Lol. When was the last time we updated this? Well, er, I finally finished chapter 2. It's short and uneventful. And it's in Evan's pov.
-Kayuki
Chapter 2 – Evan
I wanted to slap this book down and never pick it up again. Sure, I like to read and stuff, but this book is just plain terrible. The worst part is, I'm obliged to finish reading it because it's the book I was assigned to do a book report on. It's supposed to be due in a week, but it's not like I have anything better to do. I'm not allowed on electronics on week days either, so, that kind of limits my options of things to do.
"Evan," My mother called, knocking on my door. "I'm going to buy some groceries, remember to lock the door and don't answer the door or phone unless you're sure you know them,"
"Yeah, yeah. Sure, mom. Bye," I replied, twisting the eraser end of my mechanical pencil. I heard her descend the steps and after a few jingles of her set of keys, the door opened and closed. I peeked through the curtains of my window to check if she was out of sight yet.
I watched from the corner of my window as my mom got into the car and drove out from the drive way. A grin found its way to my face and I ran to my desk drawer, digging through the many notebooks that hid my library card. I pull out a small, plastic card and I grab my phone off of my desk.
I reached into my closet, grabbed a sweater and scarf and I threw them on quickly before turning on the timer on my phone. I've got 30 minutes before mom comes back. I told myself as I tried to pry my window open. I grit my teeth as I push the window up, letting the cold winter air into my warm room. I shiver and pat my pockets, making sure my library card and phone hadn't fallen out.
I climbed out of the window and onto the roof. I tried to quietly close my window, but I failed. I winced as the window slipped from my grasp and slammed shut, causing the entire house structure to shudder.
"Crap," I hissed under my breath. I just hope neither my grandpa nor father heard that. I froze for a second, straining my hearing for any footsteps. Thankfully, no one seemed to make a fuss about it so I carefully climbed down the roof, using the shingles as footing. I was just about to jump off the roof and make this awesome landing on the snow, but then I lost my footing and my hands lost their grip on the shingles. I wanted to scream, but that would attract unwanted attention. Fortunately, I landed in the huge pile of snow on my front lawn. However, some snow went down the back of my shirt, so that was…comfortable.
"I need to take rock climbing lessons," I muttered to myself as I sat up, reaching for the snow at the back of my shirt. I stood up and shook the snow off of clothes. I patted my pockets once again, making sure my phone and library card were still in my pockets.
I checked my phone. 21 minutes left. Well, that trip down the roof took longer than I expected. If I run to the library, I should have little less than 12 minutes left.
I made sure my shoes were tied tightly and I sprinted down the street towards the library. I gotta make it. I gotta make it. I didn't get to go to the library much. My parents say, 'we just don't have enough time' for nonsense like going to the library. Well, screw that, I'm going.
XXX
I pushed open the double doors to the library. The scent of old books filled my nose. The library was, obviously, quiet with only a few people roaming at the many bookshelves and some sitting at the tables.
I walked past the librarian's desk and headed straight for the manga (1) section. My eyes skimmed over the many volumes of different manga, not looking for one in particular. As I leisurely walked through the section, I found an unlabelled book, jammed in between the 27th and the 28th volumes of Bleach.
Out of curiosity, I carefully pulled the book out. I inspected the spine, which didn't have a label, meaning it wasn't from the library. I looked at the cover. There wasn't a title, just the leathery fabric of the book's cover.
After inspecting it a bit further, I opened it to the first page of the book, which was supposed to be a blank page. However, it wasn't blank.
I HAVE KATHERINE.
I nearly dropped the book. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. I flipped the page and I was met with another message. My breath hitched as I tried to suppress a scream. I chucked the book aside with trembling hands. I backed up against the opposite shelf, staring at the book as if it were a dead corpse.
FIND THE EIGHT MAP PIECES.
The message was written in blood – whose blood, I don't know, but blood is blood; and as far as I know, normal people don't write messages with blood. I numbly pulled out my phone from my pocket and texted Richie, sending him a few photos of the book.
'Remember to tell the others' I quickly added before pressing the send button. I hate having limited texting. Seconds later, my phone vibrated, signalling Richie replied to my text.
'Don't worry, Evan. You know my memory's pretty good, I'll remember.' I just hope he doesn't forget. I warily crawled over to the brown leather book and gingerly picked it up. I opened the book and quickly flipped past the blood-written message.
And I found another blood-written message. Joy.
IN THE FOREST.
What? In the forest? What's so special about the forest? I turned the page and was met with a blank lined sheet of paper. I continued flipping through the book, hoping that there'd be more of a lead on where Kate would be, or even if this was our Kate these messages are talking about.
There was a string placed at the middle of the book, like a bookmark. I skipped to the page the string marked. Before I got a chance to look at the page, my phone vibrated. I nearly had a heart-attack. I pulled my phone out and checked the caller ID – my mom. I looked at my watch and realized that half an hour had long gone by. Well, crap. Why didn't I hear my alarm go off?
I accepted the call and put my phone to my ear.
"Hi, mom," I greeted, pretending that I hadn't snuck out of the house.
"Where are you?" Mom demanded in a harsh voice.
"A-at Richie's…studying," I lied. "Yeah, he called and said he needed help studying for that science test we have tomorrow."
"Mhm, right," Mom said. I could hear the sarcasm rolling all over her voice. "And pigs fly, too. Get home right now, young man." Without another word, Mom hung up on me, leaving me to listen to the dead line's beeps.
I sighed as I shoved the device back into my sweater pocket. I picked up the creepy notebook and I shoved it in one of the pockets on the inside of my sweater. Before you accuse me of stealing, I'm technically not stealing since this book wasn't library property in the first place. I'm merely…borrowing the book for a long period of time.
XXX
"Richie, tell the others that we all need to meet up at lunch," I said to Richie the minute I got to my locker. Richie stood in front of his locker, which was two over from mine, reaching for his Science binder.
"But you know Isabella and Aisley usually have to stay in because of that French shenanigans –" Richie began.
"Well screw that; this is more important." I interrupted, walking off to the second floor with my Science binder in hand.
XXX
Lunch came all too soon. I hid the notebook in my jacket and grabbed my lunch before heading down to the cafeteria. As usual, I arrived at the lunch table me and my friends regularly sit at first. So, I tried to act natural, opening my lunch bag and began eating my lunch.
Moments later, Angelo and Riley, along with Richie, arrived at the table.
"Where're Isabella and Aisley?" I asked, urgently.
"I dunno. I told them about this," Richie said, eating a spoonful of rice.
"Well, whatever –" I was interrupted by a screaming Angelo and a "Holy shit!" from Richie when Isabella and Aisley came crashing into the table we sat at.
"Hey, guys, sorry we're kind of late, we have that…French issue again." Isabella explained.
"If you guys had detention, then…how are you guys here?" Riley asked.
"We jumped out the classroom window, somehow survived and back-flipped in through the front doors." Aisley replied, with a supporting nod. A few giggles were heard from our table and I cracked a grin.
"We snuck out of detention when Ms. M left the room." Isabella said, proudly.
"Cool. Sneaking out of detention," Richie summed up.
"So, what's so important that we had to risk our OSRs (2) to get here?" Isabella asked. I gave them a look, as if to say 'you know – that thing', before unzipping my jacket a little so I could reach in and get the book.
"You tell me," I said, placing the leather notebook on the cafeteria table.
"What's that?" Richie asked, incredulously. I gave him a dull look, resisting the urge to smack him right there and then. "Oh! It's that book!"
"Yes, Richie. And thank you for finally turning on, Richie's brain." I said, sarcastically.
"How do you know it's our Katherine the book is talking about?" Angelo asked.
"Yeah," Isabella joined in. "What if this is just some novel to accompany some other series, per say The Vampire Diaries; there's a Katherine in there."
"Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure all of the covers of that series have faces on them. Either I'm going blind, or you're not thinking straight, because I don't see a face on this cover." Richie said, gesturing wildly to the book.
"Hey, Riley, you paying attention?" Angelo called, snapping his fingers in front of Riley's face several times. Riley shook her head.
"Huh, what?" Riley mumbled.
"Dude, what's with you today, you've been spacing out all over the place." Angel said.
"Erm, it's nothing; just really tired." Riley replied, simply.
"Anyhow, if you keep looking through the pages, it says somewhere about going into the forest to find the map pieces. Kate was kidnapped when we were in the forest, wasn't she?" I said.
"True, but wouldn't that be too easy? Whoever kidnapped Kate would obviously want something from us if they took her in the first place, just giving us the answers – if only teachers did that for tests." Isabella replied.
"Well, it's not like we'll die if we check," I reasoned. "We'll go into the forest this weekend; bring a sleeping bag, water, a flashlight, some extra batteries and some food, I'd also suggest bringing your phones –"
"Well, duh." Aisley cut in.
"– and anything else you feel is necessary." I finished. I quickly finished my lunch and closed the lid on the now empty container, stuffing it back into my lunch bag. "I'll see you guys outside," I exited the cafeteria. I really should've stayed inside to discuss the matter with them more, but there was nothing else to discuss.
I pulled out my phone and put in my ear phones, blasting the music. I placed my hands in my pockets and wandered around the school yard, watching the snow slowly fall onto the ground.
I guess I'm going camping this weekend.
(1) - For those who don't know what manga is; it's a Japanese comic basically.
(2) - OSRs are Ontario Student Records, I think. It's what our homeroom teacher told us, and I don't really remember all too well.
Welp, chapter 3 will happen...eventually and the plot will thicken or whatever. Until then R&R please.