I was sitting at the kitchen table with Zack when I suddenly heard what sounded like Lorraine say.
"Gale. Their teenagers having a hard time adjusting. You know what they need? A night in with their aunt bedazzling. Duh"
"Thank you, I hate fighting with them" I heard mom say.
"I know it'll get better just give it some time. Tonights gonna be all about them" I heard Lorraine say. Mom left and Lorraine sat down and started talking about one of her dates... Yup all about us.
"So we went out for sushi on Wednesday and we both ordered chicken teriyaki which is like "it's fate" and then I haven't heard from him since...which is a bummer because I really liked him. He didn't laugh at any of my jokes but I just felt like something was there" I held in a laugh as Lorraine said that. "Not like I even care. It's like. Whatever. I should listen to my psychic she says "stop dating losers and never go on a plane'" I stopped listening when I saw Hannah and her dad's shadow on the curtains of their house.
"I knew it," Zach and I said.
"Oh so you think he's playing hard to get or a more likely scenario he lost his phone in like a fire?" Lorraine said thinking we were talking to her.
"Yeah, I think he lost his phone," I said playing along.
"Yeah, I do too" Lorraine agreed
"You know I...I totally forgot Alivia and I have a huge test on Monday we need to study for so we're just gonna do that all night, and definitely, don't come in our rooms" Zach said. I hid a smile knowing what he was doing. We both stood up and walked towards our rooms.
"Okay, Night sweeties" Lorraine yelled. Then she dropped her voice to a normal level and said "okay, I'm just gonna call him, now I'm worried he's dead"
Zack and I met in the hall out of Lorraine's sight.
"Okay climb out the window of your room and meet me at the side of the house I'm gonna call champ for backup," Zack said. I nodded. I went to my room thank god our rooms were on the bottom floor. I jumped out the window and ran to the side of the house and literally ran into Zack.
"Nice job, Slick," he said as he laughed.
"Shut up" I snapped back.
"Here call Hannah's dad and pretend to be their police and ask him to go to the police station," Zack said as he handed me his phone.
"Why?" I asked.
"So we don't get caught when we sneak in," He said in a 'duh' tone.
"Oh right," I said, "wait but what's his number?" I asked.
"It's **********" he said
"How do you know that?" I questioned.
"Because when I ran in his house earlier his phone was on the couch and I saw his number" he answered.
"Oh," I said and dialed the number.
"Hello," he answered in an angry tone.
"Hello sir, this is Officer Stevens we met earlier tonight due to a report of a domestic disturbance and we would like you to come down to the station for some questioning," I said as I did a perfect impression of Officer Stevens.
"I'll be down there right away Officer," Hannah's dad said through gritted teeth trying to hold in his anger. I hung up.
"That was a great impression of Officer Stevens" Zack commented.
"You know I've always been good at impressions that's why I always got the lead in school plays and you'd get 'townsfolk 7'" I said with a cheeky smile. He lightly pushed me away.
"Okay okay whatever," He said playfully. I saw something silver and looked only to see Champ walking up to our door in a silver suit. My jaw dropped and I started laughing.
"Hey hey hey, over here," Zack said Champ looked over and I immediately stopped laughing. He walked over.
"So how is this gonna work are you guys my wingmen or am I yours?" Champ asked. "Is that what you guys are wearing to the dance?" He asked
"We gotta tell you something, Get down," Zack said as he started to push Champ down.
"Dude, no! This is a new suit get off" Champ said. "Where are the girls?" 'Okay guess I'm just invisible then' I thought
"Yeah, about that I just said that to get you over here. We need your help" Zack said
"So there are no girls?" Champ asked.
"Well there is one girl" Zack answered looking at Hannah's house.
"OH! MY MAN" Champ shouted.
"Shh!" Zack and I said in unison.
"What! What?"
"But she's locked in this house and her dad's a psychopath," Zack said. We looked at the house for a couple of seconds in silence before Champ broke the silence by saying.
"Does she have a friend?" He asked.
"No! I'm serious" Zack and I said.
"You know, you said there were gonna be girls, and not only are there no girls, but there's a psychopath, and I'm in a suit. How do you even know this guy's gonna leave?" Champ asked.
"I called him and pretended to be the cops and asked him to come to the station" I answered.
"Dude, you can get in big trouble for that" Champ said seriously.
"It's actually just a written warning" Zack and I answered. We saw Hannah's dad walk out of the house and we pushed Champ down behind a bush with us.
"Dude! It's wet dirt! Dude! My pants are gonna get muddy" Champ complained.
"He's right there!" I whisper yelled.
"Alright, let's go, come on," I said.
"Dude, my dry cleaning bill is gonna be ridiculous," Champ said.
"Just come on," Zack said. We walked up to the door that looked like it lead to the basement. Zack tried to open it, but it was locked.
"I got this," I said as Zack moved. I pulled a bobby pin out of my hair causing my hair to fall in my face. Zack pulled my hair back and held it keeping it out of my face.
"Thanks," I said
"No problem" He answered I put the bobby pin in the keyhole and twisted it. I then opened the door.
"Whoa! Where did you learn that? New York?" Champ asked.
"No, YouTube" I answered.
"Oh"
"Okay stay here and watch the driveway," Zack said as we started to walk down the basement stairs.
"Wait here by myself? Out in the dark?" Champ asked in a shaky voice.
"Yes, you're the lookout. If Shivers comes back just give us a sign like: 'Hahoo Hahoo'" Zack said I'm gonna guess Shivers is his nickname for Hannah's dad.
"Okay, just so we're clear if I sense any danger, I will run the other way," Champ said. Zack rolled his eyes and we started walking down the stairs. We got to the bottom and Zack turned on his flashlight. He shined it at the ground to see...bear traps! They were set too.
"Be careful" I said to Zack. He nodded. All of a sudden a bird sculpture shot out of a cuckoo clock.
"Whoa!" Zack and I said startled. We looked around some more when all of a sudden I felt a hand on my shoulder. I screamed and turned around only to see Champ.
"What the hell! You're supposed to be the lookout" I said to Champ.
"And that's not gonna change. I'll just be the lookout in here" Champ said.
"No, no. By definition, you're supposed to be somewhere out. looking!" Zack said.
"Let me explain something to you, Zacharias" Champ said. I laughed at the fact that Champ used Zack's full name. "You know how people say teenagers have no fear of death? That they're never gonna get hurt? Well, not me okay! I was born with the gift of fear. I remember being 4 and being pushed on a swing thinking 'This is how it ends'"
"You're not gonna die alright! At least not today. You're gonna be alright" I said to Champ in a reassuring voice.
"Yeah, you're right," He said. He saw something and said, "Great bear traps who puts bear traps in their basement?" Champ said the fear coming back to his voice.
"Let's go"
"Yeah let's go outside. Where are you going? Let's go outside where it's safe and there's no bear traps" Champ said, but we didn't listen we just kept walking. I heard Champ follow. We got out of the basement.
"I think I swallowed some web" Champ said in disgust. I heard a noise and so did everyone else. We walked upstairs.
"That's weird it's like the sound is coming from this bookcase," Champ said waking towards it.
"Well it's an old house," Zack said.
"Whoa check this out, 'The scarecrow walks at midnight', 'The ghost next door', 'Night of the living dummy' these are all goosebumps manuscripts," Champ said.
"What's he doing with a bunch of kid's books?" Zack asked.
"Hey, these aren't kid's books! Kids books help you fall asleep these books keep you up all night" Champ said defensively.
"Okay.." Zack said.
"'R.L. Stine' whatever happened to that guy?" Champ asked as he looked at the author's name in the book.
"Uh, who knows, he just disappeared one day. Does it matter? Let's go" Zack said clearly annoyed. One title of a book caught my eye.
"'Werewolf of fever swamp'?" I read as I picked it up. "I'm sure he won't mind if I borrow this" I said as I put it in the big pocket of my sweatshirt.
"'The abominable snowman of Pasadena'? My grandma lives in Pasadena and I stopped visiting after reading this book" Champ said.
"Okay, we're not here for book club," Zack said as he took the books Champ and I had.
"I know but why are these books locked?" Champ asked. I took my book and put it back in my pocket. "Who would lock a book? Maybe there's like a key we can open it with or something" Zack looked around and spotted a key underneath this clear vase.
"Okay if it really matters that much look," Zack said as he unlocks Champs book. "Mystery solved. Now can we get back to why we-" I cut Zack off as I saw someone holding up a vase.
"Look out!!" I shouted pushing them to the ground. Suddenly the light turned on and I saw it was Hannah.
"Zach? Alivia? What are you doing in my house?" She asked. Her voice cracked a bit.
"We thought you were chained up possibly" Zack answered.
"Why would you think that?" She asked in shock.
"Because we heard you scream and then we called the...police" Zack said as realization hit him.
"Okay all of you need to get out right now" Hannah said.
"One...one second. Hi. Hi, I'm Champ. We're going too the semi-formal later tonight you should come and bring a friend...I really don't care what she looks like" Champ said
"Did you unlock a book?" Hannah asked fear written all over her face.
"Yeah, I did I'm sorry, I dropped it it's around here somewhere I'll put it back and we'll be out of your hair see here it is" Zack said as he went to pick it up.
"NO DON'T OPEN IT!" Hannah shouted, but it was to late Zack had already picked it up and we were all pushed back by a huge gust of wind. I watched in horror as the ink came off of the pages and a huge white beast crawled out of the book.