I can’t sleep. I have been tossing and turning for hours, and it’s impossible for me to drift off. Since it’s almost midnight and my parents are asleep, I might as well go outside and take a walk in the backyard.
I lit my lamp and tiptoe downstairs to the yard. The stars are very pretty tonight. It feels like true nighttime, and I can see all of the lightning bugs and stars that provide light. I can feel the cold night air and the cold wood under my feet. I sit on the back porch swing and admire the crescent moon that always helps me fall asleep. I start swinging back and forth, and, somehow, the natural world helps me drift off to sleep.
When I wake up, a man dressed in all black with a scarf around his face is sneaking through the yard. I woke up as he stepped on the creaky step leading to the porch. He definitely wasn’t expecting that, because what he did was so loud my parents and grandmother woke up. He picks me up and takes me off the porch swing and holds me with a deadly grip as he is running through the yard and out to his large truck and throws me in the back and locks the doors. I look out the window, and I see my parents running as fast as their legs can carry them to try and rescue me from the truck. I pound on the doors trying to let them know where I am so they can rescue me from this man.
When they don’t come to me I yell “Mom, Dad, I’m locked in the back of the truck!” But when I look out the window, I see them get dragged back to the house by a person that came with them, and they must not have seen me through the windows. Before I can react, we drive away at full speed. I am devastated.
I curl up into a ball in the corner and cry. I can’t believe what is happening. I am getting kidnapped. I wish I hadn’t gone outside and had stayed in my bedroom and looked at the nature from the window. I wish I had been able to fall asleep tonight and not have tried to do this. I could have just tried reading my book for longer, but I had to go outside.
After what seems like a million hours the truck finally stops. I pop up and bang on the door and plead for someone to let me out, but when I look out the window I realize that we are parked in a dumpster, and no one is there except the people who kidnapped me. They would never let me out. But then, someone opens the lock! I push open the doors and sprint through the garbage with the man hot on my tracks and right when I am about to escape he grabs me.
I scream so loud he cups his calloused hand over my mouth. He ties me up with a rope and drags me back to the truck and props me up on the back wheel.
“Listen, I am going to tell you why I kidnapped you.” He said this like he desperately wants me to be quiet. “We need you on a mission to save the world, and this is the only way we can recruit you,” he said.
“Why couldn’t you just call me?”
“Because your parents can’t know about it. Parents always say ‘No,’ to it so we have to take you. I can’t say any more until we get to headquarters, so let’s hurry up.”
I was glad to know the truth, and I think it is so cool that I can save the world, so I didn’t argue. But, I do want proof. “Where is your badge?” I ask him. He leans towards me and inside a pocket in his shirt there was a gold badge with advanced in blue letters. Now, I believe him.
“Follow me,” he said as he motions for me to come with him. He led me to a couple of chairs in the middle of the dumpster and tells me to sit on one. He sits on the other, gets out a remote control, presses a button, and we take off.
When we land, we are outside an ugly shack surrounded by an old picket fence with a fat old man that is bald and has hazel eyes. How is this headquarters? I thought.
“Password?” the guy says in a deep voice that sounds like sandpaper.
“Black,” he responds. All of a sudden, the dumpster morphs into a valley, and the ugly shack and picket fence morph into a fancy building with a golden gate with spikes on top. The man that kidnapped me enters a combination, and when the gates open, he leads me down a pathway and enters another combination to get into the building. What I see next is awesome.
It is a huge space where people with badges are constantly coming and going, testing fancy gadgets, and using computers. It is all so cool. The guy takes me to the front desk where a lady with her auburn hair in a perfect bun is sitting.
“Who is this?” she demands to know.
“This is Sophie,” he told her.
“Okay, let’s tell the organization she’s here.” She types something into her computer and a couple minutes later a lady in a suit with a retired badge came.
“Hi Sophie! I’m Cara, your retired agent mentor. Come with me,” she tells me.
She leads me to what I think is supposed to be an office space since there are chairs and a desk, and she tells me to sit in an armchair by a desk. She sits down in the other chair and starts talking to me.
“So, I am going to help you prepare for your mission and give you some information about it. An agency called, ‘Other Plans Agency’ is run by bad guys, and they’re trying to take over the world. Your job is to stop them.” She tells me.
“Why me?”
“Because we think you have the ability to stop them, unlike the agents who have tried previously. What you have to do is find their base and look for the cursor.”
“What’s the cursor?” I ask.
“It’s a small device that can destroy an agency, and it’s the only way to stop him,” she tells me.
“Okay, I think I can do it.”
“Great, let’s get you set up,” she says.
We walk down a hallway and go down an elevator, and when the doors open, we are in a huge room. It is full of shelves and shelves of gadgets, and it was so cool.
“Okay, you want to look for gadgets that you think will help you sneak around, and you can only chose four gadgets.” I walk around the room and look for cool gadgets. I choose a freeze gun that I can use to make people freeze, an invisibility ring to make me invisible, a bomb to cause a distraction, and sneaking shoes to sneak around. It was really cool.
“I picked out my gadgets,” I tell Cara.
“Okay, now I will show you your ship and give you your badge,” she responds.
I am super happy I get my own ship and badge!!! I think to myself with excitement.
We get on a moving sidewalk to what the agency calls the dock. It is an outdoor room with huge vehicles that look small to non-agents run by people in neon uniforms so you can see them when it is agent rush hour and so many people are coming and going. Cara shows her ID to a lady with straight chestnut hair that pours over her shoulders.
“Why do you need an ID?” I say after we pass the lady.
“Because we have very heavy security,” she responds.
“Oh I almost forgot you’re going to need an ID to get back in.” She pulls a card out of her back pocket and gives it to me. “This is your ID. Put it in a safe place on the ship, and don’t take it with you on the mission because it can easily get lost,” she tells me.
“Okay, which ship will I be in?” I ask Cara.
“Ship 197,” she tells me.
We walk down to the end of the dock to a huge yellow ship with the number 197 in black writing on the side. “This is your ship I am going to show you how it works but first I have to give you your badge” Cara says. She pulls another thing out of her back pocket but this time it was a gold star with beginner in navy blue writing. “You have to keep this in a safe place at all times and only wear it at the agency. This CAN’T get lost,” she tells me.
“Okay, can you show me the ship now?”
“Okay, but you need to use your ID to get into it.” I scan my ID on the scanner and the doors slip open. It’s really cool.
It is like a mini house it has a huge window in the front with a chair and tons of buttons, it has a lot of food and water, there is a bathroom, and a safe, which is a perfect place for my ID and badge.
“Okay, I will teach you how everything works,” she says. “When you press the big red button in the middle, you say where you want to go in the microphone. All the other buttons have labels, and the safe combination is 1357. I think that’s all you need to know. Any questions?”
“Where am I supposed to go?” I ask.
“Oh I have a notebook of tips for you it has everything you need to know.” She gives it to me. “Good Luck on your mission, Sophie.” She walks out of the dock. I am on my own.
***
I open my book of tips and on the top of the first page, it says, “Tips on Finding the Enemy’s Base” in bold writing. The first tip is to look them up on the computer, but I don’t think I have a computer. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a clear cabinet with a laptop inside. I pull it out and follow the directions very carefully. I go to a website that helps you apply for agencies called “agent.com” and search “Other Pans Agency.” Under the picture of the building, which is their base, it says that the address is only revealed if you want to create an appointment to learn more about applying to their agency. This is a setback. I didn’t know that agencies are so protective.
After thinking for a long time, I got a plan. I decide I will call the agency and pretend to want an appointment to learn about applying for the agency. At the meeting I will ask about the cursor and get them to reveal its location. After I leave, I will wait in the ship until everyone goes to bed and then I will sneak into the base, get the cursor, and be on my way.
I pick up an iPhone that was also in the cabinet and call 212-929-1646. The phone was ringing for a couple of minutes and then a someone finally answers. “Hi, this is Other Plans Agency. What is your purpose of calling today?” he says.
“Hi. I would like to schedule an appointment to learn more about applying to this agency,” I tell him.
“Good. What is your name, and what time do you want to come?” he asks.
“My name is Sophie Maud, and I would like to come tomorrow morning” I say.
“Great, you will be coming tomorrow at 9:45 a.m. with Mr. Alento,” he responds. “You will be coming to 000 Center valley.” He tells me before hanging up. I put the phone away and say, “I want to go to 000 Center Valley.” The ship takes off, and my mission officially starts.
The ship goes so fast I don’t even feel it moving. Suddenly I notice I am pretty hungry, so I make myself a ham and cheese sandwich, and, when I finish, the ship stops. The ship is outside a town of abandoned houses with a faded sign in the front that says “Center Lane.” I know this is a disguise for their base, because our base looked like a variation of it. The sun is just rising, and the clock says 5:30 a.m. Since I have 4 hours and 15 minutes before my appointment, I decide I will pass the time in my ship. I walk back into my ship, close the door, and look through the book of tips that will hopefully answer some of my non-urgent questions.
I figure out that along with the safe on the inside of the ship, there is one on the outside to put my ID in so that I can get it after the mission. I also figure out that along with food and water, the ship is also full of weapons. I spend the rest of the time watching TV (another thing I found out in the book), and then it is finally time for my appointment.
I grab my bag of gadgets that I also put a knife in, and, when I get back out of the ship, I figure out that the homeless guys who sit around were obviously security guards. I walk up to one of them and tell them that I am there for an appointment. The guards then reach into their pockets and pull out a red sticker that says visitor on it and escort me to a big building in the middle. They unlock the door with a gold key from one of their pockets, and I see an oak front desk in the middle of a courtyard surrounded by doors.
“Tell Clementine the person at the front desk why you’re here, and she’ll let you in.” One of the guards whispered and then they left.
Just looking at Clementine was scary, so I had no idea how I was going to get enough courage to talk to her. Her hair was done in a tight bun, her icy blue eyes stared at you like she wanted you dead, and her mouth was closed in a perfectly straight line.
“Um, um, I came here for a 9:45 a.m. appointment,” I managed to tell her. She looked through a huge binder that probably was a list of appointments, because on one of the pages it said Sophie Maud 9:45 a.m. with Mr. Alento.
“Okay Sophie, you may enter door A and take the elevator to the basement. Mr. Alento will be there waiting for you in room 101,” she says. I did as she asked, and she was right. Mr. Alento was there waiting for me.
Mr. Alento had dark black hair, brown eyes that were almost black, and a long mustache. He is sitting on a rolling chair behind a brown desk with a reading light and a huge pile of papers on it. He motions for me to sit on the chair in front of him, and when I sit down and put my bag on the floor, he starts talking. “Welcome Sophie. I heard you are interested in applying for other plans agency,” he tells me.
“Yes I scheduled this appointment to learn more about this agency.” I say.
“Well lucky for you I agreed to tell you some valuable information about our agency.” he responds, “This is the most unique agency you’ll ever find and it is very hard to get in,” he says. “We only trust the best of the best with our dangerous missions and valuable weapons.”
“Wow it must be very hard to get in” I thought. “I am very interested in weapons and gadgets,” I tell him. “What are some of those things this agency has to offer?” I ask.
“We have every gadget and weapon possible,” he says. I knew that wouldn’t get him to mention the cursor, so I had to think of another way.
After a long pause, I figure out what to say. “So what mission are you guys working on?” I ask him.
“We are currently working on trying to take over the world and only the cursor can stop us,” he says.
“Who has the the cursor, and where is it?” I ask, but I quickly regret what I said because I revealed that I was trying to get information.
“You’re busted!” Mr. Alento yelled.
I had to escape fast. I tore open my bag of gadgets to get my distraction bomb to make a distraction and make a run for it. Since Mr. Alento sounded the alarm, there was double the noise, which I thought would make it easier for me. But, it didn’t. Everyone came in this direction, and we would cross paths. I ran out of the room as fast as my legs could carry me and decided to take the stairs, but unfortunately Mr. Alento probably called for backup. I only got halfway up the stairs when I bumped into an army of security guards with strong muscles. Before I got a chance to react, they grabbed me by the arms. I wiggled and squirmed and did everything in my power to get out, but I couldn’t. I was caught.
The security guards took me back down to the basement and pushed the elevator button. When the elevator came, the security guards pressed the button marked “D,” which I think stands for “dungeon.” We were dropping down for a long time, which made me think I would never see the sun again. When we got out of the elevator, we were in a freezing, dark room with stone cells around a small table that was the only thing that provided light and on that table was the curser. The security guards dragged me over to a cell, attached metal chains to my ankles, and locked the cell behind them. Then, they were gone.
All the cell had was a cot and an egg crate to sit on. It is so upsetting to be imprisoned. Now, I need a whole new plan to get the cursor. Every day, someone comes to feed us scraps from the agents food for breakfast and dinner — that is how I kept track of the days. The person who fed me is named Gerry, and he is really nice. On my fourth day in prison, when Gerry came to feed me dinner, he said he would help me escape.
He said he is secretly a spy for our agency, and he wants me to take the cursor back to our agency so Other Plans Agency can’t destroy the world. His plan is to give me the keys then set off the alarm in the gadget room to cause a distraction. I would put on my sneaking shoes, grab the cursor, and sneak out. It was the perfect plan, and we were going to do it right now.
Gerry gave me the key and went up to the gadget room to set off the alarm. You can only hear it very faintly from here, but I could still hear it. I opened my cell, put on my sneaking shoes, grabbed the cursor, and ran. I ran so fast, I wasn’t aware of my surroundings. Luckily, I got out of the agency without getting caught. I ran to my ship, got my ID out of the safe, and scanned it to get into the ship. I was finally safe.
Then, I heard a knock on the door. I looked out the window to see who it was, and it was Gerry! I opened the door and let him in.
“Go to the agency now they are hot on our heels!” he says urgently. I press the red button say that I want to go to the agency, and we are on our way.
“Thanks for helping me escape,” I say to Gerry.
“You are welcome,” he says. “I would do anything to get the cursor back to our agency.”
When we get there, I show a man in a neon yellow uniform my ID, and he opens the gates for us. When we get in, Cara is there waiting for us.
“Did you guys get the cursor?” she asked us. I get it out of my bag and show it to her. She gasps. “I knew you could do it!” she says. “Would you like to destroy their agency?” she asks me.
“Sure,” I say.
I turn on the cursor and speak into it, “Destroy Other Plans Agency.”
The screen responds, “Destroying…” for a while and then it says, “Complete. Other Plans Agency is destroyed!”
Now, I can go back home.