Gone

Gone(Jasmine) People in the town are disappearing. Police sirens could be heard everywhere. Confused, frightened and sad faces could be seen all over the place, unanswered questions were asked. People thought that it was kidnapping, but no one knew for sure.
Tony walked home from school with his head down, thinking that he might be the next victim. He was just 17 years old and he still wanted to enjoy his life. He couldn’t just die because someone kidnapped him and killed him; he wanted to die the right way, and at an older age. But actually, no one knew who will be next, it could be anyone. It seems like the person doing this just picks the victim randomly.
It has been a week and the police still couldn’t find the person behind all this, they also haven’t found any clues. 'The culprit must’ve left something,' Tony thought. He loves watching CSI and in every episode, the bad guy would leave some clues, no matter how small it is. He dreamed of being a detective someday, to fight crimes and to catch the bad guy.

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Tony couldn’t sleep last night and became paranoid that he would be kidnap soon. He had nightmares this last couple of days and it really kept him awake all night. Because of this, his scores are getting lower and lower each day. His friends started to worry about him, but they were terrified as well, so they can’t convince him that everything’s going to be fine.
He went down the stairs carrying his school bag. He was halfway downstairs when he saw police officers at his front door talking to his mom. She was crying and shaking.
“I tried to hit him with a chair, but it didn’t hit him. He slaps me in the face and I fell to the ground, unconscious.” His mom tried to hold back the tears, but she failed. It just made her cry even louder than before. The memory must’ve hit her and made her regret the things that she didn’t do. “I should have screamed and hit him harder. I… I… I should’ve done something to help him.”
“You’ve done the best that you can, so don’t blame yourself, mam. And thank you for the information that you’ve given to us. The detectives will be here later to investigate.” One of the police officers said.
Tony froze. His legs refused to take another step and his mind was completely blank. His eyes widened, surprised to hear what his mom just said. Tears started to fall from his eyes. His nightmares had become reality.
After the police officers left, he forced his legs to move. He ran to his mom, his heart racing. He hugged his mom and tried to comfort her. “Mom, it’s going to be fine. Dad’s smart, you know.”
His mom smiled. It made him feel better, but at the same time, he was upset. Anger burnt inside him. He can’t take this anymore. He doesn’t want to live a fearful life, and the people in this town don’t deserve to be afraid for the rest of their life. This has to stop, right now.

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As soon as Tony arrived at his school, he immediately ran to his friends and told them what happened.
“That’s horrible! I’m sick of this person kidnapping innocent people. Who’s this guy anyway? Did the police found anything yet?” Brandon asked.
Callie shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s no news so far. But I’m sure that they’ll catch the culprit soon.”
“This is so frustrating. It all happens after the mysterious man came to this town, isn’t it? Maybe he’s the one behind all this. Why don’t the police just arrest him?”
“The police can’t just arrest him if they have no proof. And maybe he’s not what you think he is.”
“But there’ll be more victims if the detectives didn’t capture the bad guy soon.”
Callie opened her mouth to say something, but Tony was first to speak. “Guys, I’ve been thinking that maybe we could help to investigate this case. Because just like Brandon said, there’ll be more innocent victims if the bad guy is still wandering around this town looking for someone. So, what do you think?”
“Wow. That’s a crazy idea. I am in!” Brandon said.
“It seems dangerous.” Callie said, unsure to say yes or no. Three of them have been best friends since 3rd grade. They told each other everything and if someone has problems, the others would always help, no matter what. Now, one of her best friends needs her help, she couldn’t just say no.
Tony looked at her, Brandon raised his eyebrow.
“Umm…” Callie looked at both of them. It sounds fun, to be detectives and to save people’s lives like a superhero. “It sounds awesome! I’m in.”
“Great! We’ll begin after school, at my house.” Tony said.

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The three of them meet up at Tony’s house after school. Fortunately, the detectives must’ve been busy about the other victims that they haven’t arrived at Tony’s house, so Tony and his friends could search freely for clues. They knew that if the investigators were here early, they would’ve kick the three of them out of the crime scene and asked them to just leave the investigating to them. Tony hated it when someone is underestimating him. This time, it’s his time to shine.
Callie walked around the room. Suddenly, she saw something unusual on the carpet. She bent down and took a closer look. She saw that a part of the carpet was wet. She called her friends to take a look.
“Why is that wet?” Tony asked. “I don’t think my mom or dad would spill their drink to the carpet, even if they did, they would’ve cleaned it already.”
“Awesome! This is our first clue.” Brandon said.
“What should we do with it?” Callie asked.
“We’ll wait ‘till the detectives show up.” Tony answered.
A car engine was heard outside; Tony looked out of the balcony and saw police officers and detectives coming out of the car. They brought their equipments and ran upstairs. They saw Tony and his friends in the room. Just like Tony has expected, they asked him and his friends to get out of the room and to let them investigate.
“Detective, we can’t leave now because we’ve found some clues.” Brandon said.
The detective raised his eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“Come with me.” Brandon waved his arms, gesturing for the detective to follow him. Then he continued, “The carpet is supposed to be dry, but now it’s wet.”
“Interesting. This is the first clue so far. The culprit must’ve thought that we’ve given up that he became careless in doing his work.” The detective took out his camera and takes a picture of the wet carpet. He looked at Brandon and said, “Good job kid. Anyway, my name is Detective Drake Preston. I think that you could be a detective someday. What do you think?”
“I would love to become a detective. So, can my friends and I help you in investigating?”
“Sure, but try to stay out of trouble.”
“Cool! So, what should we do now?”
“First, we’re going to take this to the lab.” Detective Drake said, he took out a cotton bud to swipe the liquid and put it into a plastic.

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They went to the laboratory and Drake gave the plastic to one of the researchers, Lucy. She spread the liquid on a glass slide and put it into a scanner. The computer showed the result and it was anesthetic. It should only be at the hospital as no one is allowed to bring it home, even the doctors can’t. She remembered that there was once a robbery and that the one who did it was Larry Dipp. No one knew for sure why he took it but he was still arrested. Now he was free and maybe he hid some of the anesthetic and used it to kidnap people. She told Drake everything that she knew.
Drake called the police officers to go to Larry’s house. He took Tony and his friends and asked them to stay outside. He and the police officers break the door but no one was inside. They kept calling Larry but there was no answer. Drake went to Larry’s room and found pictures of him and his wife. When he was going to the other side of the room, he heard a cracking sound. It came from the floor. He tried to knock at it and it sounds different from the others. He thought that there was something in it and tried to open it with his nail. He opened it and saw stairs leading to a room. He went down with gun in his hand and heard someone talking. The room was dark; it was lighted with only one flickering light. And the room was filled with chemicals, laboratory equipments and a closet on the right corner. He saw a man and 5 people who were tied to a chair. The man wore a lab coat. Drake immediately knew that he was Larry Dipp.
“Larry, put your hands up in the air now!” Drake shouted.
After he saw that Larry has done what he asked him to do, he put his gun at his pocket. Larry stopped him, took out his own gun from one of his pocket and points it at Drake. Drake also took out his gun and pointed at Larry.
“Detective Drake. I knew that you’ll find me eventually. But I won’t let you ruin my plan.”
“Just let them go, Larry. And no one will get hurt, I promise.”
“You are too late, detective. You said no one will get hurt, but those guys are in pain right now.” He pointed at 2 persons on his left, who look like they’re suffering and are going to die soon. Both of them were crying in pain
“What did you do to them?”
“I injected a poisonous chemical to both of them and they’re dying right now. No one could stop it, not even you. And soon all this 5 people will all die.”
“Why did you do this? They’re all innocent people.”
“Innocent? They’re not who you think they are. They are the friends of the person who killed my wife.”
“What happened?”
“They were hunting in the forest. They were told not to hunt there, they won’t listen. I used to live near that forest and that time, my wife was walking deep in the forest. This person wants to shoot a deer, but instead he shot my wife.”
“It was an accident. Which one is he? Why didn’t you call the cops?”
“I took care of him already. Once I took him here, he apologizes but I didn’t accept his apology. I took a syringe filled with poisonous chemical and stab him in the arm. He died 5 minutes later. Now, I wanted to do the same to his friends.”
Drake’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe that someone could be this evil. He is a mad scientist. He must’ve turn crazy after his wife died.
“Larry, you are under arrest for killing and kidnapping people!” Drake heard someone shouted, but he thought that no one was there except him, Larry and the 5 people that Larry kidnapped.
Suddenly, a man came from behind a wall. He was tall and skinny. He wore a hat and a black jacket. Larry tried to shoot him but misses. He shot Larry in the arm. Larry dropped his gun and fell to the floor. The man took a handcuff from his pocket and handcuffed Larry while Drake tried to free the victims who were tied to the chair.
Ambulances and police’s cars were waiting outside of Larry’s house. The victims who were injected with the chemicals were brought to the hospital immediately. Drake found the guy that Larry killed. He found it in Larry’s empty closet underground.
Tony saw his dad running to him, his dad immediately hug his son. Brandon and Callie watched them happily. They were all happy that it’s all over, that the culprit is arrested and that now they could live a peaceful life again.
The mysterious man who came to the city turns out to be a detective. His name was Detective Nick Tracy. He was the one who shot Larry’s hand and that he was from another town. He came here to catch Larry because he stole something from a hospital in Nick’s town.
The news was spread all over the town. The victims went to their houses. The people were really happy that they could live a happy life again and that their family was now whole again.