If you want to enter the mystery contest, just finish the mystery we’ve started below by entering your part of the story into a comment. We do not need any personal information about you. You can just enter your name or your online nickname. We don’t need an email address or anything else. Of course, we are hoping that kids will be the primary contestants since the mystery is a kids mystery. There’s no real prize other than getting a lot of attention for your writing on this site.
We’ll post the winner in our blog sometime in May 2009.
Good luck.
Here’s how the mystery starts:
The trees of the forest bent over sideways in the howling wind. The white disk of the full moon shimmered behind the swaying branches. Southbay Forest was being battered by the storm. Rain began to pelt the ground. It was an altogether nasty evening.
Riley Hitchens made his way along the muddy path with dread. The lantern’s feeble light swung wildly back and forth across the narrow way as his fingers gripped its handle tightly.
It was just an old crypt. That’s all. Nothing but a pile of old stones with a rusty iron door. That door was clanging in the wind now. It had disturbed Riley’s sleep.
So now poor Riley staggered in his soaking nightclothes toward the crypt that was creating such a din.
A wolf howled.
Riley stopped in his soggy tracks and glanced behind him. A shape flashed between the trees. He lurched forward and bolted down the mud path toward the old stone crypt.
He burst through the half-open door and sucked the dank air into his lungs. His mud-caked slippers echoed in the stone chamber. The rain pounded the forest outside. Just ahead, Riley could make out the dim shape of the tunnel entrance.
He stopped and felt the cold sweat of terror at the back of his neck.
From far down the dark winding way of the tunnel, underneath the raging of the storm, came the delicate sound of… music.
Now, continue the mystery in a comment below.
HE GOT A DOG AND THEY WENT TO THE CAVE THE END
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He got the wolf and made the dog a good pet to keep.
The wolf is now a dog he treated good. right?
The wolf made a good song at howling. I think.
Was it a dog or wolf?
It was a wolf.
Do you remeber?
A wolf howled.
Do you remeber in the story line?
I remeber.
Do you?
The wolf could be a good wolf.
Good pets do good,Bad pets are bad.
Right?
riley follows the music to a safe tunnle that leads to a dark and wet cave. he watches as the sand slips through his hands.suddunly,somthing russles in the bushes!! and in the flash of bright lighting,riley was jogging back home.
riley dies
he sees a wolf and calls MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
the story ends when Riley sees the wolf and runs deeper and deeper into the cave. She runs and runs and sees an exit from the cave, gets out and five seconds later the wolf comes out too she runs out out of the forest and safly gets home. THE END
The entrence was open and dark but when he steeped into it he saw crazy eyes. And then the sun had rised and he could finnly see what was making all the noise.A vampier and he was scary and killd him .THE END
He went in the dog and him became friend an lived happliy ever after THE END
He looked around and left but on the way back he got lost and he found a cave so he went in the cave. when he went to sleep about fifteens minutes after he a loud noise woke him up and so he went outside to investigate and there was a wolf so he ran as fast as he could then he found his way to a city somewhere in ohio and so he made a few calls and got back together with his family
HE GOT A DOG WITH HE LIVED HAPILY.
A bullet of wind blew out Riley’s lantern. Riley opened his eyes wider hoping it would help him adjust to the darkness. He stared down the tunnel straining to see any kind of light-all he heard was music. It sounded as if it was coming from another dimension-so far from his usually dreary life.
That’s why he came down to the crypt–on a dare. To do something brave for once.
‘Crash!’ The lightening tore at the sky outside and shook Riley out of his reverie. His heart was in his throat, beating like a hummingbird. Riley wanted to run home, but he had to do this! Setting the useless lantern on the floor Riley felt a surge of bravery. He slowly felt his way against the crumbling wall of the crypt-the tinny sound of a music box growing louder with each step–and that’s when he saw it; the flicker of a candle floating towards him with no one behind it.
The trees of the forest bent over sideways in the howling wind. The white disk of the full moon shimmered behind the swaying branches. Southbay Forest was being battered by the storm. Rain began to pelt the ground. It was an altogether nasty evening.
Riley Hitchens made his way along the muddy path with dread. The lantern’s feeble light swung wildly back and forth across the narrow way as his fingers gripped its handle tightly.
It was just an old crypt. That’s all. Nothing but a pile of old stones with a rusty iron door. That door was clanging in the wind now. It had disturbed Riley’s sleep.
So now poor Riley staggered in his soaking nightclothes toward the crypt that was creating such a din.
A wolf howled.
Riley stopped in his soggy tracks and glanced behind him. A shape flashed between the trees. He lurched forward and bolted down the mud path toward the old stone crypt.
He burst through the half-open door and sucked the dank air into his lungs. His mud-caked slippers echoed in the stone chamber. The rain pounded the forest outside. Just ahead, Riley could make out the dim shape of the tunnel entrance.
He stopped and felt the cold sweat of terror at the back of his neck.
From far down the dark winding way of the tunnel, underneath the raging of the storm, came the delicate sound of… music.
‘That’s funny!” thought Riley, catching his breath. ‘What could be making music down here?’
A flash of lighting sent a flicker of light through the crack in the doorway. In the distance down the tunnel Riley thought he caught a glimpse of something, something moving. He was away from the wolf, but should he still be afraid?
“Hello” he shouted, “is anybody there?”
There was no reply for a moment, and then the sound of fluttering began to echo along the corridor. Riley squinted, trying to make out the shape coming towards him in the darkness. He jumped back as a raven passed him swiftly, and flew out the door.
“Well I never!” he said to himself “I didn’t know ravens could sing!”
Riley returned his attention to the doorway, in the hope that the wolf would be long gone.
Then, suddenly, there it was again, music, sad music, like someone very lonely, with not a friend in the world. He turned to face the tunnel again, ‘That’s no bird!” he thought ‘There must be someone down there!”
“Hello” he called again.
This time there was a faint reply! So faint that he wondered if it was the sound of his own voice, echoing back to him out of the pitch black that lay ahead.
“Are you alright?” he called.
There was no reply. He felt cold and a little scared, but he thought to himself ‘I’ll have to go and see if they’re all right! God knows what would bring them down here? Or me for that?’
He began to slowly tread his way along through the cold, darkness, stumbling on bits of broken brick, and getting cobwebs caught in his wet, black hair.
Riley came to a doorway off the main tunnel and saw that there was a candle burning inside, and a small portable radio sat on a shelf. ‘Oh’ he thought, “you must be where the sound came from!” he picked up the radio and found it was very light. ‘That’s funny ‘he thought. He turned the radio round to discover an empty opening, where the batteries should have been.
“If it wasn’t you,” he said with intrigue, “Then where did the sound come from? and who lit this candle?”
He turned and walked back over to the main passage. Then there was the sound of footsteps, echoing down the corridor.
He walked deeper in the tunnel. Deeper and deeper till he reached another doorway and stopped!
Then Riley heard an eerie sound, not music this time but heavy breathing. He was scared for a moment, but then he realized that it was not the sound of someone who was ready to pounce, but someone who was scared themselves. Riley peered round the doorway, to find a little girl, a little younger than him, trying to say out of sight in the darkness.
“It’s alright” he assured her. “I won’t hurt you.”
“Oh thank god!” she said, with a sigh of relief. “When I called out you earlier, I thought you were a boy, but then I thought to myself you might be a grave robber. I’m glad your not! Ah- you’re not – are you?”
“Oh” he laughed, “No, I hid down here from something in the trees!”
“Really?” she asked “what?”
“Oh, nothing!” he said “Probably long gone by now!”
“Ok” she said relieved “Is this your crypt? I was walking by, and there was a gap in the fence, so came down to get away from the storm!”
“Was that your radio?” asked Riley.
“Yes” She said “I took the batteries out when I thought you were a robber, so you wouldn’t hear it!”
“ Did you light the candle too?” asked Riley
“Yes” she said “I found a match and struck it on the wall!”
“Why didn’t you just switch the radio off?” asked Riley.
“Just seemed like the thing to do!” she smiled “I suppose I should’ve put out the candle out, but I was in such a hurry!”
The two walked back along the passage, picking up the radio on the way, and reached the end to discover the storm had passed and the coast seemed to be clear of wolves. Making sure the crypt door was firmly shut. They went inside Riley’s house to dry off and have a hot cup of cocoa; the girl introduced herself as Eliza. They got on like a house on fire and the two were friends for a long time after, in fact they still are now!
In the cave Riley saw a blanket full of insects.since he was so tired he cleaned the blanket and started to sleep in it.After sometime a strange music came from the little passage which disturbed his sleep.To stop the music he went down the little passage with thrill.But to his surprise he saw nothing.But still he wanted to find where the music was coming from.
He saw all around him.Then to his surprise he saw another canal which was so dark.So he lighted his lantern and he went into the canal.Even though it was a very long path he did not lose his heart.And at last the passage came to an end where he saw many skeletons of birds,animals and humans sitting together and singing a song.On seeing this he ran back.After coming out of the cave he promised himself that he would never go deep into a cave.
BOO BOO
I dunno, haha
Riley followed this interesting sound. It was a range of pipes mixed with a woodwind instrument. Maybe it came from missing hikers, or just the wind… He edged closer to the entrance. “Should I?” He was thinking, just then, a voice friom behind whispered “Go in. It is safe, and whatever you do, don’t turn around…”. Riley’s senses told him to back away, but what was that voice coming from? Without second thoughts, he walked slowly into the seemingly never ending cave…
A couple of worries later, Riley knew he shouldn’t have gone down here. There were rats, water drips and the horrible stench of… food? The music was gradually getting louder the further Riley went. Yet something caught the attention of his eyes – a shiny gold coin with a face of a dog carved on. Just as he was he was going to inspect it, the same voice he heard from outside whispered “There is no time to look around. Keep going.” Riley quickly regained his posture and set a gentle yet quick pace through the cave.
There were now lanterns hung up. Was there lost people living here? Riley closed his eyes and imagined there would be the 3 things he always wanted at the end of the tunnel. Suddenly, he tripped over. He opened his eyes like a shot, to see a hairy man wearing some old clothes standing behind him. Riley pretended not to see and lost his worries a second. He diverted all of his thoughts onto one question – Who was this man?
Finally – Riley and his hairy friend had reached the end of the cave. There was a great ceiling of the cave with a mighty hole gaping through the centre. The light let Riley see everything that was happening. Now he knew where the music was coming from. There was a tribe living in this cave! Suddenly, the man from behind placed his large hand on Riley’s shoulder and showed him a golden coin. It read “The Tribe of Cavesteep”.
The music was a group playing instruments made from solid wood – yet it was too fine to be carved by hand. There were small huts with families of around 3 people. It seemed awfully crowded to Riley, but the tribe seemed to find it quite cosy. The hairy man that had followed and directed Riley all this way, gave Riley the golden coin, and led him to a secret exit – a strand of rope from a hole in the ceiling.
By the time he’d got out, the sun was back out – but the groundwas still damp and wet. Riley raced home to tell everyone his adventure, and the cavepeople from the cave are telling the story too…
By Pippa – Age 10 :D
Mystery kds (mystery from the Past
One day there was a Two girls they are Holly, Miranda they both walk along from school and start chatting then when they get to school they start going to class. what Holly saw from her past was a bullies who once killed her friend from her old school and now Holly didn’t know they are here so Why the bullies are here are they taking revenage on someone like Holly?
Holly now needed help because she’s in danger, Holly want to know about what going to happen to her so Night falls Holly was going to be invited to the party all her fiends here so it was late night and Holly’s boyfriend Peter take her home but one of the bullies kidnap her take her to her old school and holly dose’nt like it it brings her nightmares so in the end holly eas murder
Riley listened to the music, ‘no it’s too much’ he thought just as he was knocked unconscious by the penetrating sound, and he slowly slid into a slow death, ‘My cat, Rain will take care of thi-‘he cut of short as he died, his eyes glazing over to stare lifelessly at the sky. It was the 8th fortnight from Wednesday, and the moon was full. Several howls echoed in the distance, and then came to a sharp stop; the moonlight flickered down on the eerie forest. Suddenly, two shapes moved among the trees, the sound of their bodies brushing against the leaves was the only sound for miles and acres of god-forsaken land.
The trees whispered, their gaze lay on a limp body, covered with months of leaf-mould. The body jerked, and let out a pain-filled moan, only to drift back into unconsciousness. The two shapes appeared again, jumping from tree to tree, and jumped off, to land beside the body: the shapes were full-bellied, with glossy, shiny pelts with a slight paleness to their fur, and starlight floated around them. One of the creatures reached out its paw and placed it on the body’s neck, while the other began smoothing the body’s ruffled fur. The first creature murmured softly into the body’s ear, “We have been searching for you Rain, it has been hard to find you since the Dark Forest stole you from us. Now is your time to come back.” Rain shuddered, gagged and coughed up a massive pool of leaf-mould and blood, “Cinder? Fire?” Rain rasped, have they come back for me? He wondered. Then, he blacked out again, but he could still think, he realized.
Rain was a young tomcat. Cinder and Fire had been his littermates before a dark, shadowy creature had emerged out of the shadows and had killed his mother, which had deprived his littermates from food and then, the creature had grabbed him by the neck and dragged him to the Dark Forest, were the creature had tried to kill him, but had been dragged away to prevent any more harm being done, however, the intense pain of his wounds had been too much for him, and he had collapsed in the exact place his littermates had found him.
Rain awoke to find himself in a calming, welcoming place, lined with bracken, gorse and ferns. He noticed some other cats were leaping around, with prey clamped in their jaws, their eyes shining. Strangely, he noticed, the other cats looked much like his brother and sister.
Coming to think of it, Rain wondered where his brother and sister really were, and the thought of the dark creature killing them made him shudder. Suddenly a pretty she cat came bounding up to him, “Who are you?” She asked, “My name’s Shiningheart by the way.” Rain studied the she cat: She had bright green eyes, and a glossy tortoiseshell pelt, “My name’s Rain” he answered cautiously, “ Strange name Rain, but anyway welcome to StarClan!” She mewed excitedly, he bit back a sharp reply, and I could say the same for you ‘Shiningheart’.
Shiningheart stared, confused at Rain, but then seemed to understand, she surprised Rain by asking, “Are you looking for Cinder and Fire? Follow me.” Rain stared at her in astonishment, and then gave a slight nod of his head. Rain followed the she cat to some comfortable looking moss nests under the shelter of two overhanging trees, and on the nests lay his littermates, fast asleep. Rain prodded Fire in the eye with his claw, “Ow! What? Is StarClan on fire?” Fire mewled hysterically, Fire’s screeches had woken Cinder, and as soon as she saw Rain, she nudged Fire out of his hysterics, “Hey!” He half-growled, half-squeaked, but he calmed down when he saw Rain, “You’re finally awake.” Fire mewed, “How long have I been asleep?” Asked Rain, as he ravenously tucked into a mouse that Shiningheart had brought him. “Oh, for a few months, maybe…” Fire was interrupted as Rain spat out the bits of mouse that he had just been chewing onto him, “A few months…” He whispered in disbelief, “A FEW MONTHS! WHY DIDN’T YOU GUYS WAKE ME UP THEN? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT WE ARE LITTERMATES, AND LITTERMATES ARE MEANT TO HELP EACH OTHER?” Cinder and Fire backed away and Cinder whimpered, “We tried Rain… We thought that you were dead when you didn’t wake up.” Rain curled his lip and turned his back. “Okay, Rain, do you want to know why we’re really here? Cinder and I are here because we are dead. We can’t die here though, as we are already dead, nobody can die here.” Fire growled.
Rain whipped around to come face to face with his brother, and let out a lonely wail. Cinder gave Rain a sympathetic glance, and she mewed, “I’m sorry Rain, we starved to death, but you are here for two reasons: To get revenge on the Dark Forest, and to see your family again.” Shiningheart looked at Rain’s confused face and murmured in his ear, “All of us are going to fight the Dark Forest.” Rain could see something in her eyes that he couldn’t recognise, compassion? Understanding? Maybe even lo… No that couldn’t be right, how could this pretty she cat like him if she’s dead, then, an idea popped into his mind, I’m not dead but I’m here, so if she’s not dead then… That would explain a lot. Rain waved his tail at Shiningheart signalling that he wanted to talk to her. She came bounding over, her tail held high. “Hi! What did you want to talk about?” She asked. “Are you dead or alive?” Rain questioned. “Ummm… Alive” she answered, “My body lays in the Dark Forest, but it is still alive.” Rain gazed thoughtfully at her for a moment and asked, “When is the battle between StarClan and the Dark Forest?” “Just…About…Now!” Shiningheart answered excitedly.
A well-muscled StarClan cat jumped onto a high rock and called, “Now is the time to get revenge on the Dark Forest creatures for killing so many! Today we will reach a victory against the Dark Forest swine, and make them wish that they had never been born!” approving yowls sounded all around the strong cat. Now, most of the cats were streaming out of the welcoming hollow, and racing towards a more eerie forest, frankly, he could remember this place, he thought hard, and then seemed to remember, yes! This was the place where the Dark Forest creature had tried to kill him! Suddenly, he stepped on something hard, and tripped, but it didn’t take him long to realize that the thing that’d just tripped him up was Shiningheart’s limp body, so he called Shiningheart’s name, “Shiningheart! Come here now! I’ve found your body! Shiningheart!” The beautiful she cat raced towards him and skidded to a halt. She stared in horror at her body, but then shook her head, and picked up a thorn, gathered energy, and jabbed the thorn into her body’s pad, the body jerked and the real Shiningheart actually stepped into her own body.
Shiningheart stirred, and Rain let out a welcoming mew, “That was fast! When Fire and Cinder found me, it took me a few months to wake up!” “Anyway” his voice turned serious, “We need to get a move on, I can already hear battle cries.” Shiningheart heaved herself to her feet and they both ran along, side by side, their tails streaming out behind them, until they reached the shadowy clearing, with cries of battling cats. Some cats were swiping at creature-shaped shadows, confused expressions on their faces. Shadows seemed to loom out everywhere, making the black clearing even more unbearable.
Suddenly a massive weight landed on top of him, knocking all the air out of him. He struggled underneath the creature and somehow managed to squirm out. But, the thing that scared him the most was the fact that the leader of the Dark Forest, Shadowpelt, was the creature who was fighting him: Rain knew that Shadowpelt was the Dark Forest’s leader as the dark creature had told him when he was trying to kill him. Gathering up all his energy Rain lunged at Shadowpelt, hooking his claws into the dark creature’s neck, he flung him through the scorched ferns and thumped him onto the ground. Still gripping his throat, Rain leaped on top, tearing at his neck flesh in a frenzy, sending bits of Shadowpelt’s flesh flying everywhere, then, he held Shadowpelt’s neck in a suffocating clamp between his jaws. Rain waited until the creature had stopped breathing, before dropping the Dark Forest’s leader’s limp body so that all his followers gave out terrified wails and fled out of battle, I’ve learned how to be strong… How to live for blood. Because that’s the key, the only answer, now that Shadowpelt is dead, I have survived, AND I HAVE WON!
By Emily, age 11
The soft delightful creepy music was taunting Riley to explore. That is exactly what he did.”Come, Riley, come.” Riley suddenley started shaking when he heard that. Chills ran down his spine, totally creeperific chills! He then found a cave. And of course, he went inside the cave like anybody else would. Then the music stoped. He kept on walking more and more closer to what could be his possible doom. Then he heard footsteps behind him. NOT his footsteps. When he looked behind him there stood a big Husky. “Ohhhhh!” said Riley. “For a second I thought a person was behind me!” “Woof!” the dog barked. He barked again and again and again. Finaly Riley looked behind himself and found a girl, a girl no taller than himself. “W-W-Who are you?” asked Riley shakingly. “I’m Grace!” said the girl in a creepy yet cheerful voice. “I-I-I’m Riley.” he said. “Oh, I already know your name.” she said.”Oh, OK.” he said. “You wanna play?!?” she said. “Well, I dont need to be home until 10:00 P.M.” “So, why not?” he said. “Great, let’s play hide n’ go seek!” “OK!” he said. So they played and played and played, until it was 10:00 P.M. “I gotta go.” said Riley. “OK!” Said Grace. “If you ever wanna play again you know where to find me. Then as if she thought that Riley knew she walked through the cave wall saying in a haunting voice, “I am a ghost.” And Riley went home.