BEING WATCHED

CHAPTER 3

When everyone got home, all of the families turned on the radio. "There has been a search for Mali Strøm. She has been missing since this morning and there is no sign of her. Please volunteer to look for her tomorrow starting at seven o'clock in the morning. Sten Strøm, her brother, is going to be there also. Thank you for your time." said the radio.

"Mama, Mali, she's gone..." said Nina tearing up.

"It's okay honey. She is not gone, we will find her." said Nina's mom comforting her. It was around eight o'clock P.M. and everyone sat in the living area in silence. They were going to be staying home and not going anywhere until Mali is found, dead or alive.

It was ten o'clock P.M. and everyone in the Aarseth family was sound asleep. It started to rain and there was lightning and thunder. Nina woke up and saw Thomas looking out of the window. "Mali, where are you...?" thought Thomas. Nina got up and hugged her brother.

"I miss Mali, Thomas. It must be so hard on Sten and their parents." said Nina. Thomas hugged Nina back and comforted her.

"Sten, he was so sad and mad at the same time. How could he even deal with this?" asked Thomas angrily.

"I don't know. He's the type of guy that can deal with it." replied Nina.

"That's where you're wrong, Nina." said Thomas. "He shows that he can deal with it, but he can't. He makes himself looks so strong and cool. I mean he is, but he has a caring and gentle heart. He is also very sensitive when it comes to his friends and family."

"Hm. I wish I was with him, so I can comfort him. Me and Mali are the best of friends and Sten. I don't know what he's feeling right now." said Nina tearing up.

"No Nina, do not cry. I'm sure Sten is okay." said Thomas comforting Nina. Their parents woke up and looked at Thomas and Nina.

"Oh no, Nina what's wrong?", asked her mother.

"I just miss Mali and I wish I was next to Sten comforting him.", said Nina. Nina got up and went to where she was sleeping. She laid down and closed her eyes and was out like a light.

It was December 17, 1965 seven o'clock in the morning. Everyone was up except Nina. She was still sleeping. Then Thomas woke her up. Nina opened her eyes and saw Thomas. "There you are! Well, I'm going to the search party. Goodbye Nina." said Thomas. Nina got up and hugged her older brother.

"Come back, Thomas. Don't leave me." said Nina. Thomas laughed a little.

"Don't worry little sister, I will come back." said Thomas. Thomas opened the door and looked back at his family and waved goodbye with a smile on his face. Everyone waved back.

When Thomas got to the search party, he waved at Sten. Sten waved back and kept looking around. Thomas ran to where Sten was and he said, "Hey Sten, is everything alright?"

"Yeah everything's good." replied Sten.

"Who are these people, just asking, they are not familiar to me." said Thomas. Just then an American walked by them and spoke English.

"Hey, do you guys speak English by any chance?" Magnar walked up to him and said in English, "Yes, I do speak English."

"Wow I thought he was a complete idiot,"whispered Sten.

"Yeah me too." replied Thomas.

The American introduced himself to the young gentlemen. "Hello, my name is Erick Levy, and who might you be?"

Magnar replied and said, "Hello, my name is Magnar Bjørnebye. This is Thomas Aarseth, and the one next to him is Sten Strøm."

"Hallo.", said Thomas and Sten at the same time.

"I assume that means 'hello'.", replied the American.

"Yes, yes it does." said Magnar.

"I have brought my wife with me, to help look for Mali Strøm." said Erick gesturing his wife to come over to him.

"Hello my name is Linette Levy. I am also from Norway." said Erick's wife. Linette started to speak to everyone is Norwegian and her husband was dumbfounded. He was so confused he made this weird face. Everyone looked at him and laughed. Magnar laughed like an idiot, as he always did.

Erick gave Magnar the death stare and said, "Watch your mouth little boy." Magnar stopped laughing and asked Sten something.

"Yeah Mali randomly disappeared. She never told me anything lately," replied Sten. Just then, Nina came running to Thomas.

"Thomas! Ane has gone missing!!!"

"Since when did this happen?" asked Thomas angrily.

"I don't know! I just heard Mama and Papa talking. I just know this happened less than an hour ago!" exclaimed Nina.

"We have to look for her, NOW!" yelled Thomas.

"What is happening here? Why is there so much yelling all of a sudden?" asked a young woman. "I am very sorry. I should have introduced myself. My name is Evelyn Olsen. Still, what's happening?"

" My girlfriend just went missing, and no one knows why everyone's disappearing. It just happened out of the blue. I'm not going to be surprised if one of the tourists get kidnapped." said Thomas.

Sten got on the stand and started to get everyone's attention. "There is a new victim kidnapped and her name is Ane Munch. We also have to find Mali Strøm. You will be split into to groups. After an hour has passed, we may rest, and then rotate groups. You may choose the groups. Let's see, there are about eighty people here so, there will be two groups of forty. One group for Mali and one group for Ane."

"Wait, who is Ane? I have never heard of her before. Did she just now gone missing?" asked a member of the search party.

"Indeed, she has. We only just heard about her disappearance a few minutes ago, and she has been missing for less than an hour."

"Oh. More people to find I guess..." replied the member.

"Are you complaining? You don't have to participate if you don't want to." Sten retorted.

"Oh no. I'm just disappointed that another girl is missing. Who is this disgusting person that would kidnap innocent children?"

"Exactly, we have the police searching for the kids and the kidnapper(s). I don't know who would have done this. Although, I do have some suspects that will be interrogated tomorrow morning. Hope you can join me." 

 To be continued....