⚒⚒

It was two hours past midnight and Shaun had left home to be with his best friends, Wolf and Fox. He had tagged along with them to their uncle's apartment in search of clues regarding the missing children in the city. 

Before they entered inside, the three glanced around to see if anyone or anything had followed them to the motel. Apart from a couple of owls staring and hooting, the only thing that could be seen or heard was the loud music coming from the bar next door.

"Come on, let's go," Wolf said, his brown eyes taking a final look across the parking lot. He straightened his leather jacket, then leaned down and began picking the lock. 

"Guys, this is a crime," said Shaun. I don't want to go to jail. "If we get caught, we can kiss goodbye our chances of getting into our favorite colleges." Shaun didn't want to be there. But in recent times, whenever he had refused to go out with his friends, they would end up telling him about an epic encounter they had, making him jealous. 

"Don't be a pussy, Shaun," Wolf said, before a tick sound came from the keyhole. He twisted the doorknob and pushed the door forward. He looked at his friend. "We didn't come this far so you could chicken out."

Entering inside, there were a ton of torn papers scattered all over the floor. It was as if a malicious creature had attacked a set of books. Empty and broken beer bottles also accompanied the mess, and there were dirty clothes on the stained green couch, with a bloodied vest on a rocking chair beside the TV at the corner of the living room.

This has to be the dirtiest place on Earth. "What is that smell?" Shaun gazed around and spotted three dead rats with their guts hung out. "I think I'm going to puke." He retched, putting a hand over his mouth. 

Wolf patted his friend's back. "That's it, buddy. Breath in, breath out." He faced his brother. "Are you getting all of this?"

Fox, who had his eyes behind a camera, nodded. 

"Can we leave? There's school tomorrow and Ms. Winsky will send us to detention if we are late to her class, again," said Shaun.

"Relax, Shaun. Ms. Winsky is old, she won't remember giving us a final warning," assured Wolf, checking the room. He knelt down and looked under the table - which was between the couch and TV - and dug his hand inside.

"That's what you said last time about her not remembering to give us a test, and you were wrong."

"She had forgotten, but Anthony 'Dickface' Brem reminded her." 

True. Stupid Anthony. Shaun never had a problem with Anthony, but after that day he hated the boy for eternity. Him reminding Ms. Winsky about giving them a test caused Shaun to drop from his constant As and down to his first and only B. I was lectured by Dad as though I had gotten a U. Why can't he be proud of me the way Wolf and Fox's father is of them? They get Cs and Ds and don't get lectured about it.

Wolf pulled out his hand, holding a file. He waved it in the air, smiling. "I found something." 

"Does your Dad know you sneaked out? Cause if my mom finds out, I will be grounded for eternity."

"He doesn't care. He was too worried about introducing his new wife to us."

"How did your sister take it?"

"Let's see: Her best friend... No, former best friend married her father. How do you think she took it?"

"Badly, I guess?"

"She didn't show up to dinner."

"Damn." Though Shaun didn't want to ask more questions seeing as his friends were caught in-between a public family drama, he knew their father (a C-list Hollywood director) had eloped with an up and coming actress two months after they met on the set of his new movie, My Wife Is Secretly A Pornstar. 

"Guys, check this out," said Wolf, reading what was in the file. "This is exactly what we needed." 

"Detective Cole Filler. Case: The Disappearance Of Children Under The Age Of 13," read Shaun. "Suspects: Antwan Grismo, Elizabeth Doyle, Franny Oldsickle, Riman Grandsaw, Henry Winkle..." He turned to Fox, who was still recording everything. "I know this people. I sale coffee to them every morning."

"Joe and Daisy Turner," Wolf said. "They are also on this list too."

"What?" Shaun checked the file again. "I believe the Turners have been somehow responsible in not only this case, but the hundreds unsolved ones over the years," he read. He looked up at Wolf and said, "Didn't you say Joe and Daisy saved you and Fox from a ghoul attack?"

"They did," answered Fox. 

"And yet, they are being investigated as potential serial killers. This doesn't make sense."

"Nothing in this city makes sense. Monsters live among us and people still don't want to believe in their existence. And because of everyone's ignorance, the monsters either kill or turn us into one of them. That's why we need to prove to people that they exist," Wolf said.

"Daisy is so hot," said Fox, looking at the young woman's photo. "I am going to marry her."

"Isn't she five years older than you?" asked Shaun.

"Age is just a number."

"Not when you're sixteen and she's twenty-one. That is considered rape in the eyes of the law."

'No, it's not. You know our classmate Karen? Well, she's dating an old college professor."

"Karen is a slut, she said it herself. She's only dating older guys because she loves the danger it comes with being caught," Wolf told the two, still perusing the file. Then he started laughing. "You have to see this. I can't believe Uncle Cole may have actually solved this case." He handed Shaun the document.

Shaun began reading, "I believe Ellen, Len and Erman to be the masterminds behind the kidnappings. They lied about having a daughter called Gloria, and in the last cities they have been to, there have been cases of children been abducted. WHAT IS THEIR END GAME?" Shaun looked at Wolf and Fox, and smiled. "I can't believe we actually got something from your drunk uncle."

Wolf placed his hands on Fox's and Shaun's shoulder, and said with a grin, "Boys, The Phantom Stalkers have a case to solve."

⚒⚒

Shaun, Wolf and Fox had followed Ellen, her two husbands and another young fellow from their home, to an apartment building in the suburbs. The four of them had disguised themselves in masks and hoodies, before entering inside.

Staring up the four floors from Wolf's car, Shaun asked from the passenger's seat, "Why do you think they are here?" Most of the lights in the apartments were turned off, except for one on the second floor.

"To kidnap a child, of course," replied Wolf, rubbing his hands anxiously. He turned to his twin brother at the back, who had placed the camera on the seat next to him, busy tying his blonde locks into a ponytail. "Fox, hurry up. We have to capture everything if we want to prove who the real criminals are." He pivoted back around and placed his hands on the wheel. "Uncle Cole may be a drunk, but this will help him too."

"Look." Shaun pointed at four figures running out of the building. One of them was holding a sack with something inside it twisting and turning. "They have the kid in there. We have to stop them." Shaun tried to open the door, but it was locked. He gazed at Wolf, who had flipped on the child lock. "What are you doing?"

"I'm stopping you from making a mistake. What are you going to do when you get out of the car? Beat them up? There's four of them and one of you."  

"You mean four of them and three of us, right?"

Wolf sighed, then gazed into Shaun's hazel eyes. "You're supposed to be the smart one, Shaun. Not me. What can the three of us do to stop the four of them, who seem to have been doing this sort of thing for years? If I could fight, I would. But I can't. That's why we need to follow them and see where they are hiding the other kids. Otherwise, we may end up getting kidnapped if we interfere now. Do you understand?"

He's right. Shaun bit his lower lip, before saying, "Yes."

"Good." Wolf patted Shaun's head. 

"Wolf, Shaun, they are leaving," said Fox, pointing at Ellen's car with his free hand. 

"Don't worry, I'm on their tail." 

Wolf started his car's engine and followed them from a safe distance. They drove for what seemed like hours, leaving the residential part of the city and going into Ramere Reserve. They drove deep into the thick forest, ignoring all the stories they had heard about the terrible things that may be living in there. 

They stopped when they saw Ellen's car parked in front of them. "Wait here," said Wolf before he grabbed a sledge hammer and got out. 

He has a death wish. "What is he doing?" Shaun asked, glancing around the darkness. We are going to die. I can't believe I agreed to come here. Mom will follow me in Hell and beat me up for dying, before I gave her grandkids. 

Wolf returned, smiling. "They are not here, but I saw footsteps leading that way." He pointed forward. "Let's go."

"Now?" asked Shaun.

"Yes, now. Come on."

Unwillingly, Shaun got out and trudged alongside the twins. I am going to die. I am going to die. He kept staring left and right, biting his nails. What if a werewolf is waiting for me? Or maybe a vampire? I am too young to die tonight.

"Shaun, relax," Fox told him, and he nodded. 

They followed the multiple footsteps on the ground and were led up a small hill, arriving at a cabin. It was small with bright lights hanging outside and nicely painted blue walls. It looked like one of those houses a man and woman having an affair would go to to not be discovered. 

Wolf walked to one of the windows and peeked through. "Fox, are you getting all of this?" he asked, wide eyed.

"Yes," replied Fox.

Shaun couldn't believe what he was seeing. Ellen sat at the middle, while all the missing children were on the floor, surrounding her as she read to them Goosebumps: Welcome To Dead House. Her two husbands and a young caramel skinned man were at the side, listening with a smile on their faces. They all seemed like one big happy family.  

"Shaun, Wolf, come and see this," Fox said from the third window to the door. The two teenagers went, and they had to cover their mouths with their hands after who they had seen. 

"Is that-"

"Uncle Cole." Wolf said, before Shaun could. They stared at Detective Cole, who was seated on a rocking chair with a wicked smile on his face as he gazed at the children. But that wasn't what had the three teenagers shocked. But rather, it was the long tentacles coming out of his back and waggling in the air. "He's the monster."