It was the strangest of times. I was getting many letters from my dear childhood best friend - Johnathan, from when I still used to live in fieldsbay with my family. It didn't seem too peculiar at first, since as a child, he always used to joke around. The letters constantly came in day by day, begging to come find him. It was quite worrying, the first letter he sent me, but I just tried to think of the best conclusion. 

Dearest Helena, my life has come to a strange point. I am lost and alone. In a monstrous cave to be exact, a cave that belongs in storybooks, and storybooks only! The type of storybooks that make you quiver as you read further, the type that prevent you going to sleep for days onward. I'm not to sure how I got so far in here, but one thing is for sure... I need to get out! The situation is too complicated to explain at this very moment but I'm sure these things will have been answered by the time you have come and found me. All I know for now is where the entrance to this cave lies which is the red tree by the blazing river. From then on you must find your own way through to me. I wish you luck. I hope I see you soon...

-J

Do you now understand why it was quite so worrying? It seemed a joke in the end, so I did nothing about it. I carried on receiving these letters, thinking nothing of them. Not until I got a phone call from his parents. Johnathan was missing and they thought that he might have come to see me. According to them, he was talking about visiting me for a while. I realised that my friend was in serious trouble after all. I didn't know what to do. After the call had ended, I got a letter in the post. It was from Johnathan.

Dearest Helena, I have overheard people talking about a ritual that they were planning. It seems I have been lured into the cave and will be used as bait for someone else. I don't know what for, but you must hurry, else they might do something terrible! The ritual is told to be in seven days time and my vision seems to have come back. I am chained to the floor in the centre of the largest pit I have ever laid my eyes on. I fear I may starve to death. I've no food or water. I also have no track of when a day starts and ends. This cave stays gloomy and dim at all times. I do hope you come soon.

-J

I feared I had come to a point where I hadn't been able to be there for my friend, I hadn't read the other letters. I just saw who they were from and put them on the table, piling them up day by day. I wonder what he's been telling me. I hope he isn't in too much danger. I start going through all of the letters he had sent me, looking at the dates. I found the letter that I was looking for, the second one he had sent. I needed to have read them all, all eleven of them.

Dearest Helena, It is getting furiously cold in here, I hope it soon is to warm up. I feel alone, sad. You're the only one who can help me. I don't remember why, but it should come back to me soon. Someone in a white, snake-skin mask came in earlier and before I knew it, I was waking up from a long sleep. From when I woke up my eyesight has gone blurry. I can only see normally, things that are no further than about two metres away.I hope my eyes don't stay this way for long. I'm not sure they're going to feed me here, I haven't seen anyone for hours, apart from the person in the white, snake-skin mask. I hope you arrive here for me soon.

-J

My eyes were burning with sadness, tears rolling down my cheeks. I decided that I could no longer read anymore. What were they going to do to poor Johnathan? What or who was he bait for? Who had done this to him? I wanted to know the answers there and then. I hadn't even seen Johnathan in 13 years, I don't know what I would do if I finally came to see him. I needed to find him and help him. I packed all the letters in my bag, as well as a torch, spare shoes, a map and also my luck necklace, then set off to Fieldsbay...

 The journey turned out a lot longer than it was supposed to turn out and there was only six days left until it was to be too late. It also was a shame that I wouldn't get any new letters from Johnathan since they would arrive at my house and not directly to me. That leads to the bizzare part...

After about an hour of driving, I got a bit tired - it was five o'clock in the morning - so I decide to stop at the next service station that comes up to get a coffee and a bit of a rest. I walk into the building, with the strong smell of coffee, muffins and Chinese noodles wafting into my face. I see the bright orange coffee shop sign in the corner of my eye, as I follow the smell of cocoa beans and milk to the end of the queue. The wait felt like days. I started worrying about Johnathan while I was waiting, but I knew I couldn't last another hour in the car without my coffee.

I finally got my warm, wake-up drink and looked around to see if there was anywhere to sit. I had the option of sitting by the overflowing bins or the tiny gap between two people on a sofa. So, obviously I just went and sat in my car instead. As I was about to leave, this man coming the opposite direction to me seemed to be trying to get my attention. I barely noticed as I was looking for my car in the car park. We had knocked into each other and he dropped a letter. I was from Johnathan. The man ran, as fast as he could, so I ran after him. I was screaming at the same time, "Where is he? Where is Johnathan? What have you done with him?" He got away. I had ended up throwing my coffee on the floor as I ran, but luckily I already drank at least half of it. I then realised I needed to go find Johnathan. I did still have six days to find him, but six days can fly by if you're not careful, so I got back into my car, and was back on the motorway.

It was very late and very dark, so I stopped at a hotel - bed and breakfast, of course. I quickly run up to my room - 409 - and took a nice long shower. This is when I started to think a lot about my day and what has happened in my life, all I was thinking were bad thoughts. 'What am I going to do?' and ' I need someone to help me.' and 'Who was that guy and how did he know Johnathan?' I was thinking many bad things until I remembered that I had that new letter from Johnathan. I hopped out of the shower, quite literally actually, almost falling and hitting my head on the sink. I slip on my hotel-rented pyjamas (that I hope were washed) and pulled the letter out of my bag.

Dearest Helena, I've been moved to a strange room that every time I wake up, everything seems to be different. The wallpaper, the floor, the ceiling just changes. I'm not sure what these people are trying to do to me, but it mustn't be good. This place is really making me dizzy. It always feels like the walls are moving, the floor is moving, like the whole room is moving. Some might say it were fun or thrilling, but really, after a while, it makes you want to throw your guts up. I don't know what's been happening to me. The person in the white, snake-skin mask appeared again and doing the same thing to me as before, but it's not my eyes that blur, it's now my ears, if I hear or make a sound, it feels like it bounces around the room, muffling as it shoots past my ears. I hope you are nearly here.

-J

What was the person in the white, snake-skin mask doing to poor Johnathan? I hoped it didn't annoy him too much. I thought they were  trying to torture him into losing his mind! That's didn't make sense though, when they said he was being used for bait. My head started to hurt from all of this thought and stress. I just lay back onto the bed, slid underneath the duvet, closed my eyes and... 'KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK'... Who would be knocking on my hotel door at this hour of night? I slowly crept over, looked through the peephole and nobody was there. I walk back over to the bed and then... 'KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK'... I was getting tired now, so I just went over, yanked open the door, and there lay a letter... It was from Johnathan...

 I had woken up from the hotel room and decided there would be no more waiting. I had to get to Fieldsbay as soon as I could. I would wait to open the letter for when I got there. The car journey was still another three hours. I would have had to make it through the journey awake to save Johnathan. I still wasn't too sure what I was saving him from, but it still needed to be done.

I finally see the sign on the motorway saying that there was the Fieldsbay turn-off. I see the luscious, green fields that I used to run along, the dark, spooky forest that I used to hide in. Johnathan always thought that,min the forest, there were mysterious creatures lurking around, hiding, creatures that were never known to man. I'm not too sure what he thinks now, my family moved when we were 9, I haven't seen him ever since.

I pulled into the driveway of Johnathans house - he still lived with his parents. His parents adored me so they wouldn't have minded me stopping by. I knocked on the door and Joanne answered. Joanne was Johnathans mother, she was the nicest person in the world. After my parents died, and I was living in a foster home, she called me everyday to try make and me feel better. She was always there for me. As soon as she saw me standing on her front porch, she ran and hugged me as hard as she could. She was crying her eyes out at the same time. David came running behind her and as soon as he saw me, he had the greatest smile. David was Johnathans father. David and Joanne went on and on about Johnathan and how he was missing and that he missed me and that I was the only one who could save him. Why were they all saying that I was the only person who could save him? Joanne invited me in for a cuppa, to slow things down a bit. She could clearly see that I wasn't understanding a thing they were trying to tell me.

Joanne went off to the kitchen to put the kettle on and get out a plate of biscuits while David went upstairs to take a quick shower since they had only woke up an hour ago. I thought this was the best time to open the letter I got from the hotel room. I was beginning to doubt these letters where from Johnathan himself but I ripped open the envelope anyways...

Dearest Helena, I don't know how many days have passed, but I'm now getting very worried. I have once again been put to sleep by the strange person in the white, snakeskin mask and I have been put into a Chinese dragon style outfit. It's very uncomfortable. I've been told you are on your way, staying at a hotel at the moment. I'm not sure how these people know this, but it's very peculiar. I hope you make it here soon...

~J