I walked back to my dorm. It was around time for dinner and Zoe and I walked down to the dining hall. As I was buttering a roll, Zoe go up to go to the bathroom. I took a bite out of the roll and an earsplitting shriek filled the air, followed by a loud meow.

I jumped out of my seat and hurried towards the noise, which was coming from the bathroom that Zoe had disappeared into. I knocked down the door and saw an eight foot, slender black cat. His head spun around to reveal a thin, matted face. He had sharp yellow fangs, and no eyeballs but sockets that glowed a ghastly red.

The cat meowed again and saliva sprayed me. Zoe was hunched in the corner.

"Run," I yelled but Zoe was too stunned to move.

"Go!" I screamed panicking. The ghost cat turned back to Zoe. He swept her off her feet. The cat then turned to me, standing on his hind legs, and the swiped at me. For a second it felt like I was flying and then I blacked out.

When I came to, I was lying on a hospital bed. The nurse said when the cat hit me I stumbled and hit my head on a sink. I stayed in the hospital for two days and left with an icepack on my head. When the nurse came into the room on the first day, I immediately asked where Zoe was. The nurse avoided eye contact when she told me that the cat creature had kidnapped her and she has yet to show up.

When I got back up to my dorm I looked at Zoe's side. All her belongings were in her closet and on her desk. From just the day I knew her, I could tell she was nice. Now I was even more determined to find her

I had missed two days of sleuthing and I had to figure it out before any other student go hurt.

I got right into bed and fell asleep. When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Zoe's empty bed. I shook the image of the cat creature abducting Zoe out of my mind and packed my bag for a day of snooping.

Zoe was right about the food. It really was only plentiful at the beginning. I could see yellow caution tape around the bathroom. I left my biscuit behind and hurried over to the crime scene.

Sinks were demolished, and stall doors had been ripped off their hinges. I stepped over the tape. Tiny pieces of black hair were on the ground. Since Zoe or I don't have black hair. I figured it belonged to the cat. I put the hairs in a glass vial and hurried away before any teachers saw me.

I waited in the dining hall, slowly eating until there were only a few people left. I then leisurely walked up the spiral staircase. The few people that were left in the dining hall race up behind me once the heard the warning bell. I stopped on one of steps. I no longer heard any more footsteps. I raced up the rest of the stairs. I decided to sneak into Professor Mueller's bedroom. I took out my lock-picking kit and with numerous tries, I finally broke into the room. Inside was a queen bed, a desk piled high with papers and books, a walk-in closet, and a large bathroom. A sturdy dresser was next to the bed. I went over to the dresser first and rummaged through it. All I found in the drawers were clothes. In the last drawer though there was a black gun hidden in a sock. I took it out and gaped at it. That's when Washington Irving, the cat, walked in. He hissed at me so loud that I almost pulled the trigger. I pulled out the bullets and put them back in the drawer. I stuffed the gun into my backpack and raced out of the door. I was halfway across the rope bridge when I realized it was only a cat that had seen me. I kicked myself and started to head back when the lunch bell rang and kids poured out of classrooms. Instead of laughing, and talking, kids scurried around in groups, obviously scared that the cat creature was going to attack any moment.

I passed Professor Mueller going across the bridge.

"Laura!" he said. I froze. I was hoping he hadn't seen me. I didn't want him to ask me why I wasn't going to classes, but of course he did. I had no idea how to answer him. I thought of how dark it was in the back of his class.

"I've been sitting in the back, in the corner," I responded, trying to make it sound like I hadn't just thought of that excuse.

Mueller nodded, with a knowing smile, and walked away. I sighed a sigh of relief and waited into the dining hall.

After lunch, I realized I haven't talked to John lately. Zoe and he seemed like close

friends. I went across the hall after lunch and opened the door. John was standing behind the cash register. He smiled when he saw me and then dashed through a door marked "Employees Only". I stared after him. I waited about a minute for him to come back out. He didn't and I walked away puzzled. I didn't understand why he disappeared. Did he not want to talk to me?

The warning bell rang. People dashed up the stairs to their fifth period class. I went to my dorm and waited until the shuffling of feet slowly faded away and the halls were silent

I snuck out of my dorm and crept back over to Professor Mueller's bedroom. I got in once again, this time faster, but first making sure Washington Irving was nowhere to be seen. I opened the door and gaped at he room. It had been ransacked. The sheets from the bed were on the ground, clothes were thrown on the floor, drawers were pulled out, hangers were were everywhere, lamps had fallen over, and the bathroom towels were on the ground. Someone had been looking for something in Professor Mueller's room.

I searched through the piles of junk for any clues. I remember that before there had been no painting over the bed. But now there was. I stood on the bed to look at the signature on the bottom right corner. The name was Martin Greenbranch and whoever destroyed this room probably left this painting as a clue.