Miss Penelope Carpenter of Cedarview Mansion (chapters 1-2)

                                                             1

 Penny Carpenter's morning began in the same way it always did. After hitting snooze on her alarm, she pulled her blanket over her head and fell back asleep. Penny was not a morning person. 

Penny had become all too aware of the fact that her morning habits often made her late, which is why when her second alarm went off 5 minutes later, Penny forced herself to wake up for good, a daunting task at 6:30 in the morning. Penny fumbled out of bed and slowly began to make her way to the bathroom to splash water on her face.

Still barely half awake and not enthusiastic, Penny opened her closet door and stumbled into her ridiculously sized walk-in closet. She had barely entered the room when the girl tripped on a loose floor panel. She had never noticed it before, not surprising since she had just removed the fluffy pink rug that had lived in the room for years prior. It was also not surprising to have a loose floorboard in a house as old as the Cedarview Mansion. Despite this, the discovery excited Penny, who, after reading all the mystery books she could get her hands on, craved an adventure of her own.  

Penny kneeled and pried the plank with nonexistent fingernails: the aftermath of years of anxiety. The plank, while difficult to get up, gave way after a few minutes of struggling, showing a small hiding nook. Penny thought it was the perfect place to hide things, not that she had anyone to hide things from, but she liked to pretend. Disappointed, Penny started to fit the wood back into place when she noticed something that she had overlooked before, not surprising as she was not a very observant person. Looking closer, Penny carefully picked up an envelope!  The envelope was old and yellowed but in good condition. In swoopy writing was a name Penny knew by heart, the name she had heard her whole life, her name, but this was not about her, it was about her great great great aunt; “Mrs. Penelope Carpenter of Cedarview Mansion'' Now the young girl was giddy to open the envelope and planned on spending all day working on solving her new mystery. 

Unfortunately, these plans were interrupted when she looked down at her phone. It was already 7:10; Penny was running late! She hopped up, quickly changed into her school uniform, and grabbed a granola bar before rushing to school.

                                                            2

As Penny walked to her house from the bus stop, she was skipping with excitement. She had been struggling to pay attention in school all day. Penny usually loved school, especially English class, and even that failed to interest her. All Penny could think about was the envelope hidden away in her closet. Penny knew she must be overthinking the whole thing, but as an only child in a big house, Penny longed for adventure, and a mystery like this was perfect; she was in very little danger solving such an old case, but it would still be exciting.

But when Penny got home, Nickel was right behind her. Her real name was not Nickel, of course, but the girls liked both being called the names of coins. Neither of the girls appreciated their real names much: Penelope and Nicole. Even though Penny loved Nickel very much, for once, she did not want to sleep over, except that the Friday sleepovers were inescapable. After doing them for such a long time, Penny usually loved those nights, even when they didn’t do much, but tonight was different; not only would she have to wait until late Saturday morning to open the envelope, but for the first time, at least in Penny’s knowledge, there would be a secret between the two girls, and Penny was sure Nickel would notice. Penny decided she could not tell ANYBODY about the envelope until she knew more about it.

The sleepover was a drag. Nickel was not suspicious, and Penny should have planned for this since the girls shared the trait of being unobservant.

 When Nickel left, Penny was relieved. She went to her closet to retrieve the letter, then grabbed the journal Penny had tried to keep on Penelope. There was only one entry;

                             February 12, 2019

I’m 9 today! But this journal is not about me, it’s about Penelope Carpenter, and yes, I know my name is Penelope Carpenter, but today I learned about the original Penelope. This is not a happy story, it’s a mystery. Let's set the scene, it is 1910 and Penelope is just a normal Carpenter kid. I say Carpenter kid and not just kid because the Carpenters are not normal, not then, not now. We are different, the kind of difference you notice but can’t explain, anyways, Penelope was 10, and she started acting strange. She was acting shy, which was uncommon for her character, and irritable. Her family blamed the changes on hormones, but something was off. It was a cold October day when it happened though, Penelope was acting especially strange, she skipped breakfast, which was odd, and then, she acted out during a tutoring lesson. After her schoolwork was completed, Penelope went to her room, which is now mine. She wasn’t seen for hours, and when her mother checked, Penelope was gone. They searched the entire house, the entire town, and the surrounding ones, but they only found one thing, a note on her nightstand, the note read “I don’t want to leave, but more I don’t want you to suffer, so I must go, though I don’t expect you to understand, just know I am protecting you all. I love you, Penelope Carpenter” Now I have made it my goal to find out what happened to Penelope.

Ever since that day, over four years ago, Penny had not found another clue, until now. Finally, Penny opened the letter;

Dear Penelope,

I know you hate me, but I hope this letter finds you well. Please understand my intentions are not evil like you accuse, but my actions may be harsh if you do not follow directions. It may risk the lives of everyone you love, and I would hate to have to take such drastic measures. All I need is for you to come with me, and no one will be hurt. You have until October 19. 

Sincerely,

Mister Charles Bardlebee

O5360 Maple St. Woodstown Massachusetts

The letter was short but left Penny with chills. The letter is not a matter to be addressed lightly. It seems that Penelope did not only vanish as Penny thought but she was captured. There was more: an address! Penny decided not to write this in her journal, to keep this as private as possible. She opened an Incognito tab on her computer and searched the address. It did not show up but she learned Woodstown was only a town away. Either way, Penny was not ready for potential danger. She decided to save this and do research later. She distracted herself by doing her homework for the weekend, making a sandwich, and reading.

 Finally, she got back on her computer and searched for Charles Bardlebee. Nothing came up. Penny was not ready to give up yet. She changed the Google search to Bardlebee Carpenter hoping this would give her some connection, but again, nothing came up. Penny searched Bardlebee Massachusetts and got lots of results for an Augustus Bardlebee. Penny clicked on his Wikipedia page and began to read.

Augustus Bardlebee was a famous con artist and kidnapper in the 1900s and 1910s. Most famous for the kidnapping and ransom of Sarah Thomson in 1909…

Penny skipped ahead to another mention of Sarah. 

Sarah was a  young girl. She came from a good family, and when not at boarding school, she was at her family's estate in Massachusetts. Sarah was just 8 when she started acting strange, according to her family. A few months later, she disappeared. Weeks later, a ransom note asking for $300 was sent to the family, who retrieved their daughter. Sarah later said that though she was scared, Augustus treated her well, which was strange. 

Penny was intrigued, but it was getting late and her mind was rushing too fast even to think. Without even eating dinner, Penny changed and fell asleep thinking about her new and fascinating mystery.