Bravestone Academy's Club for Detectives

Prologue

The cold concrete slaps Rosie in the face. She doesn’t remember tripping on anything. Under the dim light of the tunnel, she quickly checks for injuries on her legs and head. She can barely see, but she can make out the shape of blood on her knee. Her skin starts to sting but she doesn’t know how bad the cut is. With no time to check it, she hears the footsteps getting closer, so she scrambles to her feet. 

This is what happens when you stick your nose in places where it doesn’t belong. She thought to herself as she picks up her pace. She took it too far, but she couldn’t stop. She wouldn’t stop until she knew the truth.

“Where are you?” The voice behind her calls out. It echoes all around the tunnel’s walls. Rosie can’t tell which direction the person is coming from.

As she runs, she sees an outline of a door on the side of the wall. The same door she entered through. She goes to it and escapes. On the other side is the newsroom of the school. She carefully puts the shelf back on the other side in its place so no one will see. The door leads her to the inside of her school. 

Darkness surrounds her as she stands in the middle of the newsroom of Bravestone Academy. The dark oak desks and computers resting for the night. Her heartbeat overpowers her hearing as it attempts to bust through her ears.

She waits for the footsteps to find the door, holding her breath. The feet sound so loud, that they sound like two bombs going off repeatedly through the walls of the school.

The person starts knocking on the stone door on the other side until it gets louder. Fists are pounding against it, demanding it to be opened.

A book falls off the shelf as it starts to move open. Rosie tries to unfreeze herself, searching for a quick hiding place. She crawls under one of the desks, pulling her knees to her chest, and waits.

“I know you’re in here,” The voice calls out, “Why are you trying to hide from me?”

Rosie holds her breath, fearing that if she doesn’t then it will be too loud. She is starting to sweat.

The footsteps scan the room carefully. They move around the room until they stop in front of the desk.

Two legs and feet stand in front of Rosie.

“I know where you are, Rosie.”

Rosie holds in her screams of fear, her hands trembling as she grips tighter onto her knees. 

The pair of legs lower themselves to the ground until she is face-to-face with the shadow.