The light blinded my eyes.
"Seriously, just give it up already," Cole sighed.
I was still sitting in the dark room. This was the first time someone other than the student council was inside the teacher's lounge, and I was scared out of my mind.
"We know that you started the fire. Admit it and we'll go easy on you." Meaghan snickered, stepping backward to bump Ashley as she walked past. Ashley hissed at her and clawed her back. "OW!" Meaghan turned and pushed Ashley to the floor, where they continued fighting.
"Ignore them," Adam said as he pushed his glasses. "Now look-" he leaned forward, his hands fists on the table, "-we all know you started the fire. The evidence is overwhelming, so why do you persist in resisting us? What good will it do?"
"Because…" My voice trialed off. I could tell them who actually started the fire, but I couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to submit anyone else to their interrogation, no matter what they'd done.
Adam broke into a hysterical laugh, "Because what!? You literally have nothing to defend yourself. Not a single alibi. What do you expect us to think, that we started the fire?"
"...it was always burning since…"
"Knock it off, Cole!" shouted Adam as he furiously slammed his hands on the table. He then spun around and stared at Ashley and Meaghan, who were still fighting. "You two, too! Stop making fools of me-US!" They both stopped and stood up. Meaghan's face was covered in scratches and Ashley's was covered with bruises. Adam sighed. "Go to the nurse, all of you. NOW!"
They ran out of the room and slammed the door shut behind them. Adam and I sat there in the darkness, in the silence. He grabbed a chair then sat down with his legs crossed. A small smirk grew on his face, "You know, we have our ways to learn certain...things from people," He began to chuckle, "You wouldn't want me to try them out, would you?"
"There's...there's," my hands were trembling, "There's nothing you can do within legal bounds that would make me confess to something I didn't do!" After that sudden outburst of courage, I stormed out of the room and ran into the closest woman's restroom. I locked myself in a stall and took a deep breath. My heart rate slowed as I went over the events of the last hour. I wouldn't let Adam do this to me. I wouldn't submit myself to punishment for things I didn't do. The totalitarian regime of the student government was getting a little old in my opinion.
I tried to calm down, and remain focused on the rest of the day. I looked around at the dirty beige stall, trying not to breathe too deeply because of the smell. Strangely, there was an odd scribble on the stall that read:
"Bitchin' Potty. 10/10 Definitely would give birth here"
I felt calmer after reading that, and even smiled a little. When I heard the bell ring I quickly left the bathroom.
Making my way down the hall with faces passing while I walked fast being class-bound, I could feel a strange presence behind me. I abruptly stopped in the hall. Standing there, breathing in and out, I slowly turned my head around to find the hallway completely empty. "That's weird," I mumbled to myself, "This hallway was just full," I faced forward, only to find it empty as well. "That's...what?"
"Heh, heh, heh," I heard a low maniacal laugh come from the end of the hall way.
"W-who's there?" I whispered to the empty hall. There was no reply.
"Heh, heh, heh..."
I started walking quickly down the hall, but the laughing only grew louder. "Heh, heh, HEH,"
Panting, panicking, pacing, "Please, someone! Anyone!" I started all-out running down the hall, but it stretched longer and longer. I stopped and turned to the side, looking in a classroom window. But there was no one there...it was completely empty.
"HEH! HEH! HEH!" I could tell it was just behind me. My heart was pounding in my chest. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see its reflection in the window. Then, I heard two footsteps, they were faint, yet rang loud in the emptiness.
I felt a hand seize my shoulder and I quickly turned around screaming, "NO!" Xander jumped back in surprise. His face struck with worry...but something felt off.
"Wow, are you okay?" He asked. I was frozen. Behind him, people were staring at me-people that weren't there a moment ago. I looked behind me into the classroom and a teacher stood at the window, with a confused look on her face. Her class was full as well. "Come on," he said, "Let's get you to class."
As we walked down the hall 'together', I kept two paces back, thinking about the strange event that had just taken place. I looked at Xander's back, the followed a wrinkled in his shirt to his empty shoulder. Shouldn't Dennis be there?
"Where's Dennis?" I asked, worried about the little wombat.
"Oh, uhh…" he paused, "he's somewhere," He laughed it off. "Let's just forget about him," I wondered if something happened between them. We continued down the hall until I reached my next class. Coincidently, Xander shared this class with me.
"Aren't you going in?" I asked as he held the door for me.
"Oh, well. I was actually going to the bathroom first. You go on in,"
"Oh, okay." I walked in the class. He let the door close behind me and walked off. I made way to my seat and sat down. I tried to collect my thoughts, but a certain furry creature caught my attention.
"Are you a maso-chist…or a sad-ist?" Dennis whispered into my ear.
"What?" I asked, not sure what he was getting at. My head was still spinning from the events in the hallway. Dennis started laughing and hopped onto my desk.
"Never mind, I got what I wanted," He said, doing a little dance.
"Dennis," An accented voice behind me said, "Stop," I turned to see Xander sitting behind me...wearing a new shirt.
"Oh, is that why you went to the bathroom?" I asked pulling on his shirt sleeve.
"I did what, mate?" He asked, tilting his head sideways slightly. "I've been here the whole time,"
"But…" I stopped myself. Too many weird things happened today, or it may be that I'm going crazy. It certainly seemed that way sometimes. I put my hand to my face, "Never mind," I said, shaking my head, "Never...mind,"
"Are you alright there," Xander asked putting his hand on my shoulder. I stared into his shimmering blue eyes. I turned away, not wanting him to see my blush. He's always making me feel weird like that. It's must be some Australian thing, "Mate?"
I took a deep breath, "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."
Dennis hopped on my head. "Fine indeed," he said, burrowing his way in my hair. As I felt his head rest against me, Xander reached over and picked him up. "LET GO OF ME YOU INFERIOR HUMAN! I AM THE WOMBAT, THAT'S WHAT I AM!"
Xander started laughing, "What are you saying?" I was glad that things were starting to return to normal. The bell rang and the teacher came in. They started writing something on the whiteboard and I started copying it down.
I stood up and handed in my notes, but my teacher stared at me utterly confused. "What are you doing?" she asked, setting the marker down.
I stared at her then...then...it went all black.
I woke up in the nurse's office. I looked at the clock and realized that school was over. In fact, it had ended two hours ago. I turned on the fluffy pillow and saw Xander with Dennis on his shoulder, Anne, and Tanya standing at the foot of my bed. I sat up and rested my back against the pillow. "What happened?" I asked, not sure if they heard me.
"They still don't know," Xander said, "But the symptoms would suggest a panic attack of some sort,"
"Symptoms?"
"Well," He went on, "You were screaming and running up and down the hallways,"
"Emotionally unstable," Dennis added.
Xander looked to the side, as if he were afraid to admit it. "That's one of them. Anyway," he took a deep breath, "Why did this happen?"
How should I know that? I scoffed internally. We don't even know that a panic attack actually happened. I was still mulling over the idea of me having a panic attack. They were all treating me like I was a fragile insane person. But, I didn't think I was insane. I saw it all. It seemed so real. But, maybe that's a sign I actually am going crazy
"I don't…" then it hit me. "It all seemed so real, " I said, though not fully sure that was the case, "I don't think it was a panic attack."
"It all points to that," Xander said, choosing his words carefully. His tone made it sound like he thought I could break at any moment, "Did something happen to stress you out?"
"I mean…" I trailed off, thinking of all the things that had happened in the past week.
Reluctantly, someone cleared their throat, "Um, it may have been me," Adam stood up from the back of the room. Apparently he had been sitting there the whole time.
"Yeah. You kept saying you had things to make me talk," I said, " I can't pretend that didn't stress me out."
"I was talking about waterboarding. Nothing too bad, though," he responded, sounding slightly annoyed at my naivety.
"Adam," I heard a voice that sounded like Cole's say, "You're not supposed to admit that!"
"Shut up! I'll say what I want," Adam sighed then looked at me, "I came here, to apologize once more. It seems that there were some facts that we did overlook to arrive at the conclusion of your guilt. So...sorry."
He seemed genuinely disappointed in his own investigation skills, and I could tell he also felt bad about how he treated me.
"It's okay," I said, it's hard not to forgive someone so humbled.
"I don't care," he snapped back, "It's just formality."
I was somewhat surprised by his sudden mood swing, but it was one of those things that had happened in the past, so I brushed it off.
"You know," Said Tanya with a blank face, "There may be...other possibilities," Her voice sounded adnormal. She was the normally jolly Tanya, but at the same time a more serious tone was in her voice.
"Yes," Anne's face went blank too. And now both their eyes seemed to glow a faint, light yellow color. "Eight will miss the light,"
"One, blessed with sight," Tanya continued.
"One seeking darkness,"
"One who knows only giants,"
"One at the creator's side,"
"One a fry,"
"One a liar,"
"And one whom love hates,"
At the same time, they closed then opened their eyes, looked at each other, than at me, and sighed. Xander and I shot each other worried glances, but Xander had a hint of sadness in his eyes.
"Oh no," he said. "I don't know what any of that meant, but it can't be good,"
"What what meant?" Anne and Tanya asked simultaneously. Them doing that-speaking in unison-had become more frequent. And it wasn't any less creepy than the first time it happened.
"What you just said," Dennis angrily said, "F*cking idiots," he mumbled.
"Excuse me!?" exclaimed Tanya.
"Okay, well. We don't know what we just said," added Anne, ignoring Dennis.
"And that's why you're friggin' idiots," He replied with a sigh. Tanya glared at him.
Suddenly, the lights went out. I heard Anne mutter something then tumble to the floor. Someone screamed, and the lights came back on. Tanya was missing. Adam and Cole violently stood from their chairs. They looked from side to side and the said, "Who touched the light switch!?" We all shook our heads.
"Hmpf," Adam stomped to the door and put his hand on the door handle. He pulled down on the handle with all his force then flung the door open. He walked into the hall and shouted, "Hey! Who did that!" he walked further down the hall, "Hey!"
The lights went out again. Complete darkness. I heard footsteps walk slowly to the door and in the room. They paused, but only for a second. Had I heard the sound of a faucet dripping? Then, I felt something fall onto the bed with a 'plop'. That was not a normal sound. I couldn't describe what the object sounded like when it hit the fabric of the nurse's bed. But it definitely was not normal. Finally, the footsteps left the room and slowly faded away to nothing. The lights returned. As my vision returned, I found the object that must have made the sound. My heart stopped as I stared down at the round object now on the bed, completely mortified. My fingers trembled and I could feel my lunch slowly move back up its throat. Everyone was silent.
Adam returned, saying, "There was no one down there. Must be something wrong with the generator-" we heard him walk in a bit more, then stop dead in the doorway. He too must have caught sight of the object.
"Jeez," Anne said as she rose from the floor. "What happened?" No one answered her. We were all staring, completely frozen, at the object sitting before me on the bed. Anne frowned and followed our gazes. She let out a small sound and froze.
"OH MY GOD!" she screamed, "TANYA!" Her hands were in her hair as she shook uncontrollably, "NO!" She too had caught sight of the round object. Resting on the sheets was Tanya's severed head, her eyes still wide as the last light of consciousness flickered away.