Chapter 5; Mr. Banana (Pronounced: Buh=Nah=Nah), CA, America

Mr. B. was assigned Mr. Smith's unfinished case. When he first heard it, he was freaked out. What could cause a sane man to… go crazy like that?

Plus, everything about the case was weird. The writing, the obsessive behavior, the children- ah the children. What was up with them anyway? Mr. Banana shrugged the thoughts out of his head. It was spooky, that was for sure, but the pieces of the puzzle had to fit together.

But, there was one undeniable piece of evidence he couldn't dismiss: the children's stories.

Over five hundred children were messed up in the head. Could it be something they saw on tv? Or maybe it was the school's fault? Perhaps the war was to blame?

All the man knew was that the children were sick, and scared, from this unknown disease. Some things were the same about the children; their ages, for example.

Sammy Sims: Eight

Betty Willis: Six

Burson (Last name unknown): Seven

And, the youngest, a girl named Renee, who was only four.

The list went on, and on, and on, and Banana was concentrating on the similarities with all the children. Some facts differed, like how the children acted before they went… (he struggled with the words)… insane.

As he dug deeper, some things became clear- something was definitely up.

…

One night, the detective was studying the files Mr. Smith had left. Then, as if a lightbulb had gone off in his head, he remembered something he had forgotten about. It was a word Mr. Smith had wrote about in his journal a few times.

Yes, that's right, he had a journal. But, unfortunately, the government has taken it away as "evidence".

But, suddenly, the man remembered that one word: Butterscotch.

And that was the key.

After a few moments of thinking, he remembered it.

Butterscotch. It was shown to enhance dreams. The Russian government had been exposed for using it with one of their primitive experiments. But the question was; Why did this brilliant scientist leave it all over the place? Why?

But, in an instant, Banana grinned. He went, no, raced, to his box of Smith's papers. Furiously, he flung papers all around the dimly lit room. Finally, he found it: A note written in code. Within minutes, he decoded it to say the following.

It read:

Dear reader, my soul goes out to you. Either they have gotten to me already, or you have solved the crime. The message is simple: Russia is ahead. They have already begun brainwashing their children. When the children grow, they will be obedient and emotionless.

But, America has started something else. Something worse. We have been messing with children's dreams, their sacred place. While I find this immoral and wrong, the government has been sending messages only the children can see. These are otherwise known as subliminal messages.

In order to test this, they sent butterscotch to the children, which was one out of many attacks on the children's minds. I don't know what happened in their dreams, but it made them scared, mad and just plain crazy.

Then, from my research, they tested the children even more, trying to see how long they would last without breaking. All I know is that some were sent to asylums, and came back normal.

I have found a few clues though; the government is trying to train them to become-

The note ended abruptly. Banana sat motionless. What the…? What were they trying to do? Why had Smith left it like this?

Sighing, Banana decided to take it up a notch.