THE JOURNAL

LOCKED IN

The next day at school Addison was taking her books out of her locker when Maddy walked up to her.

"hey, I think I found something". Maddy says

"we can't talk here,let's meet at Brighton's coffee shop later" Addison says.

"yeah sure that's fine " Maddy says and walks away

During lunch they all went to the coffee shop to talk so that no one from school would see them

"I feel like we should have like a group chat. It will make our movement less suspicious....it's also gonna make things a lot easier if anyone finds out anything so we won't have to meet all the time except it's really urgent" Danielle says as soon as they got to the coffee shop

"yeah you're right " Mika says."I can open the group chat later and add everyone ".

"yeah, I don't think so. Belly can do it, she's the tech genius, can't you Bells?" Katy says smirking

"okay what the fvck does being a tech genius have to do with opening a group chat?" Mika asks Katy annoyed

"we don't know who we're up against, what if they find out about the group chat and try to hack it so they can find out what we know? don't you think it would be smart for a tech genius to open it so they wouldn't be able to hack it that easily,ma'am " Katy says in an insulting way

"you b***h"Mika says about to hit Tracy but is held by Maddy

"fight much"Katy says mocking her

"that's enough "Maddy shouts."we're all in this together and that means even if we hate each other's guts we have to work together"Maddy says

*they all go quiet for some seconds*

"I'll create the group chat later" Belly says

"so, what did u find out?" Zoey asks

"when I got home yesterday I went through the journals some more"Maddy says

"please don't tell me you brought the journal to school "Danielle says

"no of course not"Maddy says."I took pictures of the pages " she says handing them her phone

Zoey reads the journal out loud. "I've been following the clues, and I think I'm getting close, I can feel it. I'm starting to feel like I'm being watched. I have to be careful"

They all felt a chill run down their spined. Was Jake really being watched? If he was who was watching him?

The next evtry was cryptic and there was some languages they couldn't understand. "what is this?,do you guys understand this? Zoey asks. They all shook their head implying they had no clue

"whatever's written on that page Jake definitely didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands" Belly says

As soon as Zoey swiped the phone to see the next page, she found the final entry which was the most chilling of all

"I've found it, I know the truth and I'm going to try to stop them and expose them. But I don't know if I'll make it alive" the journal read

They all looked at each other. They had to find out what happened to Jake and they had to uncover the truth. They couldn't just sit back and do nothing

When they got back to school after lunch they all had history class.

"those who do not learn by history are doomed to repeat it" their teacher, Mr Tyler said starting his class staring straight at Addison."now let's turn to page 314 of our textbooks"

The door suddenly opened and the school's student guidance counselor, Ms Emily came into the class and told Mr Tyler something quietly

"go ahead"me Tyler said

"sorry for the interruption, Addison Woods, Danielle Ross, Maddy Smith, Belly Wes, Katy Henlon, Zoey Rivers and Mika Hills please come with me"Ms Emily said

they all look at each other surprised

*in the guidance counselor's office*

"please sit down"Ms Emily said, her voice low and serious

The students exchanged glances but they sat down, wondering what was going on. Ms Emily's expression was grave, her eyes seemed to bore into their souls

"listen, I know you're all smart students, and I know you're curious and you wanna experience a little adventure, it is your senior year after all. But you are playing with fire. You're looking into things that are best left alone". their eyes widened as they realized she might know what they were doing

Addison Pov

"Billy said Ms Emily and the principal were acting shady when Jake's brother died, if she knows anything or is involved now would be the best time to find out"Addison thought to herself

"we don't know what you're talking about" Addison said acting nonchalant

Ms Emily leaned forward with her eyes filled with warning "I mean you're all putting yourselves in danger. You're asking questions you shouldn't be asking and you're poking your noses into things that don't concern you"

"what's going on?"Danielle asked trying to keep her voice steady

"is there something you're hiding or something we shouldn't find out?" Addison asked trying to be bold

Ms Emily's expression turned cold, her voice dropping to a menacing whisper."I'm not hiding anything, I'm trying to protect you"

"protect us from what"Zoey asked

"you're in over your heads. you need to back off now, forget what you've learned, forget what you've seen. Just walk away"Ms Emily said

They all felt a chill run down their spines. They knew that they had stumbled upon something big, something that could get them hurt

As they left the office, they couldn't help but feel like they were being watched. They knew they had to be careful, that they were playing with fire. But they were determined to uncover the truth

The next day, during lunch they all say down together at the cafeteria

Justin walked up to them."Addy can I talk to you for a sec"

They left the cafeteria and went into an empty classroom. "Addy are you okay?"Justin asked when they were in the classroom

"yeah, why?"Addison asked

"you've been totally ghosting me since the beginning of school year, you fought with your arch enemy first day of school and now you're eating with her"Justin said.

"it's just.....just.....babe I'm sorry, a lot of things are going on right now"Addison says

"well then keep me in the loop "Justin says. "I can't, I'm sorry"Addison says

"then I guess we're done "Justin says and walks out of the classroom

Addy wipes her tears before leaving the classroom."well I'm officially single"she says as soon as she gets back to the cafeteria. "so am I "Katy says chuckling weirdly."Nathaniel broke up with me yesterday"

"oh my goodness Katy I'm so sorry, were you guys in a fight?"Belly asks

"no, we've been so busy trying to find clues and all I didn't really hang out with him and I couldn't tell him why so..."Katy says

"Justin broke up with me for the same reason"Addison says

"I'm sorry guys" Belly says

"it's fine, we're fine"Addison says

"okay so we definitely know Billy was right about Ms Emily, she's definitely part of what happened or at least she's aware"Danielle says

"and me Tyler legit side eyed me today in class before she came"Addison said

"tea. I noticed "Zoey says

"I have an idea"Mika says,"it's a long shot but Jake hid the journal in the library right?..and his entry was really bizzare, what if there are more clues hidden there in the library ".

"I agree with Mika. we have a bunch of clues that don't make sense, they're not even clues they're just speculations and the only thing we know for sure is Ms Emily knows about it. I say we go to the library " Zoey says

"we still have about 40 minutes before lunch is over"Katy says

They all head to the old library, determined to uncover more secrets

"where do we even start looking "Belly says

"why don't we take a look at the journal one more time"Katy says

"yeah, I still have the pictures in my phone "Maddy says

As she scrolls through her phone looking at the pages of the journal again Addison noticed a small inscription at the edge of one of the pages but it wasn't written in English

"what language is that?" Danielle asks

"it's Latin"Mika says

"truth is in plain sight, find door behind shelf" Mika translated

Could this be a clue to a secret room or a hidden message?

They began to search the book shelves, running their hands over the spines of the books.Katy noticed that a particular book seemed slightly out of place, when she pushed it inside, the book shelf creaked open, revealing a hidden door.

Their eyes widened as they pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was small with walls lined with old books and dusty artifacts

"wow, these artifacts are so similar to those from Aztec and Mayan civilization"Mika says

"how do you know so much about these stuff"Katy asks

"I love history"Mika says

In the center of the room there was a table and a collection of newspaper clippings and documents were on it. As they began to read they discovered the documents revealed that the school had been built on a site where ancient artifacts and relics were buried.

"I saw something like this online"Zoey said."it says here that the land on which the school was built had been a site of ancient civilizations, with ruins and artifacts buried beneath the surface"

"guys we have to get back, lunch's over, before anyone notices we're missing"Belly says

"what? but we didn't hear the bell ring"Katy says

"yeah, this place seems to be sound proof, the walls are too thick to hear anything " Zoey says

As soon as they turn to leave, they realized the door was shut and they couldn't get out

"no,no,no,no, no "Danielle whispered, continuously trying the door handle."it's locked, we're trapped"

She started pounding on the door, shouting for help. They were alone and no one knew where they were

"Danielle stop. it's sound proof,no one's gonna hear us"Maddy said

Panic began to set in as they realized the gravity of their situation. They were trapped in a hidden room with no way to escape.

"we need to find another way out"Addison said trying to keep her voice steady."there must be a ventilation shaft or something "

They nodded and began to search the room desperate for a way out. As they searched they couldn't shake off the feeling that they might not make it out alive