Chapter 3: The Journal

The blinding lights that came from the locket died down. Arden's closed eyes reopened and she glanced at the locket. Basil walked up to her.

"No wonder you-know-who wants that thing." he said.

"Well yes. This locket has the power to create complete and utter chaos." replied Arden. Olivia walked up to her.

"Excuse me?" she asked tugging on her dress. Arden looked at her.

"Yes?" asked Arden.

"Do you want to play with me?" asked Olivia. "I'd really liked to know more about you."

Arden smiled.

"Alright." said Arden. Olivia grabbed her hand and led her to a special place she always played in.

Olivia brought her to a little, mouse sized shed. Olivia opened the little door. What they found was a table a dark green table cloth. On the table was the present Hiriam Flaversham gave to her at the beginning of the movie.

"I want to show you something." said Olivia. She showed her the present. It was the little ballerina wind up toy. She wound it up and Arden saw how it worked.

"Wow! That's amazing." said Arden. The toy then stopped. Arden then felt as hard as rock.

"Where in the world do you get it anyway?" asked Arden.

"My daddy gave it to me for my birthday! I remember being really happy. What did your daddy give you?" asked Olivia.

"The only gift I remember is the powerful locket." replied Arden. Olivia frowned.

"I'm sorry to hear that." replied Olivia. "I never knew."

Arden looked at her.

"Never knew what?" asked Arden.

"I never knew you-know-who did what he did to your father." replied Olivia.

"It's not your fault. It's, actually I don't know who's fault it is." said Arden.

"What happened to your mother?" asked Olivia.

"I don't know." replied Arden. "One day, she sent me out to find some food. It's a real easy task you know. But when I came back to my house, everything was destroyed. I couldn't find my mother anywhere! At first I thought I was having a bad dream! But this was too bad for it to be a dream. I know because it kept going on and on. So it wasn't a dream. I found a note on the ground. My father taught me how to read. The note said:

Arden this is your mother,

If you're reading this note, it means I had a run in with someone who many mice think of him as the Napoleon of Crime. We know him as Professor James Ratigan. Your father was his best thug. This is what happened:

Your father, Julian was one of Ratigan's best thugs. But while everything was going ratty, there was a day when Julian was out doing something when he met me. We fell in love. But sadly Ratigan eventually found out. When he did, he was enraged! He told Julian that if he didn't break up with me he'd do something so bad, I can't even say it! Julian and I traveled far away from The Rat Trap so that their family would start. But Julian was still afraid that he didn't see the last of Ratigan. Knowing this, when you was born, he didn't let me go out anywhere within past his property. At first everything was going smoothly, but one day. Julian didn't act like himself. He over heard him tell me that Ratigan was on his trail! The last thing he said to you was this: As long as you where this locket, I'll always be with you". I guess you could say that love changed his ways. He explained to us what it can do. This locket has the power to unleash powerful evil. When he told us this, the last thing he said to me was too go very far away from there. I guess you could say that love changed his ways. I remember you didn't want to leave him. But in able to keep out of Ratigan's reach, we had to leave Julian there to face Ratigan. We had no say in the matter. So now you must remember what ever happens to us, no matter what Ratigan does, just know that we will both be with you."

"That's what she wrote. Reading that helped me find out what happened that made things this way." said Arden.

"What happened after that?" asked Olivia.

"Ratigan tracked me down. He then captured me. He knew all about the locket. But it was after that he realized that I was the only one who can touch it. When he found out about that, he was so angered; he pierced me in the back with the arrow that's still in my back. Lucky I'm still alive. No one has been able to pull it out. When someone tries, blood would just come out of my back. That night, I came up with a plan to escape. It was perilous though. This is what I can remember:

FLASHBACK:

Arden crept through a cluster of broken glass bottles. She started to feel tears from her eyes. But that was only because Ratigan did so much pain to her.

When she found her way out, she saw the lizard thug and another thug that looked like Julian. Arden couldn't escape with out being seen. She then disguised her voice. She yelled out in a manly voice that weirdly sounded like Ratigan. "I didn't know I could sound like Ratigan!" thought Arden. She yelled out sounding like Ratigan: "EVERYONE REPORT TO THE RAT TRAP ROOM…IMMEDIATELY!" yelled Ratigan's voice that was actually Arden's voice. The two thugs quickly ran away to the Rat Trap room.

"I can't believe that actually worked." sighed Arden. She then took back what she said.

"Actually I can." giggled Arden. Arden then crawled out of the boundaries. When she saw that she couldn't be seen any more, she quickly got on her feet and walked away. She started to feel the wind and rain.

That was when the story started. She just escaped from pure torture. She thought it was over. But she was wrong. She remembered how her parents used to work at The Rat Trap. Thinking about it made her angry. She was making her escape. Her head ache was created when she was harmed. Blood was on her face. "That rat's got quite harmful side." she thought. She looked up at the sky. It was raining. The streets were bare and empty.

END FLASHBACK

Arden told Olivia that she felt like dying. It seemed that Olivia would never understand how much Arden felt like killing herself. Arden always felt that everyone would forget.

Olivia was almost about to explode.
"That's the most horrible thing I've ever heard." replied Olivia.

"Well, have you ever encountered Ratigan before?" asked Arden. Olivia frowned.
"Yes." replied Olivia. That grabbed Arden's attention.
"Really! When!" asked Arden. Olivia didn't really want to talk about it. But she had no choice. She told Arden everything that happened in the movie. Arden wished if she could do something about it.

Olivia then gave her a yellow and orange book.
"What is it?" asked Arden.
"Basil gave me it once. I don't remember what it is though. I'm not a very good reader either." replied Olivia.
"Well let me see what I can do." replied Arden. She looked closely at the writing on the cover. She gasped.
"What is it Arden?" asked Olivia.
"A journal. Ratigan's journal. I never knew he had one." replied Arden.
"Read it! Maybe there's something about where Julian and Emily is!" said Olivia.
"Well, I do need to find out." replied Arden. She opened it. It read:

"At first I thought everything was going to be as it should be. But to my dismay, I was told about him and Emily. I can't let their relationship! I've seen this before. Love gets in the way and everything falls into pieces. If Julian doesn't break it up, I'll make sure they pay for this!"

Arden frowned.
"That's all he wrote. I still don't have a clue where he is now." she said solemnly. The two then heard weird noises. They turned around and saw that the front door was opened. She looked out. But they shouldn't have...