After Gwen had proved that the journal was the one, we investigated further, careful not to leave the locket near the journal, because we were fearful that it would somehow attract the locket and we would have to go through that "glass-shattering" process again. Everyone was huddled around the journal, Gwen in the middle, who was clasping the journal tightly in her hands, as if she thought it was going to fly away from her. Her knuckles were turning white, but no one, except me, seemed to notice. Their eyes were fixated on the journal.
Gwen was currently reading the first few pages aloud, starting with the first sentence she had already read, "If you're reading this, you've just uncovered a journal that has been written in for over five hundred years. I am the current owner of the journal and I have read what people have written about the Death Disc. You see, that is what this whole journal is about. Anyone who has come into contact with the mystery has documented their findings in this journal and it has been passed on from generation to generation for the past five hundred years.
"The first owner of this journal was Amerigo Vespucci. You can read about his findings if you proceed to page five. Anyway, Amerigo Vespucci discovered the mainland of the New World and on his first voyage he sailed to Central America and discovered the Dark Falls Island, approximately 3,000 miles north from where he was.
"A letter was written to give proof of his voyage, but many people think it was forged and that his voyage to the Dark Falls Island and his secret discovery of the Death Disc never happened. But, people who have written in this journal know better than to think that. His voyage to the Dark Falls Island actually occurred, and he came upon some very dreadful secrets.
"Now, to get on with the point, this journal can help you solve the mystery and if you continue to read on you too will come upon some very dreadful secrets."
Everyone's mouth hung open after Gwen had finished reading the first few pages in the journal. Gwen had stuttered on the last sentence, so it had been hard to understand what she was saying exactly, but we all got the gist.
"Oh, my God," Sam said in response to what we had just heard – or read, in Gwen's case.
"Yeah!" I acknowledged Sam, "I mean, if it is true that Vespucci actually had that first voyage and explored the Dark Falls Island, than there has to be more answers to other historical mysteries in the journal."
"Wow," David exclaimed, his eyes unfocused and in a far-away place. That was all he said.
"Okay, so maybe we should take turns reading the journal and sticky-note important things we find, that way we can use them as clues to help us solve the mystery of the Death Disc further. I still don't understand some things and I want to make things clearer for everyone, not just myself," Sam came up with a plan.
"Ooh, good idea," Tanner congratulated him, patting him on the back to show his support of the idea, since they were sitting right beside each other. I admired how good of friends Sam and Tanner were. We all used to be friends – Sam, Tanner, Gwen, and I – but things were starting to change. This mystery was somehow poisoning our friendship. A lot of things had come up because of the mystery – like how Gwen was upset with Sam for being too bossy, and how Gwen was becoming more distant from the group. Sam and Tanner were boys, so their thought of friendship was different, and Sam and I were in a relationship, so Gwen was being affected by the mystery the most negatively.
I was sorry for her. I didn't have pity for others very frequently, because I saw it as a sign that the other person was weak, but I truly felt sorry for Gwen.
Deeply, so.
* * *
It's been a day and a half since we were forced by Anonymous to stay in the library for three days straight. Everyone's sick out of their minds from being cooped up in the library, and we're all roughly irritated. We've been looking at the journal all day, and all we read were journal entries from people who possessed the journal at some time. Some of them were explorers, but a lot of them were ordinary people coming to the Dark Falls Island because they'd heard of the treasure on the island.
It was my turn to read the journal now, so I picked up where Tanner had left off, and started reading.
December 5, 1607
I've been living on the Dark Falls Island for about two weeks, and it has been most miserable. I was giving this journal by a 50-year-old man who was sick and wanted the journal to be written in again in the future. I am Adelina Aceladora, and I have come here with my family from Spain. Winter is almost upon us and I have heard rumors from all over the Dark Falls Island colonies that this winter will be even worse than past winters. I have heard that a dark being lives underneath the island and has become angry with all the new settlers coming to the island. I hope they are wrong. I hope and pray with my family that everyone will be okay.
Most of the writing was hard to make out, but I was mostly able to read it. This particular page was brownish-yellow in color – as were all the others – and the paper was crinkled in the spot where the journal entry was, so I knew that the person who had written it had been hesitative to write in the journal and must've torn at the page or something out of anxiety.
After reading this, I read many more entries – approximately twenty or so – and my brain hurt after a while. Everyone except David had searched through the journal, but I don't think he would be in the mood, so I closed the journal and laid it on the wooden stand beside the couch.
"Are you ready to get out of here?" Sam asks me as he comes to sit beside me. I make room for him and we lay down on the couch together.
"Yes, and it's really irritating not being allowed to go outside. Plus, we're missing out on school. I know you guys don't like school and probably see this as a good thing, because you don't have to go school, but I'm probably missing important stuff right now! Plus, my parents are going to be worried as hell if I don't come home after school today, and don't even get me started on –" I said hurriedly, but was cut off by Sam.
"It's okay, Astrid. Calm down. Everything's going to be fine. Just relax for a little bit. We'll figure out a way to get out of here when you've rested a bit," Sam encourages me, his voice soothing. I could feel his breath on the nape of my neck, and it tickled my skin as he spoke.
"Wait," I demanded, "you expect me to go to sleep? When so much is at stake?"
"Yes, I do. You need your rest, and stressing yourself out like this is not going to help your mood at all. It's only going to make you feel worse," Sam said, his words making sense to me.
"Fine, you're right. I'll try to get some rest," I gave in, knowing that there was no point in arguing with him.
"Good," he replied, kissing me on the edge of my jaw before lying back down on the couch. We were both ready to go to sleep, and the thought of sleep brought what was coming to me even faster.
I let the darkness overpower me, and I feel into a deep sleep.
* * *
I woke up to the feeling of my phone vibrating against my skin. I lazily sat up, rubbed sleep away from eyes, reached my hand into my pocket, grasped my phone, and pulled it out. A long stream of texts was visible on the screen. Most of them were about why I hadn't come home from school at the usual time, and this freaked me out. I checked the time and I almost screamed as I noticed that it was 5:00 in the evening. I shook Sam awake and Sam groggily asked, "What? Why are you waking me up?"
"Sam, my parents are worried and they don't know where I am? We were supposed to leave the library when school ended, so we could get home in time. Now, my parents are furious," I replied, a hot stream of anger painted onto my face.
Sam stood up, and then yawned. He turned around, so that he was facing me, and took my hands in his. "It's going to be okay, Astrid. I'll go wake up Gwen, Tanner, and David. Then, we can leave. Okay?" Sam reassured me, but a nagging feeling of anxiety was still knotted up inside my stomach.
Also, I had this other feeling that something bad was going to happen, like how I wouldn't be able to explain why I wasn't home after school to my parents. I wasn't going to say I was in the library, that was for sure. But I couldn't exactly say I was with my friends either, because I had been with them last night also. It wouldn't make sense to my parents why I had to hang out with my friends two nights in a row. Maybe I had to say I was with Sam. I was going to have to tell them sometime, so it would be better to do it now than never. I mean, what if something happened to us, and no one ever knew we were dating, besides Tanner and Gwen, that was.
I had been so lost in my own thoughts that when I came out of it, everyone was already awake and walking over to where I was, so we could talk about how we were going to escape. I didn't really want to do this right now, because I needed to talk to Sam privately.
"Hey, guys," I said with unease, my voice rising out of awkwardness.
Sam came to sit next to me on my left, and I rested my head on his shoulder, relishing the feeling of being with him, especially up against him. Gwen came to sit next to me on my right, but a good foot away, so that she wasn't interrupting my moment with Sam. Tanner and David stood, because the couch across from us was too far away, and it would be hard to talk to each other, if they were seated that far away from us.
"Hey," Gwen replied back, her voice in an awkward tone too. Tanner was quiet, and didn't say a thing. I guess he didn't want to say "hi" if his voice was going to sound awkward. Good idea, I thought.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Sam asked, his gaze lingering on David, as if he knew David had an answer for everything and was just withholding it.
David noticed Sam's gaze, and started to speak, "Maybe we can just go. I mean, Anonymous can't really stop us, because if he tries to it's one against five."
"Hmm...," Sam paused, obviously thinking, "that was not the answer I was looking for, but it's a start. It's not that I don't think it's a good idea. It's just that it seems too simple for it to get past Anonymous."
"Well, what other ideas do we have? If Anonymous doesn't have the doors barricaded or guarded by his minions, then there's nothing that's stopping us from leaving," Gwen debated, obviously on David's side, which was weird because we all knew that she had a secret hatred for him. I wonder sometimes if David knows that he's not really in the Team Of Mystery. You know, for a guy who works for Anonymous and seems to know everything about everything, he sure doesn't know how to read people.
I'm not even sure if he knows that Gwen hates him. Poor guy, I thought to myself. My eyes appear sad for a tenth of second, but then go back to normal, so that no one notices.
"Gwen and David are right. We should just leave," Tanner said, laughing at the end. Everyone else started laughing too.
"Just like old times," I commented.
"Yeah," Sam replied, "This is like old times. I mean, not exactly, since David's here and we're being forced to live inside a library that we're about to escape. But pretty close. Pretty close."
* * *
After everyone had stopped laughing, we stood up and casually strolled out of the library. The cool, crisp, evening air felt good against my skin. It was good to finally feel free, after two days of being cooped up in the library. It had made everyone feel crazy, and it had taken the worst toll on Gwen, who had thrown up the other day. I guess that's what we get for waiting to go against Anonymous' orders.
David backtracked around the library and snuck into the woods, where I guess he was living from now on, since it was obvious that he wasn't following Anonymous' orders anymore. So, then it was just the Team Of Mystery. We looked at each other and made a silent decision not to talk to each other. It would be too awkward and the stress of what had happened was still with us.
By the time I reached my house, Sam, Tanner, and Gwen had all gone their separate ways, since their parents' houses were in different places in the neighborhood than mine.
My parents were sitting on the porch, standing up when they saw me. Their faces portrayed worry and concern. I felt a little bad for making them so worried and stressed about where I was, but my friends and I had been forced to stay in the library for the past two days. It wasn't my fault or my friends' faults. It was Anonymous' fault.
"Where have you been, young lady?" my mom asks, her face red with anger, but also filled with concern for me.
I stop below the porch, knowing that I'm not going to be able to get past them, without telling them where I've been. Well, at least lie about where I've been.
I was about to tell them I was with Sam, but I hadn't talked to Sam about it yet, so I had to come up with something else to say that would make sense to them. I hesitated, but, without stuttering, lied to them about where I was, "After school today, I had dinner with my friends. That's it. I promise."
"Where did you eat at?" my father cut in, knowing that if I couldn't answer all their questions than I was lying to them.
"Dan's Steakhouse. It's just a few miles away from school, and we wanted to eat something together," I answered, sweat slightly forming on the back of my neck. The thing was, Dan's Steakhouse was a real restaurant, but I'd never eaten at it in my life. That was the lie.
"Okay, well next time tell us where you're going before you go off eating dinner ten miles away from home. Okay?" my mother pressed, her expression intimidating me, but I stayed neutral.
"Yes, understood," I said, stiff as a statue, before my parents gave the gesture that they were done pressing me and I could go inside. I walk up to my room, and lay on my bed. I was ready to go to sleep, but it was only 6:00 in the evening. The sky outside was a mix between light blue and dark, violet-blue. It was going to get dark eventually, and I needed sleep for tomorrow, because I was going back to school.
Just as I was about to fall asleep, my phone buzzed. I picked it up, thinking that it was Sam, but it wasn't. My face turned ashen as I read the text.
It was from Anonymous.
From: Anonymous
To: Sam, Astrid, Tanner, & Gwen
You thought you could get away that easily? The only reason you're at home right now is because I let you. I wanted to let you go. You see, this isn't meant to be a game, but it can be, as long as I end up with the Death Disc in the end. You guys are about to go down a road that you will never return from. Have fun in hell, Team Of Mystery!
I gasped after I read the text. It hadn't been pleasant at all, and I was going to contact my friends about it, but I was too exhausted. I reluctantly turned my phone to silent and discarded it on the nightstand beside my bed. Before I fell asleep, I thought of possible ways that Anonymous could harm us. Well, I guess Sam was the lucky one in all this. He lived in a mansion with high security, because his dad was the mayor. But, Tanner, Gwen, and I lived in regular suburban houses. We weren't safe.
I soon fell into a deep sleep, one that was filled with dreams of being brought to hell by Anonymous.
ns 15.158.61.51da2
