Chapter 1
Ace Jackson - The Mysterious Stranger
“Come on everyone!”, yelled Mr Pratt, Class B-7’s teacher, loudly. “You hear the bell? Back to class!”. Mr Pratt stopped rounding up the students for a second as he listened to someone crackling through his walkie-talkie. Suddenly, the tone of the bell changed.
“THIS IS NOT A DRILL!” screamed Mr Pratt deafeningly. Kids were starting to freak out now, as this didn’t usually happen during drills. Ace nudged Tom with his elbow, and they sneaked off the playground together towards the staff-room.
When they got to the staff-room, Tom and Ace prowled towards the window at the back, so they could listen to what the teachers were saying.
“Do you think he’ll get in?” one teacher asked, distressed.
“I don’t know, but I’m more concerned about whether he’ll spare the children if they’re found.” Another teacher responded, “Most don’t, you know.”
Ace stared at Tom in horror, “I-I thought tha-that it was just the re-reporters ex-ex-exaggerating!” he stammered, shocked.
“We need to save those kids.” said Tom determinedly, a grim expression on his face.
The Detective duo crept stealthily towards the gate, passing the far end of the AstroTurf oval, so they wouldn’t be seen by Mr Pratt who was halfway through an apoplectic fit in the middle of the playground. Ace and Tom would’ve laughed at the sight. That was, until they saw who was trying to break the school gates down.
He was a brute, around two-metres tall and almost as broad. He had arms the size of small children and legs that were the same size as tree trunks. His head looked vaguely like someone had stuck a boulder onto his massive neck and glued a cascade of dirty brown mop on-top of it all.
Do you want to know the worst thing? You probably don’t. But I’m going to tell you anyway. He had almost destroyed the last couple of metal bars that stood between the monster and themselves.
The giant took a step back and launched himself at the gate. It crumpled like paper under his immense force and fell to the ground. Having broken down the gate, he stood up, glowered at Mr Pratt and then left the scene. At which point, a well-dressed man walked up and smiled pleasantly at Mr Pratt before striding comfortably towards the staff-room. He waved at the teachers before exiting the high-school.
Ace stared, open-mouthed at Tom, who had exactly the same expression on his face.
“Wow.”
That single word, uttered by Tom, described it all.
It had been two days since the break-in and the detective duo had hardly discovered anything. Ace took out his notebook and looked, once-again, at the notes he had taken afterwards;
A giant comes and breaks down the front-gate.
A strange, well-dressed man walks in afterwards and shows his obvious power and confidence.
He leaves without harming, killing or stealing anyone/anything.
The police had been called and the gate had been repaired, with reinforcements of course, and there were now guards who stood by the front gate. The back entrance had been removed and replaced with the same brick wall around the perimeter of the high school.
There was still a problem, though only the two boys seemed to have realised it; nothing would hold that monster back if the Strange Man wanted to “visit” again. The weirdest thing though, was that, to the detective duo, the Well-Dressed Man seemed strangely familiar somehow. As if they’d met him before or something.
Now, all that’s left to do, is wait for the next “attack”...
