Dear Diary, today I learned that I don’t like the dark.

I wake up but don’t want to get out of bed. I kind of just want to roll over and go back to sleep, pretending that yesterday was a dream. Sadly, the piece of metal hanging around my neck made pretending that was the case rather hard.

I drag myself out of bed and make myself ready for school. As for my actual schoolwork, I can’t really concentrate. It is hard to pay attention. My mind keeps thinking about the necklace. I should keep it away from whatever those creatures were.

I try to recall them and find it relatively easy to remember. It had blue skin and a bony jointed hand, which I think has more joints than a normal hand should have, but I am not sure Biology was hard. Wait, no, it is not. How? I get stunned into confusion for some reason; I can perfectly remember my biology textbook or any book I have read. I smile. Well, this is going to make tests a lot easier. I try not to smirk too much.

But yes, they did have extra joints, but only on their middle two figures. Fingers of which they had six instead of the usual five. That is odd but not unheard of. I am pretty sure humans can have six as well. I try to recall more, but most of their features are covered by those weird cloaks. Well, thinking about it more does not really help.

But what was I going to do with the amulet, lock it up in a safe, and bury it somewhere? But somehow that feels stupid. No, I need to be able to protect this thing. But how? These thoughts keep tormenting me until the last bell rings. Just as I am about to leave, I get a text message from my father saying that he will be running a bit late and that I should wait in the classroom or with the teacher for a bit.

I look around in the classroom. Two other girls are still here. They are on cleaning duty, so they are mopping the floor. I decided that if I was going to be waiting anyway, I might as well help, so I grabbed the extra broom and got to work.

Suddenly, a couple of police officers walk into the classroom. And start looking around, startling all three of us.

“You.” The man points at me. “Where were you at the Belfor construction site yesterday?”

I swallow, thinking of what to do. I try to read the officer’s expression, but that is hard on account of him wearing sunglasses. “Yes, I was,” I say in an unsure tone.

“Good. A body was found there today, so you will have to come to the station.” The man says.

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“Wait, you don’t think I did it?” I ask, terrified of the answer.

“No, but you might have seen something your parents put in a police report stating that you were chased by two figures; we think they might be connected to this, so we need you to come down to the station and give a statement.” He says in a reassuring tone.

I nod. “I understand.”

The two police officers take me to their patrol car, and I jump into the back. They get into the front, and we are off. We drive for a while before I realise we are not going in the direction of the police station. I am about to ask about it, but before I can, I hear one of the officers speak.

“We have secured the package. Maybe she knows something about the location of the artefact,” one of the officers says into a squire device.

Artifact? The necklace? But how? Wait, I keep listening.

“Understood. Remain in cover. It will be a lot easier if she cooperates willingly.” The cube answers back.

I frown. Something is weird. When I try to think of what exactly they said, it clicks. Those were not any languages I was familiar with, and I did not know all that many of them. Still, how was I able to understand it? Somehow, that feels less important than what they said.

I look around more, and then I see it in the back of their necks. There is a small opening where blue is coming through. So now I am in a car with the monsters of yesterday, that is not good, not good at all. I try to think of a solution, anything at all, to get me out of this situation, and then it hits me. The necklace had a protective function. I hunch my back as far as I can, making sure nobody can see what I am doing.

“Are you okay back there, kid?” I hear one of them ask.

“Yeah, I am fine, just a bit car sick. It will go away in a bit, don’t worry,” I say

I hear some more murmuring before he speaks again. “Okay, tell us if we need to stop for a bit.”

“Yes, I will,” I say.

With them pacified for a bit, I slowly take out the necklace and look at the plate. Okay, so green first. I press the big green gem in the middle and hear a little click. Then blue, the blue gem is rather small, located a little to the left and above the green one. I press that one, too, and then the purple one. This is a bit harder since there are two that fit that description. But I decide to pick the darker one in the bottom right.

I am starting to feel nervous now. I feel the plate slip in my sweaty hands as I press the green one again.

Suddenly, everything turns black. I wait for anything to happen, but it all stays black. Interesting, I feel around me only to feel cold… stone? That is odd. I try to stand up but hit my head on something.

“Whage?” I squeak in indignation.

I can hear my voice echoing into the space. That is strange. Finally, I decide to take out my phone and turn on the flashlight feature. I look around me in wonder. I am in a cave with stones and stuff but also metal. I think I can at least see cracks of sparkling silver that light up when I shine my light on it.

I decide to follow the cave upwards. If I am underground, then to get out of here, that is the direction to head in.

I keep exploring the cave until my phone’s battery dies out. The cave goes on for what feels like forever as I head up the slowly sloping path. I see more of the metal nods as well, but nothing else. When the light goes out, I still continue, just a lot slower and with a lot more sobbing.

“Mother, father, your daughter seems to be afraid of the dark.”