The Animagus: Discoveries

"Hey Janine." I say as I struggle to catch my breath, my throat burning.

"Hey." She laughs, holding an old wooden chest.

"That's... the... box..?" I pant as I crack my soda open.

"You bet. I have my Bobby pins." She says with a laugh.

I can't help but drink her in. Being only a four-foot-three auburn haired gal, she has a very mature physique. Her deep hazel eyes could easily be mistaken for emeralds.

We walk our way to a table made of steel and some type of wood. She places the chest on the table and I find myself with a racing heart. The moment we face is truly exciting.

I adjust the seats so myself and Janine are side by side. I offer her chair and slide it in for her gently. I seat myself straight after.

"So chivalry isn't dead." She laughs lightly.

"So, let's crack this lock." I say.

"Right." She says as she pulls a Bobby pin from her purse and bites off the plastic ends, spitting them into her hand. "Toss these for me?" She asks as she offers the ends she bit off to me.

I accept the bits and nod. I take them over to the closest trashcan. I dart back to our table as quickly as I can. I sit back with her, and she stops for a moment to look at me before returning to picking the lock. Her floral perfume is faintly wafting over the scent of paper and ink.

"What do you think is inside?" I ask.

"No idea." She replies just as the chest clicks and pops ajar. "But, we are about to see for ourselves." She smirks.

The quirky grin of this girl is enough to make me smile. Janine seems to have that effect on me. She reaches over to the chest and lifts the top to swing wide open. I can't help but cough as dust flies up from within the chest.

As the dust settles, both of us swiping the air to try to move the dust, and we can see an old newspaper. The headlines and ink are seriously faded. The only thing we can make out on the paper clippings is the date, the sixth of August nineteen-sixty-four. Janine sighs and writes the date on a scrap paper.

"Wonder what that's about." She says as she places the newspaper aside. The thing reeks of must.

"I dunno." I say as I look back to the chest. "I don't think this is any normal chest, though." I add as I point at a book that seems to be made from some type of leather.

"That looks like..." Janine says as she grabs the book.

"What?" I ask.

"It's a black witches grimoire." She replies.

"What, like Salem Witches or something?" I reply.

"Seems like it. But, let's see what all is in here." She reaches in and pulls out a brass cylinder with silver caps on either end. "Like, what could this be?!" She seems surprised.

"I have no idea." I take the container and look it over a little closer.

It seems it was engraved in some kind of old language. The edges seem like they were almost hammered in with a chisel long ago. This must have been some type of heirloom.

"Hey, there's a key!" Janine says excitedly as the exclamation makes me jump.

"I wonder what for?" I look at the key she holds, being brass with emeralds encrusted to its handle. "Seems fancy for a key." I say.

"Yeah, and the newspaper it faded. We need another from that day." She admits.

We both begin to put things into the chest where they came from, minus the newspaper, being only replaced by the scrap paper with the date on it. We both think for a moment. I believe Janine is just as bewildered by the chests odd contents. I look at her, sighing gently.

"I'll find the newspaper." She says. "Stay with the stuff." She walks away.

I nod and find myself pondering the possibilities of what could be the clues for the newspaper we only know the date of. I wonder if it is possible that she lives in some old witches cabin that got remodeled. Who knows with how things go now a days. There are cities that are built on top of old mines. So, it seems logical choices aren't always present.

I pick the newspaper up to throw it away when the weight inside of it shifts. I put the paper down and spread it apart one page by page. Janine comes back with a copy of the newspaper. I find the center of the newspaper and to my surprise it holds a black book bound by a leather strap.

"What could this be?" I ask under my breath.

"Looks like an old journal." Janine answers.

"I wonder who's it was." I say as I start to untie the strap.

"Actually, you want to see the headlines." She interrupts my motion to untie the journal. "Look." She shoves the newspaper infront of me.

'SkinWalkers Real?' Is the first headline. I shudder. 'Teen Arrested For Town Murders' is the next headline.

"We had a teen murderer?" I ask.

"Apparently..." She replies.

"Why wouldn't everyone be talking about this more often?" I ask.

"Well, a town with a witch could be seen as a superstitious problem." Janine explains her view.

We both sigh. It seems we have something of a side project. Since school starts soon, we have little time to piece this together. Something tells me we are onto something big.

RIING!! RIING!! RIING!! RIING!! RIING!!

I bolt from my seat grabbing the journal and stuffing it into the chest. Janine jumps to her feet and leaves the paper on the table. We both go to grab the chest. I stop and she grabs it. We both dart from the library. The rings we hear sound like the fire alarm from my old school.

As we head down the stairs to leave for the other side of the street we see three police cruisers pull up to the library. It seems someone may have been found there. The news was saying there was an escaped prisoner from a few towns away. Perhaps that's why the emergency.

The police rush to the library door with their guns or tazers drawn, I can't see them clearly enough in this rush. I turn and Janine is full of tears. I wrap my arms around her as we both take in the surroundings.

We hear a woman scream out and then two gunshots one directly after another. A woman runs out from the library and is crying. The ambulance and two fire trucks pull up. Two more police cars burst onto the scene and screech to a halt. There are people crowding the library as the ambulance attendants take what is a wounded man in handcuffs onto that ambulance. A cop follows the ambulance attendant into the back of the ambulance as they rush to the hospital.

A few cops begin to put up crim scene tape and push the crowd away. One officer goes into the trunk of a cruiser to grab a megaphone. I have a feeling we aren't getting back into the library anytime soon.

"Everyone, this is a crime scene now.  If you were inside, please come forward with a statement." The officer says.

"Oh boy. This is gonna be a long day." I sigh.

"You're telling me. My parents don't know I even found this." She groans.

"We got some explaining to do." I huff.

It seems our day is going to be taking a while. The idea we are going to have to explain we were exploring this chest, it's uncomfortable. Who wants to openly discuss the possible proof of a witch? I mean, we as a race have been hunting these witches for centuries but, don't believe they exist? Why is this? Perhaps I can get some answers while I'm at the police station. I mean, they may just fill some of my curiosity. I can only hope.

Janine and I approach the tape. The officers look at us. They come to tell us that we should go home. However, they don't expect to hear Janine of all people, say she has to file a statement. The expression of the officers face when I agree is nearly in pure shock. Why are two youngsters like us at a crime scene?

The officers facial expression relaxes when they see we are doing a research project, of sorts. They have us get into two seperate cruisers and they drive us to the police station separately. Perhaps they are doing this in case one of us knows the man who got shot. It seems like it is a possibility to me.

I look up to the officer driving me to the station. He is humming 'it's a small world'. I sigh.

"So, kids like you at a library just as a murderer was sighted. That's gonna be a story for school." The guy seems to be trying to relax me with common talk.

"So I am not under arrest right? Just a witness statement." I ask for the assurance.

"That's right. Ain't you the Rogers kid?" He replies.

"Yes sir." I admit.

"I went to school with your dad." He says.

"That's cool. Me and Janine are gonna be going to Westchester like you two." I say.

"It was a great school. I know half of the teachers. You're gonna have fun." He says. "We are almost at the station." He adds.

"So, nothing to worry about." I nod.

"Yeah."

I shift in my seat. I look out the window to see the multitude of cruisers in the parking lot. It dawns on me, we may have a killer in town.