Chapter 111 – Return to the Routine – Silver Brooks

Just like that, and far sooner than I wanted, my Thanksgiving break came to an unsatisfying end. It didn’t even feel like a vacation given the amount of homework and studying I still had to do. I walked into the school building feeling zombie-like and already exhausted.

I couldn’t say how much of this feeling was from my overall disappointing vacation, and how much of it was from learning so many dark secrets. Although Casper made her best attempts at comforting me I was afraid that even that wasn’t enough. It felt like I was carrying something heavy on me that I couldn’t take off.

The girls in my classes were all excited to see each other again. They happily talked about their vacations while I stayed quiet in the background. A few of my friends tried prodding me out of my shell. Only, I was too worn out to even give them a proper response.

That didn’t stop them from talking around me. They were going on and on right beside me even though I wasn’t participating in the conversation. So many people knew me as a playful spirit that they couldn’t possibly grasp that I might actually be depressed about something.

Normally I was the type of person to try cheering up others and never the one needing to be cheered up myself. Instead of paying any attention to them I just put my head down on my desk and pretended to sleep. At least this way I could have some time to myself.

The best part of my day thus far turned out to be math class. My teacher suspected me of cheating since I had a perfect score. As always, we were asked to show our work on paper and so she could see for herself how I arrived at those answers. Her suspicion was that I may have copied someone else’s homework down to exact details.

That theory broke apart when it turned out that I had the best grade in the class. When I explained that Holly Hayfield was the one that tutored me all suspicions were immediately dropped and she congratulated me. It was amazing what sort of name-power Holly had at our school. I couldn’t imagine being that highly regarded.

Lunch came around and I went to go hang out with the girls in the old science wing. My hope was that my group could at least help me take my mind off of things. I wasn’t sure if it would help much but I was at least determined to make an effort.

Perri, on the other hand, was acting like she completely forgot about the situation with Officer Morelli. She shoved it so far into the back of her mind that it virtually didn’t even happen! She bragged to the other girls about hopping trains in and out of town, skateboarding down the street to the concert, and camping out at an unused house.

The story sounded brave and adventurous when she told it. In hindsight it did sound pretty exciting, but I felt like she was leaving out a massive point. All that I could hear was just how selective her memory was.

“Is Silver in here…?” Someone asked from the doorway of our hideout.

Everyone looked over to see Holly coming into the room. Normally we’d be wary of people just suddenly walking into our room, but this was Holly. Holly was the closest thing we had to an irregular member so it wasn’t unusual for her to come in.

Her name-power carried greatly even in a somewhat underground place like this. Most people simply went back to what they were doing, but a few others, including Naomi herself, went up to see Holly. I followed close behind them.

“Silver, there you are!” Holly said as she pointed me out of the group, “I wanted to check up on you. How are you feeling today?”

The other girls gave me odd looks. They couldn’t tell by interacting with me, what Holly already suspected. It was hard to answer this question in front of them.

I knew Holly was a counselor but I didn’t expect her to proactively seek me out. Mrs. Douglass usually acted like she couldn’t get rid of me quick enough. Holly’s behavior spoke volumes about her character.

“I’m mostly fine, just a little tired.” I said.

Holly stared at me intensely before deciding something. She pulled out her cell phone.

“I’d like to give you my information in case you ever want to talk. Also, I’m seriously thinking about taking up tutoring more regularly as an after school job. Working with you has opened my mind to the possibility. I think I prefer tutoring to babysitting.”

“I’d like to have you as my tutor again!” I said.

“Great, then let’s exchange cell phone numbers. I believe you already have my ChatCat ID, correct?”

“Correct!”

“You can leave a message for me on ChatCat if you can’t reach me by phone.”

I took out my cell phone so that I could register her number. A few of the other girls watched this interaction curiously. Holly talked to each of them one at a time after she was done talking to me. Naomi and Sam took up most of her time, but that was to be expected. They were friends before I ever met her.

When that was done, Holly waved goodbye to everyone. She specifically looked over to me and nodded. It seemed like she really wanted me to contact her. She knew exactly what I was going through. It put my heart at ease that someone could understand.

Once Holly was gone, a few girls asked about what was going on between me and Holly. I only told them that she tutored me over the weekend. I left out the other details about her visit of course. They’d never be able to keep a secret like the things Holly told me. We’d have a dozen new rumors in the school rumor mill.

It was a wonder that Holly even entrusted me with these secrets, given the heavy nature of these things. The people involved also made these secrets that much more sensitive. Part of me felt like I’d be better off not knowing. Things would be simpler that way.

Most of the day went on completely normally. I attended boring class after class. I turned in my vacation homework and got a new fat stack of homework. I struggled to stay awake all day.

Everything felt like such a dry cycle of monotonous repetition. So much had changed and yet nothing had changed at all. It was hard to quantify or qualify the importance of my secret knowledge when they seemed to have literally no effect in the world.

Our school was run by a killer and yet the world operated just as it did before I knew that fact. I wasn’t even sure I could bring myself to look Ms. Sampson in the eye anymore. How was I meant to cope with this?

After school I went into the art club room with a sigh. It wasn’t likely that painting would take my mind off of things either, but it was better than nothing. Maybe the best thing for me in this situation was just to try forcing myself out of this slump.

Maybe I’d try painting something from life like my mother always did? She was normally sipping from a wine glass as she painted so maybe this idea was a non-starter. Doing something, anything, to break out of my typical routine would be a welcome change.

My two club mates, Aubrey and Tanya, were already in the clubroom by the time I arrived. I had no idea how they made it here so fast because I came straight over after school ended. It was possible that they skipped class.

Coincidentally, skipping class was at least partially why both of them were kicked out of their original schools in the first place. The two were so alike in many ways that they were practically like sisters. I loved them both and tried to get them to join Naomi’s group with little success.

The two of them were sitting in chairs on the other side of the clubroom. It looked like they were watching something on Aubrey’s cell phone. Tanya was pushed in close against Aubrey so that she could see.

“Are you two watching a movie?” I asked as I sat my stuff down beside them.

“Silver!” Aubrey said, “I haven’t talked to you since school let out! You really should call me more.”

I laughed.

“Or maybe you should call me!” I jested. “You know I’m always happy to talk to either of you.”

“Hey Silver, I heard you hurt your leg over the break?” Tanya asked.

“You heard about that…? It was actually only my ankle.” I said.

I sat down in the extra chair beside them and Aubrey brought her phone over to me.

“Check it out! They caught her on a streetlight camera!” Aubrey said.

“Who…?” I asked.

“It’s the Killing Cat!” Aubrey said, “This was on the night that a former student from this school died!”

I took hold of Aubrey’s phone to get a better look. The video was a short, repeating video of a masked figure walking down an empty street with a bloodied knife. The video was from a low quality street camera so the details were fuzzy.

The scene was mostly dark. There was only a brief moment of the masked person stepping into the streetlight. I pressed pause on the video when the person came within range of the streetlight so that I could get a better look.

The glowing blue eyes on her mask had this cool spiritual effect. The design of the mask itself was simple, but unique. More importantly, it had a stitched mouth, which was something that Holly mentioned in the story she told me about Malorie Noelle.

Seeing this mask made everything Holly told me feel that much more real. The world actually did change. The fact that Tanya and Aubrey were watching this made it even more so! If they could casually watch something like this, then anyone could.

“Can you tell me anything more about the Killing Cat?” I asked.