Phantom Keys: by Vernon Scott (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📕

but all I could see was red. Had I gone to hell? What have I done wrong?
My vision began to start clearing up and I could see that it was fire. It was surrounding me. I was still in the warehouse. All of the kidnappers that were still conscious were looking at me in astonishment. At that moment I noticed that the fire was coming from me. But how could this be? The fire died down and I felt newly energized.
I charged at them and with great force knocked the remaining four to the ground. I ran to Marcus to help him down. “Marcus, are you okay?”
I cut him down. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why is your body so warm?” he said. He was still quite weak but he continued to talk. “You are the…the best thing that has ever come to me. I love you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. “Gwendolyn Rebecca Stephens, will you marry me.”
Tears started to form in my eyes. “Yes! Yes! I would love to marry you. I love you so much Marcus.”
“I love you too, Gwen.” After he said those words, Marcus passed out. With all of my strength I was able to carry him to the now empty limo. I drove Marcus to the hospital, where I fell sound asleep waiting for him by his bedside. This truly was a night to remember.

Chapter 5
Life Changes Too Quickly

I was so excited I finally had an alias. It was so adventurous and so magnificent. If only mother knew about it. I couldn’t wait to tell Gwen about it, I hope she accepts it. I checked my phone and saw that I received a message from Gwen saying she needed to see me pronto, and she had to tell me something important. The thing that worried me the most was the fact that she was in the hospital.
At that moment I ran to my closet and threw on some clothes and ran out the door. Not knowing, I realized that I was running faster than usual. I barely paid any attention to the fact that I didn’t bother to get my car keys.
My pace continued to increase but I didn’t know why. I looked down for a second and realized that my feet weren’t touching the ground. At that moment my mother’s voice came roaring into my ear.
“Son, there’s something I must tell you. When you and your sister turn 21, your bodies are going to have a tremendous change. It is unexplainable. But on that day, please make sure that you are away from people because if you’re not you might end up harming someone. And make sure you tell Gwen.”
Is this the change she was talking about, I thought. Did she get our birthday wrong or something? I might have to call her as soon as possible so she can straighten some things out for me.
I reached the hospital within five minutes. It would have taken at least half an hour to get here if I drove. I must have had some incredible force pushing me.
After entering the hospital I called Gwen. “What room are you in?”
“Room 746,” she replied.
I took the elevator to the seventh floor. When I entered the room I saw a person with bandages on their head. But thankfully I saw that Gwen was sitting right next to the person. She looked as if she had been crying.
I knocked on the door to signal that I was entering. Gwen looked at me and tried to force a smile on her face. I could tell she must have been through a really bad time in the last twenty-four hours. As I stepped closer I realized that it was a man lying in the bed.
“Gwen, are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m alright, just a little shaken up that’s all,” she replied.
“What happened?” I asked while pointing at the man lying in the bed. As Gwen began to fill me in on what had happened, I couldn’t help but notice the sparkling diamond ring on her finger. “Wait a second. Gwen, what is that?”
“This is my engagement ring. My fiancé is lying right there,” she said and continued to tell her story.
I was both in shock and happy at the same time. I was shocked because of what had happened to her but I was happy that she was getting married.
When she ended her story, I asked her, “How did you beat up all of your kidnappers?”
A flash of concern went across her face. “I don’t know. I thought I was down for the count once the big guy hit me across my back with a metal pole.”
“What,” I semi-yelled. “Let me see if he hurt you.” She turned around and I checked. There were no scars at all. It was as if she miraculously healed herself. “Did anything strange happen.”
“No,” she lied.
“Gwen, you know that I know when you lie. Your cheek always quivers. So tell me the truth, what happened.”
“Well, after the big guy hit me with the pole, I fainted,” she said. “Some how I regained consciousness, but that’s when all the strange stuff happened. A ring of fire surrounded me and was absorbed by my body. It gave me strength and that might be the reason why my body healed.”
“Wow,” that was all I can say. “I need to call mother to ask her something.”
“Before you go, what was this important thing you were talking about yesterday?”
I thought back and realized she was talking about the text message. “I finally came up with an alias. If you want to see the full costume, come by my house later.”
“Well since we’re on the topic. There is something I must tell you about mother.”
As I listened to Gwen as she explained how mother somewhat lied to me for almost 10 years. From what Gwen has just told me, it seems as if mother was the thief and my father was a policeman who was quite abusive. “How come she didn’t just kill him,” I asked Gwen, once she finished.
“I think it’s because she loved him,” she replied.
“Maybe,” I said sarcastically. “I will be back later. Love you Gwen. And you might want to go home and take a shower, or do you want me to go to your house and fine an outfit for you? They might let you use the patient’s bathroom.”
“I might go home to shower. But if I’m not up to it, I will call you to let you know. And I love you too Gigi.”
After that, I took my leave. It took me almost three hours to walk back home. But I was glad because the walk gave me a lot of time to think.
As soon as I walked into my house I realized that the door was already open. I searched around my house for about five minutes until I heard a large crash upstairs. I hope that wasn’t my priceless vase, I thought.
When I got to the top of my stairs, I realized that it was my vase that fell and I also saw a pair of shoes moving into my closet. It was quite ironic that a thief was getting robbed by another one. When I approached my closet door, I waited a few minutes to see if the person was about to come out. Seeing that the thief wasn’t coming out I ran into the closet. As soon as I turned inward to the closet all I heard was the sound of a gun going off. I fell backwards and lay still as my killer stood erect with the gun still in his hand pointing it at the same angle where he had shot me.

Chapter 6
The Last Breath of the Old

As I lay there dying, I wondered why this happened. I guess I was never meant to become a known thief. I guess I’m prepared to die an unhappy man.
At that moment when I was sure I was going to die, I heard the voice of my mother. As if she was right beside me, I heard her say, “My sweet little Gigi, I want you to know that you’re not going to die unless you are sure about what you’re going to do. I set this event up so I can be sure about your plans in life. After finding out about your sister and the fact that she tapped into her powers a little earlier, I decided that it was time to come clean. What she told you at the hospital was true. I did lie to you but that was to protect you. I didn’t want you to know everything about our family so I decided to split the family history between both of you. I told her about what truly happened between your father and me, but she didn’t know that she would be inheriting a gift. When you wake up from this coma that I put upon you make sure you call me so I could better explain things.”
My eyes began to slowly open. I saw the man who shot me. It was Chuck from the costume store.
“Are you okay man,” asked Chuck.
“Yea, I’m fine,” I replied. “So my mother put you up to this?”
“Yep. She and I go way back,” he said. “I think I’ve known her for about 88 years give or take a few.”
In a state of shock I said, “That’s not possible. She is only 46. How could you have known her that long?”
Chuck chuckled and said, “Are you sure about that? Just give her a call. Hopefully she’ll tell you the truth. And tell her I said, hello.” With those last words, Chuck vanished.
“That was odd,” I said. Remembering what was said while I was unconscious, I gave my mother a call. She didn’t answer her phone. Instead of calling her back to see if she’ll pick up. I decided to drive to her house.
Mother lived in the same house for almost my entire life. It only took about an hour to get to her house. I approached the door step and knocked. Seeing that she didn’t want to answer her door, I let myself in.
As soon as I opened the door, I almost fell for one of my mothers traps. But something was different this time. Instead of her usual trapdoor routine, she had her entire house set up as a huge booby-trap. On the back of the door she left a note saying:
“If you set off the alarm, your mom will die. She shall be located in her bedroom. You have twenty-two minutes. PS: The time started as soon as you opened the door.”
Taking heed of the note I decided to be as careful as possible. There were red lazars going through almost every point in the house. If I was to get to my mother, I would have to dodge all obstacles