Countdown

Chapter One

            In Jackson, Wyoming, Justin Pearson, a fine young man with rich coffee hair and sky blue eyes, sat in front of his CEO, Terry Cuthbert in a conference room. Justin was not listening nor caring about Mr. Cuthbert rambling on about how Justin has been doing so well and that he wanted to upgrade him to ‘a higher level’.

 Justin can only think about that horrible, horrible incident that happened a few days ago in Chinatown, New York, while on a business trip.

            Justin crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling angrily.

            “Noodles,” he muttered.

            “Sorry, sir, what?” Mr. Cuthbert asked.

            “Noodles,” he repeated, a bit louder.

            “Would you, uh, like some food?” His CEO asked, quite confused.

            “What? Oh, no. Sorry, just got caught up in something. May I be excused?” Justin asked.

            Mr. Cuthbert nodded his head, slowly, puzzled at his employee’s behavior.

            “Thank you,” Justin said, getting up and leaving the conference room, leaving his CEO baffled.

            “Noodles?” Mr. Cuthbert wondered out loud.

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In Queens, New York, a snow storm was brewing and the temperature began dropping into the negatives. Philip Easton, a fifteen-year-old boy, decided that this was the perfect day to do it.

“Gee, this is gonna be epic!” Philip Easton told his friends, Sam Ridgley and George Lewis, excitedly, as he filled a bucket of water in the boy’s bathroom.

“I don’t know, Phil…we can get into some serious trouble,” Sam said, worriedly. George nodded in agreement.

“Oh, stop being such goody goodies,” Philip said, closing the sink and exiting the bathroom, his friends following him.

“But, Phil, the Assistant Inspector General is here today!” George said, desperately trying to dissuade the trouble maker.

“So what? No one is going to see this or know about it,” Philip said heading towards the janitor’s closet. Sam grabbed Philip’s arm and held him back.

“We can’t do this, Philip!” Sam said.

“Fine, maybe you can’t, but I sure can,” Philip said, as he twisted away from his friend’s grip and walked into the janitor’s closet, determined to do his deed.

“Oh yea, and do me a favor. Can you guys go outside from the back and see if the water freezes before it touches the ground?” Philip asked, putting on a winter coat and a scarf.

“Uh-” George began.

“Thanks,” Philip said, closing the door.

Sam and George looked hopelessly at each other.

“Oh well, we tried,” Sam said, shrugging his shoulders. They both headed outside

Philip grabbed a ladder and opened the hatch on the ceiling. He felt the cold air sting him in the face as he wrapped his scarf a bit tighter. Philip slowly climbed the ladder and came on top of the roof of the school building. He paused to balance himself in the strong winter wind and then grabbed the bucket of water.

He spotted two figures down below, and, thinking that they were Sam and George, Philip poured the water from the bucket.

“Did it freeze?” Philip yelled.