Chapter 4-Kevin

Kevin's point of view

Pearls....

They have a very high value in the stock market.

These pearls looked like they were worth a lot. I wonder....no! I’m not a thief!

“Woah Bob, where did you get those! Their so.....shiny!” said Flippy, obviously. If you don't know by now that Flippy likes shiny things, then put down this book right now and walk away. Yeah, thats right. I said put it down. Anyway, back to the conversation at hand.

“Well actually” Pepe butted in, “I found them, but this probably isn't the best place to talk about it. We’ll talk about it later. Anyway, why did you guys want to save us? We were fine. Well not really fine, but you get what I mean.”

“Look, this wasn't my idea! I was dragged here, against my will I might add, to save you from a hospital. I tried to argue, but it obviously did nothing.”

“You guys have to leave. Something weird is going on here.” said Pepe, looking suspiciously at the doctors and nurses.

“Yeah, we know. The secretary women would not tell us where you were. She was all like ‘You gotta leave. I’m such a butt. Go back to Canada.’ Stuff like that” said Flippy. Oh God Flippy, when will you learn!

“I doubt she said that” said Bob, “But anyway, back to the topic. You guys have to leave.”

“Not without you guys! You guys are in trouble, and as Detective Skippy, I must help damsels in distress.”

“Were guys Flippy! And if they don't want to leave, then so be it. It’s their life. It doesn't matter if you want them to leave!” I said, thoroughly angry at this point. This was like the last straw for me! I can sometimes not stand Flippy! I’m sorry, but its the truth.

“Hey, lets all calm down and settle things. We can't leave. People would get suspicious if we just stood up and left. We have to wait another day. After that, then we can talk. But not here. I feel like....I don't know why, but......that this place is not safe. I feel like there's evil afoot” said Pepe. He did have a good point though. I looked at this one nurse, kinda cute in a chubby sort of way, and she was like staring at us, and talking to a shifty eyed doctor with a giant a*s beard.

Suddenly, five doctors came over to us and one of them said “You need to leave.” They started to lead me and Flippy to the door. How rude!

“I am the son of the manager of the chicken nugget company that serves the queen! You can’t do this!”I screamed. Some people just have no respect. “I am the richest man in the world! Let me go!”

“No you aren’t, Bill Gates is.”one of the men said. He just sucks.

“SHUT UP!” God.. some people have the nerve... . “Look , if you don't let us go, I will unleash my awesomeness on you. I mean it, smart people don't lie.” That should convince them.

“How could you have powers! You have no pearl with you! Or do you?!” said a really tall man in the group. He was extremely creepy. He looked kind of like Dracula. Freaky! “Check him! Search everything on him. But first, bring him into another room! We don't want people getting scared. Thats the last thing we need.”

They started pushing me and Flippy down a hallway. I wonder if they have Pepe and Bob. Probably. That won't be good, especially if they are looking for pearls. Bob has them, so that means he is in even more trouble. Oh crap.

“Get in here” a short, fat man said, pushing us into a dark room. “Jim, turn on the lights! I can't see a damn thing!” I looked around the room. Flippy was standing there, looking scared out of his mind. Great, now I feel guilty about yelling at him. Life is just not good to me today.

Bob and Pepe were also there. Pepe was looking around, like me. Smart people think alike. Its just a thing that we have. Bob was standing there, looking extremely nervous. I wouldn't blame him. Well, it was nice knowing you Bob. We’ll plan a wonderful funeral for you. We’ll even bring your hamster, Omom.

“Down on your knees. Search ‘em. We have to find the pearls, or our heads will be on spikes in the next hour.” Woah, heads on spikes. Who’s the guy who told them to do this?! He is crazier than a bag full of Flippys. They started searching through our bags and in some places I would not like to mention. I was waiting for that dreadful moment to happen when they would find the pearls, but it never came. What the frick is going on?!

“Their not here Philip. What do we do? We can't go back to.....you- know-who without the pearls.” said the man who I think was Jim. The pearls aren’t here? Thank God! But wait... if their not here, then where are they?! Did someone else find them?! Will they bring them to these freaks? I’m freaking out, if you hadn't noticed. The man named Philip went over to Bob and pulled him up.

“Where are they?! Where are the Pearls of Petronius. I know you have them! Tell me or I will cut your head off and feed it to my rabid Hlryules.” What in the world is a Hlryule?!

Bob, being the cool guy he is, said “I don't know what you're talking about, sir. I’ve never seen any pearls, except in  a jewelry store. You can look there.”

“What is this jewelry store you speak of? Where I am from there is no such thing.” said Philip.

“Its down the street and to the right. You can't miss it. Now can you please let me and my friends go? We have not done anything wrong to provoke you.” Bob said very quietly. I can see that underneath that cool, he is just starting to freak out. I would too, but thank goodness I’m not.

“Hmmm, you might be telling the truth, but, you might also be lying. You say this jewelry store is just down the street? Then you will take us to it, or die.” Oh great, now we gotta lead these people to the crappy store that sells costume jewelry down the street?! Thanks alot Bob!

“I’m sorry sir, but I can't. My parents would get very nervous if I did not get home in time, and you might get in trouble.” Bob, what are you planning?

One of the men, about my height, but extremely chubby, said “We can't get in trouble Philip. We would never get back to Mandlig if we did. We have only an hour until we have to go, or we’re stuck here. Lets just check the place out, then leave. These are just mortal children, they can't do anything wrong.” I’m with the chubby guy! But not about us being children, about them leaving.

“Fine” said Philip, turning to Bob, “But if they are not their, I will hunt you down and slaughter you to shreds.” They turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind them. We all stood up and brushed off our pants because apparently, the hospital staff does not clean their floors. I turned to Bob.

“What was that all about? And, more importantly, where are those pearls.”

“I’ll show you where I put them. Lets go, this closet gives me the creeps.” He led us back into the cafeteria to the table that we were at. He reached into his mashed potatoes and pulled out the pearls, but then quickly put them into his pocket.

“We don't want anymore people taking us, so lets go. We need to lay low someplace for a while. Who’s house is closest?”

“Mine” I said, “Its just down the street and to the right.”

“Thats too close to the jewelry store. Those people might see us and come after us again. We need disguises if were going to go that way.” said Pepe, already walking back to the closet. “I think I saw some coats in here, and maybe a wheelchair. If we go that way, they won't recognize us.” He opened the door and walked over to the corner where there was a pile of old labcoats and a wheelchair. He started to put one on, and when we didn't join him he said “Come on guys, we don't have all day.” We started to pull on the lab coats, that were, in my opinion, really ugly and did not match my hair.

“Bob, get in the wheelchair.” said Pepe.

Bob looked up from putting his lab coat on. “Excuse me?!”

“We need someone in the wheelchair because four doctors walking down the street would just look strange. Plus, we still don't know how well you're doing. You could, for all we know, pass out again.”

“Huh, fine. But you owe me!” He climbed into the wheelchair and we walked out of the closet. Here we go!

~

By the time we got to my house, we were out of breath.

“We made it!” shouted Flippy triumphantly. Yeah, if you call running away from a truck ‘making it’. I still don't even know if the driver tried to hit us on purpose. Its a scary day when a car tries to hit you at 65 miles per hour.

“Thank God, now I can get out of this wheelchair.” said Bob. “You know, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I didn't have to walk an inch!”

“Yeah, because we had to push you, you moron!” I said. Geez, no appreciation.

“Yeah yeah yeah. Now......what do we do?” You know, I hadn't really thought that far. My first plan was to just get the frick out of there because I had just been searched by creepy guys pretending to be doctors. After that, I really hadn't thought it through. Come on Kevin, you're better than that! Get your head in the game, you're slipping up! Concentrate!

“I know what we’re going to do. We’re going to breathe and make sure blood is running through our veins.” said Flippy, obviously not understanding the seriousness of the situation.

“Yeah Flippy, we do that every second of our lives, but thats not the plan we need. We need someone to help us!”

“Who’s going to help us? The government will not believe us, neither will anyone else on this planet! We’re forever alone in this! Just deal with it.”screamed Bob. Wow, I never knew he had this much pent up anger. It kinda scared me, because people like Bob yelling would scare anyone. But he did have a point. Who in this whole entire planet would help us hide from a bunch of weird men looking for six totally awesome, totally cool pearls.

“Calm down Bob, we can figure this out” said Pepe calmly. “First, we need to get inside to someplace safe. Can we go in your room Kevin?” So polite.

“Yeah, of  course. Come one, follow me to chez Kevin.”

~

Ok, I am so mad at Flippy right now.

I mean, I’m usually always angry at him anyway, but come on, he was touching my hair gel. And that is almost unforgivable!

“Flippy, put the hair gel down. We all need to talk about what is going on!” I told him sternly. He sat on my bed, looking dejected. Sometimes I wonder if he really is 17, or if he is five.

“Maybe we should call Graphten and Ralph? They might help. I mean, Ralph will mostly help, I don't know about Graphten. He’s kinda a hot head.” said Bob. That is actually not a horrible idea, especially if its coming from Bob. He usually is not an idea maker.

“I’ll go call them. You guys stay right here.” said Pepe, already closing the door behind him. Bob then coughed, which startled me. I forgot that he was sick. Woops. Smart people are not always the perfect people you think they are. We have problems.

“Bob, are you okay?! Are you still sick. I mean, we can't take you back to that hospital, but still.” I said. I epically fail at trying to be nice to sick people. Its just not in my nature.

“Yeah, I’m fine. But I just feel like there's this weird feeling in my chest, and its kinda weird. Like it doesn't hurt, but its just uncomfortable.”

“That does not answer my question, Bob. You could seriously be sick. You could have malaria, diphtheria, the plague.....”

“Kevin, there is no diphtheria in Poughkeepsie. I don't have the flu or anything, I just feel like there's some sort of like weird ticking noise in my chest.”

“Huh?”Okay, now I’m officially confused.

Ticking noise in his chest? Does he mean his heart, or like, something else. The possibilities are endless! “So...it doesn't hurt?” I asked him.

“No! How many times do I have to say that.” Just then, Pepe walked back in.

“Okay, after much yelling and screaming, I got Graphten to come. When I told Ralph to come, I guess he dropped his phone and just like, ran over here. He should probably be here in about two minutes and 15 seconds. Approximately. Hey Kevin.” he said turning to me, “Do you know if your parents are here? I mean, if they find out what’s going on, they’ll probably flip! Not as bad as Flippy, but still.”

“Yeah, their home. So is Diana. But, they’ll probably ignore us. The don't really care what we do. They’ll think we’re playing a little game or something.” I said. I know its sad, but its the truth. My parents would never interfere in the matters of what they would call ‘children’, even though we’re 16 and 17. Yeah, thats my life. You get used to it, but not really. Suddenly there was a knock on my door. I got up and opened it, and my dad was standing there. He was in his suit and tie, you know, all business like.

“Oh, Kevin, you invited your friends. You mother and I did not permit that. They must leave at once.” he said in his stern face.

“They can't, Dad, we’re working on something. Its really important, and stuff.” I said, practically pleading with him.

“I dont care how important it is, they need to leave. We need to talk, Kevin, and its much more important than your friends. Now you get them out of here this instant!” At this point, he was practically screaming. But they can't leave. What if something happens to Bob?! Or they get captured or something?! Its time to stand up to my parents for once, and probably my last.

“Listen Dad, this is really important. You can't kick them out, something really bad is happening! Just go Dad!”

He looked confused. “What is going on that is so important?! You tell me this instant Kevin Sunghyun Woo, or I will ground you for life.”

“I cant dad.” I told him reluctantly, “Its a secret, and you would never believe me anyway.”

“Son ,what is going on?” he said, now looking concerned, “You can tell me, I’ll believe you.”

I looked over at my friends, and they reluctantly shook their heads yes. Well, we have no choice, or we’re doomed. “Okay, here it goes. Bob found this magical watch that made him really sick, so he went to the hospital. Then Pepe went there, and Skippy and I followed them. They showed us the pearls that were in the watch, and then some guys took us into a closet and said they were looking for us, but Bob cleverly hid the pearls in his mashed potatoes. And yes, I said mashed potatoes.” Insane asylum ,here I come.

“What?! The Pearls of Petronius?! You’ve found them. Come with me quickly, if you dont want to die.” he said, already going down the hallway.

“Wait, Dad, how do you know about them?” I asked.

“Because I knew the man who made them, thats why!”