Chapter 15

~Holden~

       Morning came and we all met up at one of the bigger rooms of the hospital so we could figure out a new plan since our old one of splitting up into three groups to explore didn't go as well as we thought.

       And now with all of our kids with us, we really had to change things around. We still only came across one ghost but since there was now a chance we were going to run into things other than those zombie creatures, we couldn't really walk around the village with our kids.

       Especially when some of them were as young as one year old.

       "Since we're all together, I vote that we choose a leader," Noah said. "And it should definitely be me because I'm more educated than you losers."

       "You calling us losers is the exact reason why nobody wants you to be the leader," Josh said.

       "I'm sorry, but who was the one who got rid of the ghost haunting us?" Noah asked. "Me, right?"

       "Technically, Dan did," Destiny said. "He was the one that poured the gasoline on the bones and lit them on fire because you were too busy irritating the living hell out of the ghost."

       "She killed my uncle and almost killed me and Holden and then tried killing Julian. She deserves to be annoyed."

       "Okay, but the point is you're not going to be the leader," Destiny said. "We don't really need a leader right now. We just have to figure out how to get back to Spruceworth. But we've searched almost the whole town. There's nothing."

       "There has to be something," Josh said. "Maybe if we go back to what we were each doing the night before we woke up in this place."

       "I'm pretty sure most of us were at home because of the weather," Dan said.

       "I wasn't," Shaw said. "Well, I was for part of the night but I had to leave at like two in the morning because... of reasons."

       Everyone did look confused as to why Shaw had to leave his house at two in the morning, and I was a bit confused too but then I remembered what happened that night. Ollie got into some trouble at the nightclub.

       And I guess Shaw didn't want to tell everyone why he was out since it was a personal reason for Ollie.

       That didn't stop people from asking Shaw anyway.

       "Wait, why were you out at two in the morning?" Josh asked. "You didn't do what I'm thinking, right?"

       "No, I didn't," Shaw said. "I'm still sober."

       Josh looked a tiny bit doubtful, which really sucked because Shaw never lied about being sober. He hated the disappointment looks he received when he told us he was drinking but he still owned up to it.

       I guess Josh was just spending too much time around Mom and Dad because they always doubted him. Recently, my parents had a love-hate relationship with Shaw. Most days they were okay with our marriage and with the way Shaw has been but other days, they seemed very annoyed and doubtful of Shaw.

       I didn't get it.

       Grant and Ollie were the ones guarding the doors just in case some of the creatures tried getting in. Now that Ollie was no long weak and injured, Grant assured us that Ollie would now be the ones doing the most damage to the creatures.

       I didn't doubt it. Ollie was so much like Shaw.

       Even though Ollie was keeping an eye and ear out, he was paying attention to the conversation we were having and noticed how a lot of people seemed doubtful of why Shaw was out in the middle of the night.

       So Ollie said, "He was out making sure I was safe because I got into a bit of trouble."

       Calvin looked suspiciously at Ollie. "And why were you out at two in the morning? Aren't you sixteen?"

       "It doesn't matter, Calvin," Shaw said. "That's his business."

       "Anything in Spruceworth is my business. I'm the eye of Spruceworth."

       "Anyway," Josh said. "It still doesn't make sense how we got here. We were all at our houses, except for Shaw and Ollie." He looked at Ollie. "Do you mind telling us what you were doing? Just to see if there's anything that could point to how we got here?"

       "I was just at Fusion," Ollie said. "Accidentally got some people angry and I was too afraid to leave on my own so I called Shaw. He came, walked me home, and then I went to bed."

       "And on my way back home, I did feel something weird," Shaw said. "Kind of like something or someone was following me but there wasn't anyone there."

       "Wait, you're just saying this now?" Noah asked.

       "Forget about him telling us now," Grant said. "Where were you when you felt someone or something following you?"

       "Outside," I said.

       "I know that," Grant said. "I meant exactly where outside."

       "It was around the city hall, I think," Shaw said.

       As soon as he said the city hall, Grant and Ollie looked at each other. They knew something.

       "No," Calvin said. "No. You two don't have this secret silent talk right now. We really need to know what's going on."

       "Wait," Shaw said. "The city hall..." He looked at Ollie. "That's where you were seeing all those things, right?" Ollie nodded.

       "Seeing what?" Calvin asked.

       "Just a bunch of... weird things," Ollie said. "Lights flickering, shadowy figures, things moving. It was all while I was helping decorate the city hall. And I wasn't the only one who saw all that."

       "Harry did too," Grant said. "He signed ghost when he was there too."

       "Okay, so if all that is part of the reason why we're here, then that means one thing," Dan said. "The answer to getting back home has to be at the city hall."

       "I doubt it," Calvin said. "That's where Shaw and Ollie were and they didn't notice anything that would lead us to getting back home."

       "But... They were the two, minus Harry, who felt or something weird near the city hall," I pointed out. "And they were the ones who woke up there. That has to be where the answer is."

       "Like I said, they didn't notice anything there," Calvin said.

       "That's because we didn't really look around the city hall," Shaw said. "I woke up, had a few run-ins with the creatures, and then found a creature attacking Ollie. That's when he got injured so the whole time, we just stayed in that room you and Grant found us in. So far, that's our lead."

       "And obviously, we can't all go there," Dan said. "So who's going to go check it out?"

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the orders of the POVs might have to shift around to follow the story better lol.

anyway, as much as i love writing this story, i also want it to just be november already so i can switch to my christmas story because i already have so many ideas for it and i hope it's going to be funny.

i never think my writing is funny, but in my screenwriting class some people were laughing at parts in my script that i was hoping was funny so at least that happened.