Where's My Dolly?

Emm so here's a new chapter, so, read on!

Chapter 8: Revelations

"Morning Leaf." May greeted as she entered homeroom by herself this morning.

Leaf was already there with her chemistry textbook out and opened in front of her. She looked awfully studious for a change, a look that surprised everyone. "Morning May." Leaf smiled but her smile did not last long. Not seeing Dawn with her made things look even more out of place than usual. "Where's Dawn?"

"I don't know. Her mum phoned my mum last night asking if I know where she is." May replied.

Leaf diverted her attention fully from her book to May, not that it captivated her that much to begin with. "Maybe she did an all-nighter at school?" Leaf tried to cheer May up. May and Dawn had been best friends since they were born.

May forced a smile. "Maybe," May said, "I feel like checking the art department to see if she's there."

Leaf agreed. "But not during first period though." she said, "Mr Blaine will give as all the homework in the world if we're late for that maths test." May nodded in agreement.

When the girls got to the math department, a weird stench flooded Leaf's nose. The smell was familiar to her. She was not sure if it was her who smelt it but if it was not, everyone else must have a pretty pathetic sense of smell.

"Good luck, Leaf." May said as she went into the classroom, Leaf followed her in and sat down before wishing May luck too.

Xx-x-xX

Leaf sat in class, bored. She finished her test quicker than everyone else like usual but still, the pace was slow for her. Even though the room door was shut, Leaf could swear she could still smell whatever it was she smelt.

When everyone had finally finished the test and the papers were taken in, she turned round to look at May. "Do you smell that?" she asked her.

May sniffed the air. "Yeah, a bit." She pulled a disgusted face as she spoke. "How hard was that test!" May asked.

"It was slightly harder than the usual maths tests but it was still quite easy." Leaf replied. Maths was one of Leaf's forte.

"I hate talking to you after a test." May said and then changing the subject. "Shall we go to along to the art department to see if Dawn's there?" Leaf nodded.

They left the class room as soon as the doors opened to avoid being stopped by their fellow classmates for some idle chit chat. The art department was just up from the maths department so it took them only seconds to get there.

The closer they got to the art department, the stronger the smell became, Leaf noted as she speed walked with May. The department was pretty quiet. Only a few students lingered about at the cluttered desks in the classrooms. They peered inside the room with Dawn's display. Leaf pointed at Dawn's bag on the floor, making May feel more at ease knowing that Dawn was indeed at school. Satisfied by what she saw, May left to go to her graphics communication class while Leaf took the back stairs in the art department up to science, where she was going to have to sit alone, again.

Xx-x-xX

Leaf wondered through the school's library with a small slip of paper in her hand. It lunch time and she was spending it in the library, trying to find the book that was on the bit of crumpled paper that she had found in Gary's room the night before. Leaf had spent a good twenty minutes looking for all the books about spectroscopy in the library. She sat down by one of the tables and skimmed through it.

Just when Leaf was starting to get into her reading, a bottle was placed in front of her. She looked at it then up to the person who placed it in front of her. It was Drew. Not what she was hoping to see and not who she was expecting to see either. He sat down at the seat across from Leaf and took the next book from the stack she had to her left. He looked at the title of the book and set it down in front of him.

"It's lunchtime and you're in the library reading about chemistry." Drew stated which surprised Leaf. He usually only ever spoke to her when Gary or May were around. "Only Conway does that." What he said was true and everyone knows that.

"Sure," Leaf said. "For my chemistry project." She lied flawlessly. "And you're here because…" Leaf railed off.

Drew nodded, "I think you're going about things at the wrong place."

"What do you mean?" Leaf inquired, curious as to what made him say that.

"I'm sure you're even more aware about the Oak's library than I am." Drew simply stated as he flicked his hair. Leaf hated how cryptic he was being. It reminded her of Gary too much.

Leaf was about to speak when the library door swung open, revealing May. When she approached the table, she ignored Drew's presence and spoke only to Leaf. "I was going to go to art to see Leaf. Want to come with?" She asked.

Leaf looked over at Drew who was looking away from May. "Sure. Fancy joining Drew?"

Xx-x-xX

The art department was not like usual. Instead being hectic and crowded with several art students, it was silent and deserted, not even a teacher was insight. The stench had gotten worse since the morning. May Leaf and Drew went into the class where Dawn's stuff was but the whereabouts of the girl herself was unknown. Her bag looked like it had been untouched since they last saw it.

"What is that horrible odour?" Drew complained. The smell made him feel slightly nauseous. He went to the back of the classroom and cracked open a window, though that made little difference.

"Not sure." May replied as she pulled out a seat and sat on it. "I wonder where Dawn went." She pondered as she looked at the semi-dried painting on the desk.

Leaf inspected Dawn's doll display. Three of the dolls were sitting in an upright position with perfectly polished china. The teacups were sitting slightly to the right of each doll's plate. The fourth doll- Leaf's doll- was clearly sitting out of place. Well, if the way it was resting counted as sitting. The doll was lying alongside one of the dolls and its teacup was upside down. The plate was however, nowhere to be seen.

When Leaf snapped out of her thoughts, her ears were met with May and Drew's insults which were flying out of their mouths and at each other like usual. But all insults came to an abrupt end when the teacher came into the class.

"Can help you three?" She asked, she did not look like she enjoyed being here. A change from the look that the art teachers always wore, probably because of the smell.

"Actually miss, we were wondering where Dawn is." May admitted. Her tone changed from aggressive to pleasant in a split second.

The teacher looked at May strangely. And what she said next made May's face drop. "Dawn hasn't shown up to school all day."

May looked at Leaf and at Drew and then back to the teacher. "But her bag." May pointed at Dawn's belongings.

"She never took them with her yesterday."

Leaf thought about the new revelation. Dawn was gone, her stuff was still here and there was an awful stench around the place. It reminded Leaf about what happened about a week ago with her parents. She tried to remember what Professor Oak said to her that day at the hospital when he found her parents. And that's when it dawned on her.

Leaf walked briskly past the teacher, with a look of uncertainty. She followed her instinct towards the supply closet and put her hand on the handle. She took a deep breath before she opened the door. Behind it was exactly what she thought; what she did not want to see.

Xx-x-xX

Leaf sat at a little room in the police station again, for the second time within a week. The police take yet another statement from Leaf. But were the police suspicious about her links to the recent murders? Maybe but Leaf did not care. One of her closest friends had just been found dead. All she did care about was May at this moment in time.

When Leaf was discharged from the room, she was escorted out and to the main waiting area where she saw something she did not see coming: Drew with an arm round May, who was upset. He was comforting May, who was trying desperately not to look like an absolute train wreck, in front of Drew of all people.

Leaf quickly made the decision to leave them be and turned to the vending machine which was in the middle of making the day of two busy policemen; the two she listened in on last time she was here.

"The brown haired kid is good." Said the guy who held a cup of plastic coffee in his hands. All Leaf could think was what brown haired kid? Herself? She did not recall supplying the police with any information that could be proved or disproved. She continued to listen in.

"You don't suppose that boy has something to do with it do you?" his co-worker asked.

It's a he! Definitely not me! Leaf continued to listen. She had was starting to form a picture of this person. Keep talking! Leaf mentally urged.

"I think that guy knows more than meets the eye. I mean, when he was here three days ago he seemed to know nothing and when he contacted us yesterday he seemed pretty positive that he would be right." The first guy pointed out.

He was here three days ago? Leaf started to put an identity to his name. Gary? It must be him! Leaf concluded as the two policemen finished their drinks and threw away the disposable cups in the bin beside them and left to go back to whatever it is they were meant to be doing. Leaf mentally scolded the policemen for not slacking off longer but at least she found something out what mattered to her the most by far: Gary is safe.

Xx-x-xX

After being held at the police station for what seemed like a lifetime, they were finally sent away, by the police. The professor came to pick Leaf up from the police station. The car journey back to his house was not quite like you would expect when in a car with your best friend's grandparent (if one ever found themselves in such a situation). Leaf had always thought of the professor as her own grandparent (seeing she has none) so talking to him had always been easy for her.

"Can I ask you something?" Leaf asked expressionlessly. The professor detected the seriousness in her voice and nodded his consent. "Have you heard from Gary?"

The professor thought it was a weird question. "No." he answered, "Have you?" he asked in return.

Leaf shook her head. "No but he contacted Drew on Sunday. He went to see his aunt Ivy."

"Ivy?" The professor repeated, puzzled about what he has just been told. "Why, Gary hates her."

"I thought it was weird too." Leaf said. She became quiet for a while after saying that. The professor did not say anything either. Leaf thought about what Drew said to her today. Was she looking in the wrong place? She was not sure but she was going to find out.

Xx-x-xX

When they made it back to the Oak household, the professor offered Leaf some to, which she declined politely, and then disappeared to his lab. He mumbled something about phoning Ivy on his way down. Leaf took his disappearance as an opportunity to think about what happened today. It was then that realisation finally hit Leaf: one of her utmost closest friend died from an incision across her neck.

Leaf felt herself start to cry. Where was a shoulder to cry on when she needed one? Last time when something happened to her parents, she had Gary's shoulder. When the thought of Gary returned, Leaf pulled herself together and wiped away the tear that was trickling down her cheek. Unzipping her bag, she pulled out the slip of paper from today and read it again. Principals of Spectroscopy. It finally dawned on her. It is not a section of chemistry but a title of a book.

A book in the Oak's library like Drew suggested.

Xx-x-xX

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Much love, silver-hedgehog xx