Chapter 3: The Underground Den
About a week after I had 'borrowed' Jessica's camera my murder began to put his despicable plan into action.
"Boys hurry up or you'll be late to school!" Mrs Tripp called from the kitchen.
She wasn't that worried about Nick since he was always up bright and early but Toby had a bit habit of sleeping in. "I'm coming!" Nick replied, as he walked down the hall he peeped into Toby's room and saw he brother getting changed.
"You might wanna hurry up big bro or else your gonna get another detention." Nick smirked.
"Yeah I know."Toby shrugged. After about 30 minutes Toby and Nick headed off to school. As the walked down the street John Kent watched them from his window with an evil look in his brown eyes...
It was about halfway through the school day and the gang had be through the agony of Maths, the terrifying force of English and they were currently trying to survive the horrors of Science.
As the teacher babbled on about the cells in our bodies Toby felt his eyelids start to drop.
Using all of his might he forced his eyelids to stay open but the harder he tried the heavier his eyes became. "Shouldn't of read that comic all night." He thought before sleep took him.
After 5 minutes of sleeping the teacher suddenly slammed some books down on Toby's desk, causing the sleeping boy's head to shoot up in shock.
"Sleeping in class again Toby Tripp?" She asked with a glare. "No I was just resting my eyes." He replied with a nervous chuckle. "DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL!" Toby just groaned...
It was about 4 pm when Toby was allowed to leave the school, as he walked along the the stone path home a strong wind blew by and it sent his blue woolly hat Jessica had got him for Christmas flying into an old field.
"Wow!" A man exclaimed and caught the hat just as it was about to fly passed him.
It was John Kent. "Here you go kid." He smiled and passed Toby the hat. "Thanks."
I didn't know why at the time but something about John just gave me the creeps, now I know why.
"Hey your Mr Tripp's son Toby right?" He asked with a warm smile.
"That's right." Toby said uneasily. "I just finished working on something over here and I was hoping for a second opinion." Toby knew where this was going.
"I'm sorry but I gotta get home."
John's expression went from excited to disappointed in a instance. "It would just take a few minutes of your time." Toby thought about it for a minute, something about John Kent just creped him out but his parents always said to be nice to everyone even if you think their weird.
"Ok fine, just a quick look couldn't do any harm."
What I didn't know was that I had just sealed my fate, if I could do it over again I would have listen to my gut and headed home but I didn't.
Back at the Tripp House Lucas and Jessica were there for dinner.
"Thanks for letting us stay for dinner Mrs Tripp." Jessica smiled as Mrs Tripp passed the food around. "Has anyone seen Toby?" She asked when she noticed that her son wasn't at the table.
"He had another detention for falling asleep in class again." Lucas explained before taking a bite out of his peas.
"Again?!" Mr Tripp exclaimed. "He's gonna be grounded for a week when he gets home." He glared.
What Dad didn't know was that I wasn't coming home.
"What do you think?" John asked as he led Toby into the middle of the field. "I don't see anything." Toby said as he looked around the field, there was nothing in the field but Toby, John and a bunch of dead plants.
"Take a closer look." John smiled and brushed some dirt away to reveal a hidden trapdoor.
As they climbed down a ladder into an underground den. It had dozens of shelves full of comics, video games, action figures, magazines and drinks, at the top was a small disco ball and on the ground was 3 flash lights pointed at the disco ball causing light to bounced the otherwise dark lair.
"I made this hoping that the local kids could use this as a little den." John explained.
Toby looked around in wonder unaware that John had locked the door, trapping them both inside. "There are some rules though, rule 1: no adults." John laughed, Toby just chuckled slightly, not knowing what to do.
"You want a drink?" The man asked and handed Toby a can of soda.
"Thanks Mr Kent but I really should be getting home." Toby said and tried to leave, only to be stopped by John. "Rule 2: You gotta be polite." John glared and forced the drink into Toby's hand.
"Take a seat." He smiled and pointed to a cushion on the floor.
Thinking that if he did what John said the quicker he would get out of here, Toby slowly sat on the cushion and John sat in front of him...
At the Tripp House everyone was starting to worry.
"Have you tried his phone?" Nick asked his mother. It had been about over an hour since Toby's detention should have finished. "Yes, it just goes straight to voice mail, either he turned it off or it's dead." Mrs Tripp explained as she dialled a number.
"Who are you ringing now Mrs Tripp?" Jessica asked, she was also worried cause it wasn't like Toby to stay out this late.
"I'm calling the police." She said, waiting for someone to pick up. "Why, he's probably trying to pull a prank on us all, you know what he's like." Mr Tripp said with a shrugged.
"No something is wrong I can feel." Mrs Tripp said.
"Hello? Police please." As Mrs Tripp talked to the police Nick quickly grabbed a photo of Toby and raced towards the door. "Nick where are you going?" Lucas asked.
"I'm gonna look for Toby." He said and raced out the house...
In the den Toby was beyond scared. John wouldn't let him leave and every time he mentioned it John would just get angrier. "Look John, thanks for showing this place but I really have to get going." Toby said and turned to leave only to have John push him back down.
"You not going anywhere!" John spat causing Toby to flinch slightly.
John noticed this and sighed. "Toby relax, I'm not going to hurt you." But Toby knew this man was lying through his teeth. "Really?" Toby asked, unknown to John, Toby was slowly reaching from the can of soda John had give him early.
"Yeah, I would never hurt you."
Toby just nodded slowly, he now had a good grip on the can. "I just want to spend time with-" Suddenly Toby threw the soda into John's eyes. "AHHHH!" The man cried in pain.
Toby raced to the door, only to find it locked.
Toby pulled and pushed the door with all his might but it wouldn't budge. All of a sudden something grabbed the back of Toby's shirt and he was thrown to the ground.
Before he had time to move John climbed on top of him and put his large hands on Toby's neck, slowly choking him.
Toby tossed and turned as he tried to get the mad man off him but John just wouldn't quit. Toby felt his strength starting fade as his lungs begged for air. The last thing he saw was John's wicked smirk before the darkness took him...
