FIRST PLACE
The look of dread in the eyes of children that ranked first place in tests was something that baffled Y, especially when it came to those who were ranked first place in more than one test. The way they would kick up a fight and beg to be graded down utterly baffled her until she heard the unpleasant rumour that if you ranked 1st place anywhere for a prolonged period of time, or ranked 1st in more than one place, you would wake up covered in scratches and bruises.
She thought it a terribly cruel thing for children to say to each other and immediately scolded anyone that whispered about such rumours at the dinner table, keeping a special eye out for first rankers lest they be attacked when she was out of their view.
And so, it went that she wandered the corridors at night with her torch in hand, barefoot and dressed in night gown with the solitude of the halls being her only company. She would never dare to acknowledge the shadows that stretched out like jagged knives just beyond the torch light, beckoning for her to turn it off and step into their darkness.
She had been tempted once and she was still frightfully shaken by the visage that had appeared before her with its rotten eyes and rotten mouth, the haunted image of A and his crooked neck lurking in the crevices of her mind like a mould that had festered across her skull.
She was treading down a familiar path when she heard screaming loud and clear and for a second, she thought it was A returning from his resting spot in the East Wing to howl at her once more. When no such image came running at her, she soon realised that the scream was too high-pitched and belonged to one of the children and immediately began to search for the source of the screaming.
It was the first ranker in mathematics that week, and the lights were flicked on, the child howling and screaming like there was no tomorrow, and perhaps for him there was no tomorrow. Y immediately set her torch down and knelt down before the child, wrapping her arms around his tiny body as he wept miserably into her embrace.
He wept and wept until his tears became sobs and his sobs turned into hiccups.
"Now why don't you tell me what this is all about?" She thought that perhaps it was a nightmare, as it so often was with children, but instead he showed her his arms and she was stunned by what she saw.
They were entirely covered in scratches, some drawing blood, and the longer she stared the more scratches she saw, layer after layer of scratches just built on top of each other.
"What in the… who did this to you Thomas?"
"N-no-nobody." He stammered out and she was certain that he was covering for the bullies. However, as a new scratch began to draw itself along the arm she began to have her doubts as to whether there was a natural cause for the scratches.
"Come along then, lets get these treated before there's an infection."
She cooled the scratches and cleaned up any blood, patching up the deeper scratches before walking Thomas back to bed. She stayed outside his room for some time, making sure nobody snuck in to cause him trouble, before walking away.
The following week, Amanda was the next top-ranking student in maths and in English and Y followed her like a hound, keeping her secure and, sure she was not attacked, she stood outside her door like a guard the following night.
As was the case with Thomas, once three o'clock struck Amanda began to scream. When Y finally silenced her, she could see the scratches clear as day all over her arms in a criss-crossing manner, stretched up to her elbows. With the culprit nowhere in sight, Y could only clean up the injuries and send Amanda to bed.
It did not stop her from considering the exorcist however.