The Forum by Marie Reyes (short books for teens .txt) 📕

Unbelievable. To think that someone could do something like this. In this neighborhood. There's a special place in hell for whoever did this to you.

Kristen McBride Dec 4th 07.59

This is to let you all know that my father has passed away. He was taken from us through violence. You may start hearing about it on the news soon. Thank you for all the condolences so far. Alex McBride, I will never forget you.

Alex McBride Nov 19th 19.13

Brace yourself: here come the political posts.

Alex McBride Nov 17th 19.11

Couldn't care less what celebrities are up to. Get a life people.

Alex McBride Nov 11th 18.48

Wow. The local burger joint got my order right for once. Hell must have frozen over.

Alex McBride Nov 09th 17.05

On hold for 40 minutes already. This hold music is driving me insane. Kill me now.

Alex McBride Nov 05th 08.05

Some people REALLY need to learn how to drive. Now I'm going to be late for work.

~~~

Aadesh trawled through the previous year’s posts for Alex McBride. Apart from him being a bit of a curmudgeon, okay a lot of a curmudgeon, there was nothing obvious that would justify him being murdered. He and his neighbor seemed to have many a disagreement about lawn ornaments and his brain conjured up an image of a sweet, old lady next door snapping after one provocation too many and tying him to a chair, stabbing him, and carving stuff into his flesh. How dare you insult my lawn ornaments! Maybe that would be a bit of an overreaction. The inklings of a joke started to take shape, and he stored it in his memory for later.

It was time to concentrate on the location. Quicky_Mart was going to look into the graffiti. A flash of inspiration hit him, and he pulled up his search engine. If anyone was going to know about abandoned buildings in great detail, it was going to be the urban explorer community. His mate Steve had tried to drag Aadesh to many an abandoned hospital, or hotel to film YouTube videos.

When he wasn't working the 9-5, Steve was obsessed with trying to become a YouTube star. Every week he would come up with a new idea. First, it was stupid pranks, then it was eating insanely hot chillies, until he realized that had been done to death. Then there was the urbex phase.

Aadesh was certainly intrigued, but he could be such a pussy. The one time he had agreed, he spent the whole time thinking he was going to get arrested for trespassing and couldn't relax for a second. He always wished he could be a bit more of a rebel, but it just wasn't in his nature. He played by the rules, a goody-goody through and through. Aadesh found an urbex group that catered to the North-Central region of the United States and uploaded a couple of screenshots. Now he felt like he'd done his bit, it was time for bed.

Chapter Seven

MAPLE RIDGE - BRITISH COLUMBIA

Martin hadn't left the house since he got fired. Everything he needed was the click of a button away: alcohol, groceries, entertainment. If he needed outside time, he could go out into the backyard of what was his childhood home. The light was fading as he stepped outside, and the brisk air stung his nostrils as he inhaled, reminding him that Christmas was just around the corner, and what a depressing, empty Christmas it would be.

The western-white pine tree that had been there since he could remember, sat in the right-hand corner, close to the fence, standing guard over the house. He wandered to the end of the patio and placed his hand on the cold steel hood of the barbecue, which was so cold his hand felt like it burned. As he watched the condensation of his breath float off into the cloudy sky, he decided it was probably time to go back inside. It didn't normally start getting this cold until January.

Once he had made himself a steaming cup of black coffee, he sat in an armchair in front of his writing desk and switched on the desktop computer. There would be no slouching on the couch with his laptop tonight. He meant business. Dana was nestled in one corner of the couch, half concealed with a cushion, and one of her legs twitching as if she were dreaming about chasing a rabbit, or whatever the hell dogs dreamed about.

Martin logged back into the forum to see if anyone had had any luck uncovering any more about the murders, and partially, just to talk to someone. There was something about having a common goal that made it easier to connect with absolute strangers. He worked by the light of the lamp, and the blueish glow of his computer screen as he blew on his coffee.

Finally, a response on the graffiti group he had joined. They'd posted a photo in response. The graffiti looked pretty much the same, probably a tag. He read the message.

Sean Taylor: Spotted this in Milwaukee.

The member had even provided a Google Maps link of where he had seen it. It was less than two hours away from the location of the first murder. A little tingle traveled up his spine. He was onto something and opened the forum to let the others know.

Quicky_Mart: Hey guys. Check it out. I found the graffiti. Well, not the exact same one, but look at this link. It was spotted in Milwaukee. Pretty sure I'm on the right track.

Shortstacks: That's awesome. Good job. It's gone 2am so I should probably go to bed though.

Quicky_Mart: I might go on Google Maps. See if I can see any buildings that might be the one. It's only 6pm here. Where you at?

Shortstacks: