Aquarium of Delirium

"Tell her she's not going Elle!" Dad said angrily across the breakfast table, tossing down the Daily Newsletter onto his nearly finished plate of Mom's famous blueberry pancakes.

"Art," Mom said annoyed, "We've been over this so many times. There's nothing going on at that aquarium. The police have checked it out dozens of times. You've got to stop. Her whole class is going, it's not fair to hold her back."

"I tell ya, Elle. Something is definitely going on over there. I don't want my daughter to set foot in there. God forbid if anything ever happened. People have been going missing in this town and almost every one of them was reported last seen at that aquarium. Do you think that isn't weird?" Dad said.

"It's weird alright, Art. But it's a coincidence is all it is. The police have checked it out, top to bottom. They've even searched the tanks. No bodies nor any evidence to point to that aquarium. She'll be fine, okay. The whole class is going, do you think a big class of over 30 kids are gunna just up and dissapear? Let her be a kid Art. Let her go," Mom insisted.

"Do you really wanna go, Journ?" Dad asked looking over at me. Finally, I thought. Sometimes they seem to forget that I'm there when they have a disagreement and it's annoying. They also forget sometimes to ask me what I want or how I feel.

"I wanna go Dad. I'm 11. I can handle it," I say trying to reassure Dad, "I want to go the aquarium. I'm the only one in my entire class who's never been."

Dad is silent for a moment. I can tell he's thinking long and hard about it.

"Alright, Journ. Go on, but stay with your class and stay away from that janitor guy. You can say it's a coincidence all you want Elle, but all of them dissapearences didn't start until he came to town," Dad said.

"Interesting," I said nodding my head as I went to take another bite of my pancakes. Interesting is what I say when I feel like I have a case on my hands.

Mom and Dad don't know it, but I'm kind of a detective. I'm undercover though, so I can't tell them but I'll figure it out.

My bus beeps in front of the house. I jump up and hug Mom and Dad. I can't wait to gon this journey today. If there is something going on at this aquarium, I'll find out.

~~~

"Journey James?" Mr. Knox yells out my name as he's taking attendance for the 2nd time today. He took it at school this morning, he's taking it again now as we've arrived at the aquarium, and he said he'll take it again on the bus before we head back to school. Two attendances down, one to go. So, my plan is to go investigate and then to come back just in time for the 3rd attendance. He'll never know I was gone.

"Here," I say raising my hand in the air. As he's taking attendance, I tip-toed into the other room. Its time to get to the bottom of this.

- To Be Continued... -