User: GossipQueen101

Two days after the incident and the image was still ingrained in my memory. It was all my dreams would feature at the moment.

Though I was still very shaken up, I had to prepare myself and try to forget about it. Classes were starting tomorrow and I needed to figure out what was going on and how this thing worked. I'd only worked as a substitute once before and I didn't know if that counted as work experience.

Carter Hollows had been quick to let me in, and considering the recent events, I knew they needed the teachers to be calm and collected.

I'd planned everything out. I knew that my first class was tomorrow at 9:00am and I knew exactly how to get there. I prided myself on being early and organized.

I arrived at the staff room at 6:55am, avoiding the chaos in the halls. I wanted to have the whole day to plan the lesson and sort things out.

I really had no idea what I was going to do. It was kind of a late notice when I got the job. 

Everyone was pretty quiet. Being on campus just reminded people of the horrid death. It was all the students talked about.

I finally decided that planning a lesson was not an option. I couldn't concentrate and the depressed students and teachers just made me mirror their emotions.

So I walked.

I walked through the school; exploring a few buildings, checking out the labs. I needed a clear head and sitting in a stuffy room wouldn't help with that.

I wanted to go for a jog but my outfit definitely didn't agree.

I suddenly spotted a small glint of movement not far from the science rooms. Knowing thay area was out of bounds,  I investigated. Turning the corner, three students came into view, all huddled near the edge of the building.

"Excuse me." I cleared my throat to grab their attention. I needed them to move out of the way so I could see what they were doing.

They all snapped their heads up to look at me in surprise; possibly fear. Whatever they were doing, I knew that it wasn't good.

"You do know you can't be in this area?" I walked closer to the three and they exchanged worried looks "what are you doing here?"

"Miss, we were just..."

I glanced over their shoulders to see what they were gathered around. It was in fact, another student.

"Move!" I parted the students.  Lying on the ground was a young man. His face was bruised and he had duct tape over his mouth. They'd been hitting him. The boy's eyes fluttered open and I slowly pulled him up, putting his arm over my shoulders for support.

We walked back to the nurse, leaving the other students behind. I would find them later.

By the time we reached the main building, my legs were aching from holding he boy up. The nurse noticed us immediately and we slowly set him down on a bed.

I left. I didn't get a name.

I was just angry. I didn't know the school could be this unprofessional. I thought that I had been coming to teach at a well mannered, highly thought of private school. But it seemed that these students were not the perfect children I thought them to be when I agreed to the job.

I couldn't stay in one place, these 'accidents' plaguing my mind. What had really happened? Was it a murder after all? I'd only heard speculations but...

I stopped in my tracks when I heard a blood curdling scream. A thud followed.

Sprinting to the site, my foot twisted and I fell, clutching my ankle.

A figure in dark clothes rushed past me and I tried to reach for their legs but couldn't reach. I was left on the ground, my ankle throbbing with pain.

"What happened?!" A woman approached me with a hand held out.

"I heard screams."

Her face was replaced with another fear, a much greater one, as she ran in the direction I had been traveling.

*****************************************

While I was with the nurse getting my ankle looked at, I let my eyes wander around the room, looking for the young man from before. It seemed he had been fixed up already. Sitting with the nurse, she told me that there had been a murder...throat slit and covered in a bloody mess.

It only confirmed my suspicions on the real happenings of Nicholi's 'accident'.