"Jinkies!" Velma exclaimed. "What do we do?"
"Like, I don't know." Norville felt like he was about to crawl out of his own skin. Not only did the sight of death make him incredibly uncomfortable, but this pretty much confirmed his worst fear. There was a murderer in the school. If his thoughts that it was Red were correct, it would likely mean he would be next.
"I think there's only one thing to do: we need to find Headmistress Quinlan." Fred replied, as he checked the watch on his left wrist. "It's still a few minutes before 5, so she should still be in the building."
As if on cue, Headmistress Quinlan opened the door to the stairwell adjacent from the elevator. "What's going on here, kids?"
"Another student's been…" the redhead, whom Norville believed was named Daphne, blurted. However, before she could finish, she was cut off by Headmistress Quinlan.
"Oh god." Headmistress Quinlan gasped. "Not another one. Is he still alive?"
Fred looked a bit nervous as he did it, but he reached down to touch the dead kid's wrist. Upon feeling his pulse in a few different places, Fred shook his head in horror.
"Kids, step back. I need to get to a phone so I can call the police." Headmistress Quinlan said, as the kids graciously stepped aside to let her through. "I'm afraid I'm going to need to ask you to get back into the dining hall."
Norville and his comrades, as well as the redhead and the other two girls, all began to shuffle back into the dining hall at the Headmistress's demand, and to their surprise, she followed them in. It appeared somebody had already taken the table that Norville, Velma and Fred were sitting at in their absence, so they simply stood as Headmistress Quinlan shut the doors to the dining hall and stood in front of the eating students.
"Attention, everyone! There is a situation by the elevators that will need to be taken care of, so we are currently in lockdown. Please do not leave this room until I've informed you that the situation is resolved." Headmistress Quinlan announced. "Can you six make sure that nobody leaves while I take care of things?"
Norville didn't really feel he was at liberty to say no, so he said "Like, okay."
"So I guess we're supposed to stand in front of the doors so nobody leaves?" Fred shrugged.
"Like, what if the killer comes looking for us in here, though?" Norville yelped in a panicked frenzy.
"Well, if they do, it'll be them against dozens of students." Fred bravely defended. While his optimism and courage was appreciated, Norville couldn't say that he felt the same way. He felt absolutely terrified. This felt like a nightmare scenario for him, and he had no idea what to do or how to handle this.
Despite Norville's worries that he couldn't control the other students, they all stayed in place, looking frightened.
A girl sitting at the table near Norville attempted to get his attention. She had a red streak through her otherwise black hair.
"Umm, excuse me. My name is Thorn, and I was just wondering what's going on?" she asked.
Norville was too nervous to know where to even begin to start. With a gulp, he asked "Like, you want to take this one, Velma?"
"Not particularly." Velma sneered, avoiding eye contact with the black-haired girl.
"There was another accident out in the hall." Fred jumped in. "Headmistress Quinlan thought the kid might be hurt, so she wants us all to stay here while she calls somebody to help."
"Oh god. What if there's a murderer in the school?" Thorn gasped.
"Shhh!" Norville whispered. "Like, we're trying not to get anyone panicked. I'm already freaked out enough for all of us!"
"You must have seen it too, Velma?" Thorn asked.
"Yep." Velma curtly responded.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Fred said in surprise.
"Yeah, of course we do. She's my roommate." Thorn said nonchalantly.
Norville was quite surprised to hear the black-haired girl's revelation. "Velma, like, this is the horrible roommate you were telling us about? She seems so polite!"
"Horrible?" Thorn gasped, her face falling into a shocked and anguished state. "What exactly are you telling people about me?"
Velma's face was bright red. It was clear to Norville she was embarrassed about saying this, but he wasn't quite sure yet if it was because she didn't like being caught badmouthing her roommate, or if there was something she was overexaggerating.
"Look, I'm sorry." Velma apologized. "You just seem kind of…standoffish…is all. We never do anything together, and you always want to be on your own. Everybody else seems to have connected with their roommates, but you just go down to meals and walk to class alone without me."
Thorn scoffed, seeming a bit offended. "You don't even know me! You accuse me of being standoffish, but you've been that way from the beginning! You've kept to yourself ever since the first day. I actually wanted a roommate who I could befriend, since I don't really know anybody at this new school. I had come to terms with the fact that maybe you were just the type of person who didn't want to have much of a relationship with their roommate, and I'm fine with that. But what I'm not fine with is you going around telling everyone I'm a bad roommate for not hanging out with you all the time, when you're the one acting like you can barely tolerate my presence!"
Velma looked even more flabbergasted at this point. She looked dumbfounded on how to respond to Thorn's comments, which confirmed for Norville that Velma was the one in the wrong here.
"I'm…I'm sorry." Velma stammered. "I guess…I was just so afraid to live with a roommate that I didn't give you a chance, and I'm sorry for that. I've heard horror stories of roommates blaring loud music and making life a living hell for those living with them, and I guess I didn't want that."
"You can't make assumptions like that without giving the person a chance. And you sure as hell can't go around school badmouthing me when we've talked to each other like twice in our entire time here!" Thorn snapped.
"You're right…it's just…I struggle with social interactions. I've…this is hard to admit…but I didn't really have too many friends at my old school." Velma admitted. "I guess it's probably stifled my social skills as a result. I'm sorry. It was out of line to complain about you to Norville and Fred, but I promise, they were the only ones I said anything to. I was just blowing off steam from the stress of the transition, and I said something I shouldn't have."
"Thank you. I appreciate your apology." Thorn said with a slight smile.
Before the conversation could continue, Headmistress Quinlan came back into the dining hall.
"Alright everyone, everything is settled and the situation is resolved. I'm so sorry for the continued issues, but let's hope this is the last of them." Headmistress Quinlan said, as she headed back towards the hallway.
"That was…anticlimactic." Velma pointed out.
"Like, yeah. I guess she didn't want to worry kids by saying another student died." Norville shrugged.
"Maybe it's just me, but I'm wondering if Headmistress Quinlan is hiding something." Velma replied suspiciously.
"I was wondering that too." Fred agreed. "Even if she wanted to keep it quiet, you'd think she'd elaborate at least a little more. 'Everything is settled' is not exactly a comforting conclusion to a murder."
"She headed back up towards the elevator. Should we follow her?" Thorn inquired.
"I think we should." Velma agreed. "Do you want to come along, Thorn?"
"I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep well tonight if there's a murderer in the building, so yes." Thorn said, immediately followed by a light nervous chuckle.
"Like, I hope they removed the b-b-body." Norville gulped.
"What's your name, by the way?" Thorn inquired.
"Oh." Norville realized he had not introduced himself to Velma's roommate. "I'm -"
"Thorn, this is Shaggy." Velma introduced.
Norville felt warm inside when Velma used the nickname he'd told her that those at his old school used. It made him feel like he belonged, and that she considered him a friend. Never in a million years had he expected to find friends at his new school this quickly.
Velma, Fred, Shaggy and Thorn all headed towards the elevator doors together, but there was no trace of Headmistress Quinlan or the body of the long-haired boy.
"Like, do you think she went back up to her office?" Shaggy inquired. He'd been referring to himself as Norville now that he was at his new school, but Velma referring to him as his old nickname made him feel a bit more like "Shaggy" again.
"Only one way to find out." Velma said, as she pressed the 'up' button on the elevator.
"You mean go confront her?" Fred replied, a bit surprised at the suggestion.
"I don't mean confronting her. Just talk to her. She knows we saw that kid's dead body, so it makes sense for us to ask her what happened." Velma clarified.
"I think that's a great idea." Thorn smiled at her roommate. "Any good Headmistress wouldn't just let her students see a dead body and expect them to forget about it."
The elevator door opened in a matter of moments, and the four students quickly rushed in.
"I don't even see any blood here." Fred observed. "They sure did a good job of cleaning up."
"Clearly Headmistress Quinlan wants to hide this from the students." Velma deduced.
"Hey, like, where did those other three girls that first found that kid go?" Shaggy wondered.
"Who knows. They probably got scared away." Fred shrugged.
She knew Headmistress Quinlan had said that they were all supposed to go to the dining hall while she phoned the authorities, but quite frankly, Daphne thought that was a terrible idea. She knew that Headmistress Quinlan would never admit that there was a killer on the loose, and with good reason…it would likely frighten the children out of their wits.
Instead, she, Luna and Dusk had all retreated back up to their room when the Headmistress wasn't looking. She hoped that this didn't make her look guilty to Headmistress Quinlan, but the Headmistress seemed like a very understanding woman, so she figured she could explain the situation if they were confronted on it.
"Seeing two dead bodies on my first week here? I didn't sign up for this crap!" Dusk shouted in terror.
"Me either. Do you think we should call our parents?" Luna panicked.
"It's been about an hour since we saw the body. Headmistress Quinlan said she was getting somebody to help her, so maybe they've moved the kid by now." Daphne replied. She tried to maintain her cool, but she was feeling terrified inside.
"Maybe we can go downstairs and talk to Quinlan." Dusk suggested.
"I think that's a good idea. It might calm our nerves, rather than sitting up here all night wondering what happened and if we're safe." Daphne agreed.
"Okay, but I'm sticking close to you guys." Luna said.
Velma felt really bad about what she'd done to Thorn. She felt like a jerk for it, but she was just blowing off steam when she told Shaggy and Fred that Thorn was a bad roommate. She was projecting her frustration with the transition onto Thorn, which she should not have done. Thankfully, Thorn seemed to have forgiven her, but she wasn't sure if she could forgive herself.
She was also anxious about Quinlan. She could sense that the Headmistress was hiding something from them, but she wasn't sure what.
Fred did the honors of knocking on the Headmistress's door once they arrived.
"Who is it?" the Headmistress asked in a concerned voice from behind a door.
"It's Velma, Fred, Norville and Thorn." Velma responded.
"Oh…oh…come in." the Headmistress seemed a tad bit flustered.
The Headmistress's office was very neat and tidy, although the walls were painted a drab shade of white. On the wall hung some educational posters, both with helpful tips and various upcoming events, as well as two diplomas. Velma noticed that the window was cracked open as well.
"Hi. We're sorry to bother you." Fred apologized.
"We just, like, kinda wanted to ask about the…" Norville paused for a gulp. "...body."
"Oh yes. I was going to fill you kids in on that tomorrow. We don't really know the cause of death, but the police said there's no reason to believe it was a murder." Headmistress Quinlan responded.
"So two kids just dropped dead on their own in the matter of a couple days? That doesn't typically happen to folks our age." Velma challenged.
"I don't have all the answers, kids. I'm just as distraught as you are, but I assure you, there's nothing to be worried about." Headmistress Quinlan tried to comfort the kids.
"You said you're distraught...but also there's nothing to be worried about at the same time?" Thorn chimed in.
"Oh…you brought another student with you. What's your name?" Headmistress Quinlan inquired.
"I'm Thorn. It's nice to meet you, ma'am." the black-haired girl introduced.
"It's nice to meet you too." Headmistress Quinlan reciprocated, the smile on her face looking quite fake. "Now, kids, I assure you there isn't anything you need to be worried about. The school is under good protection, and we'll be having our resident assistants working double duty to figure out whatever's going on. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get going for the evening. I'm already an hour late getting home."
"Thanks for answering our questions." Thorn appreciated.
"Anytime. I'm sorry you kids had to see that. No one your age - or any age for that matter - should have to witness a sight like that. I assure you though, this is the last time you'll have to see something like that." Headmistress Quinlan firmly stated as she took her keychain out of her pocket and headed for the door. "I hope you kids have a great night."
The kids left Headmistress Quinlan's office ahead of her, as she closed and locked the door behind them. Just as the Headmistress walked away, Velma saw three familiar faces walking towards them from the other direction. It was the two redheads and the blonde who had first seen the murder.
"Excuse us." the redhead wearing a purple top said. Velma remembered her name to be Daphne. "We're trying to talk to Headmistress Quinlan before she leaves for the day."
"About the murder?" Velma questioned.
The redhead almost looked afraid to respond, but her body language confirmed it with a slight nod. "Mmm-hmm."
"Well, I don't think you'll have any luck." Fred somberly responded. "We just tried talking to her, and she was extremely vague."
"Like, yeah." Shaggy confirmed. "All she said is that we had nothing to worry about."
"Maybe that means they caught the killer?" Daphne asked hopefully.
"I wouldn't be that optimistic." Velma responded. "I think she's hiding something, but I don't know what."
"Why would she need to hide anything?" Dusk asked. "She's the freakin' Headmistress of this school. Are you saying she's the killer?"
"Just because somebody's in power doesn't mean they can do no wrong." Velma counterargued. "I don't believe she's our killer, but perhaps she's connected to that person or is covering up something. You would really think she'd be putting more safety precautions in place to stop this from happening again if she wasn't involved somehow. Just saying 'don't worry about it' does nothing."
"Hey gang, look over here!" Fred called to the rest of them.
Daphne gasped when she saw what Fred was pointing to. There was a tiny bit of blood in the shape of half a shoe-print.
"There's blood on the floor!" Dusk gasped.
"Our killer must have been up here." Thorn deduced.
Velma quickly knelt down and cautiously ran her pinky finger across the shaggy, beat-up old carpeting right where the blood had soaked into the floor. She raised her pinky to see that there was now a bit of wet blood on her skin.
"Yep, they were up here recently." Velma said. "I just ran my finger across the carpet there, and the blood is still fresh."
"Like, do you think the killer's still lurking here somewhere?" Norville asked, with a panicked look on his face. "Maybe they're still around."
"I hate to suggest this gang, but what if the blood came from Headmistress Quinlan's shoes?" Fred wondered. "Maybe she tracked it up here when she went back up to her office after cleaning up the blood?"
"There's no use in us just sitting here and wondering if it was her or not." Velma said.
"What are you proposing?" Thorn quirked a curious eyebrow.
"Well, Quinlan just left. We have the opportunity now, so we should follow her to see whether or not it's her tracking that blood or not." Velma suggested.
"Like, no way!" Shaggy gulped. "Not me! Somebody else will have to do it."
"I'm with him." Luna gulped.
"Same." Thorn interjected.
"For once, I'm with all of you." Dusk agreed. "If Quinlan is some killer, I'm not gonna be the next one to get knifed."
"Sorry, guys. I should probably go back up to my room with my roommates." Daphne apologized.
"That's fine, I'll do it." Fred proposed.
"I'll come with." Velma replied.
Fred had no idea what he and Velma were going to find, but he admittedly worried what would happen if Quinlan actually was some psychotic murder. If they caught her in the act of murdering somebody else, he had no idea what he'd do. Thankfully, he figured that was unlikely given the killer had already taken a victim an hour ago. To be honest, he didn't really agree with Velma that Quinlan was involved somehow. She was likely just caught off guard by a bunch of kids asking all these questions when she was probably still reeling from the fact that two of her new students had been murdered.
"Let's pick up the pace." Velma suggested. "We need to catch Quinlan before she leaves."
Both of them raced to the elevator, and thankfully, the doors opened immediately. As quickly as he could, Fred pressed the "1" button, knowing that Quinlan was likely on the first floor about to leave the building now.
"You really think Quinlan is involved somehow?" Fred asked. He wasn't sure whether his skepticism would offend Velma, but he didn't see why it would. He'd been enjoying the challenge of solving a mystery, so he figured processing the clues together was all part of the fun.
"I do." Velma nodded. "I don't think she's the murderer, but she's being a bit too nervous around us for me to believe she's not involved."
"It makes sense to be nervous. Somebody was just murdered, after all!" Fred said with a light chuckle.
"I guess we'll see in a moment." Velma responded. "You talk to her, and I'll look at her shoes."
As they waited for the elevator to descend, Fred decided he should make small talk with Velma as to avoid an awkward silence.
"So…those other girls seem pretty nice." Fred remarked.
"Yeah, especially Daphne." Velma commented. "Interestingly, I would have had her pegged for the mean one, with all the privilege her family appears to have."
"Oh yeah, I can see why you'd think that." is all Fred said. He wasn't going to confirm that Velma's original perception of Daphne was what he'd thought at first glance as well, but he'd definitely felt the same way. He was pleasantly surprised to discover how kind and open Daphne seemed to be.
At that moment, the elevator hit the ground floor and the doors slowly swiveled open. As soon as the elevator doors had fully opened, Fred raced out into the lobby, where he could just see Headmistress Quinlan about to walk out the front door.
"Hey Headmistress Quinlan!" Fred called out, immediately feeling a bit embarrassed for being so ostentatious. He needed to get her attention, though, and that seemed like the most certain way to do it.
Quinlan spun around, looking surprised. Fred and Velma quickly raced over to her.
"Sorry for startling you. I saw you leaving and I just wanted to…um…" Fred tried to think up an on-the-spot excuse for talking to her again. "...say thank you for comforting us. That was really scary seeing that dead body lying on the floor, so I appreciate you letting us all know it will be okay."
Fred fought the urge to look down at her shoes, but he knew he needed to keep her distracted so she wouldn't figure out what Velma was doing.
"Oh…of course." Headmistress Quinlan stated, seeming a bit befuddled.
"Have a great night!" Fred replied, feeling a bit goofy for his stilted excuse for having a conversation with her.
"You too!" Headmistress Quinlan replied. As she spun around and continued heading out the door, Fred couldn't resist looking at her shoes. When he did, he was flabbergasted. There were a couple splotches of blood on the bottom of her shoes. It was her that had tracked the blood upstairs near her office.
"Did you see what I saw?" Velma asked Fred.
"Yeah…but honestly, I wish I hadn't." Fred gulped.
"You know what this means, right?" Velma questioned her blond friend.
Fred admittedly had no idea what any of this meant. Why in the world would Headmistress Quinlan be involved somehow with the murders? He realized he hadn't answered Velma's question, so he simply shook his head.
"Looks like we've officially got a mystery on our hands." Velma stated.
"You're not wrong, but what can we do about it?" Fred questioned.
"I'm not sure if you noticed, but she left one of her windows open. I think we should maybe have a look around in her office." Velma suggested.
Fred was a bit flabbergasted at this suggestion. Sneaking around to see if Headmistress Quinlan had blood on her shoes already felt dangerous enough, but sneaking into her office felt like it was a whole new level of rule-breaking. What if there were cameras in Headmistress Quinlan's office that could catch them in the act? What if somebody saw them sneaking in the window?
"I don't know about that…" Fred cautiously remarked.
"Well, if we don't, we may never know the answer to this mystery." Velma pointed out.
Fred still wasn't sure about doing this. Not only could this get them in trouble, the killer could find out and target them next. On the other hand, if they didn't figure out who the killer was, they all soon might be dead anyway. Even if she wasn't the killer, Headmistress Quinlan didn't exactly have an iron-clad solution to keeping all the kids safe. There would definitely be a hefty risk involved, but figuring out who the killer was and stopping them seemed like a better choice than allowing all the kids in their class to drop dead.
"You're right." Fred finally answered. "Let's do this."
"We should gather the others, though. There's safety in numbers." Velma suggested.
"Okay. I'll grab my roommate, and you can grab yours, and then we'll meet at Daphne's room to gather the other three." Fred instructed.
"Sounds like a plan. Jinkies, I never thought that the first week at a new school would be so eventful." Velma chuckled.
Shaggy shook his head vehemently when Fred came back up to the room and suggested their next move.
"Like, no way!" Shaggy protested.
"Come on, Shaggy." Fred encouraged. "Would you rather be in our room as a sitting duck for the killer?"
Fred's tone was playful, and Shaggy knew that he would accept a "no" if presented with one. However, Fred did have a point - even if it wasn't a sure thing that the killer would come up to their room, he'd rather contribute to something that would stop the killer once and for all, as opposed to leaving his survival completely up to chance. Both options were dangerous, but at least with the latter option, he'd be doing something that could lead to the school becoming safer.
"Like, okay. I guess I'll do it. I just hope I don't regret this." Shaggy gulped.
Shaggy had always considered himself an anxious person who strayed away from any sort of danger. In the past, "danger" usually meant awkward social situations or uncertainty about the future. To be involved in something that could actually bring harm to him really got his adrenaline pumping, and not in a good way. He tried to remember the fact that Fred, Velma, Velma's roommate, and those other three girls would be right alongside him should anything happen, but that did not completely quench his anxiety.
Velma felt a bit anxious about asking her roommate to sneak into the Headmistress's office. Not because of the danger of the situation or the trouble it could get them into, but because she felt awful about badmouthing Thorn in front of Fred and Shaggy. She was emotionally kicking herself for ever doing something so stupid. She didn't think of herself as a bad person, but she recognized badmouthing somebody who didn't really deserve it certainly was not the actions of a good person.
"Hey, Thorn." Velma said awkwardly, as she walked into the room. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to join me in doing something."
Thorn's eyes seemed to perk up when Velma said this, which made her feel a little worse than before. She'd worked up this big story that Thorn was some standoffish jerk, when in reality, it had all been in her head. Thorn actually seemed like quite a nice person, if she were honest.
"What is it?" Thorn inquired.
"Well, we followed Headmistress Quinlan and it turns out, she had some blood on her shoes. That has to mean she's involved in the murders of those two kids somehow, so Fred and I are going to investigate her office." Velma explained.
"How are you going to get in her office?" Thorn inquired.
"I happened to notice she left the window open when we were in there previously." Velma clarified. "If one of us could climb in the window, we can find out whether she's involved once and for all."
"Hmm…you really found blood on her shoes?" Thorn exclaimed in surprise, as if her brain was still processing that chunk of information.
"Yep." Velma confirmed with a head nod.
"I suppose maybe that does warrant some investigation." Thorn replied. "Count me in."
"Great! Before we head to her office, we've got to make one more pit stop at Daphne's room." Velma informed.
Daphne was quite surprised at the orange-turtlenecked brunette's request. Sneak into the Headmistress's office? That seemed a bit risky.
"Well, I don't know…" Daphne pondered, lightly playing with her hair a bit out of nervousness. "Don't you think Headmistress Quinlan is going to be upset if we're nosing around in her office?"
"I mean, she might be, but if she is somehow involved with the killings, wouldn't you rather know so we can report her to the police?" Velma inquired.
"We don't know she's connected to the killings." Daphne argued. "So she had a little blood on her shoes. Maybe she accidentally stepped in a tiny splotch of it when she was trying to get us away from the body and into the cafeteria."
"Perhaps that could have worked as an alibi, but that doesn't account for why she's also been very weird around us with the killings. 'I'm worried, but you shouldn't be' isn't exactly a comforting way to reassure someone about a murder." Velma rebuked.
Daphne realized that Velma likely was going to continue arguing until she gave in. Regardless of whether Headmistress Quinlan was somehow involved in the murders, Daphne thought it would be too risky. On one hand, if Headmistress Quinlan didn't have anything to do with the killings, they could get in serious trouble for breaking into the Headmistress's office. On the other hand, if she was involved, it could lead to the killer targeting them next.
"Sorry, but I think I'll sit this one out. Whether she knows something or not, it just seems too risky. Yes, we're leaving it up to chance if we don't check in her office, but it seems like an even bigger risk to stick our noses where they don't belong." Daphne politely declined. She didn't want to come off as a jerk and shut down the idea, but she also wasn't going to push herself that far out of her comfort zone for something she wasn't even sure was morally right.
"I'm with Daphne." Luna said. "It's just not safe."
"Well, I'm not with you guys." Dusk replied, looking at Daphne and Luna, who were both wearing shocked expressions. "Velma's right. There's something really weird going on here, and clearly Headmistress Quinlan is involved somehow. Headmistresses are supposed to be leaders, but Quinlan hasn't done or said much of anything about the killings. There's definitely something fishy going on here."
"I guess it's settled then. We'll see you guys later!" Fred replied as Dusk walked out into the hallway and joined the other four detectives.
"Good luck!" Daphne responded.
"Stay safe!" Luna called just as Dusk began to shut the door.
Daphne felt a bit of anxiety rush over her. She didn't know any of these people too well, but she was worried for all of them, especially Dusk. They were headed into what was possibly a life-threatening situation in order to get the answers they wanted. Daphne wished she could help out, but she simply didn't feel it was morally right to break into the Headmistress's office off of such trivial evidence of her involvement.
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Daphne asked her roommate.
"I think so." Luna said cautiously. "I would have gone, but I'm not really a rule breaker. I also prefer being alive, so searching around for clues to find a murderer isn't exactly up my alley."
"Same." Daphne replied with a chuckle. That was the first time she'd ever heard Luna crack a joke, and it made her smile for a reason beyond finding it amusing. Luna had been a bit reserved and conversationally stiff ever since they met a few days ago. Daphne knew that she was a very shy person, so it made Daphne extra happy to see Luna finally coming out of her shell, even if it was only to make a small joke.
Fred and his friends at his old school had screwed around a little bit. His buddies on the football team often liked skirting the rules and getting into mischief, such as messing around at the skate park or buying way more candy than their parents would ever allow. However, this would be his first time actively doing something that was blatantly against the rules and could get him into very serious trouble if anybody ever found out. It felt quite nerve-wracking, but also a little exhilarating. Not in the sense that he liked doing dangerous things, but that he was doing something a bit risky to uncover hidden facts and potentially save his classmates.
The group was outside now, standing outside Headmistress Quinlan's window. Given it was on the second floor, it wasn't going to be as simple as opening the window and climbing in. It was a bit of a windy night. All of them were bundled up in winter jackets given the weather - Velma wore an orange coat, Fred donned a white one, and Shaggy wore a green coat. Thorn donned a dark purple coat, as well as fuzzy gray mittens and a black hat. Dusk wore a red coat with faux fur, along with dark blue gloves and a gray hat. The treetops were rapidly swaying side to side amidst the hazy purple sunset, as the kids sized up the window.
"How in the hell are we supposed to get up there?" Dusk cursed.
"See that ledge?" Velma pointed to a ledge atop the first floor window as she spoke. "If one of us crawls up on that ledge and another person gets on their shoulders, that second person should be able to make it up to the second ledge."
Fred looked up to see where the second ledge was located, and saw it was right below the other window. It would be a bit challenging, but not impossible.
"I can be the first person. I'm the burliest of the group, so I could probably best support the extra weight on my shoulders." Fred suggested. "Who wants to be the one on my shoulders?"
No one said anything for a moment, as everyone in the group awkwardly looked at each other, seeing who would be first to volunteer.
"Like, I was in gymnastics at my old school." Shaggy revealed, sounding half-heartedly willing to help. "I guess that makes me the guy to climb in the window."
"Thanks for volunteering, Shaggy. You ready?" Fred asked.
"Like, I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be." Shaggy gulped.
Fred wasn't so sure he was ready either, but he would never admit to that. Although he was pretty sure the group would be supportive if he said he said he didn't want to, he felt a duty to help his new friends, and a duty to his new school to stop whatever fiend had killed two students. Thankfully, the window ledge was within reaching distance, so he was able to use his arms to pull himself up onto the first ledge.
Once Fred was able to maintain a steady position, he called down to the others."Alright, Shaggy, I'm ready whenever you are!"
"Like, okay. I guess it's now or never." Shaggy gulped as he climbed onto the ledge.
Fred graciously stood on the left side of the ledge, leaving just enough of a space for him to pull himself up onto the ledge and then climb onto his friend's shoulders. There was just barely enough room for Fred's feet to stand comfortably on the narrow ledge without falling. Fred couldn't look back to see if Shaggy had gotten up on the ledge, but a loud clunking noise as Shaggy climbed onto the first ledge confirmed that he'd made it safely.
"Are you, like, ready for me to climb on your shoulders?" Shaggy inquired.
"Yep." Fred said. Shaggy was a very slender man despite his affinity for eating, so Fred assumed that having the weight of Shaggy on his shoulders would not be too much of a burden.
Fred felt a spark of pain as Shaggy stepped on his back to get to his shoulders, but the sensation was light and fleeting. As soon as the weight of Shaggy's feet was applied to Fred's body, Fred could feel a lot of pressure on his shoulders. He still couldn't see Shaggy's vantage point from his shoulders without moving, which he couldn't do as it would cause Shaggy to tumble down.
"Can you reach the ledge, Shaggy?" Fred inquired.
"I'm not quite at the ledge, but like, I think I can reach it if I pull myself up!" Shaggy revealed.
Fred was about to ask if he could jump soon to relieve the weight from his shoulders, as the pressure was starting to feel a bit heavy. He quickly received his answer as he heard Shaggy open the window all the way, followed by the pressure completely disappearing in a flash. He still couldn't really swivel his head too far up given the narrowness of the ledge, so he couldn't tell if Shaggy made it or not.
"Like, I did it!" Shaggy shouted down to the others.
Fred breathed a sigh of relief, as he jumped down from the first ledge to the ground. It was beginning to frighten him a bit having to maintain his balance on such a narrow ledge with somebody standing precariously on his shoulders. Now, all that was left is for Shaggy to look around and determine once and for all if Headmistress Quinlan was somehow involved in this.
Shaggy's anxiety was increasing by the second as he looked manically around the room. At first he didn't want to look around at all, he just wanted to leave. However, he knew that would mean all the effort he put in to climb in the window would be pointless, so he tried to force that thought to the forefront of his mind to quench his urge to run away. Despite his immense fear, he also realized that if the killer was targeting people bullied by Red, he'd likely be next, and looking around Quinlan's office might be a way to figure out who was doing this, so as to prevent him from becoming the next victim. If he were honest, he considered Red to be more of a suspect than Headmistress Quinlan, but he agreed with Velma that Quinlan was acting strange, and thus it was important to look around.
Shaggy glanced around the dark office. He didn't want to turn a light on, but he quickly realized he'd need to in order to see what the heck he was doing. He thought he'd remembered the light switch being right around the door, so he slowly shuffled his way over the other side of the office. He felt a bit along the wall and quickly discovered the light switch.
The light immediately illuminated the room, in fact so much that it took Shaggy's eyes a moment to fully adjust. He knew there was no time for dillydallying, so he hurried over to Quinlan's desk. Her work area was quite a mess of various papers, forms and reports scattered all across the desk. Shaggy quickly glanced through them - he figured something like "Student Demographic Report" and "Annual Performance Review" wouldn't be anything related to the murders, so he was able to quickly push those to the side. Nothing caught his eye as he searched the papers, until he saw a piece with "draft for police" written on it in pencil.
Shaggy read the document, trying to devour the words with his eyes as fast he could.
One student has died outside of our history classroom. The death is presumed not to be of natural causes, as there was significant loss of blood. The student appears to have been repeatedly hit with a blunt instrument of some sort until they died. I suspect it is connected to a threatening note I received on the first day of the semester, reading "Vengeance shall be done as you lose student number one. Expect the death during period the first. If you do not close this school, it shall be cursed!" It is unknown who sent this letter, but I suspect somebody is seeking vengeance on the school for some reason. I believe the culprit might be
It appeared this was an unfinished draft, as the paper trailed off mid-sentence. Presumably, Headmistress Quinlan was working on this right before she left for the day, and planned to continue writing it tomorrow. He quickly raced to the file cabinet in the corner, but it appeared to be locked. He searched for the key a bit around the office, but didn't find anything, not even after checking behind her diplomas and posters on the wall, so he assumed Quinlan had it with her.
Shaggy gulped when he looked at the desk and realized a frightening thought: the papers were all out of order now. He was so anxious that he couldn't remember what order they went in, so he simply tried to improvise and scatter the papers on her desk, in a similar way to how they looked when he'd first come in. He was kicking himself for not paying more attention to what should have been an important detail, but he knew there was no way he'd remember the correct order now. He'd just have to hope that the messiness meant Headmistress Quinlan didn't either.
Shaggy promptly returned to the window, and stuck his head out into the evening breeze to report his findings.
"Did you find anything, Shaggy?" Fred asked.
"Like, yeah. But probably not what you're thinking!" Shaggy shouted. He didn't want to shout, but he knew there was no other way that his friends down below could hear him. "Do I have to jump out this window?"
"No, it's too dangerous!" Velma yelled back up to him. "Go out the front door and set it to lock behind you. We'll head back to our dorms and regroup at breakfast in the morning."
"Like, okay." Shaggy breathed a sigh of relief. This was the best plan he could have hoped for, as it would mean this nightmare of murders and sneaking around was done for the night. He'd just have to hope that nobody would see him coming out the door.
Shaggy walked over to the door, his anxiety causing his heart to palpitate wildly again. He tried to assure himself by thinking that all he'd have to do is walk out this door and head back to his dorm, and he'd be home free. He tried to stop his perseverating mind from overthinking by simply getting it over with.
Stop worrying about it and just do it, Norville. Shaggy thought to himself.
He quickly opened the door and looked both ways down the hallway. To his luck, it was completely empty. Feeling a burst of adrenaline from his triumph, he quickly set the door to lock behind him, and shut it.
The empty hallway felt eerie as he walked back towards the elevator. Hopefully, nobody would ever know that he snuck into the Headmistress's office. Shaggy rarely did anything that intentionally caused his anxiety to spike, so it felt like a huge weight off his shoulders that it was all over…at least for now.
Velma presumed that Shaggy had filled Fred in on what he found in Headmistress Quinlan's office last night, but she still had no idea. He'd said that he found something, to which Velma's first thought was that Quinlan was guilty. However, Shaggy had said that it wasn't what she'd think, so Velma's mind had kept her awake much of the night, trying to process what he could have possibly found. She was so anxious about the fact that there had been two murders during this first week at her new school that sleep almost felt like an unattainable luxury to her these past few days.
As she and Thorn walked down to breakfast together, Velma felt increasingly jittery at the thought of Shaggy revealing what he'd seen to them. They were just heading down to the dining hall, and were currently being taken down to the first floor in the elevator.
"So, what do you think Shaggy could have seen in Quinlan's office?" Velma asked her roommate.
"No idea. He said we'd be surprised about what he found, so I don't think it's that she's the killer. Maybe she knows who the killer is, but she's being bribed to stay quiet?" Thorn offered.
A plausible solution. Velma had considered it herself, but if that were the case, it'd be silly for her to call the police as they could arrest her for concealing information about a crime. The orange-turtlenecked detective had also pondered that they'd never actually seen the police come, but they had heard them stomping around out in the hall. Given that, it was probably unlikely that Quinlan had faked calling the police, leaving no reason to believe she was being bribed.
Velma didn't want to be rude to Thorn after they were just beginning to start talking to each other, so she simply said "That's a possibility!"
Ding!
The elevator slowly but surely opened its doors to let the two girls out. As they headed into the dining hall, Thorn and Velma began to look around to see where Shaggy and Fred might be sitting. Velma didn't see any sign of them at first glance.
"Hey, looks like they're over there." Thorn pointed to a table over in the far left hand corner. "Are you getting food right away?"
"No, I'm not really hungry." Velma admitted. Her stomach was very fickle when she was in new situations, and the excitement and anxiety of knowing what Shaggy had found out about Headmistress Quinlan overshadowed her desire to eat.
"You know, you really should eat. It's good for you." Thorn sarcastically joked.
"I'll get something after I set my backpack down." Velma replied. She admittedly still wasn't sure whether she'd get any breakfast or not. She'd just said that in hopes of appeasing Thorn.
Whilst Velma headed over to Fred and Shaggy's table, she had a fleeting thought about how much better her relationship with Thorn had felt last night and this morning. It wasn't explicitly stated by either of them, but just the fact that they were talking now made Velma feel like Thorn was going to be a much better roommate than she thought.
"Good morning! So, I'm dying to know!" Velma exclaimed.
"Good morning!" Shaggy reciprocated, looking a bit sleepy. "You mean, like about what I found in the office last night?"
"Exactly!" Velma eagerly responded.
"Well, like, there was a police report Headmistress Quinlan had been writing on her desk." Shaggy started to explain. "It said that Quinlan had, like, received a threatening note that told her the murder was going to happen in advance."
"You mean she knew about this all along and did nothing?" Velma gasped.
"Like, I guess so." Shaggy shrugged.
"Shaggy and I were talking about it last night, and we were wondering if maybe Quinlan didn't fully understand what the murderer had been planning until it was too late. The note sounded pretty vague." Fred interjected.
"Like, yeah, it was. There was also half a line that said something about 'she thought the killer might be'…but there was nothing after that." Shaggy explained.
"You mean it was redacted?" Velma inquired.
"No…she just didn't finish her sentence. She must have been in the middle of writing and got distracted, or she planned to come back to it the next day. I, like, don't know if she was going to reveal a name, or make a guess about the killer's next victim? It was, like, too vague." Shaggy responded.
Velma spun around when she heard a feminine voice clear their throat behind her. She almost jumped ten feet when she saw who it was. Headmistress Quinlan was standing right behind them.
"Hi, kids. Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked plainly.
Velma, Fred and Shaggy all looked like they had just seen a ghost. No one spoke for a minute, until Fred finally asked the burning question that was on everybody's terrified mind.
"Uhh…sure. What about?" Fred nervously inquired.
"I think it might be better if you come up to my office." Headmistress Quinlan stated.
"Like, can't we even finish our breakfast?" Shaggy asked.
"I'm sorry, but I really need you kids to come with me." Headmistress Quinlan replied, her voice becoming firm.
"Okay…" Velma said awkwardly, as she cautiously got out of her seat. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She had no idea who Headmistress Quinlan was anymore. Maybe she had faked that police report, or perhaps she was some master criminal who was about to kill them.
Fred and Shaggy were quick to follow. Velma wanted to go find Thorn to tell her where they went, but she figured Headmistress Quinlan wouldn't allow that. Everybody was dead silent as they walked alongside Headmistress Quinlan to the elevator. Shaggy had a look of terror on his face. Fred wore a more blank look, but Velma assumed there was some anxiety lurking under the surface like she and Shaggy were experiencing. Velma slightly glanced at Quinlan out of the corner of her eye, and the Headmistress looked quite troubled.
Once they arrived at the elevator, the wait for the doors to open after Headmistress Quinlan pushed the "up" button was mercifully short. All four of them got into the elevator, although Headmistress Quinlan's movements were far quicker than the cautious ones of the three teenagers.
After a long period of tense silence, Quinlan finally spoke. "I suppose we're alone enough now where I can share why I needed to talk with you."
The Headmistress trailed off for a minute, but Velma's heart nearly burst out of her chest when the Headmistress spoke again.
"Why were you in my office last night?"
