The Mind Behind The Beanie || ✔

Bree Back in Action (6th Book!)

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I was sitting on my bed, not tired a bit.  I had my phone, but I had no friends to text. "

It was nighttime in the Campbell household, which meant that my parents were downstairs watching the news while I was up in my bedroom pretending to sleep.  The time read 10:00, and I knew that if I wasn't tired now, I never would be. 

I slipped through the cracked door to peek downstairs.  As I looked around the bend, I noticed the news on TV displaying a portion of the hospital downtown with a section missing from the side.   I listened closer and heard the reporter say that a bathroom had been blown out from the building and it was still a mystery as to how.  He reported that they had not yet found the bathroom, but many people were on the case.   

As I slipped back into my room, I realized that the little 'incident' was getting more traction than we thought.  I had been back to the hospital that week to see Conner, his family, and his characters, and had learned about Alex blowing up the bathroom and disappearing.  I had only gone once, and once was enough to risk it. 

My parents had been extra careful to check on me during the night after I had returned from 'visiting family in Connecticut'.  My parents would constantly come upstairs to see if I was still here or not.   Sneaking out was almost impossible now. 

But, I realized that now was the time to sneak out.  I grabbed my things and left a wax head on the pillow and a cassette of someone snoring to throw the parents of my scent.  I opened the window and crawled out.  I started walking towards Conner's house. 

Once I got there, I saw that no lights were on, and after checking the windows decided to move onto the hospital. 

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"Hey, Conner!" I said as I peeked into the hospital. He jumped. 

"Bree!" he said in surprise.  "What are you doing here?  I thought you were grounded for running away."

"Oh, I am," I said.  "I'm not allowed to leave the house until college.  I've never seen my parents so furious.  As far as they know, I snuck off to visit family in Connecticut.  They would flip if they knew I went to Germany and back."

"What if you get caught sneaking out?" he asked. 

"Don't worry, I won't," I said, still having a few worries to myself.  "I've been sneaking out of the house since I was eight.  I put a wax head on my pillow and leave a cassette of someone snoring in case my parents check my bedroom."

"That's both impressive and scary," Conner said. 

I shrugged.  "It's like Laurel Thatcher Ulrich said, 'Well-behaved women seldom make history.'"

I climbed into the hospital, carefully stepping on the intact floorboards.  I reached Conner and had a seat next to him in the doorway. 

"You weren't home, so I figured you'd be here."

"I wanted to take one last look at the damage before the inspectors get here tomorrow," Conner said with a sigh.  "Just in case we missed anything."

"Any luck finding Alex?"

"Not at all," Conner said with a sigh.  "It's been a full week since she disappeared and we still can't find any trace of where she went.  My mom and stepdad have looked all over town but still nothing.  Jack, Red, and Lester are searching the fairy-tale world as we speak, but so far they haven't returned with anything."