A/N: Just got back from a weekend visit to the big city (which has made it feel like it's been a week since I last posted), and survived the Two Days of Hell at work (which is doubly hellish since we're both self-employed and can't just quit lol), and I can finally announce that our second child is due in April. Yay! So to celebrate, have another chapter. Sorry it's not really celebratory material, but there you go. ;-) Thanks again to Biskuits who keeps me honest! Warning: the first bit of strong language appears here, so if the F-word offends you, then really, what are you doing on the Internet? ;-) No, seriously, it's only the once, so you should be okay. XD Next chapter probably middle of next week or so. Enjoy! :-) ~Kryss
Chapter 4: Missing
She hadn't really missed Melanie, not consciously. Okay, she had heard her say goodnight the evening before, but didn't even notice if she was getting dressed with the rest of them the next morning. And when she saw Megan and Triffy whispering together at their table, sans Melanie, she just thought she was in the can or something, if she thought about it at all.
She did sort of notice when Janet went to talk to Miriam, because her face was so white and rigid she looked like she might faint. She was vaguely curious when Miriam got up too, her face suddenly just as pale, to follow her out. But she didn't really pay attention until one of the other girls came up to her and told her that Miriam wanted to see her in the administrator's cabin, right away. She saw the girl go to talk to Megan and Triffy as well, but didn't bother to wait for them.
Outside it seemed even colder than yesterday, if that was possible. She held out a hand to the drizzle, half-expecting to see slush. But there were no signs of ice, not even on her sleeve. It was just bitterly cold, and she had only packed for the traditional warm weather. Sighing, she stumped across the muddy yard to the Witches' Hut.
Stopping on the covered porch to stamp muck off her shoes she couldn't help sort of wondering why the kids called it that. Okay, 'the administrator's cabin' was a bit of a mouthful, and it did sort of have more gingerbread-y bits around the roof than the rest of them, but really, the counselors weren't, like, really mean or anything. Just a bit, you know, uptight…
Mrs. McKay, the cook, didn't seem so bad, though, she mused as she passed her coming out of the Hut, a sniffling skinny kid tucked under one large, sheltering arm.
If she had thought that the counselors were uptight before, though, she was almost shocked when she went in. Janet looked positively grim. "Come in, Kirsten, please," Janet said, while Miriam, visible through the doorway to the back office, cranked on what looked like some kind of old radio with grim determination.
"Um, what's up?" Kir asked cautiously, taking the indicated seat in front of Janet's desk. "Is something wrong?"
Janet ignored the question, instead crossing her hands and leaning forward across the desk. "Now, Kirsten," she said, her voice tight, "This is really very important. When was the last time you saw Melanie ali—when was the last time you saw her?"
Kir looked blank for a moment. "Um, at dinner, I guess—no, I'm pretty sure she was there at Lights Out. I fell asleep pretty quickly though. Why? Is something wrong? Is she… missing?"
An icy fist clenched her guts at the expression that crossed Janet's face for just a moment before she regained control. She's scared! Kir thought, almost panicked at the idea. She's scared shitless. Oh my god, I think something's really wrong…
"Fuck!" Miriam's voice held none of Janet's control. "Janet, I can't get it to work right…" She trailed off as she came in and saw Kir.
The awkward pause was suddenly filled as Megan and Triffy came in, Megan with her usual air of superiority, Triffy a timid shadow. "What's wrong?" Megan demanded. "Where's Melanie? What's going on?" She glared at the counselors like they were naughty children. Kir wasn't sure if she should be impressed or scornful.
Janet seemed to have no such indecisions, though. "Sit down, Miss Perry. You too, Miss Andrews. Now. When was the last time either of you saw Miss Donovan?"
Megan withered not a bit under Janet's stare, but glared right back while Triffy squirmed and Kir wished she was someplace else. Finally, though, she grudgingly said, "She came back to the cabin with us last night, and she went to bed. We think she got up to go out to the can or something at some point, but that's it. In the morning she wasn't there. Now, what's happened? Where is she?"
Janet ignored the question as thoroughly as she had when Kir had asked it. Instead, she simply turned to Triffy. "Is that accurate, Tiffany?"
Triffy looked profoundly uncomfortable. "Yeah, I guess…"
Janet gave her a long look. "Fine, then. Miss Perry, you may go. No, sit down, please, Tiffany—you too, Kirsten. Thank you, Miss Perry."
She waited until Megan had closed the door behind her, cutting off the warning look she was giving Triffy, before turning back to them and giving them a tight little smile. "Now, girls, I want to know what really happened. All of it, please."
"Well, um…" Triffy fidgeted with a lock of hair. "There really isn't anything else much…"
Janet sighed in frustration. "Tiffany, dear, this is serious. This isn't simply a matter of someone breaking Lights Out, and I promise you that you won't get Miss Donovan in any more trouble than she already is."
From the office behind, Kir heard what sounded suspiciously like a moment of smothered hysterical laughter. Janet, if she heard anything, ignored it.
"Um, I think someone went out last night, but I don't know who or when," she timidly volunteered. "I just sort of remember a cold draft and the sound of the latch. Um. I was pretty asleep."
Janet turned to Triffy with a Well? look on her face. "Um, yeah, she went out," Triffy confirmed nervously.
"To use the bathroom?"
"Um…"
"Tiffany…"
Triffy ducked her head and mumbled, "She said she heard some guy singing. She went out to have a look. That's all I know."
Janet looked faintly surprised. "'Some guy singing'? Who?"
"I dunno. Just some guy. She said it was, like, really pretty, but we couldn't hear anything. We told her it was just a dream, but she wouldn't go back to sleep. Megan—Megan figured that she'd just get cold and come back in." Triffy's voice got even quieter. "Is she—is she okay? I mean, whatever's happened to her… Is Megan gonna get kicked out?"
Janet sighed and looked really tired. "Triffy, dear, whatever's happened to Melanie isn't anyone else's fault but—It isn't Megan's fault, I can assure you. Although," and she fixed them both with a pointed look, "I don't want anyone else breaking Lights Out, and if anyone else goes wandering out in the middle of the night, I want to know immediately. Is that clear?"
Kir and Triffy both nodded, looking at each other guiltily. Is it my fault? Kir wondered. Whatever's happening, did it happen because I didn't go and tell Miriam or anyone about them after all? Triffy looked like she was having similar thoughts.
Janet smiled, tired but not unkind. "I'm sure that nothing either of you may have said or done had anything to do with anything. Go on back to your friends, now; I'm sure we'll get all this sorted out in no time."
Kir got up and followed Triffy to the door. As she closed it behind her, she heard Miriam's voice, faint but distinct, despairing in the background, "…I can't get it to work..!"
The Rationalists swarmed around Kir practically as soon as she got in the hall door. "Come with us," Su whispered. "We gotta check something out."
"What is it?" Kir asked, but Randy hissed, "Not here! Come on!" and dragged her outside again.
They stayed quiet, heading in a group towards the toilets, until, once they were out of sight of the hall, Su said, "Come on!" and led the way in a jog to the trail to the fire pit.
"What's up?" Kir panted, following.
"We were hoping you could tell us," Sarah replied, her pace easy, her eyes worried. "Poor Angelina's still in hysterics in her cabin. You can hear her all the way from the cans…"
"What? Wait, Angelina?"
"Yeah, the skinny little kid, blonde hair, you know? Sings a decent soprano?"
"Okay, whatever; what's happened?"
"We don't know," Su said, finally slowing down to a walk, "But we have a nasty suspicion."
"A very nasty suspicion," confirmed Randy soberly.
"What did they want to talk to you about? What's happened? Did they say?"
"No, they wouldn't tell me anything, not even when I asked. They just wanted to know when we saw her last."
"And that was...?" asked Su.
"Last night sometime. I guess she got out of bed and went out, and that's the last anyone saw of her."
"Until now…" breathed Randy. Sarah looked pale and hurried off to bend over the side of the path, leaning heavily on a nearby tree. Kir felt queasy herself.
Sure enough, as Randy had said, a little ways away from the path there was some kind of giant old tree. Dead leaves matted the bare ground beneath the spreading branches. Kir had wondered, for a moment, why there were sneakers hanging from the branches. Then she looked a little higher.
Melanie's pale pajamas blended in nicely with the silvery tree, she noticed in a detached sort of way. It was the pink of her shoes that stood out. Of course, it helped that they were at eye level…
"What are you doing here?" The sudden angry voice from behind made Kir scream, she couldn't help it. She was pretty sure the rest had screamed too; she was just glad she'd somehow avoided wetting herself. It's okay, it's Miriam… She still couldn't stop shaking, somehow.
The Rationalists huddled together, soaked and scared under the counselor's furious glare. "Why didn't you stay—oh, never mind." She looked in despair at the sad bundle turning gently in the wind. "Look, just—just go back to the hall, okay, guys? And please, don't say anything to anyone. We're going to make some sort of an announcement soon, don't worry. We just…" She raised her hands, then dropped them in a gesture of defeat. "We're just trying to figure out what to say…"
She stood there, silent, until Su recovered enough to quietly say, "Come on, guys," and prod them gently back up the trail.
The drizzle on the tin roof was almost comforting, Kir thought, as she listened to Janet address the girls from the little dais. It somehow added to the air of unrealism; it made it easier to believe that she was going to wake up any minute. The way the counselor's babble about the uselessness of suicide and about 'the grieving process' was putting her to sleep was helping that along quite nicely.
The Rationalists huddled together at the back of the hall, a little ways away from the other girls. Kir particularly wanted to avoid Megan and Triffy, who were quietly crying together in the front row. She didn't quite know what to say to them. They had lost a friend; she had lost someone who annoyed her. She wasn't quite sure what she felt about it.
"I don't know, guys," Randy whispered, looking nervous. "This isn't right."
"Look, it's always a tragedy when someone so young dies, right?" Su whispered back. "Well, almost always… Yeah, I guess it probably is…"
"Come on," Randy hissed. "Didn't you notice the way the knot was sort of pushing her head over to the side? And what about all the broken capillaries all over her face, and the lividity? Her neck totally wasn't broken; she strangled to death."
"Well, fine, so she hung herself and got strangled. And who the hell uses words like 'lividity', anyways?" Su whispered back.
"No, don't you see? The knot was pushing her head to the side. If she had jumped with the rope around her neck like that, her neck would have snapped and she'd've died instantly. But her neck didn't snap. She was strangled. She died of asphyxiation."
"So she climbed up on a stump and pushed it over with her feet, then!" Su's whisper was hoarse with irritation. "Just because her neck didn't break doesn't mean anything!"
"No? What stump, Su? Did you look? I did. There was nothing around she could have climbed up on and pushed over. The only way she could have ended up hanging there under her own power is if she climbed up to the branch she was hanging from and jumped. There weren't any lower branches."
"Come to think of it, if there weren't any lower branches, then how would she have climbed up?" whispered Kir, with a sinking feeling.
"Right! And even if she somehow had, her neck would still have snapped. What I wouldn't give to take a look at the top of that branch. I bet you anything there's rope burns on it…"
"Rope burns?"
"The only way someone would have been able to hoist her up so high easily would have been to toss the end of the rope over the branch, put it around her neck, and pull her up. She can't have weighed more than one-twenty; even dead, it wouldn't have been that hard to do."
"What do you mean, Randy?" Su hissed.
Randy's face was white. "I mean there's no way it could have been suicide, no matter what Janet says. Guys, she was murdered."
A/N: Dun dun DUNN! *grins wickedly and rubs hands together evilly* Well, really, did you really think that summoning the Phantom of the Opera would end well? XD he's a man, er, Ghost, who likes his privacy, he does. ;-) See you next week! ~Kryss