Chapter 3

"You mean Runo just told the figure, her personal and social information?" creied Julie. "It was not on purpose"Runo countered. "Look, let's get down to the bottom of this" Alice said. "How?" Runo and Julie chorused. "Since the police won't help us, we have got to investigate by ourselves" Alice said. "wow!, we will be like secret agents or private eyes or , or….." Julie started.

"Like sleuths" Runo said.

"Yeah! Sleuths"

"Now, first thing first, we have to search for clues."

"Like what"

"Excuse me milady, but I request to accompany you for this so called investigation" Tigrerra said.

"Me too" said Hydranoid

"Yeah what they said" Gorem inserted.

Thanks Tig, but no thanks. There will be no point in you guys coming because it's not like were gonna be fighting any Bakugan.

"Yes, I know milady by I still implore tha…"

"We'll be fine Tigrera," Runo said whilst giving a small grin.

"Okay if you say so but please do be careful," Tigrerra added. The bakugan rolled off to discuss.

"I wonder what they are saying" Julie asked. "Who cares," Runo replied. "Let's get back to business, do you remember the wanted poster." "Yeah?" Alice and Julie said in unison. "Well, there was no telephone number on it, no reward and no signature of authority." "Meaning that…."Julie remarked. "The wanted posters must be fake and are just there to hide something, but what?"

"Where was the first place you saw one of the posters" Alice inquired.

"It was fluttering down from somewhere but landed on my doorstep." At that moment, as strange as it could be a knife fell down, luckily none of the girls were hurt. On the knife, there was an inscription saying: The clock strikes twelve when three were gone.

"The clock strikes twelve when three were gone, what's that suppose to mean2 asked Julie. "I don't know but we better find out," answered Alice. "You mean all by ourselves?" Runo asked. "Yeah, come on, it will be a change from a normal Saturday" Alice said. "It may be dangerous" Julie said, "Maybe we should tell the police." "The police will just think we are pranking them again" Alice said. "Time to solve a mystery?" chorused the three girls. The three girls ran down the road to Runo's house to search for clues. When they got to her doorstep, there was mysterious note saying."

"Beware for now, A!"

"What's A? Someone's name" Julie asked.
"Or maybe it's an initial?" Runo wondered.

"Either of the two, come on let's go?" Alice told them. They went round the corner and to their horror saw the figure from a distance. "Hide, quick!" Julie hissed.

The three girls quickly hid behind the corner and only Alice was confident enough to peek around the corner. "He is walking towards a tree and is carrying something with it" Alice said. "I wonder why…" Alice was pulled by her friends into an alley. "Hey!" Alice exclaimed. "Shhh!" Runo whispered. "Look!" It was strange, the strange figure that Alice just saw around the corner going towards the next street was comin from a street in front of the girls.

"This is really freaky" whispered Julie.

"Yeah" the two girls said shivering.

"But we have to get to the bottom of this." Runo said.

"Yeah"

"Come on, this night" Alice said.

"At my house" Runo said.

"7:00 pm" Julie said.

"Time to solve a MYSTERY!" They chorused with confidence.

"7:00 pm, we're all here" Alice said. She handed them two torch lights, a beeper and a small pen knife. It was kind of dark but lively.

The three girls walked down the alley, streets and corners for two hours. "We'll never find anything" said Runo.

"Shhh!"

A dark figure was walking down the street. "Just keep quiet, you two, okay?" Alice asked. "Okay" said Runo. No reply from Julie. "Hey Julie?" Alice said. Still no reply. " Where is Julie?" cried Runo . There was a note that fluttered towards Alice which said: Gotcha!

Oh my God, he's got Julie!" the two girls shrieked. They ran out of the alley in fright down to central park. They were seriously panting and crying. "What are we going to do, Julie's gone." Runo cried. "I'll tell what we are gonna do, we are going to find her, Julie may be anywhere but we'll find her." Alice told her. "Alice, we are being watched, how else would he have gotten Julie?"

"Runo, that's the whole point of the search, we don't know what he'll do to her if we don't find her."

"Yeah, you're right, come on, let's go," The two girls went further into the park. "It's kind of quiet," Runo said, "and less lively, what's the time?"

"9:00 pm, man my grand parents are gonna kill me when I get home." Alice sighed. "If you…..I mean we get home," Runo mumbled under her breath.

Not far from them, they heard a swishing sound and they ran in fright. They ran without realising where they were going. They ran to the front of a closed shop or at least, they thought it was closed. "We'll be safe." Alice panted. But alas, there was a familiar creaking. A door from the opposite shop opened slightly in the breeze. Runo thought the creaking was from the opposite door and didn't want to see the figure. She ran as fast as she could back to the park.

"Hey Alice, are you ok…

There was no reply, just silence.

"Alice? Answer me, where are you?" Runo asked shivering.

But then, she went to a nearby tree to sulk and saw an inscription on the bark.

"Gotcha Again!"

Runo screamed and ran away. She had finally understood the inscriptions; Clock strikes twelve when three were gone, she the next to go. It was already fifteen minutes to twelve. She ran to the town square where the town's clock tower was. "I wish that Dan was here" she whispered to herself. She went up to the door but when she saw a piece of paper caught on the branch of a nearby tree. She took it and saw to her horror: 15 minutes more!

"Runo, Runo!" there was a shout from above. A familiar shout. She looked above and gave a glad shout.

"Julie, Alice! Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah!"

"Where are you?"

"In the clock tower"

Runo ran up to the door, turned the knob and opened the door and just before she ran inside to meet her friends, the dark figure was standing right in front of her!

The clock tower struck twelve. It was already midnight! Runo with all her confidence pushed against the dark figure. She felt that the figure was grinning menacingly at her as she scaled the stairs. She ran with all her might to the top floor. When she got there, she was already tired but when she saw Julie and Alice, she was so happy. She hadn't realised that it was a trap. The dark figure stood in front of Runo before she could reach her friends and took out a sharp knife.

"Runo run!" Julie and Alice cried. Runo ducked the swishing knife and ran to her pals. They had been tied to the tower's bell balcony. She remembered the knife they saw and picked up. She brought it out of her pocket and cut the ropes that tied her friends. After freeing them, Runo showed them the notes she had picked. Now, the dark figure had climbed to the bell balcony and started to run after them, they ran in the opposite direction. They met two cloaked figures running towards them. That's when it became clear to the girls. There were three dark figures, which was the reason why they had all seen dark figures. When they saw one, the other two would creep up to them but how did know where the girls where? The three figures chased the girls into a corner all of the having in their possession, knives.

Meanwhile, at home each girl's parents were in despair. The girls had left the neighbourhood since 7:00 pm. Each parent, especially Runo's mum, had called the police and a thorough search of the city commenced. They had searched late into the night. Runo's dad was being comforted along with Alice's granddad and Julie's parents. A policewoman came back with a report that a woman had seen three girls being chased by a dark unidentified being towards an alley. "I asked the woman in which direction, she said towards the park" reported the policewoman. "Which park?" Julie's mum inquired.

"I think central park, I'm not sure," she replied.

"Let's go and check the park" shouted on the policemen.

So, all the policemen and policewomen, accompanied by each girl's parents went to Central Park.

THE END

OR IS IT?