top of page
OVO Episode 1 Header.png

"Losing Karr"

“Karr! Come on, son, time to get up! It’s your big day!”

“Five more minutes, Dad! Please!” Karr groaned, burying his face deeper into the pillow.

“Nope, you gotta get up now. We have to meet Tia and her mom for breakfast before the competition, and I want you to go for a walk around the hotel to clear your head, get some mindfulness breathing in before we head to the convention center. So get up now. We can’t be late.”

“Fineeeeee,” Karr replied, rolling out of his hotel bed, groggy but excited.

 

He looked outside his window and the sun was nowhere to be found. It was cloudy and gloomy and gray and it made it even harder for Karr to want to get up for the day.  He dragged his feet to the bathroom, did his thing, and got dressed for the day.

Now why were Karr and his dad staying in a hotel? Well, Karr and his dad were actually out of the country, in Toronto, Canada for a very exciting reason—Karr was a finalist in the Black Scholars of Science Exhibition Experience! He had made it through multiple rounds of local and regional competitions to reach the final international level, and he was thrilled beyond the moon!

Tia, just as thrilled, was waiting in the lobby with her mom for Karr and his dad to come down. 

“Over here Karr!”, she yelled as her voice echoed in the lobby at 10:30am. 

“Tia, shhhh…We can’t be loud. We’re not from here. We gotta act like we got some home training”, Karr said. 

“Don’t kill my vibe Karr. I’m just happy to be here”, Tia blurted out while grabbing a handful of Halloween candy from the front desk.

“Also, did you look around outside? It’s much cleaner here in Canada than it is back home”, she said. 

“Yeah I noticed! They actually put the trash IN the trash cans that are on the corners. I wish the weather was better though”, Karr laughed.  

After breakfast, the families headed over to the convention center. Karr and Tia walked side by side, their heads held high and backpacks full of supplies for their award-winning projects. They were ready to show off and take home the prize! 

The air was cool and the dead leaves rustled on the ground. It was eerily quiet outside as Tia, Karr and their parents walked over to the convention center.  A big black bird flew over their heads. “Ahhhhhh!”, they both screamed and the black bird left an unpleasant surprise on Karr’s shoulder.

 

“Ewwwwwww! The bird pooped on me, get it off get it off get it off!”, he screamed.

 

“Hold still..this is why we can’t have nice things”, Tia said trying to scrub the bird dropping off of Karr’s sweater.

 

“Thanks Tia, bleh…I’ve never had a bird poop on me and this is my favorite and lucky sweater!”, Karr told her.

 

“Don’t worry I got it off, and I don’t think our parents saw it happen, they’re back there chit chatting about who knows what”, she laughed. 

The families made it to the convention center. They walked into the big hall and the air buzzed with excitement as the finalists were setting up their displays. Karr and Tia found their spots and began arranging their projects. Karr’s project was a solar-powered water filtration system, while Tia’s focused on eco-friendly beauty products with a special twist for the spooky holiday.

 

While setting up, they overheard the event staff saying that the building was haunted and that no one should go to the bathroom alone. One of them even added that the entire city got pretty creepy during the month of October. Karr and Tia looked at each other kind of concerned, shrugged their shoulders and kept setting up their tables. 

It was 11:00am and in walked the judges, circling the room and visiting each table, one by one. They had their ipads out ready to ask the contestants questions and judge their projects accordingly.

“Good morning!” Karr greeted them with a confident smile. “This is my solar-powered water filtration system”. 

 

One of the judges, a tall woman with glasses perched on her nose, leaned in to examine the model. “Impressive setup, Karr. How does it work?” 

 

Karr pointed to various parts of his project. “The solar panel provides energy to the pump, which draws water through a series of filters. It’s designed to provide clean water in different areas using renewable energy.” 

The woman nodded in appreciation and gave Karr a thumbs before moving on. Karr squealed with happiness and stood back waiting for the next judge to come by.

Meanwhile, Tia was standing with her display trying to smile through her nerves as she saw one of the judges approaching her table. She was still a little spooked about the haunted conversation but she put on a smile and tried to forget about it.

 

“He..hello. Hi. My name is Tia and my project is about eco-friendly beauty products made from natural ingredients.”

The judge looked at her display, which was full of homemade lotions and soaps. The tall woman picked up a soap bar and smelled it.

 

“The idea is interesting, Tia. What are some of the natural ingredients that you used for these?”, the judge asked. 

 

“Well, my main 3 ingredients are Aloe Vera because it’s great for hydration, honey because it has antibacterial properties and essential oils so that everything can smell really nice!”, Tia told her. 

“Exquisite!”, the judge said.

“And just in time for Halloween, here is a sample of my new goblin goop. It’s a special type of edge control I made with eco-friendly purple glitter specs to help add a little extra to your halloween costume! ”, she said, giving her sample.

“Fascintating. Thank you for sharing Tia”, the judge said. 

“Thanks for stopping by”, Tia responded and took a big exhale. 

As the judges made their rounds, Karr and Tia continued to present their work with confidence and passion. After an hour had passed and despite their best efforts, neither Karr nor Tia heard their name called during the winner announcements.

 

Karr felt a wave of disappointment. “I can’t believe it,” he muttered, kicking his bookbag. “All that work for nothing.” 

 

“Don’t be like that Karr. We did our best. Remember, it’s not about winning or losing. We had fun didn’t we? And we made it this far! Besides, we’re in Toronto! Let’s make the most of it.” 

They started to pack up their things to make room for those who were continuing on to the next round. Just then, two kids approached them. 

“Hey, we’re Tanveer and Natalia,” one of them said with a wave. “ Looks like we all had the same luck today.”

“Yeah I guess so. I’m Tia, and this is Karr,” Tia replied. “What was your project about?”, she continued. 

“I designed a line of non-toxic surface cleaners,” Tanveer said. “It was fun to work on, I really don’t like mess.”

 

“And I made invisible ink, with a spy decoder”, added Natalia.

“Those sound so cool! .” Karr said, impressed. “Yeah, I’m really proud of it and the judges loved it. It’s such a bummer I didn’t move on to the next round”, Natalia said. 

The four of them chatted, sharing stories about their projects and homes. Despite the initial disappointment, they found comfort while listening to each other. Suddenly another contestant stormed by, crying hysterically. Their entire project had disappeared, vanished. Poof! Gone. 

“How does a science project just disappear in a room full of people?” Tia asked.

“Welcome to Toronto, where every October, things get really… suspicious,” said Tanveer.

“Here, we have this thing called OVO and it means Octobers Very Own but some people think that OVO stands for October’s Very Odd”, added Natalia. “You just gotta mind your business and be careful.”

There was an awkward pause..

“Well, would you guys wanna hang out since we got the boot?”, Natalia asked Karr and Tia.

“Sure! What’s there to do around here?”, Karr asked. 

“I thought I was going to be presenting all day, but… guess not. We need to have some FUN”, Tia added. 

“There’s an arcade across the street,” Tanveer suggested. “It’s full of old-school games from the 90s. Want to check it out?”

Karr and Tia exchanged excited glances. “Sure! We need to ask our parents first!,” Tia said.

Karr and Tia ran over to where their parents were sitting and introduced their new friends. After getting permission and agreeing to be back in the convention center for dinner, the group headed to the arcade.

Neon lights and retro games filled the space, and the sound of arcade music and laughter surrounded them.

They took turns playing games like Pac-Man, Street Fighter, and Pinball. It was a perfect way to unwind and forget about the science fair. As they were about to leave, a tall kid in a cool jacket approached them. He didn’t look that much older than they were, definitely a teenager, like 15-16 years old. He walked with style, had an air of mystery, and his eyes gleamed with mischief. But he looked so cool! 

 

“Whaddup, lil’ homies,” he said, a sly smile on his lips. “My name’s Hezzy. Y’all wanna see something cool?”

He opened his jacket and had a bunch of pocket sized egg shaped devices hanging from little hooks. 

“These are digipets,” he explained. “But not your ordinary digipets; these little guys are really special. Wanna try?”, Hezzy asked. 

 

Intrigued, the kids accepted one of the digipets, and were eager to see what it could do.

“Thanks!” Tanveer said. 

“Uh uh! Put that back. Where we’re from, we don’t talk to strangers.

 

"No thank you sir! ”, Tia said, knocking the digipet toy out of his hand. 

“Tia, it’s fine. We’re not home and it seems like everyone here is super nice. Loosen up a bit, let’s have some fun, it’s just a tiny video game, I think”, Karr said to her. 

Tia crossed her arms and rolled her eyes as she watched Karr and her new friend's fascination grow over this peculiar device.

“Let’s see what this can do,” Natalia suggested, pressing the buttons. The others followed, watching as the screen flickered to life.

 

Hezzy had handed Tia a tiny instruction booklet, “stick to the instructions, and you’ll be amazed; ignore them, and you might find yourself in an adventure you didn’t expect!”, he then disappeared into the crowd. 

Tia tossed aside the instruction booklet. She had no interest in playing with this new toy from this strange guy! The other 3 kids spent a few minutes playing with the digipet, mesmerized by the graphics. But soon, strange symbols began flashing on the screen.

 

“What’s happening?” Karr asked, confused.

“It looks like a random message,” Tanveer said. “Press that button, Karr, and see what happens.”

Karr pressed the button, and a bright burst of light surrounded him for about 10 seconds. 

And when it faded… he was gone!

“Karr?” Tia called out, panic rising. “Where’d you go?”

They stared at the digipet, horrified. On the screen was a tiny animated version of Karr, trapped inside and bouncing around.

 

“He’s in the digipet!” Natalia exclaimed.

“What do you mean?? Karr! Karr!”, Tia yelped in fear. 

“Oh no, this can’t be good”, Tanveer said. 

“We gotta get him out of there! What did y’all do?”, Tia questioned, looking at her new friends. 

Tanveer and Natalia just stood there, confused as well. 

“Did that guy give us instructions? I’ve never had a digipet before!”, Natalia said to them.

“I threw them in the trash over here” Tia said, running back to the garbage can.

 

They frantically searched for the discarded instructions. She found them but the paper was covered in garbage and they couldn’t read any of the words. 

Tia’s hands trembled. “What do we do now?”

Natalia and Tanveer exchanged a look. “I think we might know someone who can help,” Natalia said. “There’s a shop nearby that deals with strange tech gadgets. It’s called Gizmo’s Emporium! It’s in Kensington Market. They might know what to do.” 

Tia, Tanveer, Natalia and digipet Karr left the arcade, and headed towards Gizmo’s Emporium.

The mysterious teenager from the arcade lingered in the shadows, watching them, as the crew desperately tried to figure out what to do…

OVO Episode 2 Header.png

"Unstucking The Stuck"

“Hey, is Gizzy here? We’ve got an emergency on our hands”, exclaimed Natalia, bursting through the doors of Gizmos Emporium. 

 

“Depends who’s asking”, replied the store clerk, slyly. 

 

“Tell her it’s Natalia, and it’s urgent”, said Natalia, pulling a notepad and spy pen from her bag.

 

Out of nowhere, the digipet began beeping uncontrollably. It was Karr, and something was wrong. Too bad Tia threw away the instructions. The friends scanned the screen and noticed a flashing icon at the top, it was a slice of pizza - but what could this mean?

 

Could it be that Karr wanted to go to Italy?

Or maybe that he wanted to make a pizza?

 

The beeping was nonstop, and the digital version of Karr was beginning to fade as the pizza slice flashed faster and faster, and louder and louder.

 

“Karr is disappearing. Is he dying? We can’t let him die! Karr, what’s wrong? Tell us what you need!”, screamed Tia, desperately. 

 

And that's when a friendly voice emerged from a distance, 

“I recognize that beeping, I know that song. 

You’re correct, something indeed is wrong.

It’s hunger, your friend, he needs to be fed

Press the yellow button, then the green, then the red”

 

Tia followed the instructions in a hurry. Her fingers pressed each button with intense speed. Within seconds, a happy song began playing from the digipet and Karr not only appeared in full colour, but he grew a tad bit bigger and had a smile on his face. 

 

Relieved, Tia thanked the voice. 

 

A tall figure appeared, slowly walking up from the basement stairs holding a half eaten sandwich. It was Gizmo (Gizzy for short). She wore a pair of yellow sneakers with rainbow socks, brown dress pants and a green striped sweater. 

 

“Gizzy!”, yelled Tanveer and Natalia with excitement. They ran over to her and did a secret handshake, Tia watched in amazement - she had never seen a handshake so intricate… and with three people! It must've been a Canadian thing.

 

Natalia went on to introduce Tia, “Gizzy, this is Tia. She’s our new friend! We met her this morning at the science exhibition! She loves makeup and she has a video channel where she calls her followers her Royal-Teas. She is also obsessed with princess things and she has a secret crush on K… “

 

“Woah! Chill…I don’t got a crush on nobody. I love me and me only! Hmmph!” Tia said.

 

The tall woman extended her hand for a handshake.

"Ti-a, nice to meet ya

Welcome to the city, getting to the nitty-gritty

Need something fixed, I got your back!

Electronics acting up? I’m on it, stat

More than a just a rapper

Known for dressing dapper

Reaching high, I need a ladder

Yup, I’m quite a yapper

I eat cheese on my pasta

My brain can quite quite scattered"

 

“Does she rap everything she says?”, Tia whispered to Tanveer.

 

“Yup, that’s why we love her!”, replied Tanveer, with a smile. 

 

All of a sudden, the digipet started to make noises again. This time it sounded like an orchestra of really odd trumpet sounds.

The kids passed him around trying to figure out what to do. The screen was filling up with big brown blobs. They had no idea what this could mean.

 

Tia stood there nervously, trying to remain calm and at this point, she really wished that she hadn’t destroyed the instructions. The brown blobs multiplied, first there were two, and then three, and now there were seven big brown blobs on the screen. 

 

SEVEN. BIG. BROWN. BLOBS!

 

“What do we do? What do we do?”, cried Tia.

 

Gizzy chimed in,

"Woop-ta-woop-woop

Gotta clean up the poop"

 

Aha, problem solved! After all that pizza, digital Karr took a digital poop and needed help getting cleaned up. Thank goodness it wasn’t real poop. Tia pressed a few buttons and the poop blobs disappeared, one by one. The kids were finally getting a hang of this thing, BUT they still needed to get Karr unstuck, he couldn’t stay inside of the digipet forever! That would be terrible! 

 

The crew filled Gizzy in with all of the details, about how they went to the arcade and accepted a free toy from a teenager named Hezzy, who they thought could be a friend, and when they turned it on, Karr got stuck inside. They didn't have the instructions, they didn't know what to do. They needed to get him UNSTUCK before 7pm because that when they told their parents they'd be back and the next morning they had an early flight!

 

Tia felt overwhelmed, like maybe this was all her fault. How could she let this happen to one of her best friends? At that moment, she wished that she was the one who was stuck in the digipet, not Karr. Surely Karr would know what to do in a situation like this, he was a tech genius. Her eyes began to fill with tears, Tanveer and Natalia exchanged looks, they didn’t know what to do, or what to say to make Tia feel better. 

 

Gizzy got serious. She put on her special computerized sunglasses and took a close look at the digipet, inspecting each part of it. She held it close to her ear and tapped on the back with her pointer finger while mumbling to herself. 

 

“Y’all didn’t see the hidden message?”, Gizzy asked.

 

“Hidden message?”, the kids replied in unison.

 

“Yeah, the QR code”

 

Gizzy cleared her throat to explain:

"Take a look, my friends. It’s all right here

The answer to your query is perfectly clear

Getting Karr unstuck, is quite a big ask

Not impossible, but a really tough task

All must be completed by the end of the night

Bc old man Hezzy puts up quite a fight

See, old man Hezzy is 300 years old

He captures kids like you, and steals their souls

And that, my friends is how he stays alive

He looks like a teen, but he’s three hundred and five

Down in his lair is where you have to go

Scary as can be, I hear it’s in Scarborough

Go to Tim Hortons to get the location

The one on Queen Street is your final destination

You’ll find the answer on a special cup

Remove the lid, you’ve gotta roll the rim up

Roll up the rim, roll up the rim, roll up the rim, roll it up

Roll up the rim, roll up the rim, roll up the rim, roll it up

(kids join in)

Roll up the rim, roll up the rim, roll up the rim, roll it up

Roll up the rim, roll up the rim, roll up the rim, roll it up"

 

Turns out, Hezzy- the “teenager” who gave them the digipet wasn’t actually a teenager, he was in fact a 305 year old man disguised as a teen. The way he stays young is by trapping kids inside of digipets and taking their souls. He controls everything from his motherboard. 

 

According to Gizzy’s research, they’d have to locate old man Hezzy’s secret lair and deactivate the motherboard before 7pm in order to save Karr. BUT they still needed to figure out the location of the secret lair. And the only way to find the location was by rolling up the rims of hot chocolate cups at Tim Hortons.

 

On their walk to Tim Hortons, Tia had a lot of questions spinning in her head. She asked Natalia, “Sayyyy…how did you know all those random things about me? I know we’ve been hanging out together all day but I don’t remember telling you…”

 

“Oh you didn’t have to tell me” , Natalia interrupted. “Some people call me Nosey Natalia. What can I say? I like to do a little snooping here and there, and I’m really good at it thanks to my backpack of spy gadgets. I know everything about everyone”

 

“That’s a little  creepy”, said Tia.

 

“I know. Thanks!” replied Natalia, proudly.

 

Tia then asked, “Uhhhh and what’s a Tim Hortons?”

 

Tanveer answered this time, while crossing the street.

 

“Tim Hortons is our main refreshment destination. I believe, in the United States, you have Dunkin’ Donuts, but in Canada, we have Tim Hortons… and they’re everywhere! Most kids LOVE timbits, they’re like little donut balls. And the hot chocolate, ouuu, soo delish”

 

“Ooooo donut balls!?! We call them munchkins back in the states”, Tia told him.

 

Once they arrived at the Tim Hortons on Queen street, Tanveer offered to buy the hot chocolate. His aunties and uncles had visited the previous weekend and they each gave him $5, so it was safe to say, he was rollin’ in the dough.. a little. 

 

Plus, in order to find the answer, they’d have to roll up the rims on every cup. Rolling up the rim was something of the past, this was definitely a Canadian thing. After finishing a hot chocolate, people would remove the plastic lid and roll up the paper rim to see if they won a prize. So the kids got to drinking, in search of the information they were looking for to save Karr. 

 

Seated in the corner booth, they chugged 3 trays of hot chocolate, surely the secret location had got to be on one of the cups. 

 

“I can’t drink anymore. And I love hot *burp* chocolate but this is too much!”, said Tia with the beginnings of a stomach ache.

 

“Oof! Me neither. My stomach is rumbling!” agreed Tanveer letting out a gentle fart.

 

Natalia continued chugging away.

 

After rolling up the rims of 24 cups, they finally found the ONE with the secret message, the address of Old Man Hezzy’s lair. As Tia rolled up the final rim, everything around them began to slow down, like magic. They looked out the window and there was a crazy wind outside followed by an intense tornado, and…. everyone around them was frozen. Well… everyone besides Tia, Tanveer, Natalia, and Karr. They were spooked, but knew that this was just the beginning of their mission.

 

“So, what’s it say? Where’s the secret lair?”, asked Natalia, her hair frizzy from the tornado.

 

“It’s at… Kennedy station?”, Tia replied, a bit confused.

 

“I know how to get there”, said Tanveer. “We have to take the train. The lair, it’s underground, on the train tracks”.

 

So the friends rushed to the nearest subway station, walking past all of the frozen people and hopping onto the train. This was finally their chance to save Karr. 

 

Last stop, Kennedy Station.

OVO Episode 3 Header.png

"The Secret Lair"

Tia, Tanveer and Natalia hopped on the train, they were all alone and had 12 stops to go until they’d arrive at Kennedy station. Natalia grabbed her phone to do as much research as possible on Old Man Hezzy, fishing for all the details. 

 

Turns out, Old Man Hezzy was born in the year 1819 and his real name is Hezekiah Weaver. He didn’t have many friends growing up, but was really into science and elaborate inventions. When Hezekiah was just 15 years old he had an accident that would change the rest of his life. 

 

Hezekiah was out swimming in the lake when he jumped head first into shallow water, hitting his head on a rock There was blood everywhere. Hezekiah passed out and drowned. Some people said he spent 13 minutes underwater, others believed he was under the water for over an hour. 

 

But one thing everyone agreed on, was that that day, Hezekiah died and came back to life. He was able to swim back to the shore and when he did, 40 dead fish washed up alongside him. That’s when Hezekiah realized he could gain more life by sucking the life from others. 

 

Over the years, Hezekiah found different ways to gain life, but his favourite way was by tricking young children. As time went on, it got harder and harder to cover his tracks. So being the genius inventor that he was, he created his own evil version of the digipet that is controlled from his motherboard. It was so simple to upload and steal the souls of children without much contact or chance of being caught. 

 

According to the research, the only way to disable Hezekiah’s motherboard was by removing its power source. And that was not an easy feat. 

 

The 3 friends were sitting on the train a little nervous and shaking in their sneakers. They knew that this next task was a risky move, but it was something that NEEDED to be done. Saving Karr wasn’t enough, the motherboard HAD to be disabled once and for all, so that Hezekiah could never do this to any other kid. 

 

The group came up with a plan. 

 

Tia took a deep breath, “do you guys really think this is going to work?”, she asked nervously. 

 

“You want to save Karr, right?” asked Tanveer, equally nervous.

 

“Yeah, we need to save Karr”, said Tia, with a little more confidence.

 

“Let’s do it for Karr”, yelled Natalia.

 

“Let’s do it for Karr!”, repeated Tia and Tanveer, together. 

 

The train came to an abrupt stop. This was it. They were finally at Kennedy Station, one step closer to uncovering the secret lair, disabling the motherboard and saving Karr. 

 

When the train doors opened, the friends carefully exited, looking side to side. They were searching for a hidden gateway that would lead them under the train tracks, to Hezekiah’s lair. Natalia pulled out her night vision goggles to scan the area. 

 

“Aha! There!”, she said, pointing towards a dark gray opening with caution tape.

 

Tia, Natalia and Tanveer looked at each other one last time, knowing that there was turning back for them and who knew how safe this would be. They had no clue what they were walking into. 

 

Natalia reached into her backpack, handing Tia and Tanveer their own flashlights. It was time to get down to business!

They were finally there, inside of Hezekiah’s secret lair, it smelled like corn chips and vinegar mixed with mold and mildew. There was trash everywhere and a tower of empty takeout containers piled in the corner. The place was disgusting! 

 

“How could anyone live here?”, Tanveer whispered to the group, while covering his nose.

 

Then, a loud buzzing noise came from the back room, it was the motherboard. Tia held onto Karr tightly, “don’t worry, Karr, we got this! We’re gonna get you out of there”, she promised. 

 

Tanveer and Natalia hid behind the takeout boxes while Tia tried to get the attention of Old Man Hezzy. She volunteered to be the one to distract Hezzy while Tanveer and Natalia snuck in the back to find the motherboard and unplug it.

 

“Ummm, hi. Excuse me…”, said Tia, awkwardly, walking towards the back room. 

 

“How did you get down here?”, a booming voice screamed from inside of the room. 

 

Old Man Hezzy, furiously stormed out.  He hated having unwanted guests inside of his lair.

 

Tanveer and Natalia tucked in their lips and held extra still, trying their hardest to not make a sound so that they wouldn’t get caught.

 

Old Man Hezzy inched closer and closer to Tia, asking questions and wanting answers.

"How did you find me? Do you know who I am? Who told you I was here? Does anyone know you’re here? Are you alone?"

 

He paced back and forth, gripping his head in his hands. . 

 

“My name is Tia…and uhhh I’m here alone. Nobody knows I’m here, not even my mom”, she assured him. 

 

He relaxed a little.

 

“My friend Karr, he’s stuck in the digipet, and well, I-I miss hanging with him and I just wanted to see if I could… join him”, Tia added.

 

Hezzy looked up, confused, and then a sinister smile emerged on his face. “So you mean to tell me, I get two souls- I mean, kids for the price of one? I’ll just need to grab something from the back, you stay here.” 

 

Hezekiah walked towards the empty takeout containers (where Tanveer and Natalia were hiding), he paused abruptly, sniffed the air twice, and tilted his head sideways glaring back at Tia, “are you sure you came here alone?”

 

Tia stuttered, “Yeah, yeah, of course…”

 

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”, Hezzy probed.

 

“Of course not”, she assured him

 

Hezekiah squinted his eyes and pulled a packet of black pepper from one of the takeout containers. While staring at Tia, he slowly opened the pepper packet and sprinkled it behind the boxes, right onto Tanveer and Natalia. 

 

Tanveer and Natalia tried their best to keep their cool, but they just couldn’t help it, “aaaaaaahhhhhhh-chooooo”. Both Tanveer and Natalia erupted into a sneezing fit from all of that pepper. The boxes collapsed around them and their cover was blown! 

 

“You lied!”, Hezzy sneered. “No no!!! I didn’t lie!! Please don’t hurt us! We just…!”

 

“Today must be my lucky day, 4 children!!!” Hezzy bellowed while interrupting Tia’s wailing. He screamed before erupting into an evil fit of laughter, with his mouth opened wide.

 

Tanveer took quick action, reaching into his bag, he grabbed a chocolate glazed timbit and whipped it right into Hezzy’s mouth. 

 

“Aght-aght, I’m choking”, Hezekiah struggled to say, through his coughing.

 

It was now or never, they had to get to that motherboard and unplug it before it was too late. Tia slid under the table, running towards the back room, Tanveer and Natalia trailed behind. They could see the motherboard, it was huge with tons of buttons, lights, and levers. But they couldn’t find the switch or the plug.

 

“Oh no, he’s coming”, screamed Natalia. 

 

Hezzy grabbed Natalia by her backpack, and wouldn’t let go. She screamed for help!

 

Tanveer panicked, he couldn’t lose Natalia, and that’s when he saw the power cord behind a dusty, beat up bean bag chair, and unplugged it from the wall. The motherboard made a deafening screeching noise.

 

“Oh, noooooooo”, said Hezzy, releasing Natalia from his grip.

 

Sparks began flying everywhere, smoke emerged from under the buttons. Hezekiah began rapidly aging and shrinking before their eyes. 

 

“I’m melting”, he screamed, as his body shriveled up, turning to a pile of dust. 

 

“He’s gone?”, asked Tanveer.

 

“He’s gone”, said Natalia.

 

“But where’s Karr?”, Tia cried.

“Hey guys, where are we? This place is kinda cool!”, laughed Karr, walking in from behind them munching on a handful of yellow popcorn.

 

“Karr! you’re alive!”, yelled Tia, relieved. She ran over, gave him a huge hug and knocked the popcorn from his hand, “don’t eat that!” 

 

“”No but, for real, where are we?”, Karr asked again.

 

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP

 

A loud warning buzzer sounded. It was a countdown, the crew had to get back above ground in under 2 minutes or they’d be stuck here forever. Natalia packed up the gadgets and flashlights in a hurry. 

 

“This way”, yelled Tanveer, pointing towards the exit.

 

The kids ran like their lives depended on it. They passed a tiny hole in the wall and Karr stopped to take a peek.

 

“Karr we gotta go! Come on!”, Tia yelled back at him. Instead of him giving into his curiosity he ran behind Tia towards the exit.

 

Little did the friends know, behind that wall was something so devastating. It was a large room filled with HUNDREDS of motherboards that looked just like Hezekiah’s, and hundreds of fake teenagers, sitting around, burping, sleeping, and tossing popcorn into each other's mouths.

 

“HURRY, we have to move it! We have to get out of here before that door locks”, screamed Natalia. 

 

Their footsteps moved even faster, they were running out of breath, each hopping through the door and landing near the train tracks, above ground. Time began moving again, everything… seemed… normal. Tia, Tanveer, Natalia and Karr stared at each other in disbelief. 

 

“We made it out? We made it out!”, yelled Tanveer. The kids hugged each other and rejoiced!

 

On the train ride back, the group explained everything that had happened to Karr. Turns out, Karr didn’t remember anything about being inside of the digipet. The last thing he remembered doing was playing at the arcade and a teenager, Hezzy, offering them a free toy. 

 

Natalia filled him in on Old Man Hezzy, and that he was this close to stealing Karr’s soul. Karr’s eyes filled with tears, everything his friends were telling him was so scary. He felt lucky to survive, lucky that Tia and his new friends TRULY had his back. 

 

And as for Hezekiah Weaver, his days of stealing children’s souls were over! They defeated the motherboard and they defeated him!

 

The kids were relieved that they disabled Hezzy’s motherboard. Too bad that Hezzy wasn’t the only one. There were hundreds of soul suckers living underground in Toronto. The train ride back was bittersweet. Tia and Karr really appreciated their new friends, Tanveer and Natalia. They enjoyed Toronto and the timbits from Tim Hortons but they couldn’t wait to get back home. 

 

Tia, Tanveer, Karr and Natalia made it back to the convention center and exchanged phone numbers before saying their goodbyes. They looked forward to reuniting one day because they knew that this experience meant that they’d be friends forever.

THE END.

bottom of page