Chapter 112 – Curiosity and the Cat – Silver Brooks

When I asked Aubrey and Tanya for more information about the Killing Cat I wasn’t expecting to get a tale of such epic tragedy. They repeated some of the things that Holly told me about Malorie, but these two were far off base. Holly’s story was measured and straight-forward, unlike Aubrey and Tanya’s.

I felt certain that they were sprinkling in extra details for dramatic effect. According to them, the masked Killing Cat was the embodiment of Malorie Noelle. She returned to this world to wreak havoc on all those who wronged her during her lifetime. Her spirit would be able to rest only once all her enemies were destroyed.

It was both the cheesiest thing and coolest thing that I had ever heard. There was no way that it was a reanimated corpse committing all those murders. Yet I shamelessly hoped that it was. The idea that our school was as haunted as everyone suspected it was felt remarkable.

I knew the very first day that I laid eyes on the school it seemed special. With all the rip-off Victorian era architecture this school had to be something special, right? How could it not? I was utterly disappointed when so far the school had turned out to be as normal and boring as my last.

With the Killing Cat in the mix I felt like there was the potential for something larger than life to happen here. The caricature of an evil and corrupt police officer was real. Maybe vengeful spirits were real too?

Over the course of the past couple of months I heard rumors about the Killing Cat, Malorie Noelle, and internal conspiracies. I never took them seriously. In hindsight I wished I paid more attention to the things going on around me.

For as bored as I’ve always been with school I sure as hell almost missed something colossal. It was wrong of me to dismiss the murders as just unfortunate coincidences like the other ‘rational’ minded people seemed to be doing. No, there was something deeper, something interesting going on here.

The fact that the Killing Cat was getting rid of the evil conspirators meant that she wasn’t just some random serial killer. She was someone with a sense of justice. Spirit or not, this entity didn’t seem interested in random unaffiliated violence.

That thought carried me to the door of the newspaper club, where I planned to talk to Zoe. Before I could knock on the door, I heard talking from inside. The voices from inside sounded strained. It almost sounded like an argument was being stifled or suppressed by the two people engaged in conversation.

I had mixed feelings about entering during a tense moment like this. It would be awkward. Instead, I was going to walk away. As I pulled away from the door someone happened to step out.

“Lilith…?” I asked.

“Do I know you?” Lilith asked.

“Of course you do! I’ve been to your house, remember? I’m Silver!” I said.

“Who…?”

I pulled up my black surgical mask with the image of an antique key on it. She seemed to recognize the image but didn’t change her uninterested expression.

“Let me pass.” She said.

I stepped aside so that she could walk by me.

“Silver…” Zoe said as I walked in, “Don’t tell me you heard all that…”

Zoe sounded out of it. I assumed that meant her conversation with Lilith didn’t go well. I knew the two had history together and weren’t on speaking terms for a while. Although I didn’t know Lilith very well, despite multiple attempts at talking to her, I knew Zoe much better.

Zoe and I shared an art elective class in the past where we sat next to each other. We didn’t share any classes together this school year and naturally drifted apart because of it. She was busy with her newspaper club, and I with my art club.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I walked over to where she was sitting.

“Nothing unusual… We were talking normally but then I demanded just a few personal answers from her. She refused to even acknowledge what happened in the past. I guess it’s too early… Or it’s too much to ask… It was wrong of me to even bring it up but I’ve always been so painfully curious.” She said.

She seemed particularly defeated over this. Her short hair was a mess and her glasses were resting on the table beside her. Her eyes had bags beneath them like she was suffering from lack of sleep. She looked like how I felt this morning.

I sat in her lap so that I could wrap her into a hug. She seemed surprised by the suddenness of it, but enthusiastically returned my hug. I didn’t expect that. In the past she always had mixed reactions to my touchiness so this change in character meant that she was very grateful to see me. It was nice to know that I could cheer at least one person up from out of the same depressive state that I was in.

“I’m happy to be here for you.” I said.

She pulled away and I got out of her lap.

“You’re the last person I was expecting to see today. What’s the special occasion?” She asked.

I grinned as I pulled up a chair.

“Have you heard about all the Killing Cat rumors going on around school?”

“Oh brother, not you too…” She groaned.

I pulled out my cell phone to pull up the streetlight security video that Aubrey showed me earlier.

“Have you seen…”

“I’ve seen that video from multiple angles and from other sources. The news keeps playing that same clip because it’s the video with the best lighting, but there are other videos like it. Whoever is beneath that mask planned their exit route well in advance to avoid more attention.”

“R-really…?”

“Yep. The exit route itself is further evidence that these are explicitly premeditated murders happening, and not gang warfare like some of the media would have you believe… Honestly, what a stupid theory for an media anchor to come up with considering one of the victims was a teacher.”

“Whoa… I wasn’t expecting you to have such a developed opinion of this.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been following this case for a while with a great deal of disappointment. In fact, that exact video is the same reason that Lilith originally stopped by. I wasn’t expecting that a second person might come in to talk to me about it, least of all you. That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate you coming, I do.”

“Thanks, but the video itself isn’t why I’m here. I’ve got an idea that I think only you can help me with.”

“Oh…? Let’s hear it.”

“I want to create a documentary!”

“About…”

“About the Killing Cat…!”

“You’re serious…?” She asked, “What would that even entail?”

“Well mainly I want to document everything that’s happened so far with the Killing Cat. That starts with finding out everything that students know about her.”

“That could ruffle some feathers. The vice principal…”

“I know, Holly told me to keep my head down. That’s why I’m coming to you about this, a school journalist. I thought that if anyone could understand my curiosity, it would be you.”

Zoe’s eyes lit up and she straightened out her posture.

“You know there are a few things that Erica encouraged me to keep quiet about… I’ve always wanted to do something big like this but I didn’t know how. Plus, there’s a secrecy aspect to this…”

“Let’s tell people that we’re doing something for the school website or the school yearbook. Secretly, we’ll record interviews about the murderer!”

Zoe laughed.

“This sounds like an incredibly dangerous and stupid plan…”

“Don’t all of the best plans sound like that…?”

She looked at her computer monitor and sighed.

“It’s not like I have anything better to do right now...” She said. “Alright, I’m in! Let’s do it! Let’s conduct your little school survey!”

We decided to get started immediately. The first thing we did was set up a proper interview area in the newspaper clubroom. We set up two opposing chairs near a couple of desks beside the windows. Even with the curtains fully open the room still felt dark since not all of the ceiling lights worked.

There was a camera setup on a tripod next to where the interviewer was meant to sit. This was a new camera according to Zoe, a gift the club got from the vice principal for helping her. With the help of some additional lamps from another room our interview area looked professional.

The first people to be interviewed would be from my own group. Zoe was the one to inform me that she heard more information on the Killing Cat from Brianna of all people. Brianna was involved in the huge brawl that they got into with Black Brittney’s crew and heard more about it from Erica that day.

I don’t like fighting and chose not to involve myself with that brawl, or any other fighting for that matter. Brianna already went home for the day but it gave me the idea of asking Perri to contribute to our little documentary. After a quick text message she happily volunteered herself.

She arrived quickly. She didn’t really care about the details. She just wanted to be involved in a student documentary that I was making. This type of thing normally wasn’t something our school did since the newspaper club had been on life support for years.

This documentary wasn’t actually being made for public showing, but I didn’t want to crush her hopes. Maybe I’d show it to my girlfriends in Naomi’s group whenever it was finished. Ultimately that would depend on how serious the content of the video turned out to be.

She recounted everything that happened after the brawl was broken up by Valentina and the SCA. She was still salty about that and made some unnecessary comments about the SCA. Zoe had to direct her back on topic.

Zoe was the one sitting in the interviewer’s seat. I was standing behind the camera and adjusting things when I felt it necessary. For the most part I let the camera sit in place, but in a couple of moments I zoomed in on Perri as the details got spicy.

“Erica told you all this…?” Zoe asked. “I wasn’t in the room that day but she’s told me something similar before. I’m surprised that she told such a large group of people. I knew that she was nervous about handling this information.”

“She didn’t hold anything back,” Perri said. “I never heard about any vandalizing that happened during the field day event. Everyone was too enveloped in trying to get points for their team. I was actually one of the MVPs for my team in several matches! It was great! In the tug of war I didn’t lose a single…”

“Can I ask you about your opinion of the Killing Cat?” Zoe asked.

“The story is pretty awesome, isn’t it?” Perri asked and grinned at me.

I pointed back to Zoe so that she wouldn’t look my way. We told her before that she wasn’t supposed to look directly into the camera.

“Besides that,” Zoe said, pushing up her glasses, “Do you have anything you’d like to say about her? What is your theory of the person behind the mask?”

“She’s the spirit of the school.” Perri said confidently. “She exists as an addition to the original Killing Cat story. I read most of the play posted on the Immortal Diary website. It seems fitting.”

“What do you think about the murder of Ms. Logan?”

“I definitely won’t miss her.” Perri said bluntly.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it… Well, it’s too bad that she died like that but we never really got along. Actually, I don’t think she got along with anyone from my class. It would’ve been better if she would’ve just quit teaching years ago. Maybe then she’d still be alive.”

“How about Vivian Hale…?”

“From what I heard that woman was involved in some illegal drug trading. I’m not surprised she died. She probably had a hit on her.”

“It’s believed that the Killing Cat killed her.” Zoe explained. “That was the same day she was caught in the streetlight security footage you may have seen.”

“Maybe, but it’s not like that was a unique mask the person in the video was wearing. Silver’s art club even made a few masks for our group with glowing symbols and everything.” Perri said while pointing at me.

“You don’t believe that the Killing Cat killed Vivian Hale?” Zoe asked. “Her name was on the Immortal Diary website that you mentioned.”

“No, I think that’s a cop-out alibi for the actual killer. If they wanted her dead before then, Ms. Logan dying paired with the Immortal Diary stuff seems like a great distraction.” Perri said.

Zoe looked up at me and shrugged. I guessed that meant the interview was over. These were the sort of answers I expected from Perri anyways. The only thing she really helped us with was Erica’s story.

The funny thing about this was that Perri refused to believe that Officer Morelli buried a corpse, but the idea that the Killing Cat was a spirit was somehow more acceptable? As much as I liked the idea of a ghost haunting the school it seemed like Perri was just taking things in stride no matter what.

Maybe she didn’t want to face the hard questions behind both these ideas. If Officer Morelli buried a person, then who did she bury and why? If the Killing Cat wasn’t a spirit, then who was committing murder? I could see how she would be disturbed by those questions.

There was more to this than Perri, or most people, wanted to see.