The Ghosts of Melbrew [1/12]

Chapter 5) A Strange Book

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       The next day, It was Wednesday, and I woke up to my alarm blaring at 5am as I went through my usual morning routine. Cameron and Dominik had given me their phone numbers the night before. That morning, I awoke with a text from Cameron.

       He texted me at like, two in the morning, to tell me to bring the book they gave me to school that day, and to be careful with it... Well, his exact text was:

       "Yo dude u need 2 bring the book tmrw I wanna read that shit w my eyes at lunch n kai ll be back cuz he told me n he never read the whole thin he has his own vers but that aint important rn yea thx m8 b careful bc if u ruin that bk kim ll be mad bc she ws the 1 who had the guts 2 steal it in the 1st place ok ye that it thx"

      ...I really hope Dominik is the one who types out those reports they were talking about.

      I placed the book safely into my backpack, said goodbye to my parents, and headed down the road to school. The morning announcements were as follows:

      "Good morning Melbrew students. Today is Wednesday, September 28th, 2016. For lunch today, the cafeteria will be serving hamburgers, tomorrow will be pizza. The breakfast for tomorrow will be French toasts sticks. If you are going on Ms. Hogg's field trip this spring, your permission slips are due before Christmas break. Sign ups for the book and history clubs will be tomorrow, and they will be meeting every other week. Have a good day, Melbrew."

      I went about my mundane day, and then lunch time finally came. I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to anyone yet, as the classes were busy, and the teachers were talkative. I was eager to start up a conversation.

      "Wassup my dudes!" Cameron said as a greeting as he practically threw his tray on the table, making a loud sound. He slammed it down, causing some of his food to fly off the tray, making a few people to look towards us due to the sound.

     "Jesus, dude. I thought you said the school's food was poisonous or something?" I said, Gesturing at his tray of lunch food.

      "I like to live life on the edge, gambling with death is my favorite hobby! And if I do get sick I can sue them. They actually stopped giving out broccoli because all of it always had mold on it. It was like that for a few months until the kids decided to start speaking up about it and became persistent. They literally did not care, like it wasn’t a big deal."

      "God, that's gross. They really didn't care?" I questioned.

      "Nope. Don't get it, never will. Blows my fucking mind, dude." He said, and changed the subject, "Did you bring the book like I asked you to?"

      "Yes, but you should be thankful. Trying to decode that message after just waking up gave me a headache!" I said, and pulled the book out of my bag. Dominik took it out of the case he gave me and flipped it open.

      "So, what did you think?" He asked.

      "It's pretty crazy, but definitely interesting. It feels like I'm in a mystery novel, but maybe that's just because I fantasize about it, like, all the time."

      "Well, you're definitely in the right town for a mystery!" Cameron said, "This book is full of all sorts of things. A lot of it is anonymous re-writes of people's experience while being on the property, or in the graveyard right next to it. It's like you're reading some kinda ghost documentary, but it takes place where you live. It’s fucking cool, dude."

      There was the gentle sound of a tray hitting the table right next to me, the complete opposite of Cameron.

      “Is that the book?" Kai asked, monotone as always.