The Grad Night Party Killer

Empty Library

I was the one to bend down to he body. Terry's skin is pale. I place two fingers over his neck. No pulse. "He's dead."

"Check if he has his phone," Derek says.

The first thing I check is Terry's sweatshirt pocket and find his phone. I turn it on and unlock it. I open the settings app and turn airplane mode on. The brightness of the screen dims down. I check the WiFi signal. It still out. "There is no service," I say disappointedly.

"What now," Caleb asks.

"We keep moving," Derek says. He walks ahead of me and Caleb and I follow. We walk down the hall and hear these moaning sounds. I know exactly what the sound is. It is the wind. I can tell by the expression on Caleb's face that he does not know what the sound is caused by.

We come across a latter on the wall. It is dark, dripping water, and growing moss. It leads upward into what could be an abyss of darkness. "Who is the first to go up," Caleb asks.

"I'll go," Derek says and grabs a prong.

"No," I say. "That ladder is too old to hold you. It could break as you go up."

"What are you saying, that I'm overweight?" He is so self- conscious. He is the fittest person of our class, he has nothing to worry about.

"No, you're about to step on a water damaged, rickety, ladder that could snap at any moment and you could fall and break your neck."

"Good point, then who goes up then?"

"I'm the lightest, so I will go up first." I grab on to a prong and lift myself. I place my feet as far away from the middle of each prong. With each step, the prongs crack, but they don't snap. When I reach the top, I discover a large tile above me. I push up with one hand, and I easily lift it. I look around to see where I am. I appear to be just in a small, dark box.

The tile tilts to one side and something slide across and fall down. "Ow," Derek and Caleb exclaim in pain.

"What fell," I ask.

"Books," both reply, but not in unison. Almost though.

Books? "Here, take this," I say and hand down the tile to Derek. I begin to examine each wall of the box. Nothing. I push up against the last wall and it swings open. I pull myself up on to the floor above the secret passageway. I look around. I see large cases around the perimeter. In the middle of the room are desks, some of them have four computers on each. "Come up, you guys."

Moments later after the two carefully climbed the stairs, I begin to look around the room some more. Where are we," Caleb asks. I approach one of the cases. I run my fingers through whatever is displayed. What I'm touching feels like the bindings of books. "I think this is the library. And I think the entrance to the secret pathway is the book drop."

"Why is there a secret passage underneath the school anyway," Derek asks.

"Maybe the teachers need a faster way to get around the school," Caleb proposed as an idea.

It could be possible. I mean, the killer uses it, maybe teachers could too. I look around the library some more when I get a strange feeling that something is missing. Or someone. I suddenly realize that Meredith and Carry are missing.