Strange Happenings

Title/Copyright Page

Strange Happenings

Written by Janet Kay Blaylock

Edited by Brenda Willmore

© August 9, 2012 by Janet Kay Blaylock

Published by Janet Kay Blaylock at Smashwords

ISBN: 9781476123813

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is fictional, so any names, places, or incidents are a product of the author's creative imagination. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is a coincidence.

No part of this book shall be used in any form or copied \without written permission to the author and publisher, Janet Blaylock.

Table of Contents

Preface

Character List

Chapter 1 - Megan's Curiosity

Chapter 2 – The Mystery Woman

Chapter 3 – Who's Karen Jones

Chapter 4 – More Clues

Chapter 5 - Trapped

Chapter 6 – The Big Escape

Chapter 7 – The Big Surprise

Chapter 8 - Separated

Chapter 9 – The Big Scare

Chapter 10 – The New Neighbors

Chapter 11 – Where's Brownie

Chapter 12 – The New Puppy

Chapter 13 – Megan Finds Love

Chapter 14 – Hide and Seek

Chapter 15 – Christy's Disappearance

Chapter 16 – The Investigation

Chapter 17 – The Secret Hideout

Chapter 18 – The Search

About the Author

Epilogue

Cedar Tree Mysteries

Preface

Megan and Christy lived with their parents in a fictitious city called River City, Kansas. They will be in the fifth grade at River City Elementary School, which was near their house. They attended Vacation Bible School, but when Megan saw her father leave for work early one morning, she wanted to find out where he was going. That morning, Megan and Christy followed him. They saw his car at a house, and when they saw him come outside with a woman, they do not know what to think.

Thinking that her parents were getting a divorce, Megan talked Christy into going with her to the woman's house to tell her to stop seeing their father. When the time came to go up to the door, Christy talked Megan out of her plan. The next day, they saw their father and the woman getting into their father's car, so they followed them, but they got lost somewhere in the country near a deserted-looking shack.

Character List

Megan--Megan, who is ten-years-old, will be in the fifth grade at River City Elementary School in the fall, which is about to start. She has long golden brown hair and tawny brown eyes. She enjoys school and likes to read mysteries as well as write them. Because she likes to solve mysteries, her curiosity gets her into trouble. Megan tries to be like Christy since they are identical twins. She likes to keep a journal of everything that happens to her because she might come up with a story idea. Megan struggles with knowing that something good comes from something bad and that she can do things without depending on Christy.

Christy--Christy is Megan's identical twin sister. She has long golden brown hair and tawny brown eyes. She also enjoys school and likes to read mysteries as well as write them. Christy likes to solve mysteries, too, but she doesn't want to get into trouble. She also likes to keep a journal about everything she goes through because she likes to look back on her life to remember things that have happened to her and to have some story ideas.

Tom Parker--Tom is Megan and Christy's father. Tom is a freelance writer and works for the River City Newspaper, until he decides to move to the country and become a farmer and work on his writing.

Nancy Parker--Nancy is Megan and Christy's mother. Because Megan does sneaky things and lies, Nancy is drawn more to Christy, this makes Megan feel more insecure about her mother's love for her.

Frank and Jim--Frank and Jim, who are brothers, live in a deserted shack because they don't have jobs. They need money to live and support their families, so they rob the bank and kidnap Christy. Frank is married to Mary and has a daughter named Lori. Jim is married to Karen and has a daughter named Susie.

Tim Ruskins--Tim and his family live down the street from the Parker's farmhouse. Tim gave Christy and Megan two puppies, but at different times. He also has two identical twin girls named Jessie and Julie, who are the same age as Christy and Megan.

Mike and Bob--Mike and Bob are the policemen who eventually help rescue Christy. Bob has two sons named Ron and Bill who are identical twins.

Chapter 1 - Megan’s Curiosity

Oh no! Dad’s already leaving for work, Megan Parker exclaimed, as she woke to the sputtering of a car engine outside her bedroom window. She sat up in bed and rubbed her tawny brown eyes in order to focus in the dimly lit room. Then, she quickly tossed off her blue flowered spread, blankets, and climbed out of bed. As she moved her slate blue curtains and looked outside, she saw her dad drive away. Why didn’t Christy wake me up like she usually does? Megan asked herself. Wait a minute, Megan suddenly thought, it sure seems darker outside than it normally is at 7:30. Maybe it’s the time change, but I thought it changed in October, and this is almost August. School will start in August.

Thinking it was late, Megan grabbed her clothes that she had laying beside her bed and started toward the bathroom. She didn’t think about turning on a light because she could usually see with the early morning light shining in her bedroom window.

However, she didn't realize it was darker now. She was also in a hurry to get dressed and find Christy. Christy! Megan reminded herself. I hope she’s in the bathroom getting dressed.

Christy and Megan were ten-year-old identical twins and will be in the fifth grade at River City Elementary - West next month. They lived with their parents, Tom and Nancy Parker, in River City, which was located near the Kansas River. When it rained for several days, the river flooded the country, but it didn’t flood the city because it was far enough away from the river.

River City had two elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools. The schools were located on the east and west sides of River City. That made it convenient for students to attend schools closer to where they lived instead of taking a bus to and from school. However, those who lived in the country took the bus to school.

Christy and Megan lived in a white two-story house with blue trim on the windows. Two cedar trees shaded the front yard and two shaded the back yard. A chain link fence enclosed the back yard. Christy and Megan liked the location of their house because they could walk to their elementary school, which was across the street from their house. This was their last year in elementary school. The following year, they would go to River City Middle School – West Side.

They looked forward to being in sixth grade when they would enter middle school. Since they were identical twins, their friends and teachers had trouble telling them apart. As a result, they liked pretending to be the other person. When they start middle school in a year, their teachers wouldn’t know them like their teachers in elementary school, so they knew it would be easier for them to trade places with each other.

Forgetting to check Christy's bed, which was beside hers, Megan managed to feel her way through the dimly lit room into their private bathroom to look for Christy. As Megan opened the door, she knew Christy wasn’t in the bathroom because the light was off, but she didn’t know where Christy was. Megan thought to herself. Christy always wakes me up before Dad leaves for work, so I don’t understand what’s going on. She must have forgotten to wake me up today unless something is wrong. I’ve got to locate her.

Megan turned on the bathroom light and quickly put on her blue shorts, white shirt, socks, and blue tennis shoes. Then, she brushed her long, golden brown hair and shut off the light. As she closed the door, she realized she forgot to turn on the light in the bedroom. She still had to feel her way back to her lamp table, which was next to the window on the other side of her bed.

They had their own lamp tables with drawers for their snacks, journals, writing supplies, and books they wanted to read. They would write in their journals about their day, write short stories and illustrate them in another journal, or read in their favorite mystery books.

Sometimes they wanted to do all three activities before they went to bed, and other times they chose one. It depended on how much time they had before they went to bed. They also wanted to keep a few snacks such as cheese and crackers, cookies, graham crackers or other snacks they could grab quickly.

Besides those snacks, they had their water bottles on their lamp tables in case they wanted to get something to drink in the night. They wanted to have something handy to eat before they went to sleep or if they woke up hungry in the night.

While fumbling around in the dimly lit room, Megan bumped into something that moved. She lost her balance and fell to the floor.

When she heard a big thud, she gasped silently, and her heart pounded heavily. She trembled with fear as goose bumps formed over her arms and legs, and perspiration rolled down her cheeks. Whoever had intruded her privacy, she hoped the person would disappear quickly. She didn't want to confront anyone by herself and especially in the dark. Megan always wanted Christy around during times like this. She wondered where Christy was and why she wasn't there to help her.

Ever since the second grade, Christy and Megan enjoyed reading mysteries and writing mysteries. When they felt they were ready, they wanted to become junior detectives so they could solve mysteries and help people. They also wanted to start a book club so they could read mysteries and see how the amateur detectives solved their cases. They thought that would help them learn how to solve mysteries.

However, Megan wasn't sure she liked this situation because she wanted Christy around to help her. As Megan wiped the perspiration from her face, she sensed someone else moving around in the room. She envisioned a large frightening shadow, which made her heart pound heavier, but when she glanced up, she gazed at the shadow of a figure in the dimly lit room. From the outline of the shadow, she felt somewhat relieved because she noticed the figure was about her size, but she didn't have any inkling as to who it could be.

Megan, who was unable to move, sat there trembling with fear, her heart beating rapidly, perspiration dripping down her face, and her muscles twitching. Questions flooded her mind as she thought of her situation.

Who's in here? Maybe it’s an intruder, but who would be here and at this time of morning? It can’t be Christy because she's always up early, especially before Dad leaves. If only Christy were here, then she could help me because I hate to face scary situations by myself.

Megan depended on Christy to help her out of the circumstances that she faced because she felt like she couldn't handle things by herself.