Chapter Three

(Hey, y'all. I'm so sorry that I posted the second chapter of this Halloween special story. I was just so busy with chemistry homework, school, and athletics and I didn't have enough time to work on the chapter. I promise you, the readers/viewers, that I'll post at least two chapters, if I can, tonight.

-imaginarytoon1)

Beatrice:

I freaked out when I got a phone call from Aunt Maddie. With shaky hands, I picked up the phone and then, it slipped out of my hands, causing the batteries to fly out after landing hard on the cold floor.

Stop shaking! I shouted to myself, mentally. Just talk to Aunt Maddie like there's nothing wrong!

I quickly put the batteries back in to the phone and called Aunt Maddie. After two hums, I muttered, "Pick the phone!"
Then, I heard a "Hello?"

"Hey, Aunt Maddie. This is Beatrice. I'm sorry for not picking up the phone earlier. The phone slipped out of my hands."

"Oh, it's okay, Beatrice. I just called to see if Lexi is doing all right." Aunt Maddie replied.

Thanks to the time when Eddie Valiant, Tommy, and I hid Roger in the sink, I came up with an improvised lie.

"Lexi is doing all right. She's taking a nap right now because we both had a long day today. We drove around town, read some books at the library, played on the playground, had lunch, and we even helped some people carry in some donated canned goods to the donation center." I lied.

Despite of this being useful (well, kind of), I felt really terrible. I mean, it's wrong to lie and whenever I do that, I feel like I don't have a heart full of honesty.

"Oh, wow! Those activities sound like fun." Aunt Maddie said. "Again, I just want to make sure if Lexi's all right and I wanted to tell you that your mom and I are hanging out at this beach pier that looks really cool. Just call me if you have any questions, 'kay?"

"Yes, ma'am." I replied.

"See you in a few days!"

We hung up.

I regretted lying to Aunt Maddie but I don't know how to explain the kidnapping of Lexi. But I didn't have a choice. If I told Aunt Maddie the truth, then she'll freak out and have a search party looking around my home and all over Houston, possibly over the United States. She and Mom will probably never trust me again.

Right now, all I can do is just walk around in circles, stare at the wall, climb on my favorite tree and hang upside down on the highest branch until I feel light-headed, and probably play sad songs on the piano without even bothering to stop, eat, drink, and even face the fact that Mom, Dad, and Aunt Maddie will be mad at me for the rest of my life.

I walked to the piano and stared out into space. While doing that, I pictured what Mom and Aunt Maddie would do once they find out about Lexi.

I walk out of my bedroom with black circles around my eyes and my Katniss Everdeen braid in a tangled mess and I look like a wild child. Handmade 'Missing' posters are scattered all over my bedroom floor and in the hallway.

Mom's car drives up to the garage and I hear Mom and Aunt Maddie shout, "WE'RE HERE!"

I quickly pick up the posters and hide them underneath my bed. I ran out of my room and greeted Mom and Aunt Maddie with an unconvincing smile.

"Beatrice, what's happened to you? Are you all right?" Mom asked.

"Where's Lexi?" Aunt Maddie asked.

"HIDING! We're playing hide and seek! Lexi's awfully good!" I replied with a hint of frustration and craziness in my voice.

"Beatrice, what are you stepping on?" Mom asked after looking down.

I looked down at my foot and I saw that I had a poster stuck on to it.

"Where's Lexi, Beatrice?" Aunt Maddie asked me with anger.

"ALL RIGHT! I'LL ADMIT IT!" I exclaimed. "LEXI IS GONE! SOMEONE SNUCK IN THE GUEST BEDROOM AND TOOK HER AWAY! I THOUGHT THAT SHE WAS SLEEPING IN!"

Then, Mom and Aunt Maddie look at me with cold, angry stares.

"Beatrice, you're better than that." Mom said.

"I even asked you-"

My thought was interrupted by myself. I interrupted my thought by going from staring out into space to playing an angry song on the piano. The feeling of anger from one of Michael Jackson's music videos possesses my fingers and the feeling urges me to play They Don't Really Care About Us, written by the King of Pop himself. I played and played and played and played…and I didn't even stop. I continued to play They Don't Really Care About US until it was dark outside.

After hitting the last key to end the song, I looked at the clock that hung over the oven. It was eight-thirty at night.

Dang! I thought. I didn't know that I can play that long!

Although playing the piano usually makes me less stressed or frustrated, I was still angry with myself.

If I didn't leave the guest bedroom, then Lexi wouldn't have been kidnapped. Why can't I go back to the past and undo everything? Then, Lexi would've been safe and I wouldn't have to deal with this stressful time. And why do I have to deal with serious situations whenever I'm alone?! I could use some help from somebody right now but I don't think they'll be helpful because they'll think—

RRRRRROWRRRR…

I straightened up in surprise.

What was that? I thought.

"Who's that?" I called.

RRRRRRRR…

"Who's there?" I asked again nervously.

There was silence for a small period of time and then I heard the sound again. It was faint but after listening to the sound carefully, it sounded like someone was over-exaggerating a purring cat and mixing it with a whirring lawn mower.

RRRROWRRRR!

"All right, who's there?!" I shouted angrily.

The sound stopped making noise and something told me that something was up. I had to find the source of the sound and it was coming from outside.

I ran to my dad's office and took out a headlamp that he kept in one of his desk drawers. I strapped it around my head and turned it on. I ran to Tommy's bedroom and looked in to one of his dresser drawers. I knew that in one of Tommy's dresser drawers, there's a paintball gun hidden for defense reasons. Although I don't fully remember on how to work the paintball gun, I knew that it was a little bit better than an aluminum baseball bat.

I carefully walked to the front door and took a deep breath. I grabbed the knob and twisted it very slowly. The door squeaked a little as I slowly pulled it open. My heart was beating fast and sweat droplets were running down my forehead. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the house.

With Tommy's paintball gun ready, I closed the door, turned to my left, and ran like a military soldier on a battle field. I pointed the paintball gun to a bush and I continued to run. That's all I'm doing right now, pointing the gun at random objects and running around the house.

My face was completely covered with sweat after I ran around the house for the twenty-fifth time. When I was about to go around the house the twenty-six and a half time, something underneath the rim of the guest bedroom window caught my attention.

I carefully walked to the window and aimed the head lamp at it. There were at least eight to nine scratch marks that led to the bottom of the window and four oval-shaped footprints on the ground. They displayed the idea of someone walking to and away from the window. In every footprint, there was a thick straight line that would've divided the footprints by thirds. I even saw two dots on the upper half and one dot that crossed the middle and lower half of the footprints. Right beside the footprints, there was wavy line that looked like a giant snake had slithered on my property.

As if I was a part of the crime show CSI, I did a close-up witness point of view flashback thing in my head. I saw…Smarty walk to the window and then, he opens the window and climbs into the guest bedroom. He climbs out of the window with Lexi in a burlap sack and drags her away.

I stopped doing the flashback sequence when I realized that I was thinking of the impossible again.

After deciding to move on with my life, without worrying about the Toon Patrol, I walked back in to the house, locked the door, and collapsed on the couch in exhaustion. The paintball gun landed on the floor with a small THUD.

Then, I heard the RRRROWRRR noise again.

"WHO'S THERE?!" I exclaimed.

After yelling, I heard somebody knocking and shaking the door. I quietly walked back to the door and slowly, I opened it.

"Who's there?" I called out in the dark.

(To be continued...)