We checked the security footage, and it does not match up with that woman’s story at all. The “Kevin” boy whom she said had assaulted Ashley had gone to the room first, and Ashley followed a few minutes later. Her behavior was strange; she ran through the hallway, and then peered in through the window on the door for quite a while before abruptly yanking the door open and running inside. I have no idea what might have made her act this way; Ashley is rarely so hyperactive.

Then, neither student ever came out of the room. Shari left the room very shortly after Ashley entered. So, she left Ashley alone with this boy? She is hiding something about the story, and that makes my blood boil. She is trying to deny responsibility for what happened… or worse, she knew what was going down at this point and ignored it.

From there, things get even stranger. She seemingly led a group containing Zoe, Ashley’s friends Anja and Nova, and another girl I don’t recognize but is apparently named “Ruth” to her room. There is a brief interval where the footage is corrupted and can’t be replayed, and then it cuts to her walking back towards the office, all of the other students gone. I reason they must have gone into her room to help Ashley, but I can’t make heads or tails of Shari’s behavior here.

Since none of them ever left the room, Kevin’s parents, Gregg and I decide to walk to her room to get them. With a police officer and school employee with us I think we are fine to go, and at this point I wouldn’t care even if we had to go alone. Whatever is happening in that room, we’re ending it now.

I don’t know what I was expecting to see in there, but I’m taken aback at the sight of all of them; Ashley, Zoe, her friends, Ruth, and Kevin, calmly standing in a circle near the front of the room. I’m flooded with relief to see that Ashley and Zoe are okay, but something is up with Ashley. She looks really tired out, as if she had just run a marathon. I go straight for Ashley and Zoe and wrap them both into my arms.

“Mom?” Ashley asks weakly. “You’re here…”

“Is it true?” I press her. “That you were attacked?”

“Oh, I was attacked alright…” Ashley responds.

I glance over at Kevin, who is being approached by his own parents. “Kevin,” his dad says in a stern voice. “You need to explain yourself…”

Ruth jumps into the conversation, saying, “I would discredit anything that Ms. Truman told you.”

“What? What does that mean?” I question her frantically. “Ashley, did this boy try to attack you?”

Ashley scoffs at this. “Are you kidding? He’s the one who saved me from her.”

“Her? Which her?”

“Ms. Truman,” Zoe answers, biting her lip in nervousness. “Our English teacher.”

As the situation starts to dawn at me, I feel my blood pressure rise dangerously high. Gregg steps up to Zoe, putting one arm around her. “Please do tell us what exactly happened,” he requests. “I already had a feeling the story she told us was omitting key details…”

The group of kids take turn explaining what happened. Kevin came to Shari’s class after school, seemingly out of boredom and to talk about something that had been troubling him. Meanwhile, Ashley and her friends had apparently learned from another teacher that the coach taken into custody yesterday was not guilty, and that he was being set up by someone else. Ashley thought that Shari might have been the one who really did it, so she came to her room. This goes a long way towards explaining her strange behavior in the security footage. At this point in the story, the students go quiet for a moment and make eye contact before continuing. I can’t shake the feeling that they came to some sort of unspoken agreement.

Ashley saw Shari acting inappropriately towards Kevin and decided to go inside to try and break it up. I think she should have reported this to someone instead, but well, you know how Ashley is. After this, Ms. Truman turned onto Ashley and tried to take off her clothes, hoping that it would entertain Kevin, but Kevin intervened to try and help. However, in whatever scuffle that happened, both Ashley and Kevin were knocked unconscious. Shari then left and found Zoe and her friends and told them a fake story about Ashley being chased by Kevin outside and took them down the hall, saying they should go look for her. However, they instead found both in Shari’s room and went in to help them. Around this time is when Shari went to the front office, which is when we bumped into her. During this time, the other kids were apparently talking to each other to find out what had really happened, and they were about to come report everything to the front office when we walked in.

There is something strange, however. When Ashley said she had passed out, I checked all around her head for any bruises or signs of injury, but she looks totally fine. Despite this, Ashley still looks close to fainting. Ashley says that she simply passed out from the stress of the situation, but I know my daughter and she is rather unflappable. Between this, and that silent agreement I noticed earlier, I can’t help but to suspect that the kids are concealing some detail in the story as well.

I talk as little as possible during our telling of the story. The others seem to have edited the story to change anything that happened in the Metaverse. Understandable, since it’s not like anyone would believe it. While I finally got to hear parts of the story I didn’t know, I’m not really interested right now. I just feel kinda empty. Like I’m not really here; I’m in the audience watching this happen to someone else. I don’t know what the right word for it is.

There is a tense silence when they’re done. While we all agreed on the story, we are all kids; are they gonna believe us? My parents would never believe just me, but maybe with all the others on the same page…

“Kevin, why did you get yourself wrapped up in this woman’s games?” My mom chastises.

I don’t immediately process what she said, leaving me to stupidly stammer, “Wh-what? What do…”

“Were you trying to help her undress this girl?” my dad asks suspiciously. “Or were you just a bystander?”

“Weren’t you paying attention?” Ashley asks in a harsh voice. “He didn’t help her. He saved me from her .”

“But she was doing it for his entertainment, wasn’t she?” Mom insists. “Even if he got cold feet, I am still…”

“Mrs. Snyder,” Ruth interrupts. “With all due respect. You are wrong. Kevin did not ask her to do that. In fact, he is as much of a victim as Ashley here is. She had been grooming him for a few days and had been planning to corner him to try and pull this.”

“How do you know that?” Dad asks, astonished.

“She framed Coach Everheart by using his Wi-Fi to post about a planned sexual assault,” Ruth explains patiently. “Kevin has been tearing himself apart over the idea that Coach Everheart tried to do such a thing. Ms. Truman then swooped in and started having these deep talks with him…” However, Ruth stops here, suddenly seeming agitated. She growls in a frustrated way and uses one of her hands to yank on her hair. “I’ve been so stupid!” she cries.

“So that coach was being set up?” Ashley’s dad questions. “We need to pass this on to the police or else he could be wrongfully imprisoned.”

“Do you believe all of this?” Mom asks incredulously, rounding on Ashley’s parents. “This whole crazy story?”

“It is quite a crazy story,” Ashley’s mom admits. “But this lot, at least the ones I know, are good kids. I know they wouldn’t blatantly lie about something like this.” She sighs heavily. “Ashley… and Kevin. I understand if this is too hard for you, but do you mind saying… what exactly she did?”

Everyone turns their eyes to me; nobody here knows the truth about what happened in that stomach but me. I gulp and then say, “She… reached under my clothes and touched me there.” Which is true. Those snake heads had pierced through my robe with no issue.

Ashley’s mom gasps, horrified. “Ashley, did…?”

“Mine, uh, wasn’t that bad,” Ashley explains. “But it was a close call… she would’ve if she got the chance to.”

“Jesus Christ!” Anja cries out. If she was acting to try and sell my story, it was very convincing. “That is a form of sexual assault! You must know that, right?”

“Well,” Dad says, scratching his head and looking deeply disturbed. “Yes, if that’s true she certainly should be charged with some sort of statutory violation.”

“You two, for once, need to trust in your son!” Ruth lectures at my parents, angrier than I hardly ever see her. “He is my best friend and I can tell you he is a good man. He was just groomed and assaulted by a teacher and all you can do is buy into her bullshit story!”

“Ruth, sweetie,” Mom pants, her face turning pale. “This is just so much to take in…”

“Look at him, he’s hardly said a word since it happened, and he looks dead on the inside!” Ruth continues. “You have to see the writing on the wall! See past this sexist idea our culture has that women are so weak that they could never hurt anyone, and look at the facts clearly in front of you.”

“You know,” Ashley interjects. “Ms. Truman told me about doing something like this before. Assaulting a boy, and then telling everyone he was the aggressor. She’s totally gotten away with child molestation once before. Will you let it happen again?”

“Dear,” Dad says, “I have to say. I’ve been on the scene in rape cases before. And Kevin is acting much more like a victim than that teacher of his was. I think there is something to this.”

My feelings all come back at once, so quickly that I feel like I was just hit by a tsunami. And I start shamelessly crying in front of everyone. My parents rush forward, taking me into their arms.

I’m not really any good at giving speeches and stuff so I mostly let everyone else talk to the parents. Finally, we get all of them to head back to the office so we can tell the cops and shit what happened.

Ashley’s parents go in first, and the rest of us hang back behind them. The people still hanging around in the office seem shocked to see all of us here, especially Ashley I bet.

“Where did Shari go?” Ashley’s mom asks.

“What are you asking for?” a police officer questions back.

“Because I’m going to kill her.”

The officer frowns. “Ma’am, what…”

“I’M GOING TO KILL HER!” Ashley’s mom explodes, and she runs forward like she’s going to go right down the hallway, but the officer blocks her.

“Don’t worry, we just want to talk with her,” Ashley’s dad says coldly. “She is in that back room, is she not?”

“What is all of this about?” Some administrator lady asks. “Hasn’t she gone through enough today?”

“You are being played for fools, I’m afraid,” Ashley’s dad explains.

“That woman… that witch… she lied about… what happened to our daughter!” Ashley’s mom rants, trying to push past the officer. “She molested that Kevin boy… she would’ve done the same to her… she lied, she pinned that blog post on the coach…”

“Ma’am, that story is preposterous!” the officer responds, pushing her backwards away from the hall entrance. “Now, where is Officer Snyder?”

“HE IS BACK THERE CONSOLING HIS SON WHO JUST GOT ASSAULTED!” Ashley’s mom yells. “IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE US, WHY DON’T YOU GO FUCKING CALL HIM ON YOUR WALKIE TALKIE, AND HE’LL TELL YOU!”

“You need to calm yourself, right now!” the officer growls threateningly. “I will detain you if you force me to.”

I scoff and lean over to Anja. “Daddy always said you can’t trust a cop,” I mutter to her.

“What did you just say?” the officer says, zeroing in on me from across the room. “Say that again, boy.”

“Didn’t say nothing,” I dismiss.

“You little liar. How about we get these damn kids out of here. I’m not taking smack from a runt like this!”

“Well, you’re one to talk about staying calm,” Ashley’s dad states plainly, pursing his lips.

I’m wondering if the dude is about to pull a baton out on Ashley’s parents when a door in the back slams open. Ms. Truman stumbles into the hallway, looking dejectedly at the ground as if she can’t bear to make eye contact with any of us.

“What she said is true. It’s all true,” she says quickly. “I lured them into that… place.”

“Shari, what are you talking about?” asks the administrator lady.

“I made that post at the work party. I framed Coach Everheart. I fully intended to have my way with Kevin and any of his friends who happened to wander in after him.” She’s talking frantically fast, as if she’s worried she’s going to run out of words soon. “I lied about him assaulting Ashley. And I lied about Enrique, back at my student teaching! And at my college, I used my…”

“Ma’am, if you’d like to… confess to anything else, we can do it at the station,” the officer tells her, clearly perplexed by her change of behavior. “Now, can I have you…”

“Wait!” Ms. Truman interjects, a crazed look in her eyes. “I wasn’t alone. I collaborated with someone. A network of human traffickers. They gave me an app on my phone which let me access the… the…”

“What is she doing ?” Ruth whispers to us, looking horrified. “Didn’t she say…”

“The what ?” the officer questions. “Some website which lets you access child pornography, or meet accomplices?”

“It’s the…” Ms. Truman stops and starts reaching for her throat, panting heavily. Then, she starts making this awful choking sound. She keels over, coughing uncontrollably. And then, something starts coming from her mouth. A liquid, that splatters onto the floor…

And the liquid is a black, tarlike substance.

“Call the hospital! She’s horribly ill!” The one administrator calls, panicking. There’s a flurry of activity, different school staff coming out of their rooms to see what is going on, some of them screaming…

“We shouldn’t be watching this,” Ashley’s dad tells us darkly. “Come on, let’s get all of you kids home now.” He hurriedly shepherds us out of the office.

Not like we were all exactly jolly as a roger before, but the atmosphere around the group is noticeably grimmer. Ashley’s mom has a distant look, like she’s having some terrible vision the rest of us can’t see. Zoe looks like she’s going to be sick herself and is clinging to Ashley’s arm. Ruth is agitated, tears streaming down her face as she tries to process something in her head. And Anja… she’s crying loud, ugly sobs, her face red. I put my arms around her, and she puts her head straight in my chest and continues sobbing.

What about me? Well, I’m in total shock. Not just because of Ms. Truman’s sudden illness. But because I think I know what it means. Maybe you figured it out already too. Especially my fellow gamers out there who might have seen a cutscene like that once.

It means that Lily was right. In all her insane conspiracies she managed to stumble upon something real. Except, I think she got one part of it wrong. It’s not a poison that kills people; it’s being killed in the Metaverse. Whoever this group is, they swooped in and got her the second she tried to reveal their big secret. And that… is one of the most terrifying thoughts I’ve ever had.

~Ending of Movement III: A Wolf In Business Casual~