatrice beat me up one day during gym, and then when you saw you tried to walk over there and slap her.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but stayed quiet.
“I had to grab onto your wrists to keep you from attacking that girl” Addy said.
“Well, Beatrice deserved it! She’s mean to everyone!”
Addy just shook her head. “ if you want to know the truth, you have to swear to me you won’t do anything stupid”
I nodded.
“ Okay” She said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. It was still buzzing, lighting up every few seconds.
On her phone texts from one name kept popping up: Turtle, Turtle, Turtle. Having a twin brother, Addy knew enough to set her phone to make it so you had to actually unlock it to read text messages.
I glanced up at Addy.
“ Addy” I said slowly. “ Is that what it is?”
She nodded.
“ I don’t understand”
She reluctantly unlocked her phone and showed me her text messages between Turtle and her. She handed her phone to me, and I started scrolling through them. You’d think that’d be an invasion of privacy, but.. this.. this wasn’t anything personal. Well it was, but nothing that only the two of them should’ve known.

Hi, is this Addy?
Yes.. who is this?
This is John S from school
Oh hi
Hi
So..

After that was just small talk between them, nothing really concerning. But then, I saw certain text messages that Turtle started sending.

Hey Addy, look I have to
Tell you something
Okay, what is it?
Aw god, I don’t know how to say this
I can’t talk to you
.. what do you mean?
Well, for one thing, I don’t
want to be seen talking to
the ugliest girl in school
oh.. okay..
and more importantly,
I don’t want to be
seen with a murderer
And a girl with pedophiles
In her family
murderer? I’ve never
killed anyone! What?
Well, I think you
know what I mean
I don’t understand..
Does the name
“ Robert Henderson”
Mean anything to you?
Yes.. that was my
Grandpa
Key word “ was”
What?
Your Grandpa lived right
Near the middle school,
Didn’t he?
Yes
Well, I’m sure
You remember the day
You found out he died
yes
My dad does this fire thing.
He comes to houses to
figure out what caused a fire.
And?
He found out that the fire was
Caused by the stove. It
Never got turned off.
I know
Remember you came to school
And cried when he died?
Thanks for reminding
Me
Well, I overheard you talking
to your friend and you said
You guys were just there
That weekend
Yes?
You like cooking don’t you?
Yes
You forgot to turn off the stove
Didn’t you?
didn’t you?
DIDN’T YOU??
Calm down!
You made his house catch
on fire
No
Yes you did
You’re stupid
No
Don’t deny it.
You’re a liar and a killer.
But I guess, it’s a good
Thing you killed him
What?
He was a creep.
No he wasn’t.
Yes he was
You’re lying
We all knew it
You don’t know anything
You killed him
You’re the reason he died
You’re lying
Am I?
Yes
You’re stupid
You’re a killer
You deserve to die
Stop
Why? It’s true
No
You’ve known it
No
You should die too

You should feel what he felt
Leave me alone
You know the world
would be a better place if
People like you just weren’t
On it anymore
STOP
You’re whole family should die too
It’ll get rid of your disgusting bloodline
What do you
Have against
Me
YOURE A KILLER
KILLER
KILLER
KILLER
KILLER
KILLER
KILLER
KILLER
KILLER



The texts went on just like that. One word. Over and over. I saw Addy looking down, her eyes lined with tears. Her grandpa and my Dad died the same year, and we both feel guilty for both their deaths. We tell each other to stop saying that, that it’s not true, but I think we both know that we can’t ever shake the guilt. Not really.
“That no good slimey little sh-“
Addy cut me off with her hand.
“ shoelace” I said, knowing how much Abby hates swearing. I’m not one to swear, but I was really, really angry in that moment.
“ On a completely unrelated note, have you seen that shotgun your Dad always talks about having?”
“Isabella!”
“What? I’m not gonna shoot him fatally or anything. Just.. whack his head with it, or shoot and just barely miss him. Or something. Something to scare him and teach him a lesson” I said, fully ready to show up at Johns’ house and give him a piece of my mind.
“ Look, I shouldn’t have showed you that. It’s not even a big deal. I don’t even know why it upset me so much” Addy said, dipping her mop into the water.
“ Are you kidding? He said those things on purpose! He knew he’d upset you and he did!” Whenever someone talks about Dad, especially in a bad way, or talks about the crash, it’s like being punched in the gut. Everything made sense now. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to punch John in the gut.
Addy was silent for a minute.
“ But what if he’s right?”
I froze. “ He’s not, and you know it.”
“ But what if he is? What if it should’ve been the one at the house that night?”
“ Don’t say that”
“ I know you think those things too!” Addy said.
“ well, that’s.. different” I was in the car! I was there! I..
I’m guessing I made a face, because Addy instantly looked horrified.
“ I’m sorry! For saying that.”
I shrugged. “ It’s fine. Look, block his number, okay? These texts are really weird.”
Addy nodded. “ Okay, I’ll do it later” she said, shoving her phone into her pocket.
“ Are you okay?” I asked her.
“ Yeah” She said, smiling a little bit. I could still tell she was hurt by what John said, or, texted, but “ yeah” was an improvement from “ fine”.
We finished mopping the floor,talking, and it was mostly uneventful.
Until later in the day. Addy was in the small animal room, feeding the hamsters. Me and Ryan were working on something just outside of it, when I heard Addy’s panicked voice shout.
“ Guys!! Get in here quick! Peggy is missing!”

[Pookie&Biscuit]

Cool is this a mystery novel?

[midget7]

Oh my gosh... I knew when Addy was upset that it would be something about Turtle, but I was not prepared for that at all. I was actually shaken reading those texts D: This John S guy... ugh what an utter prick. He's downright bullying her :(

What was also scary for me: Isabella thinking about shooting him. Maybe it's because there's no gun culture where I live, but I find it super disturbing that, if anyone loses it, it's so easy to get hold of a gun in the us.

Quick question: who's Peggy? Are we supposed to know yet? I can't remember if I've read about her in previous chapters.

I wasn't prepared for how chilling this was going to be, but I love the suspense. Please continue

[Cameorntheraison]

Oh my gosh... I knew when Addy was upset that it would be something about Turtle, but I was not prepared for that at all. I was actually shaken reading those texts D: This John S guy... ugh what an utter prick. He's downright bullying her :(
What was also scary for me: Isabella thinking about shooting him. Maybe it's because there's no gun culture where I live, but I find it super disturbing that, if anyone loses it, it's so easy to get hold of a gun in the us.
Quick question: who's Peggy? Are we supposed to know yet? I can't remember if I've read about her in previous chapters.
I wasn't prepared for how chilling this was going to be, but I love the suspense. Please continue

You do have a good point about how easy it is to get a gun in the US. I wouldn’t know because I’ve never tried to buy a gun, but you have a point. Isabella wouldn’t try to actually shoot/ kill him, just scare him, because she was really mad at him and that’s just the kind of person she is. You mess with her friends, you mess with her. I’m going to explain more who Peggy is in the next chapter,, but no I haven’t mentioned her yet. I’m glad you like it!
Just a quick thing: I’m traveling in Europe right now, so the next chapter might go up a little bit late.

[Cameorntheraison]

Hello! Here’s chapter 6. I don’t have much to say about it, other then it may be a little short/ boring. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 6
We both dashed into the small animal room.
“What!”
Addy was standing by the Hamster’s cage, eyes wide as saucers.
“ I was feeding the hamster and this one- Peggy, was just.. gone!” She exclaimed.
I stepped closer to the cage. If anybody found out that a hamster went missing and was “ discovered” while we were volunteering, we’d be dead meat.
Peggy was the name of the hamster that was surrendered to the shelter the very first day we started volunteering. Ms. Tina let us name her, so we called her Peggy. Actually, Addy’s been thinking about adopting Peggy.
“Okay, Okay, um.. we just… need to think! We need to stay calm and think!” I said, starting to pace around.
“Addy. Was the cage door open when you went to feed Peggy?”
Addy shook her head.
“ And you’re completely sure that she’s not in there?”
“ I looked everywhere. She’s gone”
Oh no.
“ Alright guys, it’s been fun. Real fun. But I’ll be leaving the country now. Feel free to come with me, I’d better get going on the trip to Canada” Ryan said, taking a step towards the door.
“ Wait.”
Ryan stopped.
“ Even though I know full well you aren’t actually leaving the country, you’re staying here and helping us find Peggy. You ran in here, and now you’re gonna help us.”
Ryan rolled his eyes.
“ Fine.”
“ Okay So now that my brother isn’t leaving the country, we still have a missing shelter animal and a woman in charge who hates us. We’re dead once she finds out.” Addy said.
“ We just have stay calm” I said, picking up the bag of hamster food.
“ Just.. get your phone out and use the flashlight. Start looking.”
We all got our flashlights out. We searched every room in the shelter we could, with no luck. Under tables? In a corner? Behind a cabinet? We even checked the dog and cat cages. We looked for any sign that Peggy had been eaten or something, but there was nothing.
“Maybe she got outside?” I suggested after two hours.
“ We’re screwed if that’s the case” Ryan said.
“Should we ask Ms. Tina if she’s seen her?” Addy asked.
At first, it sounded like a bad idea. But then I remembered. Ms. Tina manages the shelter website and puts shelter animals on places like Petfinder. Peggy was still online. Any moment, someone could walk in asking to adopt Peggy, and she wouldn’t be there.
I nodded.
“ Ms. Tina?” Addy asked sweetly. We decided that Addy was the nicest out of all three of us, so she would ask, but we all would share the blame if we got in trouble.
Ms. Tina looked up from her computer.
“ Oh hey guys. What do you need?”
“ Have you seen Pe- I mean, a hamster?”
Ms. Tina raised her eyebrows
“ A hamster?” She asked, leaning forward in her swivel chair. “ Why? Did something happen?”
Addy fidgeted with the hair tie on her wrist. “Um, yeah.. one of the hamsters.. is no longer in the cage it’s supposed to be in.”
Ms. Tina’s eyes widened. “It escaped?”
Addy opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but stayed quiet.
“ Alright, listen. I haven’t seen a hamster anywhere. I’ll let you know if I do. I’ll keep this quiet. You guys are in big trouble if the boss finds out, right?”
We all nodded.
“Maybe we just need to set a trap,” Ryan suggested once we were all back in the small animal room.
“ A trap! We can’ t kill Peggy! We need her alive, remember?” Addy said, pacing around the room.
Ryan shifted in his seat. “ No, not that kind of trap. Do you remember when we got those mice in our house, and Mom said it cost too much to hire an exterminator?”
Addy stopped pacing. “ Yeah”
“Well, Dad apparently found a video on YouTube for mousetraps. He made me help him build them. Basically, you get a bucket and make a staircase leading up it. Then, you use a straw covered in peanut butter on the rim. The bucket is filled about halfway with water. The mouse climbs up the staircase, and tries stepping onto the straw to get the peanut butter, but falls into the water because the straw moves.”
Addy made a face. “ Mom and Dad told me they moved out on their own! And I told you, we can’t kill the hamster.”
Ryan nodded. “I know. We can just use it without the water.”
I stood up straight, and started walking away from the wall I was leaning against. “ Y’know, you could be onto something here. But where are we gonna find buckets and stuff?”
“ I think I know where.”

[Pookie&Biscuit]

Oh no! I hope they find the hamster!

[midget7]

This isn't a boring chapter at all. And I love how, even though this isn't a hamster tale, you've still managed to include hamsters

[Cameorntheraison]

Alright, here’s chapter 7. I don’t know what to say here.. so I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 7
Addy’s voice rang out in the echoey garage. . “ Guys, I’m not finding anything! Ryan are you sure we still-“ she was interrupted by a loud crash.
After Ryan suggested we made the bucket trap, we’d thought about it all throughout the rest of the day. When Mrs. Henderson picked us up, we went straight back to their house.
Now we were digging through the garage, looking for buckets, and other things that could be useful.
The garage was like a lot of people’s garages- without a car inside it, because it was filled with clutter. Addy’s actually told me her Mom has gotten inspired on multiple occasions to try and de clutter by having a yard sale, but it never worked. “ Nobody wanted our stupid stuff, even when we offered to give it away for free!” She’d joked.
“ Addy? You okay?” I asked loudly from the other side of the garage.
“ Yup, I’m good” she said, standing up. “ Ryan, are you sure we still have the buckets? Why can’t we just buy some?”
“Because we won’t get them in time if we buy them. I know they’re around here somewhere.” He said, as he attempted to lift something massive. Me and Addy watched as he struggled to lift whatever it was.
It was only then that I actually realized the striking differences between him and his sister, despite them being twins. Both of them didn’t necessarily have a dark complexion, but Ryan has always been extremely pale. He almost always has dark circles under his eyes, and he’s so skinny and wiry, it’s like a strong wind will knock him over. At school, he’s really quiet, unless he’s in the animal club, or his computer coding club- thing. He
“ Need some help?” I asked, stumbling over piles of clutter in order to get to where he was.
He stepped back, almost tripping over a weight laying on the floor. “ Uh. Sure”
I lifted what looked like a car hood up and shoved it out of the way. “ Guys, if you don’t mind me asking, how?”
Addy peered over to us from her corner. “ Oh yeah, our grandpa on our Moms side owns a junkyard. I honestly have no idea how or when that got in here.”
I nodded as I glanced down. “ Hey Guys! I found ‘em!” I said as I held up three large Home Depot buckets.
We spent the rest of the night trying to finish the traps. We put blankets at the bottom of the bucket so that Peggy would have a safe landing, made ramps out of cardboard and popsicle sticks, and covered some big straws in peanut butter.
I ended up staying the night ( with my moms’ permission) and sleeping on Addys’ bedroom floor on top of a bunch of blankets Addy and Ryan gathered from various places in their rooms’ because we couldn’t find a sleeping bag. In the morning, when we got to the animal shelter, we figured we’d have to explain to Ms. Tina what we were doing.
“ You’re going to what?” She asked when we tried explaining.
“ We’re going to try luring the missing hamster back into the bucket.” I said.
“ Like a humane trap” I added after Ms. Tina gave me a look that said what in the world do you kids think you’re doing?
After a minute, Ms. Tina nodded. “ Alright, fine. You can set them up. Just make it quick please, you still have to get the rings on your lists done.”
“ Okay, thank you!” I said as we all rushed to the small animal room.
“ Alright, so there’s three traps” I said. “ So we’ll just put one in here, one..”
“ one in the laundry room, and one in the dog room” Ryan suggested.
Me and Addy nodded. “Sounds good.”
When Addy and Ryan left to set up their traps, I started setting up mine. I put it under the table near Peggy’s cage, and put hamster food on the ramp to ( hopefully) lure her up. After one last check to make sure everything was working right, I went off to find Addy, since the first thing on our lists’ were to walk the dogs on the trail that made a small loop in the back of the shelter.
I found Addy in the dog room, just finishing up.
“ Oh, hey” she said when she saw me. She adjusted the ramp, then stood up. “ I’m done, What first on our lists again?”
“ Walk the dogs.” I said, as we started walking towards the leashes in the storage bin in the corner.
As we leashed up four of the dogs, Each of us walking two, I noticed that Max, the big black lab, wasn’t in his cage.
“ Hey, is someone walking Max right now?” I asked, stuffing poop bags into my pocket.
Addy glanced over at Maxs’ cage. “ Oh.. my gosh!” She exclaimed as her eyes widened. “ Max isn’t in his cage!” She paused, staying silent for a minute. “Maybe someone’s walking him, or he got adopted, or something! We’ll just ask Ms. Tina when we go outside!”
I stood there and nodded without saying anything, because to me in kind of sounded like Addy was panicking, just a little.
“ Ms. Tina, is someone walking Max right now?” I asked when we got to the front desk.
She shook her head. “ No, he’s supposed to be in his cage for right now.” She went quiet for a moment. “ Is he not in his cage?”
Me and Addy nodded.
Ms. Tina let out a sigh. “ Alright, I’ll.. deal with this. Just.. be careful walking the dogs out there!”
We thanked her and left. As we started walking, we talked about how weird it was. Two animals gone over the course of two days. There’s no way they could’ve gotten out, and-
I stopped.
“ Isabella?” Addy asked, stopping and looking back at me. “ What is it?”
“ That’s funny” I said, still not moving my eyes. “ It’s open”
Addy walked towards me. “ What’s open?”
I leaned forward. “ The gate to the field where the dogs go out. It’s wide open, and it’s supposed to be locked.”

[Pookie&Biscuit]

Oh no! This is such a good chapter!

[Cameorntheraison]

Oh no! This is such a good chapter!

Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it! Here’s chapter 8 and.. enjoy!
Chapter 8
We walked across the grass to the gate.
“ Did somebody forget to close it?” I asked, thinking that maybe someone had tried to do something and forgotten the rule.
Addy shook her head. “ I don’t know. It’s possible. But why would someone even need to open it in the first place?”
I eyed the gate. It was never supposed to be opened, and even if you wanted to, you couldn’t. It was always secured by a giant padlock.
“ Look at this” I said crouching down. Laying in the dirt, covered in dust, was the padlock. But it wasn’t only the padlock. It was still attached to a small square of chain link fence, which created a gaping hole in the middle of the gate.
“ Guys!” Ryan said as he emerged from the back door of the building. He quickly walked over to us and where we were standing.
“ Guys, Ms. Tina wanted to see- oh my god” he trailed off as his eyes landed on the small square of wire fence I was holding.
“What-“
“ The gate was open” Addy said quickly.
“What she means is.. we found this. On the ground.”
Ryan nodded, still looking at the small piece of fence in my hand. His eyes darted from it to the gate, my hand to the gate, back and forth, back and forth.
“ Wire cutters” he said finally.
Addy tilted her head. “ What?”
“ Wire cutters.” He said again. “ Wire cutters are the only way that I could think of that you could cut a fence like this.”
“ Oh” I said nodding my head and glancing toward Addy. “ Why did we not know that?”
“VOLUNTEERS!!” A angry, piercing roar came from the back door. We all jumped as Mrs. DeWyatt came storming outside.
“ What do you think you’re doing here?!” She hissed.
“ We just.. um.. we found the gate and it was open.. and.. and.. it.. it’s not supposed to be so.. so we..” Addy stuttered, fidgeting with the hair tie on her wrist.
“Um.. um.. we found the gate open and.. and.. it wasn’t supposed to be..” Mrs. DeWyatt said in a high, mocking tone.
Addy backed away and looked down. I couldn’t tell whether she was embarrassed or hurt or intimidated- but I didn’t really care as my hand bunched into a fist.
“Stupid girls”she spat, shaking her head. “And stupid boy too” she said turning her head towards Ryan.
“Stupid children” she said this time. “ Honestly, I don’t understand why such worthless-“
“ Hey!” I snapped. A part of me wanted to clamp my hand over my mouth and hide, but the other part of me was just so full of rage that this woman, practically a stranger, had just insulted Addy and Ryan.
Mrs. DeWyatt raised her eyebrows and laid her eyes on me. “ Oh, bold, are now? Awfully risky to be talking to an authority like that.”
I took a deep breath, and prayed that Addy would try to stop me if Tried to punch this woman.
“I’m sorry if I used an impolite tone,” I said lowly, making direct eye contact with her. “ I just would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t insult my friends like that.”
Mrs. DeWyatt laughed. “Oh, wow. For a second it sounded like you thought you were tough for a second there!”
I shook my head. “ I don’t think I’m tough. I just think it’s wrong to mock and insult innocent people.”
“ Get out” She growled.
“ Get out” She said again, when we didn’t move.
“ Get away from here! And give me that,” she said as she ripped the square of fence from my hands.
“ I’ll take these too” she spat as she tore the dog leashes from our hands’
“ Go on, you heard me, MOVE!” She roared as she shoved me and Addy to the ground, and shoved Ryan as well before slamming the gate shut and disappearing back into the building, taking the dogs with her.
I scowled as I watched her leave.
“ You Guys Okay?” I asked, as all three of us stood up and brush off the dirt now covering our faces, arms, legs, and clothes.
Addy looked at me. “ Isabella, of course we’re okay. She pushed us, not stabbed us.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but stayed quiet for a moment.
“ You’re bleeding.”
Addy shook her head. “ What?”
“ Both if you guys. You’re bleeding right here” I said as I rubbed just above my right temple. Both of the them had blood pouring out of that spot, just above their right temple.
They both held fingers up to it, and looked at the blood now on their hands.
“ Huh. Must’ve been one of those connected- twin - telepathy things,” Ryan said with a smile.
“ I swear, I’m going to kill that woman,” I muttered under my breath.
Ryan raised his eyebrows. “ That sounds a little extreme.”
I sighed. “ Guys! Am I the only one who’s concerned about this? She exploded on us, and then shoved you guys into the ground,” I bent down and picked up broken shards of glass laying on the ground next to Addy. “ And she hurt you guys! If this is how she treats us, then who knows how she treats the other people here?”
“ She pushed you, too. Did you forget that?” Addy asked.
“ Well, it’s just that I’m not the one who cut myself on some broken glass, and god knows what he cut himself on,” I said, holding up the broken pieces of glass.
“ Okay, it sounds like you two are about to start arguing, so just.. chill out,” Ryan cut in, motioning towards the door. “ And Ms. Tina sent me out here because she needed to talk to you guys.”
“ Oh, great, you’re all here. Addy and Ryan, why are you two bleeding?”
“ We.. fell,” Addy replied after a moment.
Ms. Tina looked suspicious, but she nodded and started shuffling through various things in her desk.
“ Well, lucky for you, I always keep band- aids in my desk,” she said, handing one to Addy and one to Ryan.
Thanking her, they both shoved the band aids into their pockets’.
“ Anyway, more on what I called you here for. There’s gonna be a group of volunteers going out and looking for the missing dogs and cats, and I thought you guys would be interested in helping out.”
“ Wait, more then one dog is missing? And there are cats that are gone too?” I asked her in disbelief. How was that even possible, for a hamster, and multiple other animals to disappear within two days?
Ms. Tina nodded. “ Two cats, two dogs, and according to you, a hamster.”
“ No way,” Ryan muttered under his breath.
“ So, would you guys be interested or not?”
We all nodded.
“ Great,” She said with a smile.
She handed us each a sheet of paper.
“ Get your parents to sign this. Just basically says the shelter can’t get in trouble if your parents get upset that you scrape your knee while you’re out. Saves us paperwork.”
She glanced at her watch. “Oh, it’s three o’clock, you guys are gonna get picked up soon!”
We glanced at the clock on the wall. We took the papers,thanked her and said goodbye, then scrambled to get our things from the lockers so we wouldn’t need to keep Mrs. Henderson waiting.
After Addy and Ryan stopped at their house to get their swimsuits’, we went to my house and spent the rest of the day swimming in the pool.
Ryan attempted to teach us how to flip off the diving board into the pool, but we couldn’t get it, so we ended up diving headfirst into the pool, rather then flipping.
After they went home, I said hello to my Dad. I told him about the missing animals, about Mrs. DeWyatt, everything.
That night I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about all the missing animals, and how it was so strange they’d disappear without a trace. Eventually, though, I did fall asleep, with Ginger curled up beside me.

[Pookie&Biscuit]

This chapter was awesome! Mrs dewyatt is so terrible!

Spoiler

someone's sabotaging the shelter

[Hera the Hamster]

Someone definitely has something against this shelter...

Spoiler

Maybe it’s Mrs DeWyatt.

[Cameorntheraison]

This chapter was awesome! Mrs dewyatt is so terrible!

Spoiler

someone's sabotaging the shelter

Someone definitely has something against this shelter...

Spoiler

Maybe it’s Mrs DeWyatt.

* sweats nervously* you’re on the right track...
I have chapter 9 right here, and I really hope you enjoy!
Chapter 9

I woke up with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that morning. Like something was going to go horribly wrong, and I had no idea what it was. I shrugged it off as I headed downstairs, figuring it was nothing.
I grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet and found my shoes. Mia wasn’t there today, so I guessed it was her day off or something.
When I got into Mrs. Henderson’s car, Addy and Ryan were arguing. I was surprised, because I’ve only ever seen them ever get into a heated argument like this once. Most of the time they got along, or if they didn’t, it wasn’t that bad. But this.. this was different. They were so preoccupied with screaming at each other that they barely acknowledged me at all.
Addy sighed angrily. “ You knew about this, and you didn’t even think to tell me, even if it was in private?!”
Ryan slammed his hands down on the dashboard “ I told you, Mom and Dad didn’t want you to know yet! And besides, I wasn’t even supposed to hear about it in her first place!”
“ Oh, so you were doing something and you just happened to overhear their conversation? And why didn’t they want me to know?!”
“ Yes! And neither of us were supposed to know! And if you want to know why, just ask your own mother! She’s sitting right here, and I know for a fact that she’s not happy this is happening!”
“Alright!” Mrs. Henderson yelled, interrupting them. “ We’re here. No more fighting from you two, understand?”
They nodded.
“ Alright,” She said with a smile. “ Have fun today, and I’m so sorry you had to witness this, Isabella.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I just smiled and said goodbye.
We all got out of the car, and walked up to the animal shelter. Addy and Ryan were on either sides of me, with Addy not saying a word to Ryan and shooting icy glares at him. I couldn’t understand what could make Addy that angry, especially so suddenly.
“ Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to put these flyers up around here,” Cassidy said, looking around. We were standing at the end of the long driveway leading up to the animal shelter, looking down the long street ahead, filled with shops, apartments, cafes, a church, and the Library. We somehow had landed the job of going around and putting up missing flyers, so
Cassidy gave each of us a handful of missing animal flyers, each inside plastic covers.
“ Stay on this street, and make sure you can see each other. Alright? When you’re done, walk back to the shelter. Got all that?”
We nodded.

“ Alright, so what’s your guys’ plan for this?” I said after she left to do something else. “ This is a pretty long street, so maybe we’ll do the left side first, then cross and then do the right and end up back here.”
Addy nodded. “ Sounds good to me.”
I turned to Ryan.“ Ryan? You ok with that?”
He nodded.
“ Alright!” I said as we started walking down the street. I started talking to Addy, joking and ranting about Mrs. DeWyatt. ( That part mostly came from me, because both Addy and Ryan still had band- aids on their heads from when she pushed them, and I was not willing to forgive that woman for what she did. Addy said I was holding a grudge, but I was just being loyal, in my opinion.)
For a while, it seemed like Addy and Ryan weren’t fighting. She refused to say a word or acknowledge him at all, but there was no yelling.
We were at the end of the street by now, putting flyers up on the last telephone pole on the street.
Me and Addy started putting up one of the flyers.
“ Isabella, can I have the tape, please?” Ryan asked when he saw that we were done.
Addy took a deep breath. “ Wait a minute, I thought you didn’t need anything, Ryan,”
“ Seriously, we’re talking about this again? I really don’t wanna fight with you, Addy.” Ryan said, staring at her. “ So can you please just drop it?!”
Addy’s eyes widened. “Well, it would’ve been easier if my whole life I hadn’t been the protected one all the time! It’s always, don’t tell Addy this, don’t tell Addy that! Or better yet, lie to Addy because her tiny brain can’t handle it, apparently! But you, they tell everything to! They don’t lie to you, they don’t keep anything from you!”
“ That’s not a good thing,” Ryan said through his teeth. “ You think I want to hear all of their problems?! I didn’t wanna hear about how Dad lost his job and we were about to get kicked out of our house, or how there were way more murders going on, or how people kept drowning on the beach, or the termites that kept eating the walls, and how there was a risk that the furnace would start leaking carbon dioxide and we might all die in our sleep. I didn’t want to hear about those all those stories of children being abducted or brutally murdered, and I didn’t want to sit through every detail of what could happen to me when I needed surgery on my finger!” He yelled, almost screaming. “ Do you remember the time you almost died in kindergarten?”
Addy shook her head.
“ Of course you don’t, because Mom and Dad never told you what happened. You fell from a cliff when we went hiking, and you got knocked out from the fall. You didn’t wake up for a week, and while you were on life support, every night Mom and Dad told me everything. You might never, ever wake up, they might have to pull the plug because the insurance wouldn’t pay for it, if the power went out in the hospital you’d die immediately, there could be a serial killer doctor, you could get a disease from the hospital and die from that, and even if you did wake up, you might never walk or talk again, you might not even remember anything or any of us, or you could could die after you woke up. When you did, they told you that you fell asleep and had a bad dream. A bad dream! Your whole life, they did nothing but protect you, and sure, they lied, but a lot of the things they kept from you, most people keep from their kids, because a pre- schooler doesn’t need to know about how a murderer can climb in through an open window and hide, waiting for you to go to sleep. Is that what you wanted to hear?!”

Addy stepped back, with look of shock and horror on her face. “ I think it’s better to know the truth,” she said lowly.
Ryan scowled at her. “ Even if the truth makes a seven year old kid hide under the blankets, and not want to ever leave, for fear of what’s outside?”

Addy started walking backwards, down the street. “ I can see why they didn’t tell you,” she, shaking her head. “ Because I can’t imagine you being anything but a terrible older brother.” With that she started running down the street, towards the shelter.
“ Addy! Addy!” Ryan yelled, taking a step towards her, then stopping. He cursed, kicking the building we were in front of.
It was only then that I felt like I could actually move. It felt like I’d been paralyzed, superglued in this place. I ran down the street, after Addy. I felt bad leaving Ryan, but I ran, figuring I’d find Ryan later. I ran and ran and ran, but I didn’t see Addy. I got to nearly the end of the street, and she was nowhere.
“ Addy? Addy!” I yelled, looking around. To my right was a narrow alleyway, leading to a mostly abandoned back road. I went down it, but saw nothing. While I was peering out at the dirt road, I swore I heard a scream not too far away, that sounded a little bit like Addy. I turned and ran back through the alley, but there was nothing, just cars driving through the road. Where could she possibly have gone?
“ Isabella! Isabella!” Ryan yelled, running down the hill, and nearly crashing into me. “ Where’s Addy?”
“I- I don’t-“ I glanced up at the animal shelter. “ The animal shelter! C’mon!” I said as I started running, with Ryan following close behind.
Please god. Please, please let her be at the animal shelter. Please let her be there. Don’t let me lose my best friend too.
“Ms. Tina! Ms. Tina!” We burst through the front doors, and ran into her desk. I looked her dead in the eyes. “ Is Addy here?”
Ms. Tina shook her head. “She’s supposed to be with you.. why, what happened?”
Ryan’s eyes widened.
“ Long story,” I said, starting to panic. “ You’re sure she’s not here?”
Ms Tina nodded.
I turned to Ryan. “ C’mere” I said as I led him outside. “ Okay. Where would she have gone?”
Ryan shrugged. “ I- I dunno. I thought- I thought she’d be here but.. oh, my god.”
“ We just need to stay calm,” I said, trying to think of what to do.
“ Call her,” Ryan said after a minute.
“ You can’t do it?” I asked, partly because I was afraid of what I would find.
Ryan sighed. “ She hates me,” he said, and I thought he sounded a bit sad. “ You’re her best friend, she’ll answer you. She’ll feel bad about running off and come back.”
“ Alright,” I said, as I started to call Addy’s number.
“Hi, this is Addy, I can’t talk right now, but I’ll talk to you as soon as I can. Bye!”
Addy’s voicemail. It sounded way too cheery, given the situation.
“ Is She there?” Ryan asked hopefully.
I shook my head.
Ryan’s face fell. “ Oh”
After a minute, my phone vibrated.

Hey, Isabella I can’t talk right now

Where are you??!!!

I’m fine

I’m gonna say this again, WHERE ARE YOU

I’m fine, Okay?

Addy, what is going on

Nothing!

WHERE ARE YOU

calm down!

I’ll calm down when you explain where you are

Why do you wanna know so bad?

You ran away down a busy street and now we have no idea where you are. Do you see where I’m coming from here??!!

Alright, alright
Geez
I got picked up by my Dad


What?

My Dad picked me up
I’m in the car with him

Prove it

Um, no?

Why not??!!

Because I can’t

WHAT IS GOING ON

everything is fine
I told you

Tell your Dad to bring you back to the animal shelter


I can’t take orders from you!


Your brother is standing next to me cursing and hyperventilating.
Are you happy, now that you’ve given him a good scare?

I hate my brother

Oh really?

Yes

Ok
Do you hate me?

No
Of course not

THEN TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE

I already did!
We’re at home now

Really?

Yes

Prove it

Fine



What came next was a picture of Addy’s room.

There’s your proof, ok?


… fine
That’ll work
Do you know what you did?

Yes, of course I do

Ok, so you’re aware you gave us a heart attack!
I’m pretty sure you took a year off your brothers life
Running away like that

I told you I hate my brother

What is going on with you two?

Nothing
Okay
Gotta go
Gotta take a shower

ADDY


She didn’t answer after that. I didn’t know if I should trust her or not, but I didn’t think I’d get anything else out of her.
I looked at Ryan. “She says she’s at home,”
Ryan furrowed his eyebrows. “ She’s at home? Are you sure?”
“ I can’t be sure” I said, shaking my head.
“ Hi guys,” Mrs. Henderson said, walking up to us.
“ Mrs. Henderson! What are you doing here?” I asked, nervously laughing.
“ It’s three’ o clock. I’m picking you guys up,” she said.
“ Oh,” I said, looking at my phone. “ Right. C’mon Ryan, let’s go get our stuff.”
“ Wait, Wait a minute. Ryan, where’s Addy?”
We both froze.
“ Um, she told me that she’s at home right now,” I said meekly.
Mrs Henderson raised her eyebrows. “ At home? Really?”
I nodded. “ That’s what she told me.”
She nodded, and pressed her lips into a thin line. “ Alright go get your stuff.”
We nodded and ran to the lockers to get our things.
When we got back into the car, the ride home was quiet. Too quiet. Let her be alright. Oh god, let be at her house.
“ Hey, Ryan,” I said as I got out of the car to go into my house. “ Tell Addy to text me when you get home. Or text me yourself.”
Ryan nodded. “ Okay”

I didn’t get a text from Addy that night. Or Ryan. Or anybody. I figured maybe they forgot, maybe their phone died, maybe it got taken away as a punishment.
I stayed up late that night. I couldn’t sleep, without knowing Addy for sure was alright. I would’ve called her parents or something, but I didn’t have their number.
I texted my Dad.

Dad?

Can I ask you something?

Could you do me a favor, if you can?

Can you talk to God for me?

If you can,
I don’t know how things work in heaven.

Could you ask him to look after Addy?

And make sure she’s alright?

Make sure she comes home?

And let her and Ryan stop fighting?

It’s not like them to fight like they did today

I’m kinda freaking out

I haven’t heard from either of them

I don’t know what to do

I know it might seem like a stretch to talk to God, but

I don’t know, could you do it for me?

I just want everything to be okay

Not normal
For things to be normal you’d have to magically come back to life

Alright, Dad

I should probably go

You’d be so mad if you saw how late it was right now

I’m gonna go to sleep

Good night

I love you

I shut off my phone and put it on my night stand. I fell asleep eventually, but I don’t know when.

When I woke up the next morning, I had that same feeling as I did yesterday. That feeling in the pit of my stomach, like something horrible happened. Something wasn’t right.
“Hey Isabella. You’re on time today,” Mia said, as I walked into the kitchen.
I smiled half heartedly. “ Hey Mia”
Mia tilted her head. “ You’re quiet today. And where do you think you’re going, putting on your shoes on and trying to leave without eating breakfast? Your Mom found out you were only eating granola bars for breakfast by the way, so she told me to ban you from the snack cabinet.”
I finished tying my shoes and sighed. “I’m not hungry,”

Mia paused and looked up at me. “Hm.. are you feeling okay?”
I nodded. “ Yeah, why?”
“ Alright. If you say so. You have to eat something though. Doesn’t even have to be a legitimate breakfast food, just something. I don’t want you passing out at the animal shelter today.” She said, starting to load the dishwasher.

I walked over to where she was working, and took a bowl from the sink.
“ Nope. Can I have that please?” She asked, holding out her hand. “ You can help me, but only if you eat something.”

I handed the bowl to her. “ Okay, what about this?” I asked, grabbing a banana from the fruit basket on the counter.

Mia shook her head. “ You have to eat a real breakfast, remember?”
I shook my head. “ No, you said I was banned from the snack cabinet. You never said I couldn’t eat fruit.”
Mia opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but stayed quiet. “Fine. But only because that was smart and I can’t argue with that. Now are you gonna eat that thing?”
I reluctantly peeled and bit into the banana. It made me want to throw up. “ There. Will that work for you?” I asked, grabbing a plate from the sink.
Mia sighed. “Fine. You know a lot of people would want to get out of doing this?”
I shrugged, and glanced at my phone. “ It feels weird to watch other people do something that you could be helping with.” I glanced at my phone again. “Eight thirty! I gotta go!” I exclaimed, putting the plate in the dishwasher, and racing towards the door. “ Bye Mia! See you later, and thank you!”

Please let Addy be in the car. Please let Addy be in the car. Please let-
I threw open the car door, praying to god Addy would be in the other seat, grinning and waving to me, apologizing for running off and scaring us so much. But she wasn’t. The back seat was empty. I sat down and slammed the door shut.
“Where’s Addy?” I knew the answer, but I had to make sure. Maybe she was home sick or something.
Mrs. Henderson and Ryan both turned around to face me. Ryan looked exhausted, and sad too. His eyes had that glassy look, like he was worried.
“ Isabella- “ please don’t say she was found dead in a ditch. Please don’t say she was found dead in a ditch.
Mrs. Henderson shifted in her seat. “ Isabella, Addy didn’t come home last night.”
For the second time that day, I wanted to throw up, to get rid of the sickening feeling in my stomach.
“ What? N-no, she.. she said yesterday.. she told me..” I couldn’t believe it. There was no way my best friend was missing.
Mrs. Henderson took a deep breath. “ Yes, Isabella. Addy’s missing.”

[Pookie&Biscuit]

NO! NO NO NO!!!!!! That's terrible! I had the suspicion Addy just had a picture of her room on her phone! Need more!

[midget7]

It seems like everything's going wrong D: This is a long shot but maybe Addy's disappearance and the pets' disappearances are linked somehow? Can't wait for the next chapter!