(Ashley's POV)

Phoenix and Raven were totally cool. Phoenix was so effortlessly glamorous and dressed like a high end fashion model with thousands of Instagram followers and Raven's an awesome, moody, vegan, goth journalist. I felt a bit plain in comparison, but at the same time I felt totally cool to be speaking and hanging around with them. I was sort of buzzing with a new excitement I only really felt around crime scenes- was this what it was like to have friends?

We had all agreed we needed to investigate what happened a bit more, so here we are, roaming the school halls at night. It had taken a bit of work to convince Raven, but after a while she agreed solely on the basis that if we didn't find anything, Phoenix would leave us alone and admit she was lying. There was some tension in the air, but I was trying my best to relieve this.

I had offered for both of them to sleep round mine tonight, so we could reflect on any findings and draw up a conclusion back there. Plus, my parents would be over the moon that I was out with friends. Raven refused, but Phoenix was more than happy to agree to coming along, which shocked me. I think she was grateful that I believed her right off the bat. I was sort of expecting both of them to turn me straight down.

We had waited for any after school clubs to close up and watched the janitor lock up the school's main entrance. Lucky for us, our school was underfunded and a bit broke so they couldn't afford security cameras. One less thing we had to worry about. I really felt like I was part of MI5, sneaking around school at night and dodging teacher's cars as they left the car park. Soon, the only car left was a little red convertible and we moved out.

"This is the corridor I was walking down- I was on my way to my locker to grab some spray paint." Phoenix explained and my jaw dropped as I realised the graffiti this morning was her. So cool, "And then the banging started on the lockers."

"And absolutely nobody was around?" Raven asked, shining a torch down the corridor and inspecting the lockers.

"Not a single soul." Phoenix shrugged, peering over Raven's shoulder at whatever she was looking at, causing Raven to abruptly step away from her.

"I don't know what we're supposed to be looking for, then. If nobody was around then there's not going to be any evidence." Raven pointed out, "We might as well just go. I'm dying to get something to eat and a coffee."

As Raven said that, a faint clanging sound was heard at the end of the corridor and all three of us spun around to look in that direction, Raven shining her torch in the general direction, but not seeing anything.

"Hello?" Phoenix yelled out, her voice wobbling slightly.

"Don't be the idiot who yells 'hello' at the murderer, like in the movies!" I whisper yelled at her, stepping closer to them as the clanging noise got louder.

"What do you expect me to do? Stay silent and just welcome the creepy sounds?" Phoenix whisper yelled back.

"Shut up a minute guys!" Raven whispered, a look of concentration etched onto her pale face.

We all went silent and waited for whatever Raven was listening for and the sound quickly became apparent. Children's laughter wafted around the halls and the nervous smile on my face dropped instantly. No way. This was far too creepy, we were the only ones here and yet the sound was so clear and getting louder.

The sound sent chills down my spine and my tummy started flipping. I had faced many dead bodies and brutal crime scenes during my time following my dad around, but never had I felt

such an intense fear. The idea that it might be a prank crossed my mind, but I could feel it in my gut: this was real.

"Nope. No. No way. We're running. Now." Phoenix cried, grabbing our arms and sprinting to the fire exit.

Although my mind was solely focused on the thick fear I felt at that moment, a part of me was incredibly impressed that Phoenix could sprint like that, despite her stiletto heels.

"Who drives?" I yelled, pushing open the fire exit and continuing to sprint across the school's field, over to the almost empty car park.

"Me!" Phoenix yelled, pulling out her car keys and unlocking the red convertible.

We all piled into the car, Raven in the front with Phoenix and me on the back seats, far too scared to look out the back window to see if something was following us. Phoenix put the car in gear and sped out of the car park. It was only when we had turned a few streets that I could breathe easy, sighing in relief of getting away.

"Food anyone?" Raven laughed uneasily, trying to shake off the fear that had settled into the atmosphere around us all.

The response Raven received was a chorus of uncertain murmurs of agreement. I was still shaken to my core, my mind not settled on food. Phoenix indicated off a roundabout and pulled up into a carpark. She looked in the rear view mirror at me and then at Raven, her eyes still wide. I could see Raven's hands trembling and I took a deep breath, building my confidence back up. I had to act cool for their sake, after all I was probably the most experienced with this kind of thing.

"Look. Whatever happened back there is clearly not some prank Phoenix is playing on us. Getting scared isn't gonna do anything to help the situation. Let's just get some food, take a breather, rejuvenate ourselves and then we'll figure this out." I took control, my voice wobbling slightly.

Phoenix and Raven shared a look before nodding. Not long after, we pulled up to my house and piled out of the car, carrying the food we stopped for on the way here. God bless nando's takeaway. Before I could even stick my key in the door, it swung open and both my parents

stood there, shocked. Obviously they hadn't expected that on the first day of my 'club' I would instantly make friends and bring them to a sleepover. I think we were all a bit too shaken to be alone tonight.

Little did my parents know, we were actually exploring the weird stuff that happened today.

"Ashley! Who's this!" My Dad asked as Phoenix locked her car and grabbed her furry red bag out of the boot, his brow arching slightly at her outfit but I shot him a 'be quiet' look.

"Oh, this is Phoenix and Raven- they're going to sleep round tonight if that's okay?" I asked, hiding my boasting smirk.

"Of course! That's more than fine. Your mother and I are heading out soon for some dinner so you can watch movies in the front room, if you feel like it." My Dad suggested, watching us all pass him and head upstairs.

I burst into my room and dropped my backpack on my desk, jumping on the bed and scrambling around for the prints of the photos I'd taken of the crime scene last night. I hid them under my mattress, so that my parents wouldn't find them. They had a habit of checking around my room to take back any evidence I had collected after they'd caught me exploring a crime scene. A few times they hadn't caught me at the actual crime scene, but had then found out I'd been there because of the evidence in my room.

It was a sticky situation to be in and I feel like it had severely affected the trust my parents had for me. However, I couldn't help the burning curiosity to explore all the crime scenes. They were often slightly off and suspicious. The police report never seemed to match what I thought, something my dad had convinced me was down to my lack of training and experience.

"Lock the door." I whispered to Phoenix, who obliged, flipping the lock shut.

Raven started to unpack the food we'd bought and Phoenix joined her, stealing a few of the chips. It was only when I pulled out the photos that they stopped eating, both scrambling to get a better look at the photos. Phoenix looked queasy at the sight of the blood, but she was too curious to look away.

"How the hell did you get these?" Raven gasped, flicking through the few I'd managed to actually get.

"My dad is chief of police so whenever he gets a call out to a crime scene, I follow on my bike. I managed to get these photos before I got caught- that's why I joined the club- my dad wanted me to try new hobbies. I guess he's sick of driving me home from crime scenes." I explained, rubbing the back of my neck, laughing awkwardly.

"Your dad's chief of police? I can't believe you didn't mention this sooner." Raven's eyes were still wide, looking at the photos of the absolute massacre "Does he have an office in the house? Maybe he knows something about what happened at the school today. Maybe a report of a similar incident?"

"Yeah, if he knew anything, it would be in there. He keeps everything in there, including his work laptop, but he has a lock on the door." I frowned, "Believe me, I've tried to get in."

"I know how to pick locks!" Phoenix piped up excitedly, "I learned how to so I could break into the Principal's office and burn my file. It's a long story, but I'm pretty sure I still know how to do it."

I sat up straight, eyes wide as it sunk in that after all these years of wondering what the hell was behind those office doors, I was finally going to be able to satisfy my curiosity as well as gather intel on the case. Phoenix and Raven both stared at me with begging eyes as I frantically nodded at them, leaping to my feet and rushing to the office doors.

"I always keep the kit on me. I know, I'm a genius. No need for applause." Phoenix bowed mockingly, revealing the little kit of metal tools with a dramatic flourish.

"Stop messing around you drama queen and open it!" Raven rolled her eyes, gesturing harshly towards the lock, pushing Phoenix towards it by the small of her back to rush her.

"Raven, as much as I love a dominant woman- you're not my type." Phoenix teased, wagging her perfectly arched eyebrows at Raven.

"Guys stop flirting and open the damn door!" I groaned, the suspense killing me.

Phoenix got down on her knees (which couldn't happen without a smart ass comment from Raven) and started to select her metal tools and wiggle them in the hole? I couldn't really understand what this would be doing to help unlock it, but to my surprise the door actually creaked open with a click as it unlocked- accompanied by a small cheer from the three of us.

I scrambled past them as Raven ignored Phoenix's plea for help off the floor, also breezing past her. I gaped at the large room filled with filing cabinets and a large oak desk with a corkboard sitting on the wall behind it. It looked just like the ones in the movies, with it's crime scene photos with push pins and string adorning it.

"Are those more photos of the pool incident?" Raven furrowed her eyebrows, gliding across the room to look closer at the corkboard, "It's an actual bloodbath. I thought I'd seen some pretty fucked up things in horror movies but this is... wow. Who could have done this?"

"Not who. What?" Phoenix teased, sliding up onto the desk and letting her long legs swing as she rested her chin on Raven's shoulder- her acrylic nailed hands sliding up her arm, making Raven abruptly side step to avoid contact. Phoenix was such a flirt.

"Let's not jump to conclusions- just because there's some banging and childrens music, that doesn't mean ghosts are real. It could just be someone fucking with us." Raven rolled her eyes, although her words seemed uncertain, "Besides, this whole pool ordeal is dealing with multiple deaths. Murders. Please be serious right now, Phoenix."

"Could be a joke. However, how the hell do you explain what happened at the pool if it wasn't some kind of evil spirit? People's heads were caved and blood was all up the walls. It doesn't seem human to me. How the hell does that happen by a human's hands?" I chimed in to help Phoenix, waving my hands crazily to gesture to the corkboard.

"Can we watch the security footage?" Raven replied, moving the mouse to my dad's computer to wake up the screen, "Nevermind, it's got a password."

"Try 'BadBoys123'- it's the netflix password too." I rolled my eyes as it unlocked, "He's a big fan of the movies."

"We're in!" Phoenix cheered, trying to take over from Raven to load the footage- only to be lightly pushed away again, "He might have reports of paranormal activity at the highschool on here."

"I'm more interested in the footage from the pool, right now." Raven shook her head, clicking through files to find it.

As the security footage loaded, I bit my lip. I had seen the aftermath of the killings- the blood and bodies lining the pool room- but I hadn't seen the actual deaths and the weight on my chest at what I was about to witness felt too heavy for me. As I struggled to breath, Phoenix reached over and took my hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

"It'll be fine." Phoenix smiled at me, noticing my subtle panic.

I nodded back at her with a small smile and Raven let out a deep breath as she pressed play on the video.