writing
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Maddie sat at her desk in her room. Three weeks had passed since she and her friends made that life-changing trip into Painscreek and school was about to start tomorrow. What’s more, she returned home with a souvenir—the tape from the answering machine at Ann’s Inn. She had it copied a few days ago with…
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In an expensive neighborhood of the city, two officers and a detective approached the door of a townhouse. The detective knocked. A man answered the door. “Yes,” he said. “Are you Bernard Hopkins,” the detective asked. “He has the day off. Has something happened?” “You’re Charles Roberts?” “I am.” “I’m Detective Gareth Wilson. We have…
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The tape stopped. Janet stood horrified, hardly breathing. Her phone rang, startling her. She took a few breaths as she grabbed her phone. “Hello,” she shakily answered. “Janet,” Caylix said, shouting over the sounds of police sirens heard in the distance. “Are you at the church?” “I am. I—” “Maddie said you would be. Listen,…
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“Mind if I smoke,” Scott asked, taking out his pack. “It’s gonna be a long story and it’ll take a while for police and a coroner to get here.” No one minded, as they were all outside. He sat down, the teens around him, and lit up a cigarette. Connor began recording before asking if…
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Being in the church for the first time, she wanted to take her time, mainly to find out where to use the key she just found. She soon found the confessional booths and thought it was a logical place for the matching lock. She eventually realized that there were no locks, save the six-digit combination…
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The teens waited inside the cabin for Janet. Merc went to the basement with Lydia to look around Scott’s room again, but they quickly returned to the others. “We can’t get into Scott’s room,” Lydia said. “The door’s jammed.” “Something probably fell over on the other side,” Merc assumed. “It’s fine,” Maddie said. “We have…
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They met the boys at the front steps of the hospital. They explained that they combed every part of the sewers that they could get into but did not find a key. As the six of them made their way to Dr. Johnson’s office, the power’s return was self-evident. “And that thing you did find,”…
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The next day, Sunday, the group met for breakfast, not really knowing what to do next, besides heading for the playground to look for a tree stump with a 24-year-old present that might not even be there anymore. They seemed closer to the truth, yet further away at the same time. Given Steve Moss’s notes,…
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During dinner, seeing Sofia’s chest and the combination buttons, Lydia used the numbers on the locket found at Scott’s cabin on it. It worked and the group went through the contents. Inside was a sewing kit, some blue yarn, a pair of scissors, and some letters from Father Matthew, who was in Indonesia on missionary…
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They approached the playground on the way to the hunting cabin Scott stayed in before running away from Painscreek. “Hey, this was where that kid disappeared. The one on the missing person’s flyer in the inn and the hospital,” Caylix noted. “One case at a time, Callie,” Connor said. “Yeah,” Merc added. “We need to…
A. Renee Art 