Ritchie was sitting in the willow tree looking out over the lake when hushed urgent voices caught his attention. He recognized the voices of his math teacher, Mr. Harmon, and his science teacher, Mrs. Vortex, and pulled his legs close and hugged the tree trunk so as not to be seen.
“I’m telling you, he’ll figure us out!” Harmon hissed.
“Will you calm down? If you keep doing what you’re doing he’ll end up just like Charlie.”
“Yeah and then he’ll remember one day and go crazy! He needs to be taken care of!”
“No, he’s a good piece of cargo. He could be vital to our situation. We need him.”
“He knows too much, he thinks too much.”
“We’ll soon cure him of that.” Ritchie, who had been trying to inch forward to hear better, moved his foot a bit to the left and froze as he heard a branch rustle. Oh no, he was going to get caught! Mrs. Vortex looked up quickly and examined the tree. She didn’t seem to see Ritchie and so she turned back to Harmon.
“He’ll be one of us soon enough” She said and walked back to the center