Project: Cecil Town

Chapter 9

"You mean we can't rescue my dad?" Sonny pumped while shocked. "I think if we returned to the library, we might find another clue of where they might have taken him." Jill said feeling a little confident. "No, we lost your dad Sonny. I am really, really sorry. I think we should fix all of our cars up tomorrow; we could go back into town and tell your mom what has happened here." Mr. Binge proposed. "Are you seriously giving up?" Sonny asked. "The man from the first video was right. We shouldn't have come here." "If I had a map of where the nearest garage is, we could push our cars there and try to fix them." Reggie's mom said. Sonny went into a tent. Dennis and Zoey went into the tent after him. "Go away!" Sonny shouted at them. "Shh." Zoey whispered. "We want to help you." Dennis said. "I don't know how you could help. Your dad has given up on my dad.!" Sonny cried. "Sonny, my dad might have given up, but I am not." Dennis declared.

"Same with me. I will help you find your dad." Bert said as he entered the tent. Jill and Reggie went inside the tent too. "We won't leave until we get your dad back." Reggie said with a quiet tone of voice. "How are we going to do that?" Sonny nearly queried with a loud voice. Dennis covered his mouth. "Quiet, somebody might hear us." Dennis reminded him. "Well, we do know a few things." Zoey said. "The first thing we know is that your great grandfather was a part of a secret society. We don't know the name of it yet." "Second, we do know how the town was abandoned. It was because the spell wasn't cast properly." Bert added. "And third, I think we do need a map of Cecil Town. That's how we could know where the mines are." Reggie chimed in. Sonny wiped the tears from his eyes. "You mean that we could still rescue my dad?" Sonny questioned. "Friends help each other out. No matter what. You helped me become a great friends to everybody else at school." Bert replied. "I know just what we need to do first." Dennis declared. "Supper!" Mr. Binge shouted as he was serving some lentil soup that was cooked over the campfire. "I hope you love my lentil soup." Jill and Zoey's mom said with a somewhat cheerful smile. Mr. Binge put the soup into plastic bowls. Dennis was the last kid to be served. He took his dad's map out of the tent while he was serving the soup. Dennis had the map folded and hidden in one of his back pockets. He ate with his friends. The adults were talking among themselves. They were discussing about how they could fix their cars and drive out of town. Bert's dad said that they should just walk by foot. Since there are some old tools and equipment they will find in the abandoned town that would be rusted and worn out. Reggie's mom thinks otherwise, since if some if the tools from the auto mechanic shop might be in the building and had not been already rusted out. Dennis quickly ate his soup. He and his friends were pretending to feel sorry for Sonny. While Sonny was pretending to be crying and angry at Dennis' dad for leaving his dad behind. The adults continued to argue for a while. The kids already put their dirty paper bowls and plastic spoons in the open garbage bag nearby. While the adults talked about what they should do next, Dennis and his friends hid behind one of the tents.

Dennis unfolded the map and put it on the ground. "Let us see. Where is that mine?" jill asked as she and Dennis got down on their knees. Their other friends did the same. They looked all over the map. They looked at the way they came in. They also looked at all of the streets. "Aha!" Reggie said in a calm voice. "What is it Reggie? Did you find something?" Dennis asked. "Found something. I think I know where Sonny's father is!" Sonny eyes twinkled with joy. "Wait to go Reggie!" Bert cheered. "What's going on?" Bert's dad queried, staring at the tent that they were hiding behind. Bert stood up and went in front of the tent. "Nothing is going on dad. We just figured out how we could try to cheer Sonny up." "Does it have anything to do with saving his dad. We have already given up on that. The one solution for..." Mr. Binge said with a stressed-out expression on his face. "Oh no Mr. Binge. It has nothing to do with that. We just figured out another way out of town." Bert lied. The parents looked at each other. "That's impossible." Mr. Binge said, not believing Bert's story. "The mine is over here. So, we need to get down this road so that we can get there." Dennis said as he pointed to a road that goes to the mine. "Wait a minute, is there a mechanic repair shop over here?" Reggie asked. "I don't know. I think we should ask my dad first." "But he wants us to get out of town as fast as possible. How are we going to convince him to go to this repair shop?" Zoey asked. "I think I might solve that problem." Sonny said as he stood up. He walked to the campfire circle. "Any ideas Sonny?" Mr. Binge questioned. "Well, I think we should get the cars fixed so that we could get out of here. There is an abandoned garage on Caesar road. Maybe we could find some tools that will get these tires fixed." Sonny answered. "I told you so! I knew that there's a garage around here that will help us fix the car tires." Reggie's mom said excitedly. "Good thinking Sonny. It is going to be a long way to go all the way back home with just our suitcases. They could be heavy, especially since we have to carry Sonny's dad's tent and bags along with us too." Bert's dad said agreeing along. "Then it's settled then. We'll go back to the town fountain and camp there." The twin's mom said with a cheerful smile.

"We could then move to the closest garage on Caesar road the next day. There might be some old tools at this garage that will help us." Mr. Binge concluded. "For now, it's nearly time for bed. Let us get some goodnight's sleep. I'm starting to feel tired after a day full of scares." Bert's dad said after he yawned. The adults and the kids took turns putting on their pajamas. Dennis looked around him. He could see the shadows of the old buildings caused by the red-orange glow of the sunset. As Mr. Binge brushed his teeth, he wondered if Sonny's dad might be found. He felt guilty of leaving Sonny's dad behind. Dennis was the last one to brush his teeth and to put on his pyjamas. He zipped up the door of the tent that he was sleeping in and slept in his sleeping bag. The morning sun was coming up in the horizon. It was nearly ten minutes after seven O' clock. Dennis was still sleeping in his sleeping bag. Suddenly, he could hear the sound of Reggie's mom shouting in a loud voice. "Help! Something's happened and it's not good!" The adults and the kids got out of their sleeping bags and put on their sneakers. The morning air gave some small goosebumps on Dennis' skin. He and his friends opened their mouths. Reggie's mom's car was parked next to the campsite. Its front bumper was touching the tent she was sleeping in. The window of the car was fogged up. "How did it get here? I thought the engine was blown out, and the tires were damaged." Mr. Binge claimed. Suddenly there was a black spot on the windshield from the inside of the car. It was a fingerprint, left by an invisible finger.

Everybody in the group gasped. The black spot started to move all over the windshield. The spot was making a line. The black spot revealed the inside of the car. There was a horizontal line added to the vertical line that the spot had made earlier. The spot had made a letter, the letter Y. Another spot appeared on the windshield, and another, and another. Each spot was making their own letter. More black spots appeared on the windshield. They were creating a message. The black spots created letters of their own as well. The letter eventually made words. There was an entire message written on the fogged-up car windshield. The message read "You all should have left here while your cars were not broken. You are never leaving this town alive. All of you have learned too much about our secret." The parents could not believe their eyes. "I don't believe a word that message says. We are all getting out of here. Right Mr. Binge?" The twins' mom asked him. Mr. Binge tried to stay calm after watching the message getting written. "Yes, we are all getting out of here. We will all have breakfast first. The kids should focus on their schoolwork too." Bert's dad prepared the breakfast for today. He made some waffles out of waffle batter mix that he had. Dennis went to change into a fresh pair of clothes. He put his dirty pajamas in an empty plastic bag in his suitcase. He then tried to work on his history homework. The scary experience of seeing a spooky message got him a little surprised. He managed to work on one full page of the subject. After finishing that page, his pencil floated right out of his hand. A blank sheet of paper floated out of his backpack. "Uh oh." Dennis said as the pencil began to write on the blank piece of paper. It wrote "It's hopeless. You are going to spoil my plans by telling the whole world about them. The only way into the city is blocked. You will see my blockade next to the town fountain." The pencil and the blank piece of paper fell to the ground. "Breakfast time!" Bert's dad shouted from the campfire circle. Dennis thought he has dreaming, or he did not have enough energy to complete another page of history homework. He packed his homework back into his bag. Dennis came out of the tent. "Did you get one?" Sonny whispered to Dennis. "Got what?" He asked. "A spooky message. Like the rest of us. It is telling us that we cannot leave town. That the only entrance into the town is blocked." Reggie explained. "I thought I was just imagining things. I did get a spooky message. It also tells me that we can't leave town." Dennis answered. Bert's dad got the waffles served in paper plates. He also put a small ball of butter on the side. "If anyone wants the syrup. They would have to ask for it."