Chapter 44 – A Dedication from the Heart – Holly Hayfield

Something in Ms. Logan’s brain must’ve flipped a switch after our rooftop conversation. She completely changed gears and went into a more productive frame of mind. That Friday, and well into the next week, she hardly needed my support to keep herself motivated. She was keeping her classroom nice and neat without help from anyone else. She was getting her grading work done ahead of schedule. She was even heading home earlier to focus on her new goal. She promised me, and herself, that she’d complete Malorie’s new painting.

Initially when I came up with the idea of pushing her to create a tribute for Malorie I thought that prescription might be regressive. My original aim with the yearbook picture was to stir up a feeling of guilt in her heart. That way she’d revert to her old ways and visit the basement at least one more time out of nostalgia. I was wrong. Instead, she had hardened her resolve and committed herself to the goal of recreating her high school artwork. Needless to say, Lilith wasn’t happy about this development when I explained the new situation to her.

Lilith was still of the mind that something like this should’ve just come naturally to me. It was a wonder to her that I had gone almost two weeks now without new results. We were only into the second month of school now, yet Lilith was acting like we were on our way to becoming senior citizens. She didn’t come over that weekend. She was so pent up with frustration that I could hardly even get her to talk to me over the phone. Her grumbled responses to my talking were starting to bring out my own pent up frustration. I likely wouldn’t be able to reestablish things with her until the basement entrance was found.

That Wednesday, during the second week of no results, I was beginning to lose hope. It felt like no new opportunities to push things forward would present themselves. I sat there that lazy afternoon watching Ms. Logan paint for the third time that week. It was starting to feel like I was getting out of study hall for no reason at all. The only thing for me to do while Ms. Logan worked on her painting was sleep. She didn’t want to be disturbed as she worked.

“It’s done!” Ms. Logan shouted to wake me up. “Holly! Look! It’s done! I did it! I actually did it!”

I yawned and stretched my arms as I awoke from my short nap. She didn’t even give me time to recover from my stretching. She came over to the desk I was sitting at and yanked me out of the chair, paint from her hands splashing all over mine. She pulled me until I was up close and personal with her artwork, as if I couldn’t see it from where I was. She looked at me with a wide smile, awaiting positive judgment. Positive judgment was all I legitimately had for this piece of art.

“It’s good.” I said. “Just like I said when I saw it earlier, it’s very good.”

“Oh thank you so much Holly!” She squealed as she tried to pull me into a hug.

I pushed her hands away so that paint wouldn’t get all over my school uniform. When she recognized that fact she embarrassedly walked over to her desk to clean herself up with the paper towels she had there.

“Do you really like it?” She asked. “Or are you just saying that to be nice to me? I can take the criticism.”

I didn’t believe that last bit, but I genuinely thought the artwork was good.

“I don’t know what more I can say.” I said. “Ever since you first showed me what you were working on I thought it was incredibly good, especially for someone returning to painting. Since then, the painting has only become better and better. I thought you were done with it yesterday but today you somehow managed to create even greater detail.”

Ms. Logan was excited, ecstatic even. This was the happiest I had ever seen her. It didn’t occur to me that this ham-handed plan to get her painting would have this sort of effect on her. This effect seemed to be detrimental to my plans of getting her to go down into the basement. I was happy for her, but felt sour for myself. From here there were no further plans for me to patch things up with Lilith.

“I think Malorie would’ve liked this.” She said like she was thinking out loud. “I tried to do my best to instill everything that she taught me back then. I think Malorie would’ve been proud that I could make this. This is my life’s greatest work.”

It sounded like she had discovered a sense of purpose within this painting. The implication of that could mean that she was on the path towards becoming a more stable person.

“What will you do now?” I asked out of honest curiosity. “Will you continue painting new works?”

“No.” She said immediately. “This was just something that I had to do for Malorie. As I expected, it just isn’t the same to paint without her by my side. Back then painting was a matter of friendship. This painting is just a matter of serving her memory. Now that I’ve created this for her the only thing left for me to do is to put it in the place it belongs. There it will serve the purpose of honoring her memory, as it should.”

That was a massive hint that almost slipped past my ear. Part of me wasn’t sure if I had just heard that insinuation correctly. Was she seriously suggesting that she’d place it in the basement alongside Malorie’s cold corpse? Or was my goal of getting to the basement overtaking my sensibilities? I had to carefully acquire confirmation.

“Oh…?” I asked casually. “You already have a good spot to put it?”

“I do.” She said.

“Is it somewhere that means a lot to you or Malorie?” I asked.

“It means a lot to me. The painting’s final resting place is a place that I devoted to her memory. I hope it would mean something to Malorie if she could see it. That’s why I dedicated myself to this painting. Thank you for encouraging me to paint this. I think I feel much better when I look at it.”

That was it. That was the cue. She was planning on returning to the underground in order to place the painting with Malorie. Now that I knew that she was planning on going back I just needed to be in the position to follow her when she did. I also needed someone to back me up.

“I’m glad that you went through with it. I’m happy to see you happy. Do you mind if I use my phone to snap a picture of it before you put it away?”

“Sure.”

I pulled my cell phone out of my skirt pocket and opened up the camera app. Ms. Logan watched me as I lined up the shot.

“Now that you’re finished I need to go back to my homeroom class.” I said.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been meaning to talk to Ms. Kinsley about my college applications. I’ve been putting it off for a few days now because I wanted to be here when you finished. Is it okay if I leave?”

“Of course, I don’t mind. Thank you for being here for me. It means a lot. You go ahead and take care of your business.” She said.

“Thanks! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow!” She said back.

Without even expecting it I had hit my mark. Earlier I was thinking that I was far off target and yet somehow things managed to turn themselves around. In hindsight I should’ve guessed that Ms. Logan would take the painting there. After all, there was already a shrine of sorts surrounding that box that Malorie was held in. The white rose was Malorie’s symbol and Ms. Logan knew it. This new painting would likely serve as the centerpiece of her shrine, resting right next to Malorie.

After leaving Ms. Logan’s classroom I didn’t go back to my homeroom class like I said I would. That was a cover story so that I could go to the student council room inside the library. Hopefully Sam would be skipping class there. She was the perfect person to help me tail Ms. Logan. As long as Ms. Logan didn’t leave for the basement before school was over then we had a chance to follow her. That was why we needed to be quick about getting into position.

There was twenty minutes left in the final period of school and Ms. Logan’s classroom was far from the library. I made it to the library in a light jog. I rushed into the student council room hoping to find Sam. She wasn’t there. Instead, it was just Lilith sitting there, working on her laptop. She was wearing glasses that I had never seen before.

“You wear glasses?” I asked.

“Normally I wear contacts. My eyes were just itchy. Why are you here?” She asked.

I had half a mind to tell her the whole kit and caboodle in the hopes that it’d repair things between us, but I was too salty for that. I wasn’t going to hand over everything for next to nothing in return.

“I’m looking for Sam.” I said. “I need her help with something.”

“With what…?” She asked.

“It’s something between me and her.”

“Something…?” She asked suspiciously, then her eyes widened. “Wait, you were just with Ms. Logan weren’t you? Did you learn something new?”

I folded my arms in the same way that was typical of her behavior. She must’ve realized the change in body language meant I wasn’t going to openly tell her. Her eyes sharpened and she stood up out of her chair.

“Tell me!” She demanded. “If you know something, tell me!”

She was practically begging. I didn’t want her to beg for information. I wanted her to beg for forgiveness.

“After the way you treated me so coldly the past week? After how you pressured me over and over again to force something out of Ms. Logan? Why would I tell you anything?”

“Because…” She said softly. “We’re friends, remember?”

“Friends don’t treat each other the way you treated me. I shouldn’t have to stick my neck out for you only to be later scolded for not getting perfect results. You have to look at things from my perspective sometimes, Lilith.” I said.

She gave me an upset look like she didn’t know what to say. In her mind she must’ve known that I was right, which was why she couldn’t argue back. It was just that she often got along without considering the feelings of others. She sat back down in her seat and looked away from me. She stared off in distant thought before looking back at me.

“How can I make it up to you?” She asked.

I dropped my folded arms and went to take my usual seat next to her. I took her by the hand. She didn’t resist my touch this time.

“You can start by promising to be more considerate in the future. That’s all I want.” I said.

“That’s it? Will you tell me what you learned now?” She asked.

“There’s something else. I’ll tell you this weekend when you invite me over to your place.”

She pulled back out of surprise.

“My place is boring.” She said. “Why would you want to come over to my place? Besides, you’ve got your curfew, don’t you? How could you even manage to stay for the weekend?”

“I’ll talk to my parole officer about that. If you want to make amends then this is my deal.”

“Fine,” Lilith said. “I’ll just warn you that my room doesn’t have much compared to yours. Also, my younger cousin is going to annoy the hell out of you. He bothers my distant family members every time they visit.”

“It’s fine. I’m good with kids.”

“I guess you would be.”

“I wasn’t expecting to find you in the library.” I said. “You didn’t go to class?”

Lilith pointed at an open document on her laptop. Then she pointed at the book sitting beside her laptop. I didn’t notice when I came in but she was working on Malorie’s diary.

“I only have a little bit left before I’m finished transcribing Malorie’s entire diary. Once it’s done I’ll leave the proofreading to you and Jay. Then Val can upload the rest of the diary to the website. Actually, since you’re coming over this weekend we should focus on that. We can finish all that this weekend.” Lilith said.

“Did Sam go over to Naomi’s hideout?” I asked.

“No, she was here. She got bored and went to study hall. She said she was going to help out one of her girlfriends with her homework.”

“Thanks.” I said as I got up. “If things go well I’ll send you an important text later.”

Lilith waved me off as I left the library. It was all she could do since I wasn’t ready to give up any information yet. The most important thing right now was to get a picture of the location of the basement. I sent a text message to Sam about my dilemma directly. I could’ve used ChatCat, but there was the risk that she might’ve dismissed the ChatCat notification as unimportant, especially since she was in two groups.

Sam and I met up just outside the cafeteria. She was panting from the run over. She must’ve understood the message about how urgent my request was. School was over and our window of opportunity was at risk at closing. As soon as we linked up we began walking together.

“I got here as fast as I could!” She said. “I was helping someone out in class.”

“Another one of Naomi’s girlfriends…?” I asked.

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Lilith told me. She said you decided to go back to class to help someone.”

“She did, huh? Are you two back to normal?” She asked.

“We will be after this.”

The final school bell rang just as we were reaching the history hallway. The slim hallways began to fill up with people, making it harder to reach our target. The first task we had was to check to make sure that Ms. Logan hadn’t already left. For that purpose Sam would be instrumental. Ms. Logan wasn’t familiar with Sam, a transfer student, so she could peek in without being too conspicuous.

“I’ve got a way for you to peek in without raising any red flags.” I said. “You’re just a transfer student looking for directions. If she’s in there just politely ask which room number Mr. Hudson is in. He’s another history teacher. Ms. Logan will know that his classroom is two doors down.”

“Sure. Here I go.”

“Wait!” I said before she could head for the door.

“What’s wrong?”

“Give me your mask. That will raise alarms in her mind if she sees you walk in wearing that.”

“Oh, you’re right. Good idea. Here, take it. I’ll be right back.” Sam said.

Sam went inside alone. I stood back a safe distance away so that I couldn’t be seen as the door opened. This plan wouldn’t take long to execute. Sam was in and out in less than thirty seconds. As Sam came out she carefully closed the door softly behind her and smiled at me.

“She’s in there.” Sam said. “Now what do we do?”

“Now… Now we wait.”