Wizards of Waverly Place
Í've got a secret
Part Fifteen: Day Fifteen
It was Saturday, October 16, 2010, and each Russo, though separated, found themselves in deep trouble and unfamiliar settings. Alex had since moved deeper into unpaved forest, and the others had been unconscious since shortly after the man had grabbed them and pulled them into the darkness to an unknown fate, and that is where we begin.
The Russo's had just woken up for the first time since the darkness of their own apartment had consumed them to find themselves in an unusual metal room full of wired and other strange apparatuses. "Uh, where are we?" Asked Justin as he rubbed his head and sat up on the cold metal floor.
"Ya, what is this place? I thought we were home, and this doesn't look like home, well maybe, an evil, scary metal version of home, maybe, but not the home that we live at. Justin where are we?" Asked Max.
"I don't know Max, that's why I asked where we were, I don't think anybody knows where we are." Stated Justin.
"Well what was the point of asking if you think nobody knows where we are?" Asked Juliet as she sat up and hit her head on the lower ceiling that just happened to be over only her head. "Oh! My head!"
"Ha, that's what you get for making nasty comments at your superior, you have no idea what they can do to you, in fact, I might have put that lower ceiling above your head before you woke up, expecting you to insult me, but I didn't, but I could have." Stated Justin as he grabbed his head. Ah, the lights in this room are giving me a migraine with their buzzing. Who would put us in a place like this?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure one of your selfish actions caused that somebody to put us here, you know I thought you Russo's had changed, but I was wrong, you are all selfish, don't care about anybody but yourselves!" Yelled Juliet.
"Ha, be nice." Said Jerry. "But she's right, whoever did this to us must be punished!"
"Why are you talking like that?" Asked Kramer.
"Those people must have drilled their awful modes of speech into my head, now I can't stop talking insanely, I mean, I just used a simile, and I don't even know what that is." Stated Jerry. "Oh, why do these things happen to us, why!" Yelled Jerry as he banged his hands into the metal wall.
"Jerry, will you calm down?" Asked Theresa. "We all have problems, mine is, that I have no purpose, in, li, wait, my meaning in life, must be to protect idiots from their self induced problems, and I'll be stuck with you people, until I save you from this chamber, then I'll be transported to another family, with my supervisor right at my side, I figured it out!" Yelled Theresa.
"No you didn't, that's the girl from Touched by an Angel." Stated Juliet.
"Ya, well it was based off a true story, mine. Maybe once one of my duties is done, I forget all about it, and I'll never remember any of this after I move on, that'll be a relief." Stated Theresa.
"Theresa, these lights are causing you to go insane, you don't know what you're saying, so just snap out of it!" Yelled Jerry as he smacked her.
"Oh, ya I agree, whoever it is that sent us here, should be punished to the fullest extent of the law!" Yelled Theresa as she returned from her insane world.
"And beyond that, cause we don't care about the law!" Yelled Juliet.
"Ya!" Yelled Max.
"Ha, we're all chained together, this person must be a genius to do all this while we're asleep." Stated Kramer.
"I'm not even going to respond to that." Said Justin.
"Thank you." Said the entire group.
"Attention, attention!" Yelled a voice from far off.
"Ah!" Yelled the group.
"Who said that!" Demanded Jerry.
"It is me!" Yelled the man as the group turned to see him on a T.V screen near the top of the high ceiling. It was the white faced man with targets on his cheeks.
"Uh oh." Said Juliet as she recognized the voice as the cloaked man from the park.
"I have brought you here, to teach you that selfishness is evil, but not as evil as what I am going to do to you! Ha ha!" Laughed the target faced man.
"Jerry, this is horrible, we're going to die!" Yelled Theresa as she rattled the chains on her arms.
"Ha, shut up! All you do is nag and nag about how unfair your life is, well my life is unfair too, look at my face, that's never going to wash out! And do you see me nagging about it! No, I'm just going to kill as many people as I can, you collect enough, gallons of blood, to wash this eternal white paint from my face! That's better than nagging!"
"Sure." Said Theresa.
"Yes, all of you will be punished! Even the one who brought all of you to my attention." Stated the man.
"Well, we personally volunteer that person to be killed first! Wait it's not me is it?" Asked Jerry.
"No." Answered the man.
"Okay." Said Jerry.
"Wait, selfish, family, one of us." Stated Justin.
"Juliet!" Yelled the entire group.
"Ha it's not my fault. I mean, I didn't think he was an insane homicidal maniac." Stated Juliet.
"Well you thought wrong!" Yelled the man. "You will be sent to your first trial in a moment, but before then, you are free to take out your self-centered rage on each other however you want!" Yelled the man as their shackles were removed.
"We're gonna die!" Cried Justin as tears ran down his face.
"Why do these things happen to us?" Cried Theresa.
"This is all your fault!" Yelled Kramer.
"Ha, it was never my intent to get you all killed." Said Juliet.
"Well, our stupid mistakes are never meant to cause the things they do, but we always accept the consequences and try to solve them." Said Jerry.
"Oh, I had no idea, now I understand how you Russo's work." Said Juliet.
"Welcome to the family." Said Max as he grabbed her hands.
"But, how do I get all of us out of this? I mean, we're in a metal room in a building that could be hundreds of stories high and be thousands of feet in length. You guys just have stupid problems, like with police or mob members, problems that can be solved by just sitting around." Stated Juliet.
"Ha, we don't ask for those kinds of consequences, we're just lucky." Said Theresa. "Now, maybe we could all pretend to be dead, and he'd plant us safely in a graveyard."
"No! She has to learn to solve her own problems, so we can't do that idea, we have to do whatever she comes up with!" Yelled Jerry.
"Dad, isn't it more important that all of us not die, than Juliet learning the ways in which we work to solve the consequences of our actions?" Asked Justin.
"-No." Said Jerry with a serious look on his face.
"Uh, uh, I don't know." Said Juliet in a frightened voice.
"Ha, this is great, I mean, you all thought I'd be the one to kill all of us, but it's Juliet, take that, I'm no longer the worst member of this family." Said Max.
"We're happy for ya Max." Said Justin in a dull voice.
"This is no time to be happy, we have to find a way out of this!" Yelled Theresa.
"Maybe we can annoy him, so much, he has no choice but to let us go!" Yelled Kramer.
"No, he's on T.V, he can just turn himself off." Said Juliet. "Ha, maybe we can do something about that screen of his, if we could cut the wires, he wouldn't be able to see what we do, and we can escape."
"That's too complicated! Now you're getting to be just like Justin with your intelligent thinking. Well let me tell you, it hasn't been intellectual strategy that has kept the Russo's from dying out before their next of kin is born, but sheer dumb luck complimented by even dumber ideas." Stated Jerry.
"I have to agree, I don't know where Justin gets it." Said Theresa. "My family's the same way, only we don't have magic to fall back on."
"Well, I, ha, what's that sound?" Asked Juliet as a hissing sound came from all around them.
"Oh, I really want to be dead." Said Max.
"Me to, but that's ordinary for me." Said Theresa as the group fell on the ground, unconscious from the gas.
Back to the forest which Alex had been walking deeper into for three days now, Alex had trusted her path to the magic necklace around her neck which she was convinced was linked to Mason by his love for her it was still early in the morning, but the thick brush made it feel like dusk no matter what time of day it was on the outside. "Mason, I'm close, I can feel it, just a little further." Said Alex as she moved further into the forest. Near her path a figure ran quickly past her and into the shade of the trees. "Hu, who's that? Oh Mason, I hope you're okay." She moved along cautiously, looking side to side making sure that nobody was still following her. She was not aware that the figure who had run past her was still watching her, she was a woman none the less, with long, ragged hair, and was watching diligently from the cover of the tree.
It had been several hours and was nearly two p.m when the Russo's woke up to their new setting. It was a room, metal much like the previous one they had been in, but it was even darker, and had a hint of blue to it. "Uh, where are we? The last thing I remember is getting hit by a shovel and blacking out." Stated Juliet.
"That must have been a dream brought on by the gas." Suggested Theresa.
"No, before we went out I found a shovel and hit Juliet with it, nobody kills us without vengeance!" Yelled Justin. "I'm sorry, not really."
"Oh, that's fine, I think that shovel jolted my memory, and I got the base of an idea to save our lives, but I'd better wait to tell you before it's all worked out, don't want to get anybody's feelings up and shoot them down." Stated Juliet.
"I was shot down when I found out an honorary member of our family was getting all of us killed!" Yelled Jerry.
"Don't yell! My head still hurts from the gas." Said Max grabbing his head.
"Uh, what do you think he'll do to us?" Asked Kramer.
"I don't know, I hope it's nothing with water, cause this outfit it dry clean only." Said Justin in an annoyed voice.
"Attention, it's me again!" Yelled the man from the screen.
"Hi!" Yelled Max as he waved to the screen.
"Max, no." Said Theresa.
"Sorry." Said Max looking at the screen.
"It is time for you to be tested, and by tested, I mean tortured! Now, as you can see, you are all bolted to the floor, and in five minutes, the floor will collapse, and you will fall to your death, unless you unlock yourselves, with the keys that can only be obtained by killing the person across from you." Stated the man.
"Ha, how do we know you're not lying?" Asked Jerry.
"Good luck." Said the man as he disappeared from the screen.
"Oh, we've only got five minutes, what do we do, what do we do?" Whined Juliet.
"Ah!" Yelled Jerry as he took his battle weapon that had been assigned to him and started attacking Justin.
"Ah! What are you doing!" Yelled Justin.
"He said, the only way to save ourselves, was to kill..." Started Jerry as he shot at Justin.
"Wait, there must be some other way. Now, we have to think, how is it that when one of us dies, the other gets the keys?" Asked Justin.
"We'll find out!" Yelled Jerry as he shot Justin.
"Will you, ah!" Yelled Justin as he threw his battle piece of metal at Jerry.
"Oh! Okay, do your thinking." Said Jerry as he fell on the ground with his hand on his head.
"Okay, the way I figure, the keys are operated on a pulley, and the pulleys are triggered by sideways pressure on the chains, so if he drop on the floor, all of us will get our keys, it's that easy." Said Justin.
"Okay, on three, one..." Started Juliet.
"Oh!" Yelled Theresa as she fell on the floor, and the key was given to Juliet.
"Ha, yes!" Yelled Juliet as she started to unlock her shackles.
"Stupid girl! You have to fall first to give mom the key!" Yelled Justin.
"I know, ah fine, guess it's my duty to save as many people in this family as possible." Stated Juliet as she readied to fall on the ground. "Uh."
"Uh." The entire group dropped at the same time, and soon after the keys were lowered to them. "Ha ha." Said the group as they unlocked themselves.
"Now hurry!" Yelled Justin as they ran to the door and exited the room.
A few moments later the floor began to collapse, and the screen came on. "Okay, let's see who gets it!" Yelled the man as he watched the vacant floors fall with no people to be lost with it. "Uh, uh, grr!" Yelled the man as steam shot out of his ears. "This will not rest!"
In the forest, it was nearly four p.m, and it was now going on nightfall. Alex was about to give up for the day and find a hollow tree to rest in for the night, until the necklace began to glow a more passionate color, in a brighter hue, and present a greater sense of unity than it had in her entire journey. She knew then that Mason was within an hour's walk on her, and she sent off more diligently than ever. "Don't worry Mason, we'll be together soon!" She yelled as she ran to him. She ran, her hair blowing in the wind, her clothing pulled back be her fast paced movements, and the shining jewel swinging all about, waiting to be united with its lonely heart.
The group had again been put into a state of unconsciousness by the man, and had just woken up in an unfamiliar setting, this one was the worst of all. It was late, seven o'clock, but the lateness of the day had no effect on the company, for the sense of their demise over powered their tiredness. This room was the darkest off the three rooms they had been in, but this one had the strongest hint of red, not bright red, the kind that can only be described as the same hue of blood just as it seeps from a new wound. This was the shade amongst the darkness that worried the group, and now they feared every minute, waiting for the man on the screen to again test their lives. Their wait was soon over, for he appeared on the screen without warning. "Ah!" Yelled the group as they fell on the ground.
"Shut up! You may have cheated my torture before, but this time, I assure you, that at least one, if not all of you will come out of this test dead." Stated the man.
"Ah, why are you so insane? Why can't you kill somebody else's family?" Asked Theresa.
"I don't take suggestions! Now, you are all standing on a platform that will collapse into a pit of lava, only this time, you have only one key, and it can only open one door, and each on you has only one door that you can exit from. The key you have will open a door on the case to your left, it will only open one of the doors, which contains only one of the keys to one of the doors, you must decide who will live, good luck. Ha ha!" He laughed as the screen shut off.
"Ah, this is horrible!" Yelled Juliet.
"How are we going to choose between our family?" Asked Theresa.
"I know we're selfish, but we would never betray another one of us to death." Stated Jerry.
"Ya, no matter how bad the situation may seem, no matter how hopeless, the Russo's always stick together, right until the end!" Yelled Justin.
"We won't do it!" Yelled Max.
"You heard us, nobody is going to tear the Russo's apart!" Yelled Theresa to the blank screen.
"Ya, let's get it on!" Yelled Kramer with his fists in the air.
"Hu, hu!" Yelled Justin as he used the key to unlock a case with a hammer in it. He used the hammer to break the glass on every door on the case. "Hurry!" Yelled Justin as the group each grabbed their keys and left through their doors.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Yelled the man as he banged his head into a brick wall, smashed a plant in a vase, and rubbed the soil all over his face. "I, can't, take this! Ah, ah!" You have not heard the last of me!"
The group had all arrived in a central room, the same hue as the other one, and were all nervous. "Ah, where do we go now?" Asked Justin.
"Nowhere! This ends now! Prepare to meet your fate!" Yelled the man as he pulled all the switches on his wall.
"Whoa!" Yelled the group as death stars, pieces of metal from the ceiling and shards of glass shot at them from every corner.
"Run!" Yelled Justin as they ran from the spot the roof was targeting, and fell on the floor.
"Ah!" Yelled the man as he pulled his levers higher, speeding up the production of the weapons tenfold. The walls began to shake, and fall apart. "Oh no, ah!" Yelled the man as the shattered walls dropped their debris on him.
"Come on, this place is going down!" Yelled Juliet as they ran for a hole in the wall across the room.
"Coming, co, oh!" Yelled Jerry as a piece of brick fell from the ceiling onto his head.
"Come on Jerry!" Yelled Theresa as she helped Jerry to the exit. The whole family ran past the falling debris, and left through the hole.
In the forest, Alex had been running for some time, and now the necklace had calmed, leaving her feeling it had all been a hoax. She hopelessly turned a corner, and found Mason sitting by a river tossing rocks in. "Mason!" Yelled Alex as she ran to embrace him.
"Alex? What are you doing here?" Asked Mason.
"I had to find you, cause I can't live without you. Mason, why did you leave?"
"I found out what you did, how you told the Wizard Council about my family."
"Mason, I'm sorry, I didn't know, I'm sorry."
"Why didn't you tell me, once you found out?" Asked Mason.
"Well, I, I didn't tell you, because I couldn't bear to lose you, not again." Said Alex holding back tears.
"Alex, I understand, you didn't mean to hurt me, but it hurts me that you would keep this from me, to let me go the rest of my life not knowing. Alex, if we don't have trust, how can we have anything else?"
"I'm sorry, but I'll change, I'll never keep anything from you again. Secrets tear people apart from each other, and if you don't have trust with those you love, who can you have trust with? Mason, I promise, no more secrets, not with you."
"Alright, if you can trust me, I can trust you." Said Mason as he hugged Alex.
"Mason, I know I tore your family from you, but I want to make it up, to let you, join our family, what do you say? Will you come back?"
"Okay, I'll join your family, and I'll never leave, not without you." Said Mason.
"Oh Mason, I've never been so happy, I jus..." Started Alex.
She was interrupted when three people ran out of the forest and attacked them. A man grabbed Alex and began to pull her away. "Alex!" Yelled Mason as he ran to save her, but he was pushed on the ground by another of the three, before he could get back up, they had already gotten a fair distance away, and had Alex with them. "Alex! Uh, Alex." Said Mason as he stood there, and watched the men disappear with his love.
Will Alex and Mason ever be back together? Who are the people that stole Alex? Who is the woman that has been watching Alex? Did the group make it out before the building collapsed on them? What will come of the family after this experience? You'll know if you read the other 356 days in the year in the life of the Russo's, "I've got a secret."