Short Story Collection

A Family Mystery Uncovered

It was a cold Sunday morning on the Island of Brickston. Clarissa was walking back home from Chruch when she aw something. Placed at the bus top she always waited at was a notebook, sitting on the bench. She glanced around, looking for anyone who could've placed that there. Seeing no one, and as her curiosity grew, she tentatively walked towards it. The fron was blank, not even a design or identification on it. Clarissa flipped the book open to the front page, dropping it in horror as she saw it. Tapled to the page was a headline from a few years earlier. It was of the bombing that happened during the Brickston Marathon. The headline read;

'The Brickston Bombing Has Taken Another Victim'

Her sister's picture placed below it.

Turning to the next page, she saw a note written.

'If you want to know the truth about your sister's secret life, follow all of my directions. Behind the wallpaper, two steps from the stand, is a box. The next set of instructions will be in there.'

Clarissa quickly left for home, following the instructions step by step. As she reached the wall, right where the note had said, she paused.

Am I really listening to this?

She thought, still hesitating.

Shaking her head, trying to rid herself of her thoughts, she started to tear the wallpaper down, the wall soon following. There was a wooden box, one she faintly remembered from years ago. She pulled the box out, slowly opening it. As the instructions had said, there was a note, and a gun sitting on top of it. She moved the gun aside, picking up the note.

'Still playing? Swap this with Amanda Messana's gun.'

Clarissa froze, shakily placing the box back down where it was. That's when her phone buzzed, a notification popping up on the screen. It was from an unknown number, an area code she didn't even recognize.

'You're in this now,' it read, 'you have to keep playing the game. Since you need to be explicitly told, this is a demand, not a request.'

Tears started streaming down her face, her legs buckling underneath her as she fell on to the floor. What had she gotten herself into?

Word Count: 373