Celestine Berkshire-Detective in Town

The Case of Freddie Johnson

Monday, May 9th 1981

Dear Diary,

I know it's been a few days since I talked to you. But the truth is, a lot has been going on in the town and my life. Last Saturday, an eight-year-old boy, Freddie Johnson, went missing. The town's sheriff, who just so happens to be my father, is the head of the investigation. I wanted to know what happened to Freddie so, when my dad left for questioning Mrs. Johnson, I hid in his car. And what I heard was very suspicious. She said that when Freddie did not come back at his usual time, she went to Ms. Walter and asked if Freddie was there- well I couldn't hear anything after that because of strong winds. I knew who I was talking to next. Ms. Walter. It was around midnight, I had snuck out of the house to meet Madelyn, my best friend. I met her outside her house and we went to the park together. We were sitting on the swings and talking when suddenly I saw a shadow from run past the trees. I told Madelyn about it but she declined it saying it must have been my subconscious playing with my mind. Nonetheless, I gathered up the courage and went to check out who that person was. I crept between the huge trees and what I saw was shocking. I saw Nicholas with Freddie's body hanging from his shoulders. I watched him take the poor boy to his house in the woods. I followed him and saw something horrific. Nicholas put Freddie's body on a pentagram (I remembered the fisherman's story and found history repeating itself). It started glowing as Freddie's body hovered a few feet above the ground. But he wasn't shouting like the girls were. Was he dead?

Celestine Berkshire

Friday, May 14th 1981

Dear Diary,

I just left the Jamestown hospital. Jamestown is a small town near ours. Turns out, I was found unconscious near the Windermere coast. Fortunately, a kind lady had taken me to the hospital and had also paid my hospital bills. I don't know what happened to Freddie or to Nicholas. I had to walk 5 miles before getting a lift from Ms. Walter. She worked at the New Wave Financial Corp. And was driving back home after getting her paycheck. On the way back home, I asked her what she saw the night Freddie had gone missing. She looked at me with suspicious eyes so I just told her that I had joined our town's press, 'Odd Realm' as a part-time job and was working on a story about Freddie Johnson. She told me everything seamlessly after that. She had seen Freddie walk into the woods at around 7pm. She also saw Nicholas walking out of the woods at around 9pm with a bag in his hand. That was all she knew but this was enough information for me to get started. I reached home and started by putting up everything I knew about the case on my revolving bookshelf. I had called Madelyn home to discuss what we would do next.

Celestine Berkshire 

Monday, May 18th 1981

Dear Diary,

So, we decided that since we didn't have many classes for the next week, we will try and follow Nicholas to see where he goes, what he does, who he meets and everything he does during a day. I told my dad that I was pre-booked with classes and assignments so he didn't suspect me sneaking out and stuff. Yesterday was a real busy day. I did 21 assignments, I attended 8 classes from morning to evening. I didn't even have time to see Madelyn. But today in the morning I woke up early and prepared a list of what we had to find out. In the evening, while I was watching 'Family Ties' on the tv, I saw someone running across the boundaries of my house. I took a flashlight and went out of the house to investigate. I looked around with the flashlight and saw a shadow run past into the woods. I was scared but took a step forward. The dry leaves getting crushed under my feet was the only sound that was reaching my ears. I reached the cabin to clear my doubts about Nicholas because I still couldn't process what had happened over the past few days.

After all, he was my friend. My. Friend.

Celestine Berkshire