Young Writers Society

"Alright, let's go there then," Avery said quietly. This time, Elizabeth led the way. The group wove through the hallways - it almost felt like they were in a maze - and eventually, almost five minutes later, they found the room.

"Stay silent, okay? Let me go in first and I'll give you guys a signal if it's empty," Elizabeth said. Everyone nodded and huddled a few feet away from the door, trying to be as unattractive as possible.

Elizabeth opened the door to the breakroom and peeked inside. She breathed a sigh of relief. No one was there. And it was very quiet. And everything was super gray. Elizabeth snapped her fingers. Thank god she could do it loudly enough for them to hear.

The group shuffled into the room and Jonah slowly shut the door after them. The room was very bland and it obviously hadn’t been changed in several decades. There was a large radio from the 90’s in the corner, next to the folding table and chairs. There were a few bean bags in the corner, which seemed to be the only thing added within the decade.

"Wow," Zoey mumbled, looking at the microwave, "This place stinks!"

"Literally." Jonah was clenching his nose, "Alright, Alex, where would the key be?"

Alex rubbed her head, "Well, I said it was under the coffee machine there, but that is probably not the case here."

Elizabeth sighed, "Lets just look around, its gotta be here somewhere."

Everyone scattered.

Jonah looked under all the chairs, including the beanbags. Elizabeth looked in all the kitchen cabinets. Zoey looked in the bookshelves. Avery did the disgusting job of checking in the washroom. And Alex checked for loose floorboards.

"Aha!" Elizabeth exclaimed. Everyone jumped in surprise. "Oh wait no that's just a pencil." Everyone slumped.

Alex finished looking at the loose floorboards and looked in the fridge but immediately shut the door. It smelled of spoiled milk and of food. Jonah wandered over to the coat rack and searched the pockets. Several of the coats feel on the ground and Jonah hurriedly put them back on the rack.

“I found them!” He exclaimed. Jonah held up a collection of keys labeled “janitor’s spare” and jingled them, “They were in the janitor’s coat!”

“How do you know it was the janitors?” Zoey was quick to ask.

Jonah showed her the label and she shut her mouth. Elizabeth smiled, “Great! What room should we go to first?”

“Well, maybe we should split up. It’d be quicker.” Alex said.

"We all have ten minutes, then," Jonah said. He took divided the keys and took them out of the chain they were hanging on. "Three keys for each of us. If you don't find anything, come back here. But if you do, you have less than ten minutes to be a spy. Got it?"

Everyone nodded. Jonah handed everyone keys and pursed his lips. "Let's go then."

The five of them rushed out of the room and headed this way and that.

Alex followed behind Zoey towards the stairwell until Zoey turned left to an “Employees Only” area. Alex scampered up the stairs and went to another Employee’s Only area. She checked her phone until a wave of movie-goers passed her, then she quickly unlocked the room and shut the door behind her.

It looked like an office but hadn’t been used in a while. There were boxes packed in the corner and the desk was completely bare, except for a few items. Alex bent down to read a paper on the desk. It was a pink slip, notifiying the manager that they were fired.

Alex checked the boxes and the cabinets before exiting the room. She didn’t want to be there when the ex-manager came back.

Zoey checked the other "Employees Only" area. Thankfully, no one was around, so she could've easily slip into it. She tried all three keys. "Dammit." None of them worked. She scurried down the hall and bumped into someone.

The woman was in an all-green uniform. And "janitor" was written - literally written - on the chest pocket of her shirt. The woman squinted at Zoey. "What happened, child?" Her haunting voice cracked, sending chills up Zoey's back.

"I wanted to get to the bathroom." She wrung her hands.

"Down the corridor, to the left," the janitor said, pointing. Zoey nodded quickly and trotted down the hall as fast as she could to avoid the janitor's cold gaze. She walked into the bathroom and waited a few seconds so that the janitor would get lost.

That's when she noticed the "Employees Only" room. Why the heck was there an Employees Only room in the bathroom? She shrugged, and tried all the keys. Finally, one worked. She opened it, and grinned when she saw a set of stairs leading down to... somewhere.

She took out her phone, turned on the flashlight, and started down the stairs, closing the door behind her. Eventually, she reached the bottom of the stairs.

Cursing at what she saw, she trudged back up to the bathroom. There were only janitor supplies. She rolled her eyes. Zoey left the bathroom and went to go check more rooms.

Alex walked around looking for another room to search. On the other side of the building, Jonah was looking through an empty theater. The lights were on, so Jonah could easily search the rows.

Jonah swiftly wandered to behind the screen and searched to no avail. He started searching in the first row. He walked past the rows, checking to see if anyone was hiding in between them. To his disappointment, no one was, but he did find a $20 bill on the ground.

Jonah then walked out of the theater, unlocked the door to the projection booth, and looked around. Jonah was busy looking through a box of film when he checked his watch. The ten minutes were up. He dashed out of the booth towards the employee’s break room, slamming the door behind him.

Elizabeth and Avery had searched for more information that lead to anything, but to no avail. The two bumped into each other when they reached the corridor that the employees break room was at.

"Found anything?" Elizabeth asked.

Avery shook his head. "You?"

Elizabeth sighed, and entered the room. He took that as a no. Zoey dashed into the corridor and raced into the room. Avery looked startled. "What happened to you?"

"Sorry there's this really creepy janitor and I really..." Zoey shuddered. "She's creepy."

Elizabeth furrowed her brows. "Maybe that's Beatrice?"

"Doubt it. She was old and wrinkly." Zoey sat on a chair. Elizabeth sat down next to her and the rest huddled around the two.

"What're we going to do now?" Jonah asked, sighing. "Evan is probably wondering where the hell we went. It's been over fifteen minutes." He checked his watch again. Avery checked his phone.

"This is such an uncomfortable chair." Zoey said, shifting.

The rest stared at Zoey. "You've been very annoying, Zoe," Jonah said.

"Don't. Call. Me. Zoe," Zoey got up, and shoved her finger into Jonah's chest. "Ever." She was about to sit back down but Avery stopped her.

"Your chair was uncomfortable because some dumb employee left a key on it." Avery picked it up and tossed it into Alex's hands. "Lead the way."

Alex nodded and grabbed the keys. The group exited the room and Jonah locked the door behind them. They started walking through the movie theater looking for a room none of them had checked yet.

"Has anyone checked this one?" Alex would ask.

"Yep, I did," One of the others would reply.

They passed five floors before they came to one none of them had checked. The rest of the group lingered behind him as Avery strolled up to it and shook the fiddled with the door handle, only to discover it was locked.

"Darn," Jonah said, "Alex, give me the key."

Alex set the key in his palm and he closed his fingers around it. Avery moved aside and Jonah stuck the key in the hole. It clicked and he cracked it open.

He turned to the others, "Should we go in?"

"I don't know," Alex stuttered, "I've never done this before."

Zoey nervously chuckled, "Neither have we. We'll follow behind you, bro."

Elizabeth looked as if she was going to cry again. Alex didn't blame her, "Elizabeth, you sure you can do this?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm going to do this. He's my brother." Elizabeth gulped and gave Jonah a nod.

Jonah slowly opened the door and held it open for everyone. Zoey, succeded by Avery, Elizabeth, and Alex. Jonah grabbed the keys out of the door and followed Alex. He let the door shut, which caused the group to let out a synchronized "ssshhhhh." Zoey stuck her head over the railing and squinted. She couldn't see anything, or anyone for that matter, so she turned on her phone's flashlight.

"Nothing's in this area, but there are two doors over there," Zoet stated. She exited the stairwell and the group followed behind her. They spread about the small, dark area in hopes of finding something. There was old film in boxes, photos, and popcorn boxes strewn about the room, along with other supplies. Elizabeth opened the first of the doors and walked in. It was a bathroom which hadn't been cleaned in ages. There was dirt on every surface with bugs freely roaming about.

Alex walked up to the second of the two doors and cracked it open. She quickly turned her phone's flashlight off. Charles, one of the most famous singers in North America, was tied to a chair and gagged. His dusty blonde hair was a mess and his face was dirty. There looked to be some dried blood just above his left eye and some more on his right arm.

The kidnapper was also in the room, near a table littered with ropes and knives. BM's red hair was tied in a bun and she was wearing black pants and a tan shirt. BM had dark red lipstick and dark eyeshadow on, which seemed to darken her light skin. She was fiddling with something on the table while talking but was speaking so quietly that the group couldn't hear anything.

"Look at this photo! It has a..." Zoey exclaimed, but Avery rushed over to her and covered her mouth. She had failed to notice that everyone had congregated around Alex and the door, watching Beatrice and Charles.

"Not a word, 'kay?" Avery said.

Zoey nodded and Avery released his hand from her mouth. The two of them shuffled over to the rest of the group.

The group stood a few feet away from the door to discuss what they'd do it Beatrice was in there. They talked in whispered tones.

"How about one of us stays here, hidden, to call the police?" Zoey suggested.

Jonah looked at her, a hint of humor in his eyes. "You want to stay here, don't you, scardey-cat?"

Zoey made a face at him but then looked at Elizabeth who seemed to be leading. "It's not a bad idea." Elizabeth looked at Zoey, cracking a smile. "You can stay out here."

Zoey half-saluted. "What are all of you going to do inside?"

"I mean, we don't exactly have anything to use on her other than intelligence. And maybe we have the element of surprise? We're pretty lucky that she's here. Also, Charles didn't seem to be in too bad of a condition," Avery said.

"Hm, what if we just stall her?" Jonah asked.

"Not a bad idea, actually," Elizabeth said, crossing her arms. "We'll do it."

"Call the police as soon as we get inside okay, Zoey?" Jonah asked.

"Got it." She pulled out her phone and stared at the screen in horror. She cursed under her breath. "It's dead!"

Avery rolled his eyes and tossed her his phone. "Don't lose it."

"Thanks, you guys should get going."

And they did. Slowly, one step at a time, Elizabeth, Avery, Jonah and Alex made their way towards the door. Elizabeth, who was leading, flung the door open. "Freeze!" she exclaimed. It was the first word that came to mind.

Beatrice swiftly turned around to face the group. She looked back and forth at Elizabeth and Charles, who was slumped over in a chair, before stopping to stare at Elizabeth, “What did you say to me?”

Elizabeth gulped and pulled on her shirt collar, “I… I said freeze. An-nd let Charles go.” Charles looked up when he heard his name and faced the group. His eyes widened as he tried to talk, but the fabric tied around his mouth rendered it inaudible.

“Sure, I’ll let him go,” Beatrice said.

The groups glanced at each other. Let him go? It couldn’t be this easy, it would be to much work for nothing. Beatrice looked back at the group, then down at the table and started fiddling with some pieces of paper.

“You’ll let him go?” Jonah asked.

“If you have my money,” Beatrice replied. Alex gave her a puzzled look and Beatrice elaborated, “The three million dollars? I assume you got my letter.”


“Are you insane?!” Elizabeth exclaimed, “We aren’t giving you three million!”


“Oh, really?” Beatrice grabbed something off of the table and stepped forward, “And why not?”

“Because… um, because…” Elizabeth trailed off. She was sweating profusely and was obviously distressed.

Jonah also moved forward as he butted in, “Because you’re going to give him to us without the money!”

“Jonah, no…” Avery mumbled, pulling at his arm. Jonah shook him off and focused on Beatrice.

“No, I’m not going to,” Beatrice stated.

“Yes, you are! I would fight you for him, but I can’t hit girls.” Jonah said.

Beatrice bent her knees and held her fists up, “Are you sure about that?”

Alex looked back and forth between the two. Both of them were obviously serious about fighting, even though Beatrice appeared to have the upper hand. She had to do something, but what?

“Let’s do t…”

“This wall isn’t built right.”

Beatrice shook her head and stared at Alex, “What did you say?”

“I said this wall isn’t built correctly.”

“And why did you say that?”

“I, uh, said it because the wall isn’t built right.”

“Do you think I care about that?” Beatrice said, now facing Alex.

“Well, you should. You see, if this wall was to hold anymor…”

Just then the large doors burst open and twenty police officers ran into the room. Two of them pinned Beatrice to the ground and some of the others forced the group up against the wall. Zoey came in sprinting after them and stood near Jonah, “Are you guys alright?”

“We’re alri---” Elizabeth started, but a policeman cut her off, “NO TALKING!”

The policemen gathered around the group and Beatrice. Charles looked around at the scene before him, confused about what was happening. He looked at the policeman who had interrupted his sister earlier. He was short and skinny, but had a fierce look in his eyes.

"Mmf mm mfmm mm?" Charles' voice was completely muffled because of the gag.

The skinny policeman gestured to one of the other policemen - another short one, but he was less skinnier and with a beard - to untie Charles.

Avery silently started walking backwards but when he took his sixth step back, he bumped into someone very unfamiliar. "Hands up," a rough female voice told him. He did as told. It was very stupid of him to have done that.

Zoey was peeking through the crack in the door, glaring at Beatrice, who also had her hands raised.

The bearded police man, his name tag said Lucas helped Charles stand up. He touched his forehead, and looked at his fingers, eyes wide. There was a scratch there, and only a little bit of blood had dripped from there. Not too much, but to a person who had been brought up as a prince, it was a lot.

There was silence. The other skinny policeman, his name tag said Robert, started nearing Beatrice. "What are you trying to do?"

"None of your beeswax."

"Tie her up, Elspeth." Robert neared Beatrice, and two other police walked around her. Elspeth, the one who had told Avery to put his hands up, walked over with the handcuffs and roughly pulled back Beatrice's hands, making her wince in pain.

Robert looked at the rest of the group suspiciously, then back at the other policemen/women. He gestured towards the group. "Bring them to the van."



Most of the people were racing out of the cinema. Evan was among them and looked on as his "friends" were being escorted out by the police. They didn't notice him so he ran up to one of the policewomen at the doors. "Hey, those are my friends!"

She glowered at him. "Want to come along?"

Evan backed away.



Avery was pushed into the van along with Jonah, Elizabeth, Alex and Beatrice. Before shoving them all in, Lucas had cuffed them all. Avery had expected an ambulance outside to take Charles away but there was none, so he was escorted gently into the back of the van.

Once the van started moving, and Avery started getting bored of the silence, he reached to get out his phone but then realized that Evan had all their stuff. He cursed under his breath.

Then he noticed Charles making weird faces at Alex. Was he trying to flirt without saying anything? And that too, in a police car? Avery kicked Charles' shin, not caring that he was some famous singer. Charles looked at him, glaring. "What's your problem?" he whispered.

The Elspeth policewomen cleared her throat, trying to tell them to shut up.

"Stop making ugly faces," Avery whispered back.

"I'm not making ugly faces, I'm trying to get Pretty Girl's attention." Right then, Charles winked at Alex and also let a small smirk loose.

Alex slouched, exasperated. "Stop it, okay?" she said, deadpan, and loudly.

Charles flushed, looking down. Avery smirked.



Soon enough, they had reached the police headquarters.

Lucas and Elspeth opened the van's back doors and addressed the group, "Alright everyone, stand up."

The group did as they were told and stood. The two police officers were joined by several more who helped escort the group out of the van. The police station loomed over the group and sent shivers down Alex's spine. It was a beautiful brick building, but it gave her creepy vibes.

The officers led the group into the building and down the stairs to some chairs. Behind the row of chairs was a window showing in to what Alex could only assume was an interoggation room. Two police officers strutted into the room and started opening up files. Not long after, Alex's name was called.

What followed was a series of questions varying from "Where are you from?" to "What is you relationship with Beatrice McGee?" Alex answered the latter one quickly, stating she had never seen the woman before. The policeman interviewing her seemed confused, "Never?"

"Never," Alex responded.

The man ended the interview after several more questions regarding the movie theater and Alex returned to the waiting room. She sat down next to Elizabeth, who was as pale as a ghost, and fiddled with her wristwatch. Elizabeth was called to the room next and she slowly shuffled to the table.

The police officers seemed easier on Elizabeth than Alex. Elizabeth was reluctant to answer their questions at first, but eventually gave in. The officers asked questions about her past, Charles' past, and also if she had known Beatrice.

"W-Well, yes sir, I think so," Elizabeth managed to say.

"You think so?" The officer who was standing asked.

"Yeah, Charles dated, well, sort of, dated a girl who looked just like Beatrice back when he was in highschool. Broke it off, though." Elizabeth explained. The officer standing was nodding along to her story, and the one sitting across from her was scribbling down notes. The officers continued to ask Elizabeth questions until the clock struck three and they released her.

Jonah was next into the interrogation room. His questions were basic and so were his answers. One of the police officers asked Jonah about potentially threatening Beatrice, which he quickly cleared up, "She threatened me first, Mr. I would never threaten anybody."

"You sure about that, kid?"

"Yes sir, I was simply defending myself."

The one at the table closed his folder with a snap, making Jonah jump. He cleared his throat and looked at Jonah, "Alright, son, that ends this. We'll take a five minute break then call in the others."

Exactly five minutes and twenty one seconds later - Avery counted - the officer called in Zoey. She smiled meekly at the deadpan officer and walked into the interrogation room.

They asked her the same questions they had asked Alex. She answered them swiftly.

"What is your relationship with Ms. McGee?" the officer asked after scribbling something on the clipboard he had.

Zoey faltered. "I mean, I've seen her brother before, he's a huge fan of Charles. But I've seen her once before, I think. She was with Evan - her brother - when Evan came to say his daily greetings to Charles."

The officer tapped his chin with his pen and narrowed his eyes at Zoey, thinking. "What's your relationship with Charles?"

"He's a good friend."

"Hm."

The officer escorted her out of the room and called in Charles. Avery ground his teeth. How much longer until he was called in?

The officer asked him the same questions, and he was, so far, innocent. He asked Charles about his relationship with Beatrice.

Charles scoffed. "It's a tricky thing," he said. "You can ask Beatrice." He rolled his eyes. "Or actually, is it allowed for you to bring her in as well?"

The officer looked at the other one who was standing by the door, and gestured for him to bring in Beatrice.

In less than one minute, Beatrice and Charles were sitting next to each other, waiting for the officer's question. He sighed. "Alright, so do you both know each other?"

Charles said yes, Beatrice said no.

The officer didn't say anything and just stood there, waiting for more.

"She's lying," Charles stated.

"You are."

"I'm not," he retorted.

"Shut up," she snapped.

There was silence, and Charles ground his teeth again. "I'm over Veronica and partners in general."

Beatrice scoffed. "Was she obsessed with only your money?"

Charles looked at the officer. See? He mouthed.

"So you do know each other," the officer said.

Beatrice sighed. Charles smirked. "She was my girlfriend in highschool for two years, but when I realized she was only with me for my money, I dropped her -"

"Like I was some toy -"

"You were not. You had a good heart but you had greed as well." Charles looked at her.

"But you dumped me you -" she cursed him.

Charles smiled. "You know the reason and you knew it before. Face it. You weren't for me." He looked back at the officer. "I started dating another girl - Veronica - and she was much better. She cheated on me and I broke it off. As you can see, I don't have very good luck with girls."

"And now I'm trying to get revenge because this -" she cursed him again "- left me for no reason!" Beatrice yelled, slamming her fist on the table. The officer looked completely chill as if he was on a beach in Florida, sipping on some lemonade and getting a tan.

Charles groaned. "Are you deaf? Did you not just hear what I said earlier?"

"Give. Me. My. Money. And I'll let you go," Beatrice seethed.

"Like you're some cop. No," Charles squeezed his eyes shut. "And it's not your money. Stop your greed. It's not good."

"Stop lecturing me, I won't leave you alone unless you give me the one million!" she screeched.

Charles sighed. "I hope you've understood everything." He looked at the officer who had his lips pursed and nodded.

"Charles, you may go." The officer gestured towards the officer standing at the door to escort him out. "Beatrice, you'll be held for more accounting."

The officer at the door held onto Charles' arm and led him out. Charles made a call me gesture and winked. She rolled her eyes and walked back into the room. He nudged Avery, who was beside him. "She looks gorgeous, doesn't she?"

Avery shook his head, tiredly.

Ten minutes later, Beatrice trudged out of the room and Avery was called in. He was asked the same question and soon enough, he was released.