One Change, One Direction

Chapter 20: Multi-Confession

A/N: So we'll be getting our report cards tomorrow and I'm kinda nervous about my grades. Although I feel confident on Statistics (because my teacher said I got a 95 on that or something) I still feel anxious about my grades in Chemistry and other subjects.

Anyway, I'm really hooked up to this story "The Tempting Apple" and that's what I've been reading right now together with my friend Patricia Pinohermoso so I'll dedicate this chapter to her. :) We both relate on the story actually......

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A few seconds after the thief took off, Kendall got back to consciousness when his phone rang. Gus was calling him and said, “Whoever’s in the mall is probably trying to steal the new quick charger gadget before it’s released to the public.”

Kendall asked, “So what should I do?”

“Go to MacGuffin’s Gadget Store,” Gus directed him. “If you stay still and wait for the lights to turn off, you might be able to ambush them!”

“Thanks, Gus,” Kendall said before ending the call. After that, he went to the gadget store and hid beside a table which held the new charger.

A few seconds after the security lights turned off, Kendall saw the thief slowly approach the gadget so as not to open the lights due to his motion.

In an instant, Kendall stood up and exclaimed, “Ah hah!” The thief, taken completely by surprise, shouted an exclamation and scooted off. Kendall heard a man’s familiar voice but didn’t have time to reflect on this upon laying his eyes on a key.

He approached it and saw a tag attached to it labeled as Back Room. Kendall asked himself, “Where have I seen a back room before?” Then he recalled having seen a back room inside the electronics shop and decided to go there.

When he reached the door at the back of the shop, the lights suddenly turned off and he can’t see a thing so he decided to leave the toy robot he picked up from the toy store to set the lights on.

Turning the key into the lock on the door, Kendall was very happy to see that it fitted! He opened the door and was surprised at seeing a well-furnished room with a television, couch, and even a window!

Kendall noticed a piece of paper on a table and picked it up. He called Gus as he examined the paper which bore the logo of Twin Palms Mall beside the title: New Store Application.

The applicant’s name was Preston Wilhelm and his store was PrintFax. Kendall gasped and exclaimed softly, “So Wilhelm has been occupying this room! Franchessca wasn’t lying about suspecting Wilhelm all along.”

Gus now picked up his phone and said, “I didn’t think much of it before but I remembered I started hearing the noises in the walls the day after Preston signed the form for the new store.”

“So Wilhelm is the thief in this mall right now,” Kendall stated. “But why would he steal the quick charger when he is manning a printing shop?”

“Maybe there’s a clue in PrintFax,” Gus remarked.

Misfortune was with Kendall upon reaching the third floor where PrintFax was located because at the moment he stepped off the escalator, a golf cart whizzed toward him and knocked him down!

Kendall called up Gus and complained, “He has a golf cart! I’ll never catch up with him on foot.”

“There’s a scooter somewhere in the mall manager’s office,” Gus reminded him. “The password is, uh, argh! I can never remember! It’s a word but I always forget which word.”