章 4: Encounter with the mystery I

Morning came sooner then later, I went about my routine after offering proper prayers to God, I'm no fan of churches but I believe God exists and he's the supreme being, I thankfully woke up early so I was able to eat a proper home cooked meal.

The rest of the day went really well too, I had no problems as Mark, Tess and Matt was all absent, it was unsettling however but even the populars barely noticed and there wasn't really anything I could do so I held my peace.

Three exact days after my banter with Mark, they –Mark, Tess and Matt still were all not present, I didn't know why but I couldn't shake the unpleasant feeling that something was wrong somewhere, so even if it was a herculean task, I asked the populars for their whereabouts, I mean Mark's and Tess', then I found out it was Mark's birthday week so the lovers were on a week's vacation to the popular city of love – Paris. Even at that, I still wasn't satisfied and that didn't actually explain the mysterious disappearance of Matt, as far as I could remember the Bookworm had a perfect attendance.

Tuesday was when my worry was confirmed to be valid, all three of them were declared missing by the school management, Mark and Tess' parents only noticed they were gone yesterday and it turns out Matt is an orphan and the orphanage was obviously careless about his whereabouts until a family showed interest in his adoption, no one had a clue of where they could be, not even the populars.

The school's CCTV footage for the entire week was mysteriously wiped clean and the security guard on duty all week said they hadn't left the school compound, everyone was dumbstruck, even the teachers couldn't take a guess of what might have happened and the unusual part was that it disturbed me even more than I was willing to admit, why it was so was what I couldn't fathom.

Sure enough, the next day Eastwood high was more of a desert than a school, very few teachers and almost a nonexistent population of students were present, I could tell it was because of fear, no one knew what gobbled up two popular students and the Bookworm, they had probably all come to a conclusion that their disappearance had something to do with coming to Eastwood so they all stayed in the security of their respective homes.

Cops were everywhere around and in the school building, they were trying their possible best to piece the puzzle together but there were very many unfounded pieces, pieces I might be able to help with, for example, only I knew Matt went to the library during lunch hour, only I knew Tess was also in the library at that time,it was only me that could tell that Mark probably went in after I told him off several days ago, I wanted to tell the cops that I might have figured out the link behind their disappearance, that maybe something or someone in the library was connected to their disappearance, but I wanted to get my facts proven first so I decided to go to the library – alone.

The library's quietness was creepy, everything was just as it used to be, neat rows and rows of books stacked properly in the wooden shelves, reading desks were just as orderly as it used to, even the librarian's nude nail polish that had been there since I could remember hadn't moved an inch, I wandered all through the large empty space but not a thing was out of place except from the new stack of books at the rear end of the room.

Those books however were kind of disorganized and out of place, I carefully looked around it for anything that could be a clue,

Nothing.

I sighed in resignation and made to leave the room when I noticed a bright book cover strangely hanging out of the remaining books on the top shelve by my right, out of curiosity, I picked the book and checked the cover for the title,

The mystery.

It had the picture of a glowing golden mansion drawn very beautifully over the cover, however the author's name wasn't indicated. I turned the book over instinctively to check what the story is about and surprisingly, very few words were written as the synopsis.

….four highschool students join forces to unravel the mystery….

It was strange, no author, no publisher, nothing. I opened the first page of the book, THE MYSTERY was boldly written on it, the next page had the table of contents, it only had fifteen chapters outlined on it;

1. Shawn Theodore Bradford.

2. Theresa Aurora Maxwell.

3. Matthew Matthew Matthew.

4. Mark Octavos Stoner.

5. Joanna Yvonne Cooper.

My heart skipped a beat when I read my own name on the fifth chapter, maybe it was just a coincidence? I went on to read the rest of the chapter content, the book can't actually be based on lives of random people right?

6. Find and fit in the key to the golden mansion.

7. Fit in the missing pages to their appropriate books.

8. Obtain the treasure box.

9. Change the course of history.

10. Tame the lions.

11. Get the yacht to the shore.

12. Race to the crown.

13. Secret task; protect your teammates.

14. Walk through the house of horror without screaming in horror.

15. Unravel the mystery.

Of all novels I've ever read, both electronic and paperback, this novel is sure the most unusual. I mean, who publishes a book without her name being indicated, no dedication, ten worded synopsis, unusual and unrelated chapter names? It was really strange but I couldn't put the book down, so I ignored all the warning alarms blaring in my head, went over to a study desk and opened the next page of the mysterious book –The mystery.