Chapter 8 Mummy Memories

Haku, Nikki, and Zabuza followed the trail to where it stopped. Using the switch on the compartment didn't work so they had to use the gears for the mechanism and solve the puzzle to get it working again. They carefully used the staircase below to trek deeper and deeper into the dark chilly corridor. They were in what must have been the basement and there was only light coming from one entryway. Upon further examination the room was unattended but shocking. Inside giant test tubes were what looked like mummified bodies, wearing torn versions of the clothing that the ghost wear, and torn skin that wore the marks of a great battle. Checking their communicator's image proves it.

"I guess this place has familiar skeletons in their closet." thought Nikki. "You can say that again" said another voice in her head. "How long have they been there? They look mummified." Said a third voice.

"Well, well. I guess we found out why this is frequent haunt." Zabuza said

"How- why would anyone do this? They must have been here since they went missing." said Haku.

"Maybe to keep a secret or hide something. Maybe if we solve the mystery and give them a proper burial that will help."

"Are we just going to carry them out now?" Asked Zabuza.

"No that's more of a local cop matter. For now maybe we should take pictures and contact Otto and Rose." Nikki replied. Haku and Zabuza used this time to learn how and caught on fairly quickly. When they moved to the last one there was a bloated envelope stained red. Haku opened it with his senbon ready to strike, inside was a small hamster doll's body and a stained list. The stolen items were only some on the list and had names next to them. What caught their attention was number 13. Stray dog head: Rose.

When the three ran to meet Rose they noticed she and her car were missing. Nikki called Otto to explain and he told them to wait in the nearby diner about three blocks west called Hann's Soul and Griddle. The plan suited them fine since Zabuza was still hungry and that cake smell hadn't died down. "At least she has the consideration to stay closer to Haku." Thought Zabuza. While they walked a black box materialized out of nowhere and Nikki put the hamster inside. Haku read the notes stapled to the list.

September 13 1983

Our parents were on to something when they were our age. They wanted to prove that life meant something and the bad feeling that it wasn't was just a boogey man that scared people at night. They looked high and low for things that meant something, made their lives something. They got attention and everyone made them celebrities. They could have had it all but their god said it wasn't enough.

September 15 1983

Today I gathered the other kids whose parents had the same idea years ago. We whisper in the dark like it's a secret we weren't supposed to know but they keep the newspaper clippings and ashes, there's even some kinda record in the library wherever they put stuff about this place's history. We're going to make a heap to show Logan to keep trying to not give up. He wanted to take on the world before but now he just says "I'm not a kid anymore I guess feeling this way is a part of growing up." Then he laughs like it's a sour sweet joke. We're going to make a mountain to show everything has meaning. Everyone give what their parents gave and extra. We will even find other kids in our school that knew Logan to give. We want the world to see how meaningful we and the meaning are.

November 23 1983

We were caught. Mom is talking about taking me and transferring to another design school. Everyone else is moving away too after the semester. Even the town wants us out and is paying people to leave. We aren't even half way done, but Lucy decided that we pretend to get detention or after school or tutoring or act like we joined a club. Never together and acting normal so we can have more free time to finish. What's the point of no Christmas if I can't figure out why we should celebrate Christmas?

December 15 1983

We went to meet again and Erik said he wouldn't do what was asked. He wants out but we won't let him. We all agreed to be in this together and if he doesn't then he'll just have to have an accident after his basketball game. Douglass is also on the team. Some of the sacrifices are bloody but if our parents did it so can we. The other classes backed out but we'll watch them and make them pay if they tell.

December 23

Things went wrong during the meeting. We wanted to show Logan what we had since the hospital said he could come home. He laughed and Gemma slapped him. Everyone else circled and beat him then each other, grabbing anything they could from the pile. I tried to leave but the doors were locked. When we were too tired to fight anymore we found out that someone locked the doors and nobody could hear us cry out. There's no may to get out and we'll have to survive until our parents look for us. We were lucky that we brought tons of snacks.

December 25

MOMMY MOMMY MOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMoMmMYmOMMYmOMMyMomMYYYYYYYYYYYYY

February 8th

Everything is cold nobody is left. I don't want to say this was for nothing, but now I know why mommy said you should never mess with meaning writing is the only thing that keeps me-

The rest was cut off. Haku Nikki and Zabuza were just approaching the diner and Haku gave the sheets for Nikki to put in the box she summoned. The group had spent some time raking through the yearbooks and traveling though the not so well kept roads and as a result have been in town for hours. They were getting hungry, especially since Nikki ate before going into work and Zabuza wasn't used to her perfume. Otto arrived while they were waiting for the hostess to seat them but they decided to get their food to go, sharing their findings on the ride to the police station. Otto still needed to find Rose and had tried calling twice. With sirens ringing through the streets he rushed to the apartments first and hoped he was right.