A pretty short chapter this time - I'll try to update again within the next couple of days or so.

Once again, thanks for reading everyone (and thank you, KyleTheArtist, for rating )

Really good scene. Really good pictures, too.

Love the pictures take your time with the updates and I love how she is persistent XD

(btw, Anastasia is my full name XD)

Ahahahaha, randomly logged on this morning an everything beist in ye olde English - including our stories! lol. The chapters with Tia's party art ye best.



Oh really? Do thee look anything like this?



And art thee a vampire? :D

I adore not Sparklin' vampires and you can see how I look here

I guess close enough

This is a pretty Epic story. Definitely and instant fave. =D

I couldn't sleep that night, even though I felt exhausted. My thoughts were still in turmoil, mulling over the events of the past two days. I still thought that maybe I was in the middle of a really bad dream, and that one day I'd wake up, and Lou would be there in his shop, selling coffee and handing me the books I'd ordered, and we wouldn't have the possibility of a killer in our midst.
I felt my stomach rumbling. I'd eaten dinner, but sometimes I grew hungry during the night if I wasn't asleep. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep at all if I had a grumbling stomach.
I heaved myself out of bed, quietly opened my door, and started walking quietly down the hallway to the stairs. I noticed the door to my parents' room was slightly ajar – they usually closed it at night. Maybe someone got up to go to the bathroom, I thought.
I made my way downstairs, intending to go to the fridge and get a glass of milk to drink, but I heard low voices and stopped. I glanced around, and saw light peeking out from under the door to my mum's lab.
I frowned. What would Mum be doing at this time of night? Surely she wouldn't be working this late?
I heard another voice – a male voice – that I thought I recognised, but I couldn't be sure. Then I sighed, figuring it was none of my business, really, and continued on to the kitchen.



Once my stomach was satisfied, I went to head back upstairs, but stopped. My curiosity was really getting to me, especially when I heard a muffled thump coming from inside the lab. Mum definitely wasn't working on her plants.
I quietly turned the doorknob, opened the door, and looked inside.
The first thing I noticed was the shocked expressions on their faces: Mum was there, with Edward Guildenstern, and both of them looked stunned at the interruption.
The second thing I noticed was Lou's body on a mat on the floor.
And that's when something snapped, and I started to scream.



My eyes locked on the dead alien lying there on the floor, and I couldn't look away. I just kept screaming, and screaming, and screaming. I thought I'd never stop.
Mum flew over and started trying to calm me down, pushing me out of the door, but I just screamed more and fought her away.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" I screeched. "YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM!"
Lights went on upstairs. Mum kept trying to shush me and push me out of the lab, but I hit her away.
"Ellie!" she yelled in my face. "Stop screaming! Calm down!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HIM? LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I screamed at her, still fighting. She looked over her shoulder at Edward, and she yelled something to him, and before I knew it, Mum had moved aside and Edward was swiftly moving towards me. He grabbed by arms and held them in his vampire grip, and gently but firmly dragged me away into the lounge room.
He tried to get me to sit on one of the chairs, but I refused, and I remained standing as I faced him. "WHAT'S GOING ON?" I screamed, on the verge of hysterical tears.



Edward held up his hands, trying to placate me. "Ellie, I need you to calm down before you wake the whole neighbourhood," he said quietly.
"WHY SHOULD I CALM DOWN?" I shrieked. "I COME DOWNSTAIRS AND THERE'S LOU'S BODY ON THE FLOOR—"
"Ellie, be quiet!" Edward barked, and I stopped screaming, the words abruptly cut off in my throat. I knew I was being irrational, but I just stared at him, eyes nearly popping out of my head, my heart racing, not knowing what to think…
"It's obviously a misunderstanding," Edward explained.
"SOME BLOODY MISUNDERSTANDING!" I yelled.
"Do you want me to give you a sedative?" Edward snapped, and I stopped again. He rubbed his forehead, brow furrowed. Then he sighed.
"If you'll just listen for a moment, I can explain," Edward said. "But if you're going to keep screaming at me, I won't be able to get a word in, and I might have to give you a sedative anyway, whether you like it or not. Now. Are you going to calm down?"
Furious, I nodded. Edward sat down on the couch, and suggested I do the same, but I refused again.
He sighed. "I assume you're thinking that your mother and I had something to do with killing Lou," he began.
I laughed humourlessly. "No, of course not," I said, my voice cracking weirdly. "What on Earth would make me think that? Just the sight of Lou's body lying on the floor of my mum's lab in my own bloody house, with you two bending over—"
"What did I tell you about staying quiet?" Edward growled. "Just listen, will you?"
I shut up, just as Dad wandered down the stairs in his pyjamas.
"Hello, Edward," he said sleepily. "Is everything OK?"



Edward smiled fleetingly. "It's all under control," he said. "Ellie just saw what we were doing and freaked out, but I'm explaining everything now. Make sure Adam doesn't—"
"He's still asleep," Dad said. "Amazing. He could sleep through an atomic bomb. Anyway, give us a call if you need anything, alright?"
"Thanks, Andrew," Edward replied, sounding tired. My Dad nodded, looked at me in concern, and went back upstairs to bed.
"He's in on this, too?" I exclaimed, my voice still wavering wildly.
"Technically, he is 'in on' what we're doing," Edward said, sounding vaguely annoyed. "But what we're doing isn't bad."
For once, I stayed quiet. Edward looked at me, surprised, then continued.
"It's simple, really. Basically, Lou has stated in his will that when he died, he wanted to donate his body to science, so humans can understand what aliens are really like. Since that's what he wanted, we're honouring that wish. Now, with this murder case, we're doing everything we can to stop the media finding out about it. Imagine what would happen to our community if trucks full of journalists and TV crew and newspaper reporters turned up one day. Not only would they get to report a murder in a small community, they would find out that the victim was an alien. Also, think of everyone else they'd find! All of us living here are in this isolated little place for a reason. The media could find out about Christopher. Imagine the sensation that would be caused if they found out he was a werewolf! He'd almost certainly lose his job. Then there's the chance they could expose the Desslers and compromise their witness protection status. They could find out that the famous Minks were living here, and then we'd be covered in hordes of paparazzi, which is exactly what they came here to avoid. Not to mention, of course, the family of vampires living in that big place on the hill, or the fourteen-year-old zombie shuffling around. Just one inquisitive journalist could completely destroy our lives here."
Edward paused to draw breath and rub his forehead again. I waited for him to continue, wondering what all this had to do with Lou's body lying on my mother's laboratory floor.
"All of the investigators on the case have signed a contract – Christopher's idea - stating that they won't discuss it outside of Solitaria. I'm performing the post-mortem on Lou's body rather than sending him into the city morgue, which would definitely cause a sensation. Then, it's up to your mother to arrange the secure delivery of his body from here to a CSIRO research building. Since she has the only fully equipped scientific laboratory in Solitaria, we're storing his body here for a few days while we wait for all the paperwork and transfer details to be finalised. When you came in and saw us there, that's what we were discussing. It's nothing underhanded, and we definitely didn't kill him, Ellie."
I wasn't sure how to respond to this. It was all too much to handle, I thought.
Edward seemed to realise this, and stood up. "I think you should go back to bed," he suggested. "Get some sleep. It's been a stressful time for all of us, and staying up won't do you any good in the end."
The door to the lab opened and closed, and my mum came out, looking at me in a mixture of concern and frustration. "What are you doing up at this time of night, anyway, Ellie?" she asked crossly.



"I was hungry," I said. "Couldn't sleep. I was getting some milk."
She sighed. "Well, in future, don't come barrelling into my lab for no good reason, OK?"
I felt annoyed. "I wasn't barrelling—"
"You entered without knocking, in any case," Mum said. "There's a reason the door was closed. You're not to tell anyone about this, OK? The less people who know, the better. Some of them might not understand…"
"No kidding," I murmured. I noticed Mum and Edward exchange a glance, and the corners of Mum's mouth twitched.
"It seems she's back to normal," Mum commented.
Edward nodded. "I told her what's going on. I think she understands…do you, Ellie?"
I nodded sleepily. "Yeah."
Mum sighed. "Go back to bed," she said tiredly.
"Yeah. See you in the morning," I said.
I trudged back upstairs, my mind still spinning. What kind of a crazy world did I live in? Aliens, werewolves, vampires, zombies…all I needed to find now was Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Maybe a unicorn and a dragon, too.
I walked down the hallway to my room – Adam was still asleep – and got into my bed again. I fell asleep almost immediately.

Haha, I just thought it would be an insane coincidence if you happened to look exactly like the Anastasia in my story Life imitating Sims!



Aw, thank you!

To be honest though - there actually aren't too many more chapters to go now When I was writing it, it seemed awfully long, but now that I'm uploading it, it seems kind of short compared to a lot of the other stories on here.

Well, so far your story is the only one I've gotten past chapter three on. I was hooked by the first few paragraphs. xD So, even if it's ending soon, I'm sure the ending will be very satisfying and awesome.

Very exciting. Poor Ellie. What a shock. Her mom should have locked the door to the lab, what with kids in the house and all. Tsk, tsk... But scientists are often absent-minded.

I want a unicorn D8

great update For some reason made me think of Doom3.

Haven't commented on the last few, but they have been great! What a twist, it's so sad

I slept in the following morning til eleven. I still wasn't up to doing schoolwork, so I spent the afternoon sitting in my room, either on my computer or reading, as usual. Mum came in once or twice to check up on me and chat, and Adam came in at one point, wanting to know some MySpace layout codes that I'd deleted. Other than that, I was still trying to process the events of the past few days. I felt incredibly fatigued, worn out, deflated. I guess crying and screaming at your mother does that to you.
Eventually, it was time for us to meet at the hall once again, even though I know none of us would be discussing schoolwork. I turned up at the hall at the same time as Tamara. She looked as tired as I felt, even though normally she was full of energy.



"Hey, Tamara," I greeted her, offering a small smile, which she returned.
"Hi, Ellie," she said. "How are you going?"
I shrugged. "Yeah, same as a lot of us, I'm guessing."
Tamara nodded. "Mum actually started crying when she discovered we were out of bread today. I think it's starting to hit her, that Lou won't be the one behind the counter any more."
I nodded. "Yeah."
We went inside, and I was about to turn to the right to go into the youth room as usual, but heard soft voices coming from the general room. I backtracked, and looked inside to find everyone else was already there, sitting on the couches.
Amelia looked up and waved to me and Tamara. "We thought we'd sit in here today," she said as we entered and looked for spare seats. There was only one left, which Tamara took, while I ended up grabbing a chair from the chess table and adding it to the circle.



Everyone went sort of quiet, except for the occasional sigh or cough. Amelia spoke up, "I thought it would be a good idea if we all talked about what's happened. You know, like – like group therapy or whatever. We're all going to end up talking about it anyway, so I thought, well, while we're all here…we may as well…well…you know…talk." She trailed off, shrugging. It was unusual for Amelia to be lost for words.
She looked around the circle, willing someone to start, but no one wanted to be the first to talk. She looked, rather desperately, over at me.
I sighed. "I'll start," I volunteered. I picked a spot on the floor to talk to, since I didn't know who to look at while I spoke. Studying a design on the rug carefully, I said "Well, I was in the bathroom when everyone else heard the news, so I didn't quite get the full impact that everyone else did. But I do remember hearing Victoria." A few people nodded sympathetically, and I noticed Anastasia looked like she was about to cry. "That sound is one I'll remember, I think, for a very long time. Probably forever. It was just, that…you know. That scream. I think if someone could put the feelings of pain into one sound, that would be it. And then I finally came out, and Amelia came over and told me, and I could see Victoria crying, and Amelia told me she—"
I stopped suddenly, looking at Anastasia. "Does everyone know?" I asked quickly. She nodded.
"OK. Um…yeah. And then I found out she was pregnant, and it was just…everything at once. I couldn't believe it. All those clichés about wanting to wake up from a bad dream – they're all true. It was kind of surreal. And then to top it all off, some stuff happened last night. I can't really talk about it, but…it was pretty bad. Just, like, driving the nail in more and more, sort of thing."
I drew a shaky breath. "The thing that really struck me was hearing how it happened. How someone had taken the life of such a good, decent, kind person by firing a bullet into their body. How could someone do that?"
I let the rhetorical question hang as I sat back, indicating that I'd finished speaking, and was waiting for someone else to start.
"You wouldn't believe how it's affected my sister," Anastasia said abruptly, voice thick. "I've never seen her hurt so much. And it's hurting all of us, because we all saw how happy she was when she was with Lou. And now, she's like an empty shell. She's listless, and just spends all night sitting around, staring into space…she just randomly keeps bursting into tears for no reason. Dad's tried talking to her, but she doesn't listen. It's as though she's in a coma, or something…she even goes to sleep early, and gets up late. She used to be one of my best friends." The Guildenstern family had always been really tight-knit, and it was hard to imagine how they must be feeling now. "Now, she's…she's just not herself. Lou's died and taken half of Victoria with him."
She spoke this last sentence in the croaking, choking tone of someone about to burst into tears – which she did. Oswald put an arm around her shoulders.
We waited for someone else to talk. I was surprised when Tia, of all people, started speaking.



"He was a really good guy," she said. "I didn't always think that, but. Sometimes I thought he was just a killjoy. He found me and Jake in one of his change rooms once, and he looked all, like, disappointed. He said something about being too young, and to be careful and stuff. I just kind of went off at him, at the time. I thought he was just spoiling our fun. But now I can see he was looking out for me. Trying to protect me from stuff. I never saw that while he was alive, but now…I feel really guilty."
"I'm sure he understood," Amelia murmured.
Tia looked over at her in surprise. "What, so you're talking to me now?" she said bitterly.
Amelia looked straight at her. "I hardly think it's time to still be holding a grudge, when something so bad that affects all of us has happened," she said quietly. Tia just bit her lip and looked away, but I think she was grateful for it.
We continued sharing our experiences and memories with each other. Almost everyone had said something except for Mystery, Artemis and Hannah (although we all understood why she couldn't say much.)
Mystery opened her mouth and spoke. "If I smile and don't believe, soon I know I'll wake from this dream," she began. I steeled myself for a barrage of quotes, knowing that there would probably be many she could choose from, but she astounded us all when she kept speaking.
Normally.



"I didn't really know Lou all that well," she said, and we all gasped, knowing that there couldn't possibly be an Evanescence song with those lyrics. "I didn't go out of the house much. Except to come here. But I met him a few times, and he was really nice. I liked that. He didn't make fun of the way I spoke, or the way I dressed. He just accepted me for who I am."
Hannah made a noise in her throat at that point. We looked over to see her nodding slowly.
Mystery continued. "I was surprised to find out how much his death affected me. I was so depressed, and I thought I wouldn't be affected, because I spend so much time in my room with my music. But yeah. It surprised me. And I thought, if I react like this to someone I don't know all that well, how will I react when someone close to me dies?"
She shrugged. "I used to think death was cool. I thought I felt a connection with it. But now I see it was all a lie. I had a long chat with Artemis, and we've both decided to change. Death and sadness isn't fashionable any more. It's real, and it's ugly and awful and not at all cool."
Artemis nodded. "We're going to change."
Amelia looked astonished. "That's great," she said weakly. "Really."
Artemis looked at her. "Sorry for being so depressed all the time," he said quietly. "I'm not sure if it's affected how you're coping with…this…"
Amelia shook her head. "No," she said, smiling. She paused. "But it would really help if you took some actual lessons in playing the guitar."
Artemis smiled – an actual smile! I saw his teeth!—and nodded. "Yeah."
We all went quiet after that. I felt a little relieved, like I'd gotten something off my chest, but the feeling of tiredness still hung over me like a heavy cloud. Everyone else seemed to feel the same: sitting quietly, staring at the floor, thinking.
"Who's going to be running the store now?" Tamara asked quietly, of no one in particular.
Oswald answered. "Lou left it to Victoria in his will," he said, "but I still don't know what she's going to do."
Amelia bit her lip. "Look, I am fully aware of how she feels, and how she has to have time to grieve," she said gently. "But life has to go on, and people need to buy things from that store. Can you get through to her at all?"
Oswald nodded. "I can try."
"Why doesn't she let Lola and Adrianna run things for a while?" Adam suggested.
"I don't see why not," Amelia said. "They're still living there, after all."
Julian said, "I'm walking back that way after this, I can ask them."
"Isn't it still a crime scene?" I said.
"Not the top floor," Julian replied. "And anyway, even if it is still fenced off, I'll just yell." He caught my eye and smiled.
I smiled.
Tamara yawned and sighed. "I'm knackered," she announced. "I'm going to go home and get some rest, OK? Thanks, everyone."
We all murmured goodbye as she got up. I stood to move my chair out of the way, and soon all of us were standing up, saying our goodbyes and preparing to go home. Amelia came over and gave me another hug.



"What was it you couldn't talk about?" she asked me seriously. "You can tell me."
"No, I can't," I said, shaking my head. "I'm sorry. It's nothing against you. It's…it's something I swore to someone else that I wouldn't say."
She nodded slowly. "That's alright," she said. "Want me to drive you home? I brought the car."
I smiled gratefully. "Thanks," I said, accepting her offer and leaving the hall.

Part 18 is basically the last of the mild and unexciting 'I-can't-believe-Lou's-dead' chapters - things pick up considerably in the next chapter, so stay tuned!



Well, to be fair I don't think Ellie's mum really expected her daughter to be coming downstairs in the middle of the night, heh.

But yes, I can definitely relate to being absent-minded...I'm currently in my second year of a science degree, and if I didn't make lists all the time I'm pretty sure I'd forget a lot!

My father was a scientist. My mother was a poet (a few things published locally but not anything you'd find on Amazon.com, LOL.) Yup, absent-minded is my middle name.

Part 18 is a very moving chapter. I liked it and can't wait to find out who killed Lou. I just can't imagine who or why. It's a great mystery.

I'm on pins and needles! Who killed Lou? Was it the new girls? Some sicko passing through town randomly?

And when do things between Ellie and Julian heat up??

Ugh I can't wait! lol

All will be revealed

In the meantime, to everyone else - if I wrote a sequel to Solitaria (there aren't too many chapters left), what would you want to be in it? Any characters you want to read/know more about, stuff you think would be cool to happen, etc? I'm in the process of planning it out at the moment, will probably start writing it in June (after this semester's exams are over), and am definitely open to some feedback regarding what people would actually want to read. I won't necessarily use all the suggestions, but I could try and work in a couple.
For starters, I'm going to feature some of the adults of Solitaria a bit more, rather than focussing mostly on the teens like I did in this one. And of course there will be new characters as well as most of the current ones, and new problems, and new mystery. Yay!

I'd just walked through the door to my room, when my mobile started ringing. I took it out of my pocket to check who it was: No Caller ID.
"OK, No Caller," I muttered. "Who are you?"
I answered the phone. "Hello?"



"Ellie," said the voice on the other end. It sounded very quiet – I turned the speaker volume up. "It's me, Julian."
I was surprised. "Uh, hi, Julian," I said. "How'd you get my number?"
"I, uh, got it off Amelia a little while ago," he said. "Anyway, I've got a bit of a problem."
Julian was calling me about a problem? "Why are you calling me?"
"You were the first person I thought of," he explained quickly. It was then I noticed he was deliberately speaking quietly, and I felt a little worried. "Listen, I—I just found the gun."
My heart thumped. "What gun?"
"The gun! The gun that killed Lou! And—"
"Where?" I asked quickly.
"Um, in their car - Lola and Adrianna's -"
"Have you called Chris?" I demanded.
"I can't!" Julian protested, his voice beginning to rise. "It's a full moon!"
I swore, and rubbed my head with my free hand. This was all happening too quickly. "OK, um…oh, god, are you touching it!?" I panicked, my own voice rising dangerously.



"What? What's wrong?"
"Are you—"
"Yeah, I'm holding it by the—"
"Put it down!" I cried hysterically.
Julian sounded affronted. "I'm not stupid, I'm not going to shoot myself—"
"It'll have your fingerprints all over it!"
"Ah—" Julian broke off suddenly, alarmed. There was a pause. "OK, I put it back."
"That's good," I said.
"Should I try to wipe my fingerprints off?" Julian asked doubtfully.
"No!" I said quickly. "Um, no. Just leave it there and we'll tell Chris that you found it, and you had to pick it up to check what it was…and that's not even lying or anything—hey, how did you find it?"
"I was going to Lou's place, like I said," he said, "to talk to Adrianna and Lola, you know. I was walking past, and I saw the boot was open on their car, and there was all this stuff inside - suitcases and boxes and stuff - and I was just curious, you know, why was it like that? So I, I looked and on top of all the stuff, there was a gun, just lying there, and I thought, well, it must be it… So I called you. I think they did it."
"Who, Adrianna and Lola?" I asked. "Wouldn't surprise me."
"Yeah. Hey, um—"
His voice cut off sharply. My heart started to race again.
"Julian?" I said, my voice cracking. "Hello?"
I heard heavy breathing, but nothing more. I tried again. "Julian!?"
A very soft 'shh' came through the line. I paused, then whispered "What's going on?"
"A light just came on upstairs," he whispered softly. I heard him inhale.
"Who's there?" I whispered. "Do you know who—"
"It's Lola, I just saw her face," Julian whispered. "I have to get out of here."
"Can you do that without being seen, though?" I whispered, then checked myself. "God, move!" I hissed.
"I—I don't know if I can!" Julian whispered, sounding terrified. "It's the full moon, there's plenty of light, and—and they'll see me! And they'll know it's me because of the mask—"
"Take the mask off!"
"They'll still see me walking off! I'm next to the shrub thing near the—"
His voice broke off again. I nearly started crying. "Julian!"
"Oh god, they saw me," Julian hissed sharply.
"What!?" I nearly screeched.



"Shh! Lola – she was looking out the window, and—and she stopped, and then turned and—oh my god, I have to run!"
There were some sharp, scrabbling sounds on the other end of the line, accompanied by sudden rapid breathing. Meanwhile, I was clutching the phone in terror, with my other hand in my hair.
"Where are you going?" I asked urgently.
Breathing. Then—"The hall."
"I'll meet you there," I said.
"No, Ellie, don't—"
"I'll bring help!" I promised rashly. "Bye!"
"Ellie—!"
I snapped my phone shut, grabbed my jacket, and flew out the door.
As I ran, I quickly scrolled through the contacts stored in my phone, searching for the one person I was absolutely sure would try to help us. I found the name, and hit 'call'.



Still running, I pressed the phone to my ear, waiting desperately to hear the ringing on the other end. It started - one ring - two rings - three...
"Come on!" I hissed pointlessly. "Pick up!"
...four rings...five rings...six...
I was getting closer and closer to the hall.
...seven rings...eight...
With a strangled cry of frustration, I stopped the call, and instead tried another contact.
The ringing started again: one ring...two rings...three rings...four...
I swore. "Do none of you ever answer your mobiles!?" I growled.
Five...six...seven...
No answer. I ended the call. By that time, I'd arrived, breathless and sweating, at the hall. Usually, it's a five minute walk. I made it in two.
It seemed incredibly dark. I knew it was night time, and that was one of the primary reasons it was dark, since the sun wasn't actually in the sky. But it seemed even more dark than usual, despite the glare of the moon up above.
I looked around, searching for Julian, while rapidly flipping through my contacts in my phone again in a last-ditch effort to reach someone.
"Julian?" I hissed softly. Since calling for help hadn't worked, I stood next to the big tree and quickly started texting. It didn't take me too long to tap out the required message, which I sent, and then stuffed my phone in my pocket to resume my search.
I kept searching around the hall. Something was nagging at me, though.
The dark…
"Julian?" I breathed, looking all around me.
Why so dark?
I rounded the corner to the back entrance.
The hall always has a light on in case of an emergency…
My eyes caught sight of the smashed back light a few seconds before my brain made the connection. But by then, something hit me hard in the face, my head snapped backwards with a blinding pain, and the darkness consumed me completely.

OMG nuuu!

So dramatic! and a cliff hanger...Oh you!

Very suspenseful and exciting. The phone conversation to build suspense was really great. I hope someone got her text message and gets there fast. And the next question is, why would these two kill Lou?

Aww boo cliff-hanger!! ;_; Please post more - I must know what happens! Did they kill Julian?!? I have to know! D= Lol Great story.

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. This chapter made me short of breath and slightly jittery. I MUST know what happens!!!!

The first thing my hazy vision was able to focus on was writing scribbled imaginatively in black crayon on the ceiling.



I groaned, and shut my eyes again. "I'm going to kill Jenny," I mumbled nonsensically.
"Good luck," said a voice, and I immediately tried to sit up.
That was a bad idea. My head screamed at me to stop and it span nauseatingly, prompting me to lie back down on the floor. "Ah…Julian?"
"Guilty as charged," he replied, sighing.
I waited for the crazy spinning to cease, and concentrated on Jenny's claim to fame on the ceiling. "I'm going to have a phobia of this storeroom soon," I mumbled.
"It seems to be a negative kind of place," Julian admitted. A pained sigh. "I am so, so sorry."
"Julian, don't be an idiot," I said, irritated with him. "It's not your fault. I was the one who came out to help you—"
"I was the one who called you in the first place," he countered. "There's plenty of other people I could have called."
"Well, if you want to play the blame game, blame Lola and her buddy." I paused. "Where are they, by the way?"
"They're getting their stuff," Julian said hollowly. "Apparently they were in the middle of packing when they saw me out the window. They were about to take off, but according to them, they had to deal with me first."
I swallowed. "And when they're finished packing?"
Julian inhaled and exhaled noisily. "They come here, pick us up—"
"But according to you they have no upper body strength, remember?" I interrupted.
Julian was stumped for a moment, then made a short sound that could have been a laugh or a noise of impatience. "Well, they moved you in here pretty quickly. Anyway, they take us away and…well, I guess they shut us up."
My heart started to pound, and so did my head. Valiantly, I made another effort to sit up. My head wasn't happy, but it didn't protest as much as last time, and I managed to prop myself up against one of the walls.
Julian was sitting in a corner, his mask still on, but I noticed a trickle of blood coming out of his swollen nose. I tried not to think about how my own face must look.



"Did they knock you out, too?" I asked.
"No," he replied, reaching up to wipe away the blood. "I ran round the back of the hall, and then they both ran around, coming from both sides, cutting me off. They're really fast runners," he added. "Anyway, Lola had picked up the gun on her way out, and she wanted to know who I'd been talking to on the phone. I wouldn't tell her, though, so she punched me in the face, then grabbed my arm and dragged me in here. Then she shut the door, locked it, and went out to wait for whoever was coming."
"Is it broken?" I asked, wincing.
"No, I don't think so," he said. "I can pinch it between my fingers and it's still in one piece. It's just very sore."
"How long have I been out?" I asked.
"A few minutes," he said.
"I wonder how long it takes them to pack," I said, worried.
He looked me in the eye. "We should really get out of here."
"Oh, really?" I responded. "I was thinking we could just stay here passively until they come back to kill us."
Julian raised an eyebrow. He tilted his head suddenly, as though he'd remembered something. "Didn't you say something about getting help?"
"That all depends on whether our helper checks her text messages," I said.
Julian looked at me incredulously. "You sent a text message?"
I frowned. "I tried calling people while I was running here, but I got no answer," I explained, a little annoyed. "And I couldn't stand there chatting away while I was trying to find you." I sighed. "I'm guessing they took our phones?"
Julian nodded as he stood up and started to survey the storeroom. He gradually turned in a circle, looking around, trying to find a way out.
I sighed, and carefully stood up. I held on to the book shelf until my head stopped spinning, then said, "Julian, do you ever watch action movies?"
"Not usually," he replied.
"Have you ever read any books in the Worst Case Scenarios series?" I asked, examining the store room door and lock.
"Can't say I have." He paused. "Have you?"
"Excellent books," I replied, stepping back from the door. "Especially the sections on escapes. Because you never know when you might need to break down an interior door."
I pivoted on my foot, then aimed one of my best power-kicks at the lock area of the door. I missed the spot I was aiming for, and ended up kicking somewhere under the doorknob. The door clattered and juddered, but didn't move.
"Hang on," I said to Julian, and tried re-adjusting my stance. I aimed another strong kick, a little higher and more to the right. This time, I hit the door squarely near the locking mechanism. It clattered loudly, rattling in its frame, but still didn't budge.



"Getting there," I said confidently, letting fly with another hefty kick, followed closely by another. My leg was starting to ache.
The door didn't budge. Julian was just looking at me, massaging his neck and waiting for the miraculous splintering of wood that was meant to follow all the kicking.
"OK, um," I panted, looking at the door again. "That didn't work."
"Not really, no," Julian agreed.
I looked carefully at the lock, and the hinges, trying to find its weak spot.
The hinges interested me. "I know there's a hammer in here," I began, still looking at the hinges. "But is there something thinner than these hinge pins? Something metal?"
"Uh…" Julian hesitated, then started rummaging around in the cupboard devoted to tools for general maintenance of the building and grounds. There was a lot of clattering as he searched, and I checked my watch. We'd been shut in here for nearly ten minutes. I figured Lola and Adrianna wouldn't really be too keen on leaving us to our own devices for too long.
"Hammer!" Julian announced, tossing it lightly onto the floor near me, where it landed on the wooden floor with a heavy thunk. I picked it up, feeling the weight in my hand, and kept studying the hinges as Julian kept clattering.
The clattering stopped. "What about a screwdriver?" he suggested.
"How thin is it?"
Julian handed me a screwdriver with a good wooden handle and an end which looked like a plus sign. I held it underneath the hinge pin.
"It'll do," I said. "Now, I will try very hard not to hit your hand, but can you just hold this screwdriver in place for me?"
Julian held it, looking nervous. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said.
"That's the spirit," I said, striking the screwdriver as hard as I could with the hammer. I was immensely satisfied to see the hinge pin jolt upwards.
"Progress," I grinned, giving the screwdriver another hard tap with the hammer. The hinge pin moved again. After several more strikes, it popped out the top of the hinge, landing on the floor with a clink.
"Now the bottom one," I said, and Julian crouched down, positioning the screwdriver under the bottom hinge. There was less room for me to swing the hammer to hit it, so it took a bit longer than the top hinge pin. When the top part of the pin was sufficiently out of the hinge, I used the other claw-like end of the hammer to pull it out.
"OK," I said, satisfied. "Now, we lift the door away from the frame…"
Julian took one side, I took the side with the doorknob. Together, we managed to shift the door out of the frame, and propped it up against the bookcase.
"Freedom!" I said, looking out at the youth room of the community hall. I'd never been so happy to see it before in my life.
"Grab the hammer," I suggested, "we might need it."
"For what?" Julian asked, following me out of the storeroom towards the front door of the hall.
"For breaking things," I said, striding quickly towards the door and opening it. It swung open with a loud creak, and I hesitantly stepped outside.



"Run?" Julian suggested.
I shook my head. "They might see us, and where would we run to, anyway?"
"Our homes?" Julian said, as though I was stupid.
"They know who we are, Julian," I pointed out. "They'd probably come to our houses to find us."
"And shoot everyone inside just to get to us? I doubt it," he said.
"Julian, in your case, they'd only have to shoot one other person before you," I said. He bit his lip.
"We could go to the Guildensterns," he suggested. "They'd be awake, and there's plenty of them, and they're vampires. They'd protect us."
"Good point," I said. "But we'd have to run a long way up the—"
"Look!" Julian hissed, grabbing my arm and pointing towards Lou's shop. To my horror, I saw the lights on the top storey go out, and heard someone start the car.
"I guess," I said, ducking back inside the hall, pulling Julian with me and shutting the door, "they're coming for us."
"No kidding," Julian hissed, as we heard the car drive closer to the hall. It sounded menacing.
"OK," I said quickly. "The Guildensterns are out of the question, because Lola and Adrianna would chase us in their car and shoot us before we could get there. So, now I think our best bet is to…" I bit my lip, thinking.
"They're coming," Julian whispered, and we heard the car pull up outside the hall.
"OK, um…wait and see which door they go for," I said. "If they come to the front door, we go out the back. If they go for the back door, we run out the front. Still got your hammer?"
"Uh, yeah," Julian said, a bit taken aback.
"Good. You might need to swing it."



I looked through the stained glass window set into the front door, staying still so they wouldn't see a moving shape behind the glass. I could just make out two blobs moving towards the hall, then moving away from the front door, heading around the back…
"Be really, really quiet," I hissed to Julian, as I carefully swung open the front door.
It creaked noisily.
I winced, hoping against hope that the two killers didn't hear it, and motioned for Julian to follow me out the door. We crept out like thieves, and I instinctively headed for the nearest building: Lou's shop.
It was situated relatively close to the hall. Lou's old sedan was still parked around the side, with leaf litter starting to collect on the windscreen.
"We could smash a window and hide in there," I whispered, pointing to Lou's shop.
"There's a phone in there, too," Julian pointed out.
"Even better," I said, already scurrying for the shop. "Let's go. Break a back window, hammer boy."
"'Hammer boy'?" Julian grunted, as we hurried around to the back entrance. I pointed to a window next to the back door, and Julian hit it with the hammer, shattering it instantly.
I carefully knocked away the shards of broken glass and reached in through the window to unlock the door from the inside. Fortunately, since everyone was mostly trusting in Solitaria, Lou hadn't felt the need to get a very sophisticated lock on his back door. Instead, it was a simple case of flicking a latch and twisting the knob from the inside.
The door swung open, and we rushed inside, trying not to step on the freshly broken glass or to think about what had happened here a few days ago. Evidence of the forensic investigation team was everywhere and there was a strange smell in the room. Most chillingly of all, a large bloodstain adorned part of the floor near the counter.
"My god," I whispered.
"Phone," Julian pointed out, indicating a phone on the wall behind the counter. "Who should I call?"
"Any of the Guildensterns," I whispered. "They're strong, and can fly here quickly—"
"What's the number?" Julian whispered, holding the phone.



I gaped at him, suddenly realising how much I'd come to rely on my stored contacts in my mobile phone. "Crap, I don't know," I whispered.
"Well, I don't know either!" Julian hissed in frustration.
I started rummaging through the drawers in the counter. "Maybe he's got his mobile somewhere, or a list of numbers, or even a phone book…"
"Um, Ellie?" Julian said, in a tone that I didn't like. "Their little red car's starting up again, and I think it's headed this way."
"Crap," I muttered, still frantically searching. As I rifled through one of the drawers, my hands closed around a large bunch of keys, with a remote car-door opener attached.
"Keys!" I exclaimed, holding them up.
"Correct!" Julian said sarcastically.
"We'll take Lou's car and drive to the Eridessa police station!"
Julian stared at me. "That will take ages," he said. "Couldn't we drive to the Guildensterns?"
I shook my head. "Lola and Adrianna could shoot us on the doorstep," I said, already heading for the back door again. "Come on. Let me know if you think of a better plan."
The red car was indeed pulling up outside Lou's shop, stopping me as I was about to round the back corner. I peered carefully around the corner, watching Lola get out of the car, holding her gun and looking angry. Adrianna, meanwhile, stayed in the car at the wheel.
I ducked behind the corner, breathing heavily. If I was Lola, what would I do? I thought.



I'd check round the back, a voice in my head answered, which would lead her right to where we are hiding.
"Go back inside," I hissed, pushing Julian along. We hurried quickly along the back veranda, into the back door, and I ran towards the front door.
"Locked!" I nearly cried out in frustration.
"You're the one with the keys!" Julian pointed out in an urgent undertone.
"Oh, yeah…" I quickly searched for the key which matched the lock…
Julian reached forward and flicked a latch, then turned the knob on the door. Miraculously, it swung open. Lou obviously wasn't very big on security - he'd genuinely trusted the people in the community he'd lived with.
"Move!" Julian cried. I was about to tell him to be quiet when the first bullet was fired over our heads, smashing the glass just above us in the door.

OOoh! Me likes the drama! Please continue, I don't want them killed D8

Very exciting! Reminds me of Nancy Drew, except better.