Happy December! Also, this is going to be a VERY short chapter.

△△△

A low chuckle rumbled through the library. The footsteps stopped, then crept toward me.

"Mary, Mary, Mary. Come now, honey. I'm not going to hurt you, you know that. Come out from behind those shelves."

Cain, I should've known.

"Come out, my dear," he said, beckoning Mary to come out from wherever she was. "You're too sick to fight this. Come with me, I'll give you anything you need," he pleaded, desperation thickening his voice. He stepped closer and I crawled behind the shelf behind me. His flashlight shone through the cracks between the books all stacked on the shelves. Why the hell was Mary out of her room and why was Cain looking for her? I crept along the shelf to sneak behind another.

Xby Counterflix

"Mary, you're going to have to give in soon. You won't survive the night without some fresh air." He chuckled before jumping out from behind a shelf. "Don't let me get angry, Mary. Come out from wherever you are." He inched closer to me, making me crawl off to another shelf. As I turned, my ankle hit the corner of a shelf, making the first few stacks fall. Panicked, I darted to the next shelf, my mouth pressed to my hand. Cain's footsteps paced towards the fallen shelf.

"Gotcha!" he yelled, before finding that no one was there. Paralysed with fear, I could only watch as he walked towards the only other shelf he hadn't checked, the shelf that I was hiding behind.

"Gotch-"

"Psst. Psst!" Cain turned his head to the source of the sound. Thank heavens. "Psst! Cain! She's here with me," whispered Madam Eleanor. I removed the book and peeped through to see Madam Eleanor holding a droopy Mary in the main hall. Cain approached her, then lifted Mary's scratched face by her chin with his index finger.

"See? Now that wasn't so hard was it?" he said, spitting on her face in the process. Mary fought to remove the gag from her mouth and loosen Madam Eleanor's grip on her.

"Let's get a move on Cain. We don't want to stick around long enough for someone to hear us," Madam Eleanor said before ushering Mary out the back door toward the creek. Leaving a decent gap, I trailed quietly behind Cain. The trees in the school courtyard cast shadows dark enough for me to blend into. The gravel paving crunched under my toes as I crept out of the moonlight's reflection. The passing breeze had a sudden bite, and a whimper escaped between my lips.

Madam Eleanor and Principle Cain stopped dead in their tracks.

"Did you hear that? Sounded like someone humming," Madam Eleanor whispered, keeping Mary tight against her body.

"You're just being paranoid, El," he started, turning back and looking my direction but not quite catching my silhouette. "See? Nothing to worry about. Now let's get going," he grumbled before walking towards the clearing by the creek.

We passed a thicket with snapping branches and looming shadows, but each time a sharp object pierced at the soles of my feet, I clamped my lips together. Composure, Tyler. If you get caught you're basically a walking dead girl. Stay focused!

When we reached the clearing, I stayed behind in the perimeter of the thickets, my body covered by the thick foliage that buzzed with nocturnal life. I stared across to the creek, where several figures were awaiting the trio's arrival.

"Everything sorted, Georgia?" asked the man I guessed was the guard of this place.

"Yes, it should all go well. Did you check that all the girls are asleep?" she asked, grabbing a hold of her sweater and pulling it up to her nose.

"Yes they are all fast asleep," he started. He looked around and frowned. "Where is Elizabeth?" Miss Dale the science teacher and lunch lady? What the hell is going on here?

"She's keeping watch, just in case one of the girls wake up," Madam Eleanor said, letting Mary slump onto the moist ground.

"Very well," replied Mr Mitchell, still in his guard uniform. I watched in horror as Principle Cain drew an axe from the shadows.

"This is for you, Candice. I love you," whimpered Principle Cain. He keeled over the now powerless Mary and cried. His tears of sadness were soon replaced with a fit of rage. He raised the axe above his head as Guard Mitchell held him down. "You will pay!" he hollered, before bring the axe down on poor Mary's face. He lifted it again and proceeded to bludgeon Mary's shoulder, legs and neck.

"Candice...Candice! I hope you see what I've done for you!" he cried before knocking Mary's knees in with a painful crack using the blunt end of the axe. Mary, still alive, fought in agony against the torture.

"There's no use, it's too late. No one is here to save you," he whispered, flashing Mary the devil's smile. Mary huffed and sniffled, desperately looking around when her eyes landed on me.  She pleaded to me with her solemn eyes for the last few seconds of her life for help, but the axe was already embedded in her neck, decapitating her. Principle Cain knelt over to Mary's limp body, lifted a finger, and snapped it. The crack of the bones separating from her palms sent paralysing chills down my spine.

"Alright, on three. One, two, three!" instructed Madam Eleanor as she lifted Mary's head that hung on her neck by a thread of sinew. Principle Cain and Guard Mitchell lifted her body and on the count of three, her lifeless dismembered body landed with a deep splash in the water of the creek.

"Okay, it's getting late, Gabriel. Let's head in," said Georgia. They started towards a hidden path within a few feet from me, gripping my heart in panic and fear. How would I get back to my dorm without being seen, and how was I going to explain what I just saw to Josie – and myself? I kept my lips stitched together as Principle Cain, Madam Eleanor, Georgia and guard Mitchell had made it through the gravel courtyard and into the school building. The back door, Tyler. Yes! I had almost forgotten that I could easily walk in through the back door and walk over to my room.

I tiptoed through the courtyard and slowly pushed open the wooden door. I ducked into every crevice I could find until the staircase to top floor. I bolted up the stairs and tiptoed through the passage way and swiftly unlocked my shared dorm door.

∞

"It was crazy, Josie, I swear. I watched him..." I said, before moving in closer to whisper, "I watched him axe her to death. It was the hardest thing I had to do, and now I owe it to her," I said, gobbling down my poorly scrambled eggs on soggy toast.

"And where exactly did this happen?" Josie questioned, pushing her tomatoes aside and attacking her bacon.

"The creek. I swear Cain was going insane, rambling on and on about some Candice person," I said, my body shuddering at the thought of the previous night's horror.

"Hmm. So, Aphrodite Jones, you're dead sure you really saw this and it wasn't some twisted dream?" Josie speculated, washing her breakfast down with bitter orange juice.

"Come one Josie. I know this all sound farfetched but... I saw this all happen. I've always had a bad feeling about this. I can figure out what this disappearance pattern is but I am pretty damn sure that these girls – our friends – were taken... and killed. Look, I just need more evidence and I can-"

"Tyler, this all sounds crazy. Look, nothing has happened to us! It's almost summer, the year is nearly over! Can we just focus on school and having fun?" Josie pleaded, furrowing her brows before leaning in to hug me. She always had this way about her; make me feel like I was in this mess alone, then console me as if I had nothing to worry about.

"I get it, I do, but your support would be really great," I muttered before getting up to empty my breakfast tray. The previously dull, formal banquet hall was starting to look like an old fashioned, carpeted food playground. It seemed as though the longer I stayed here, the less classy OakHill Creek Academy seemed to be. I looped my shoulder bag on and walked over to maths.

∞

The few girls left filled into the Maths Literacy class. I took my seat in the back and next to it was Mary's chair, left hauntingly vacant.

"Good morning class, I don't know how many of you know," Mrs Georgia Mitchell sniffled, "But Mary went missing last night. I know how much we all loved her but unfortunately these things happen," she cried, getting a little too carried away.

"Jesus," Alessia said, leaning back on her chair to speak to me, "she balling her eyes out as if Mary's dead or something." She scoffed and continued battering the chewing gum on her mouth. I managed a slight smile and quickly wiped it off my face when Mrs Mitchel continued.

"It really is such a shame. Let us take a moment of silence." The class fell silent, disturbed only by Mrs Mitchell's deceptive sniffling and approaching voices. Madam Eleanor and Miss Dale walked in, their heads hanging low.

"We haven't found any information on the whereabouts of Mary," said Miss Dale, her voice dripping with melancholy.

"We promise to let you know what happens," Madam Eleanor added, avoiding eye contact. I bet anything that behind that fake frown was a deep evil. The pair walked out of the classroom, leaving the suspense in the room so dense it could catch a falling brick. I wondered if there was more information in the library, and I wondered if at last Josie believed me.

△△△

EEEEEEEPPPP! FINALLY! UPDATES!

This chapter is for all youlowkey crime junkies. This chapter took a while for some reason, idk, but here'smy baby. Swipe left for my next. ;)