It is just a regular day of school at Redbush High, Florida, USA. Two boys walk as the near-perfect air conditioning gently taps them as its refreshing coolness enters their nostrils. Oliver and Ryan. Two polar opposite personalities and yet, they still manage to become friends.
Ryan is the top student of Redbush, with a great reputation among the teachers about his intellect. His high level of seriousness prevents him from making friends, only being able to have Oliver. He is 179 cm tall and 17 years old. He has messy black hair and has a beige skin tone. He is very ignorant about most jokes and never really laughs often. He spends most of his time studying or watching videos on crime/detective fiction series. Most of the school refers to him as the school’s ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ and he gets intrigued by any sort of criminal activity going on in the school and tries to solve it as soon as he can. He most of the time keeps a poker face. He never really hate or loves anyone.
Oliver on the other hand is more frivolous and friendly. Oliver is 171 cm tall and 16 years old. Oliver has brown curly hair and also has a beige skin tone. He never takes anything serious, always gets in trouble and laughs a lot. He spends his time playing games and watching gaming videos or cool science tricks. Oliver manages to make a lot of friends because of his silly behaviour. He finds Crime/Detective fiction boring. He always has a smile on his face and never really cries unless it’s a serious reason, such as a death of a famly member.
“Hey, Ryan?” Oliver asked Ryan.
“What is it?” Ryan responds.
This was odd, as Oliver is normally outgoing. However this time, he looks traumatised.
“Come to my locker, you need to see this.” Oliver said.
They walk to his locker, Oliver looking clearly concerned about what he had witnessed. He looked as if he had survived a plane crash as the only survivor. Many thoughts went through Ryan. He thought about Oliver’s safety and what could be at his locker. They arrive at his locker.
“YOU WON’T ESCAPE THE INEVITABLE”.
Only one thought came through Oliver’s head in that moment. DANGER.
Ryan tries to hide the danger from Oliver, make sure he doesn’t overreact about the whole situation.
“Uhh… that’s normal,” Ryan tells Oliver. Oliver insists that these messages aren’t normal.
Ryan has two thoughts. Tell the office or Solve this case himself. After all… Ryan was always interested in detective novels and wanted to become a detective himself… why not take the first step?
So he decides, his first case, his first mission in becoming a detective…
“Can you please help me solve this?” Oliver asks.
“Let’s solve it,” Ryan exclaims.
They wait for recess and go back to his locker. This time, they find a book. A book with the name of a recently missing girl. They open the book and flip through the pages. As they quickly flip through, they notice that only some words are highlighted.
‘It is best if you don’t try that’
‘How about we make it even!’
‘I don’t want to try broccoli!’
‘Doing that is one thing, to even be able to do that is even wilder!
‘Aw seriously! You know I hate a test’
‘Me personally, not that great’
‘You!?!?’
‘Do you know how to play this???’
‘Oh! It is over there.’
‘There are consequences if you do that, you know’
Ryan and Oliver kept flipping through pages back and forth, confused about what this is trying to tell them.
“I think I get it, it’s another message that they are trying to tell us!” Oliver states.
They figured out the puzzle and came to the conclusion that whoever is threatening Oliver was saying this:
‘Don’t even try to test me, You know there are consequences’
Oliver’s mind was all around the place, He couldn’t take his mind of the dangers and what could happen to him at any second.
“I don’t really feel safe… can I walk with you?” Oliver asks.
“Sure,” Ryan responds
Oliver felt relief, maybe he wasn’t in that much danger. After school, they walk to Ryan’s house.
“Can I stay here?” Oliver asks Ryan’s Father.
They stay there for a few hours until,
“I’m very sorry about this, but I am afraid you have to go home.” Ryan’s father walks in and tells Oliver.
On the way back home, Oliver finds litter. He picks it up but as soon as he turns…
“Mr. Nolan!?” Oliver exclaims, “What are you doing here?”
“Your life is over anyway, no point screaming.” Mr. Nolan says.
Oliver starts to run, getting every chance he got to get help.
“PLEASE HELP!”
“PLEASE!”
No matter how hard he screamed, no one was awake at that time and Mr. Nolan was too fast. Oliver felt cold in a perfectly warm day, a feeling of dread before his life ends.
“PLEASE SPARE ME, MR. NOLAN, I SWEAR I WILL DO BETTER IN YOUR CLASS!” Oliver shouts, shouting his lungs out.
“You know that isn’t going to work,” Mr. Nolan responds.
It all turned black for Oliver, but he would soon wake up… in a place of nightmare.
At Mr. Nolan’s house…
Oliver regains consciousness, waking up in the midst of a garage that clearly hasn’t been cleaned. Ants roaming the walls, wandering their dark home. Spiderweb’s hang tight at the corners, eating every single ant that is foolish enough to crawl right to its home. Dust stays stationary on the floor, only moving at the force of a footstep. A glacial, freezing gale lurks around even though it is summer at the moment.
“You’re awake,” Mr. Nolan says.
“Why am I here? Who is this? Why does he look like an exact clone of me?” Oliver asks.
“I think you know why you’re here.” Mr. Nolan responds.
“This guy? That’s you, the fake you.” Mr. Nolan responds.
“But why would you get a fake look-a-like of me?” Oliver asks.
“To stall Ryan and delay his investigation further,” Mr. Nolan responds.
Ryan comes back at school the next day…
Hmmmm… Oliver is not here today, he is usually early.
Maybe this day wouldn’t be that bad as the last. Maybe this day Oliver was just sick, Late maybe? Oliver is never late. Ryan freezes at the realisation…
Ryan’s heart beats faster than ever before… Ryan opens Oliver’s locker.. His eyes open wide… Leaving a cold stare… An motionless dead expression.
“OLIVE TREES CAN’T SURVIVE FOREVER”
Right next to it, lay a fake replica of Oliver’s head skewered on a kitchen knife.
He closes the locker has hard as he can, smashing it after seeing a morbid unforgettable sight. He begins to cry, crying tears that he had never felt since he was a toddler. He becomes dejected, at the fact that his best friend died. Oliver was his only friend. Aside his despair, deep inside he feels a frenzy of rage, a feeling in which he want to avenge his dead friend.
This frenzy of rage overcomes Ryan…
“WHY WON’T IT BE ME!” Ryan screams.
“WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE HIM THAT DIES”
“HE WAS MY ONLY FRIEND”
“WHOEVER DID THAT… THIS ENDS NOW”
“Are you okay?” Fake Oliver asks Ryan.
“What? Oliver, is that really you? Or am I dreaming?” Ryan asks Fake Oliver.
“Of course it’s me, who else would I be?” Fake Oliver responds.
“My question is, are you okay?” Ryan asks Fake Oliver
“I am fine, thank you very much,” Fake Oliver responds.
“Hold on, if you are here, then who’s head is that?” Ryan asks.
“A fake one, it was just a prank!” Fake Oliver responds.
They take classes together, play and talk together like usual. Everything was going fine for them but not the real Oliver.
“Please spare me!” Oliver asks Mr. Nolan as Mr. Nolan stabbing and bandaging Oliver’s leg continuously. All the while, Oliver screams in pain.
Ryan and Fake Oliver walk together at the end of school.
“Ryan, I heard of this van that gives out great food, want to check it out?” Fake Oliver asks Ryan.
“Okay, Oliver.” Ryan responds.
They walk towards the van, and see a very noticeable sign that says ‘Best food’.
Inside the van, there was a shady looking person. He smiled all awkwardly. He pretended he knew how he could cook but in the reflection, there was clearly pre-heated food.
“Hey Oliver, what would you like to order for Ryan?” The Shady Man asks.
“Death for Ryan.” Fake Oliver responds as he hits Ryan with enough force to knock him out and drags him into the truck.
Ryan wakes up…
“WHERE ARE WE? ” Ryan tries to shout, but he is muffled by duck tape. He tries retalliating and escaping, but there is a rope wrapped around his hands, which are behind his back.
The van suddenly stops, tossing Ryan across the van. He gets dragged towards a house, a familiar house, the house of Mr. Nolan.
Ryan is taken to where Oliver sat, bruised and battered. A puddle on the floor, of Oliver’s blood.
“Ryan? ” Oliver asks.
“Wait, if you just ordered my death, how are you here bruised and battered when you were just fine seconds ago? ” Ryan asks.
“That was a fake me,” Oliver responds.
“Well, you won’t be seeing him for a while, maybe forever.” Mr. Nolan says as he comes from the shadows.
Before Ryan could react, Mr. Nolan brings out a knife and ends Oliver.
Ryan felt a flood coming from his eyes and fell to his knees, he just witnessed his friend die.
Before Ryan could scream and shout, duct tape and a blindfold were placed on him by Fake Oliver.
He was put in the van and taken back to his house where he was thrown onto the street.
He wakes up in his bed, probably taken back by his mom.
He tries to remember what just happened.
He opens his phone, and sees a haunting message that sparks his memory.
“Oliver is coming back, just in a different life,” a text from Mr. Nolan says, written through Oliver’s phone.
He calls the Police, but the police stay ignorant about Oliver’s death, thinking it was a prank call.
He comes back the next day to look at his locker. “YOU ARE NEXT” in handwriting that looked awfully a lot like Mr. Nolan. While he inspects this, Mr Nolan is watching.
“Hey Ryan… What are you looking at?” Mr. Nolan asks.
“Nothing…” Ryan responds.
“You saw that and yes, you are next.” Mr. Nolan says.
Ryan just stood there. Unblinking, his brain was all fried, he couldn’t think properly after the sight of his best-friend’s death right before his eyes.
“What do you mean?” Ryan responds trying to be smart with Mr. Nolan.
“Since you probably were trying to call the Police, why not save myself?” Mr Nolan says as he tries to hold back laughter.
Mr. Nolan reaches for his knife, with only the thought to kill Ryan.
However, before Mr. Nolan can find it. Ryan was already running.
He goes to the office and reports Mr. Nolan’s activity and tells the office to call the police. Mr. Nolan tries to run away but it’s too late. The door is already closed off so that students can’t escape. Not long until the Police arrive…
“The Police aren’t here yet, might as well go after you now.” Mr. Nolan shouts.
Before Mr. Nolan could do anything…
“POLICE, PUT YOUR HANDS UP!” The police arrive and stop Mr. Nolan.
As Mr. Nolan walks down the hall with a cold stare that just tells him Mr. Nolan’s sadistic nature won’t go away.
6 months later…
“GUILTY!” The Judge shouts
“You will be sentenced to life in prison, for the death of Oliver and 5 suspected missing kids.” The Judge adds on.
Ryan walks out of court, relieved. He feels as if justice was served and feels great to have avenged his friend successfully… but then he remembers… What about Fake Oliver? He goes to his locker opens it and sees…
About the Author
Joshua is 12 years old and currently in Year 6. He lives in Australia. English is his favourite subject at school, and he loves eating pasta, mangoes and bananas. He likes playing computer games and soccer. Joshua has still not decided what he wants to be in the future.