Overdue Book Part I

## Official Summary

In the Summer of 2007, Mitch Hook is graduating from Chester High School in Chester, Illinois. Mitch, his best friend Walter Marchand, and acquaintances Samson Campbell and Hailee Pennington are among the few who admit that Chester is simply not a normal town. No town this size should have this many disappearances, urban legends, and reported hauntings... Not to mention a vast, maximum security mental hospital and prison for the criminally insane.

The night before the last day of school, Walter, Hailee, and Samson all have terrifying experiences that seem somehow connected, and Mitch knows that something must be done. But that's assuming the high school bully doesn't waste one or more of them before they can do their Scooby thing.

## Detailed Recap

The night before the last day of senior year, Mitch Hook, star athlete and natural leader, comes home from baseball practice to find his father sitting on the porch. His father is an orderly at the nearby Chester Mental Health Center, where the "criminally insane" are housed. He reminisces about an old baseball bat his father gave him, that he later misplaced.

Mitch's friend Samson Campbell, clean-cut Christian youth, stops by the church to help the youth pastor prepare for vacation bible school. He heads home to help care for his grandfather, William Campbell, who is suffering from dementia or alzheimers.

Late at night, Samson wakes up and thinks he hears the bell his grandfather uses to call for help. He finds his grandfather asleep, distressed and tangled up in the bedclothes, with his nightlife mysteriously turned off. There is a gray residue, almost like ash, on his forehead. Samson adjusts the sheets, and his grandfather wakes up and, for once, recognizes him instead of confusing him with his father. He makes cryptic comments suggesting that one of Samson's "very tall" friends was there, and pulls his mouth into an unnatural smile, saying, "Pop, pop, pop." Samson, unsettled, stays with his grandfather until he falls asleep. He sees strange, long, thin shadows in the room. He prays to bless and protect the room. In investigating the rest of the house, he sees ash on the hearth, even though his mother cleaned it that day. He also has the sense that an invisible presence is there.

Hailee Pennington, a goth girl with an interest in witchcraft, wakes up in the middle of the night. She hears a sound under her bed, which she believes is the planchette she recently acquired from the Braddock House, an abandoned place with a haunted reputation. She gets out the planchette and her ouija board and communicates with the spirit identifying itself as "VB," which she guesses is Vivien Braddock, the last owner of the Braddock House, a reputed witch who has been dead for some time. The spirit explains that she needs Hailee's help, and Hailee must go to the house and follow the strange instructions "FNDRLNDNG."

Hailee hears a sound at her window, and sees a ragged woman in a hospital gown licking the glass. Hailee loses consciousness, and when she wakes up, wonders if it was all a dream -- but sees a smear on the glass of her window.

On the last day of school, Samson is helping the office deliver overdue book notices to students. One is for uber-bully Jeremy Stockton, who has tormented Samson in the past. It says Jeremy checked out a children's book by Henry Colfax called "Long Legged Larry."

Samson musters his courage and finds Jeremy in study hall. Mitch, Hailee, and Walter Marchand are all there as well. Samson gets Mitch to back him up while delivering the notice to Jeremy, who's sitting with his minions and sycophants. Jeremy denies having checked out any books. Hailee sees an opportunity for some payback and reads the notice out loud, mocking Jeremy for checking out a children's book. Jeremy grows furious and advances on Samson and Mitch. Mitch shoves him back, and Hailee throws salt in the face of one of his buddies, while Walter kicks another in the balls. Mitch defuses the situation and Jeremy takes the slip.

Hailee suddenly remembers something, and cannot imagine how she forgot it: She retrieved the planchette from the Braddock House because Jeremy had been telling everyone at school that he was planning to throw an "ethanol party" there, and she wanted to get a memento before he soiled the place. But when she went there, Jeremy was there, too, with "Long Legged Larry." He chased her out of the house in a fury, threatening to hurt her.

## Quotes

"Your friend is very tall ... 'Pop pop pop,' like knuckles ... Tell your friends that they should stop bein' silly." - William Campbell

## Music Credits

* Josh Woodward - Shadows in the Moonlight (Instrumental)
* Josh Woodward - I'm Letting Go (Instrumental)
* Natus - Rough
* Kevin MacLeod - Ghostpocalypse 6 - Crossing the Threshold
* Myuu - MSP#1 Forsaken
* Nathan Kross and Rob Stith - In the Dark
* Kevin MacLeod - Awkward Meeting
* Brett Van Donsel - Horror Opening Credits
* Kevin MacLeod - Bump in the Night
* Josh Woodward - Talk About Your Feelings (Instrumental)
* Natus - Vces
* Opening and Closing Themes by Nathan Kross and Rob Stith