Breathing a sigh of relief, I put my bag down on my desk and started unloading the library books I checked out earlier. A chill suddenly shot down my spine, and I stiffened.
My laptop was missing.
I could’ve sworn I left it on the right side of my desk earlier, next to a few textbooks, but now there was nothing but a big empty space there.
Pulse racing, I checked my desk drawers and then everywhere else in my room, hoping I’d simply moved it earlier and forgotten all about it.
I didn’t find it, but I did find a note under one of my pillows during the search.
Hi Virgin,
We’re getting bored with the usual shit, so we’ve created a little game of sorts. Something to test you. There’s no option for you to abstain—you have to play, or you’re fucked.
We’ve taken some of your things and put them in one of the teachers’ offices. It’s up to you to figure out which one.
If you’re smart enough to get all your stuff back before the bell rings tomorrow morning, you’ll win the game, and we’ll leave you alone for a whole week out of respect for your wit and tenacity.
If you fail to get it in time, we’ll tell the teacher we saw you rifling through his drawers, looking for upcoming test sheets to cheat from, and when he checks up on our story, he’ll find your stuff there. That won’t look good for you, will it?
Don’t try to call your friends for help. We’ve already taken care of that, so you’re in this alone.
Good luck. You’ll need it.
With a frown, I patted my pockets. My phone wasn’t there, even though I was sure I put it in my jacket pocket earlier. I went and checked my bag, and it wasn’t there either.
Someone must’ve stealthily pilfered it while I was at the library.
With an anguished groan, I turned and dashed out of my dorm, heading for Royal Hall. A security guard was at the front entrance, locking everything up.
“Hey!” I called out as I approached, flailing my arms. “I need to get back in!”
He looked at me, eyebrows raised. “Sorry, kid. No one’s allowed in here once we’ve locked up for the night.”
“Please,” I said, eyes wide. “I left something in there. My laptop. There’s a really important econ paper on it, and it’s due tomorrow, so I need to get it.”
That wasn’t a lie. There was a completed economics assignment on it; one which I needed to email to my teacher before the deadline at eight a.m. tomorrow. I’d planned on taking a quick look at the paper when I got back to my room earlier, just to make sure it was edited and referenced properly, and then I was going to send it off.
“You’ll have to send it from one of the school computers,” the guard told me. “The IT lab over in Fitz Hall has twenty-four hour access. Go there.”
“I can’t. The paper is only on my laptop.”
“You didn’t back it up anywhere else?” he said, brows furrowing as he shook his head. “Hell, kid, I don’t know much about computers, but I still know you’re meant to back stuff up.”
My chin trembled as my stomach churned. He was right. I should’ve backed the assignment up to a flash drive or a cloud-based site like Dropbox. I had no excuse for not doing so, unless you counted a complete and utter lack of foresight as an excuse.
“It’s a brand new laptop, so I didn’t think I’d have any problems with it crashing,” I muttered, knowing how silly I sounded. “Otherwise I would’ve backed it up.”
The guard shrugged. “Wish I could help, but rules are rules,” he said. “Sorry.”
My shoulders sagged. I trudged back to Blair Hall, mind whirling as I considered my next move. I could go to the IT lab and message Adam and Trina for help on Facebook, but they hardly ever used it, preferring Snapchat or WhatsApp instead. That meant they might not see my messages for hours.
I could try emailing them instead, but that presented the same issue. They might not check their inboxes until tomorrow morning, and by then it would be far too late.
By the time I returned to my dorm, I’d decided that my best option was to drive to Trina’s house in Royal Falls and ask her for help in person. She always knew what to do.
I fumbled in my bag for my car keys, only to discover they were missing too.
“Shit!”