Chapter 5
Erin and Teddy went to Rebecca’s house. Rebecca said she told her parents what happened to her yesterday at the park. She said her Dad called the police and Officer Bishop came to her house last night. Officer Bishop told her parents what he thought had happened. He said he helped Rebecca up and searched the entire area and that no one was there that could have attacked her. He said sometimes kids have active imaginations and that she may have thought she was being pulled when actually she was sliding on wet grass and leaves. Rebecca said that her parents believed him because no one saw who grabbed her.
Erin, Teddy and Rebecca went over the plan. They agreed that it could work and that it was worth trying. They needed to set up the area and have everything ready and in place when it was time to spring their trap. Erin and Rebecca went to a church and had the priest bless the water they brought. Teddy set up a video camera on the backstop of the baseball field to film most of the park. Then he found Officer Bishop and asked him if he could meet him at the park this
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afternoon. He told him that a bully was picking on him and his friends when they play at the park. Officer Bishop agreed to help him and said he would put a stop to it.
The three met back at Rebecca’s house and filled their super soakers. They decided to start the plan at 2p.m. when Teddy was to meet with Officer Bishop. They wished each other good luck and went off to their positions.
It was just before 2p.m. and Rebecca was playing on the swing set. Erin was watching her from behind the shed. Teddy was talking to Officer Bishop on the ball field about 50 yards away.
“OK Teddy. Who’s been bothering you?” asked Officer Bishop.
“They were here about a half an hour ago and chased off my friends. I think they’re coming back for me,” Teddy stalled.
“Do you know who they are?” asked Officer Bishop.
“No, I think they go to a different school. I don’t think they live around here,” said Teddy.
“I bought you this whistle. If you see them, just blow it and it will draw attention. They will go away because they don’t like attention,” said Office Bishop.
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“Thanks. That’s really nice of you,” said Teddy.
Over by the swing set, Rebecca saw her Dad walking toward her.
“What are you doing here?” he asked
“I’m waiting for Erin. We are going to play here for awhile and then we are going to her house,” she said.
“I don’t think so. You are coming home with me,” he said.
Teddy started running toward Rebecca.
“Hey where are you going?” said Officer Bishop.
“It’s one of the bullies,” said Teddy.
He followed behind Teddy. Erin saw Teddy running and she picked up the super soakers and also ran to Rebecca. Erin tossed Teddy one of the guns. They both pumped and blasted Rebecca’s dad with the water. Rebecca pulled out a squirt gun from her jacket pocket and joined in on the soaking.
“Stop that!” shouted Officer Bishop.
They kept blasting the water and then they heard a strange moan come from Rebecca’s dad. Steam and mist filled the air around him. He moaned and shrieked horrible sounds. They kept
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blasting and he fell to the ground in a gruesome blob of muck.
“What in the heavens!” said Officer Bishop.
“I can’t believe it! Erin we did it!” said Teddy.
“We did do it! We killed a Vantor! I can’t believe it!” said Erin.
“We liquefied him!” yelled Teddy.
“Yeah! We turned it into jelly! We jellified it!” laughed Erin.
The Vantor had completely dissolved from the Holy Water and vanished into the ground. The only sign that anything had happened was a little steam coming up from the grass.
“Hey, wait a minute, a Vantor? What is going on here?” asked Officer Bishop.
“Don’t worry Officer Bishop we have the whole thing documented. You stopped the kidnapper. You are a hero! The news papers are going to want to talk to you,” said Erin
“Well I was just doing my job,” said Officer Bishop.
“How did you know that wasn’t my dad?” asked Rebecca.
“I talked to your dad this morning when we were at your house. He told me that he would be
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in D.C. until late tonight. When I saw him I knew it had to be the Vantor using your dads image to catch you,” said Teddy.
“I want all of you and your parents in my office at 9a.m. tomorrow to go over all this,” said Officer Bishop.
“We will be there,” said Erin.
The kids gathered their things and start to walk home. Teddy remembered the video camera and stopped to take it down.
“I can’t wait to see what we got on tape. It should have recorded the whole thing,” said Teddy.
“Lets watch it at my house. I live the closest and I want to see it too,” said Rebecca.
“Yeah. That’s a good idea. Lets watch it at Rebecca’s,” said Erin.
“That’s fine with me,” said Teddy.
They got to Rebecca’s house and went up to her room. Teddy hooked the camera to the TV. He pressed rewind and he could hear the tape spinning. The tape clicked to a stop and Teddy pressed play. They watched the tape and were amazed. The camera caught every detail. They were stunned to see the creature burn and melt. They watched the 5 minutes of tape over and over.
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If they didn’t live it they would have thought it was a fake with great special effects.
After watching the tape a few times Erin noticed something strange. Rebecca’s dad didn’t come from the direction of the parking lot. Nor did he come from the direction of his house. He came from the direction of the pavilion. In fact he appeared right behind it.
“Where did he come from?” asked Erin.
“What do you mean?” asked Rebecca
“Look. Your dad just appeared by the pavilion. You don’t see him walk up to the pavilion. He’s just there and then you see him walking toward the playground,” said Erin.
“You mean he came from the pavilion? He came out from... He came from under the pavilion! His lair must be under the pavilion! We have to go check this out!” said Teddy.
“You think so Sherlock?” laughed Erin.
“I’m coming too,” said Rebecca.
The three ran back to the park. The kids called to Officer Bishop and asked him to follow them to the pavilion.
“We think it might have its lair under here. We have to go in there to see if there is a cave or tunnel,” said Erin.
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Having seen such an unusual event with the kids Officer Bishop now trusted their word.
“I’ll go under and see what I can find,” said Officer Bishop.
He pulled out his flashlight and crawled through the opening by the steps of the bandstand. He was under there for what seemed like a long time to the kids. Teddy put his head in the opening and called,
“Officer Bishop! Are you alright?”
“Get some help Teddy! There are survivors down here!” yelled Officer Bishop.
Erin and Rebecca heard Officer Bishop yelling. Erin called 9-1-1 on her cell phone. She told the operator that Officer Bishop needed help. He had found the missing kids. There were survivors and they needed the fire department’s help to get them out.
Three people were pulled out and sent to the hospital. The first person pulled out was Brandon. The other two were unknown. The kids overheard Officer Bishop say there were more bodies down there but no one else was alive.
“It seems we have more to discuss than I first thought. How about if you two and Rebecca meet me at the ball field in the dug out in about 15 minutes,” Officer Bishop said to Teddy and Erin.
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“Ok,” said Teddy.
The kids were sitting on the bench at the ball field. They knew Officer Bishop wanted everyone on the same page when they told their story. They weren’t sure how he would explain that something supernatural was taking and killing young people. They waited for over an hour before he arrived.
“Hi guys,” said Officer Bishop. “This might seem like a tough case to report but I have an idea. We can use this idea only if we all agree. I wrote up these statements for you. Does anyone except us know what happened? Did you tell anyone?” said Officer Bishop.
All three said that they didn’t tell anyone.
“Good. Read over your statements and if you feel comfortable with it then sign it. I’ll give you a copy of your signed statement and I’ll use them in my official report,” he said.
The kids knew that people wouldn’t believe that a Vantor was to blame. They decided to use his explanation because people would accept it and it was basically true. They read and signed the statements and they received their copies.
“You’re giving us a lot of the credit, ” said Erin.
“You deserve it. You guys did all the work. You should get the credit. I’m just glad that you
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called on me when you needed a police officer,” said Office Bishop.
“That’s our pleasure. You’ll always be the one that we call on when we need a policeman,” said Teddy.
“Thank you, Teddy. I’ll turn in the report tonight. Don’t be surprised if reporters start calling your homes. Just memorize your statements and stick to them when answering questions and we’ll be fine,” said Officer Bishop.
“We’ll do our best,” said Erin.
“I know you will. Now go home and try to get some rest. It’s been along day. By the way Teddy, what about those bullies?” asked Officer Bishop.
“Um... Well, I’m sorry. I made them up to get you to the park,” said Teddy.
“That’s OK Teddy. I understand. Just don’t let it happen again,” said Officer Bishop.
“Yes, sir,” said Teddy.
They thanked him and went home.