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The Eclectic Pen - Mail's Here


By: Danielle K. (wintersqt4ever)   + 4 more  
Date Submitted: 1/2/2007
Last Updated: 1/2/2007
Genre: Children's Books » Literature & Fiction
Words: 1,619
Rating:


  Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Kayley glanced out the window and almost fell over, the mail truck was pulling away from their house! Kayley ripped out of her room, banged twice on her sisters door and yanked it open.
“Ryley, Mail’s here!” Kayley shouted in the open door, she bounced down the stairs and did a cartwheel to the door; finally, the mail was here. Ryley ran up behind her in mid-cartwheel and glanced at Kayley funny, before yanking open the front door and running towards the mailbox. Kayley glanced behind her and raced after her sister.
“Oh no you don’t!” Kayley shrieked and raced past her sister, she grabbed the mailbox, and steadied herself, carefully opening the door. She ripped through the mail looking for the address; she grabbed the envelope and carefully tore it open. She unfolded the letter and smoothed out the creases. It was finally here.

--Four Months Later--

Kayley sat inside the cabin of the cruise ship, she was studying the schedule for the next day’s event, they were going to be in Cozumel, she wanted to do it all, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to, just looking at the picture of the scuba divers and the different sea ventures off the main land disappointed her, she needed to find the perfect thing to do on her first cruise!
Just as Kayley was beginning to flip through the expedition book again Ryley shut the door to there room and flopped down on the big bed.
“K, when are you going to leave this room? We’ve been on the ship for 4 hours and all you’ve done is sit here, I already ate a ton, went rock climbing, and swam in one of the pools. Why did you want to come so bad if you weren’t going to do anything on the ship?” Ryley complained, peeling herself up from the bed.
“But Ryley, I’m planning our expedition for tomorrow!” Kayley answered, snapping the expedition book closed.
“Mom and Dad have been wondering where you are, are you saying I should tell them your holed up in our room reading a book about the trips we can take tomorrow?”
“No! I just want tomorrow it to be perfect.”
“Perfection is in the eye of the holder. Now, come on change into your suit and let’s go. I want to see if you can beat me at the rock wall. We can play tomorrow by ear anyways, it’s no fun if you can’t explore!”
Kayley sighed and opened the top drawer on the vanity, she pulled out her swimsuit and trekked over to the bathroom, sometimes Ryley could be so bossy!
Beep. Beep. Beep. Ryley untangled the walkie talkie from her belt loop and pressed the button.
“Ya, what?” Ryley grumbled, why their parents couldn’t just trust them instead of making them carry around walkie talkies was beyond her.
“Meet me on the food deck, now!” A voice answered, it sounded like her dad, but Ryley wasn’t sure, she had never heard him talk on a walkie talkie.
“Sure Dad, I’ll let Kayley know where to meet us there, she’s changing.” Ryley replied, then briskly scribbled a note to her sister and locked the door, she wandered down the hallway, glanced at the map, and grabbed the elevator, she pushed all the buttons, just for fun, and waited as the elevator chugged up.
Kayley stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed her walkie talkie and the note next to it. ‘On Deck’ was scrawled on the paper in Ryley’s messing handwriting. Kayley threw the note in the trash and flounced out of the cabin, locking the door behind her. She scurried to the elevator and hit the button waiting for the doors to open.
********
Impatient as she was Ryley stepped off the elevator only two floors up and ran the rest of the way up the large stairway. When she got to the top she was panting hard, after all, running four flights of stairs will do that to you. She stepped out into the sunlight and breathed in the brisk late spring air. She glanced around the deck and looked on longily as two sisters played together in the water, where was Kayley anyways? With one more quick glance around Ryley pulled out her walkie talkie.
“Mom, Dad, where are you?” Ryley screeched into the walkie talkie, slowly turning in a circle to see if they were near her, Ryley listened then pushed the walkie talkie back in her pocket. She started to walk away, but not before someone grabbed both her wrists and pulled them tight. Ryley laughed.
“Ok, Kayley, you can let go now.” Ryley tried to twist around but the grasp on her wrists was too tight.
“Who’s Kayley?” whispered a voice that sent Ryley’s spine tingling, it was the same one that has asked to meet her on deck, and hearing it in person told her right away, it was definitely not her dad!
*********
Kayley got on the elevator the minute the door opened and hit the button for the 10th floor, she tried to remember if the map had said the first deck was on 8 or 10, but she decided she would look on the 10th floor first. Kayley grunted as the door opened on floor 6 and she moved back towards the wall as five more people got on.
She tugged on her bathing suit as she waited for the elevator to open again. On the 10th floor, Kayley stepped off the elevator and looked around, not seeing Ryley she moved farther down the deck.
Alone on the elevator, Kayley’s walkie talkie crackled as the elevator went back down. Kayley ordered a Coke and sat down on the bench next to the pool, waiting for her sister to pop up.
*********
Ryley struggled in the grip of the older man as he nervously looked around and threw her into an elevator she hadn’t seen before, he hit the only button on the machine that had a very faint L on it, and stepped out before the doors could close.
She struggled to her feet and tried to find a way out of the elevator, their wasn’t one, so she sat back down and waited wondering what she would find on L. The door rumbled open and Ryley glanced down the dusky hallway.
Suddenly a man scrambled out of a room down the hall, he was wearing a large black mask that covered his whole face and neck, he looked both ways down the hall and caught a glimpse of Ryley before she could jump back into the elevator. Ryley heard another door open behind her and again she was put in a tight grip and someone yanked a blind fold onto her, she stumbled forward and landed into someone’s arms.
A large person picked her up and carried her down the hall, into a room, another door opened and she was shoved inside a small cubby space, the door shut and then another. Ryley rolled over carefully and tugged off the blindfold; she glanced around and figured she was in a sort of cupboard.
**********
An hour later Kayley had still seen no sign of either Ryley or her parents so she stripped down to her bathing suit, rolled her clothes in a ball, and put everything on a chair, then she ran to the diving board and was about to climb the ladder, when a dirty looking man brushed past her looking like he had somewhere specific to go, she let go of the ladder, and grabbed her clothes. Then she pulled her clothes back on, and grabbed for her walkie talkie, it wasn’t there, and she wanted to go back to her room and find Ryley but her parents would be super mad if she lost her walkie talkie.
After looking everywhere around the pool deck Kayley gave up and headed to the elevator, changing her mind after stepping into the elevator Kayley hit the L bottom hoping to explore.
**********
After being locked in the cupboard for about an hour and trying everything on the walkie talkie Ryley gave up and just started screaming for help. She banged onto the door of the cupboard and tried to use the blindfold as a whip but the door didn’t budge, she kept screaming, so loud that she couldn’t here the footsteps outside the room.
**********
Kayley stepped off the elevator and looked around, she didn’t feel welcome down here in the bottom of the ship, she could feel it rock like crazy as they sailed away from her home. Kayley listened for other motion on the level but all she heard was a distinct wail coming from one of the rooms down the hall, so she hiked up her jeans and knocked on the door.
“Housekeeping” Kayley yelled, she had always wanted to do that, the wailing stopped for a moment and then started again, hearing no other noise Kayley tried the door and found it unlocked she whipped it open, and then shut it behind her, she walked over to one of the vanity cupboard’s and opened the door, the screaming stopped and two eyes peered out into the daylight.
“Ryley?” Kayley asked, almost amused, this was probably just some prank her sister had put her parents up to, “Ok, mom, dad you can come out now.”
Ryley whimpered “You mean there in here?”
“Well of course they are, this is just some silly prank you put them up to isn’t it?”
“No, some strange men dragged me here.”
“Then we better get out of here!”
Kayley and Ryley yanked open the door to the room and tore down the hallway, they hopped into the elevator and rode it to there floor, then locked themselves safely into their cabin. Before Kayley or Ryley could breathe a sigh of relief a knock sounded from the other side of the door.


The Eclectic Pen » All Stories by Danielle K. (wintersqt4ever)

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Comments 1 to 4 of 4
Paula W. (Paula) - 2/4/2007 8:24 AM ET
This is great!! I want to read the entire story. It kept me riveted every moment. Good job!!
Kathryn M. - 2/10/2007 6:19 PM ET
wow, great job
IONE L. (zaneygraylady) - 4/12/2007 3:54 PM ET
very good
Sabriena W. (hazeleyesrangeleyes) - 8/12/2008 7:00 PM ET
It'll be fun to read the next part.
Comments 1 to 4 of 4