VOICE

Flora couldn't leave the school. She already knew that; every time that she tried the image in front of her eyes would morph into the entrance hall as if she had just entered the building. But what Flora hadn't realised or even though about yet, was the fact that once the final bell rang she would be alone, all night, in the school.

Once he heard the bell chime, Helia left without communicating to anyone; not even Flora. It was up to her more than anyone to talk to him because she was completely invisible to him. He wasn't in denial about her death, but he wasn't going to accept it until he knew for sure that it was true. He knew the girl that he was talking to was Flora, but there could be other, more logical reasons to why he was hearing her, a hallucination perhaps?

Flora stood in front of the large glass school doors and watched Helia walk away with his head hanging low. This would usually be the part where she would run out of the school to catch up with him, give him a big hug and ask him what was wrong. But she couldn't do that know. She'd already tried time and time again to slip past the apparent 'rules' of being a spirit, but there had been no luck. All she wanted to do was disappear completely, it was better than to be stuck here all her life. As she sat down in the middle of the corridor she wondered. Is she stuck here because she wasn't particularly religious? Was it because she believed that there were even more intelligent planets than earth? Even more wonderful realms, which she knew that she could never see. Was it because she believed in magic and not an old man sitting in the sky? Well there was more to faith then that, but now being dead... Was she really stuck in limbo?
Sitting in the same position for hours with nothing to do, she watched the sky change from blue, to pink, to orange, to black, when the light faded away and she was left alone in the dark. After a couple of minutes, the emergency lights flickered on, meaning that there was still someone inside the school. Flora stood up and decided to investigate. She ran up the stairs and checked all the classrooms, check the staffroom and the music room. That's when she saw that there was a bright light on in the music office. The music teacher walked out, and stared blankly at the wall in front of her, without actually seeing it. She walked in Flora's direction. For every small step that the teacher took forward, Flora would take one back. She'd realised that there had been something up with her for a couple of days now; she had been acting like her mind had been wiped clean. Now, the music teacher stared directly into Flora's eyes, who, not being able to take another step back, was pushed up against the wall, trying to flatten herself as much as possible so she could try to be more than an inch away.

"...Can you... See me...?" Flora said quietly. The music teacher lifted up her hand and somehow touched Flora's neck.
"I see..." She struggled to say, "Revenge... But why on me?" Flora pushed her away and ran as fast as she could, back to the entrance hall where she saw Helia.
"HELIA!" She screamed.
"What is it? Flora, that's you, right? What's wrong?"
"What are you doing here?" She asked wearily.
"I realised that you might be alone... So I came to see if you were still here... And you are. Are you okay?"
"It's... It's the music teacher... She's gone mad!"
"Where is she?"
"The last time I saw her was outside the music room," Helia ran back up the stairs and Flora followed, only to see that she was gone, but the light was still on in her office, and they heard her favourite cello solo being played on tape. They walked into the music room, the tape was playing, but the teacher's beloved cello was smashed to pieces on the music room floor. All of the strings were missing and the body was destroyed, but neatly in the same place where the always left it.
"Flora, are you still there?" Helia whispered. Flora was silently walking over to the music office, "Flora, isn't this your phone?" Flora quickly walked back.
"It can't be, my phone's in my pocket." She said. Helia opened it up to reveal the picture of him at maybe his not most attractive moment.
"Yeah, this is your phone." Helia paused, "That's funny, the last call is a call from your number. How's that possible? Do you think that the music teacher found your phone?"

Revenge... But why on me?

Flora remembered what she had said. But why on me? Revenge? How could she take out revenge on someone, when she didn't even know who had killed her. She started back towards the music office and slowly opened the door.

Revenge.

Flora screamed and jumped back. A tile from the ceiling had been removed, so that cello strings could be tied to a pipe. Left hanging with the strings tightly around her neck was the music teacher, the rough metal cutting through her skin by the minute. She was still twitching, but her face remained expressionless. Blood from her neck loudly dripped to the floor.

Revenge... But why on me?

"Oh my God." Helia said as he stared. "She... She was alive and at school today, so she must have died in the past few hours... But you're the only one here... And... I..." Helia sighed and got out his phone to dial 999. "I'm sorry Flora; I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Once the ambulance had left, and the police had taken Helia away, Flora was left to sing herself to sleep.