5 - Swear on the River Styx

                                    

                                          
That afternoon, all students had been let out of school early. Naturally, the incident had blown up on social media within an hour, which stunned many people while infuriating parents. Hence, the day was cut short before reports regarding 'unsafe events on school grounds' were filed. After refusing counselling treatment and witness testimonies from the local news reporters, Clara insisted that Hayley came back to her house for a full explanation.
                          
The teenager now paced in her room, rubbing her arm and trying to work out how exactly to word things while the redhead sat cross-legged on the bed, her nervous tick of tapping her leg in full effect. Clara exhaled slowly and finally sat down, holding Hayley's hands in her own.
                          
"Listen, Hayley, I'm about to tell you something serious. And hopefully, it'll explain everything you may have questions about. You have to promise not to tell anyone" she began, watching her friend's expression carefully.
                          
Clara knew this might put her in further danger, but what choice did she have? Hayley had seen too much now, hell, their little group could've been seriously hurt that day. There was no lying about that. She just hoped that she would believe the truth.
                          
Hayley crossed a hand over her heart and sat up straight, closing her eyes and puffing out her chest. "Alright, I swear on the river Styx that I won't tell a single soul, living or dead, about this secret, ever," she said.
                          
Clara blinked and shook her head in surprise "Did you steal that from Percy Jackson or something? God, you're so dramatic sometimes..."
                          
The redhead opened one eye, looking at her friend "You told me to swear, so I did" she replied innocently, making her best face.
                          
Clara rolled her eyes, then began explaining the news stories and her own nightmares. She decided to let her read the first letter that had arrived at her door too, hoping to cover everything possible. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just... I wanted to protect you from all this".
                          
"Oh my god. This is serious..." she murmured, looking up from the letter "What are you going to do?"
                          
Clara lowered her gaze to her bed covers, fiddling with her bracelet "I honestly don't know. I mean, with a killer possibly watching our every move, I can't do much except hope that we have some time before-"
                          
"Don't speak like that. There has to be something that we can do. I read the note, I know that if we call the cops then possibly the whole town will die, but there has got to be something" Hayley cut her off, trying to be optimistic.
                          
Clara raised an eyebrow "Like what?"
                          
"I dunno. Maybe talk to the others? Four heads are better than one, right? Unless you're a Hydra of course..." she suggested, sidetracking a bit as her mindset shifted to greek mythology.
                          
"Uhhh, yeah... maybe I will," Clara said in a low voice.
                          
"Alright. I gotta go. Dad will wonder why I'm taking so long" Hayley said, hugging her best friend before getting up to leave. She was halfway to the door when she paused, turning back around to look into Clara's eyes. "Who else knows?"
                          
"Only Nate and Devon know, and now you too" she replied.
                          
Hayley nodded and gave her a reassuring look before walking out, shutting the door quietly behind her.
                          
Clara collapsed into her swivel chair, sighing while drifting deeply into her thoughts. She opened her laptop to begin researching this 'Alton Point Slayer' when she noticed her notifications were in the hundreds. Taking a deep breath, she clicked on the icon which took her to Facebook. Her computer began freezing up as status after status flooded her page.
                          
Dozens of posts about the incident, some complete with semi-blurred photos from inside classrooms, taken of the area where the group had sat. She could make out herself and her friends in the shots, one of which even contained a clear depiction of the various knives in the wall and table. It made Clara feel ill all over again.
                          
Below that were dozens of mindless statuses; some contained general shock at the event and paranoia of the supposed return of the mass murderer, others were making a big drama over the whole thing with "OMG almost died today #closecall #gladtobealive #blessed" and a few similar bullshit posts. But the worst ones were towards the group themselves.
                          
Sure, it was normal for their group to be called 'weird' or 'introverted', simply because they didn't go out and party or do stuff that the popular kids would. But these were nasty posts, people blaming them or calling out some sort of crazy conspiracy where the teens were caught in the middle of the drama and other students were just collateral damage. Clara even spotted a death threat from a bully in her PM's.
                          
She rubbed her temples and groaned, about to log out, but spotted another status that stood out from the rest.
                          
"I can't believe those guys at Auburn Vale High got away unscathed from that horrific incident. How did they stay so calm? I would have totally freaked out and been impaled for sure. Those guys had guts, I seriously admire their courage.
                          
"All of you leaving your dumbass posts about 'almost dying' or blaming these kids, you can all STFU right now. You all should be ashamed of yourselves, cause I'm willing to bet 99.5% of you would've reacted much worse. GET A LIFE, you stupid trolls'
                          
Clara looked at the sender. Amity Hastings, one of her childhood best friends. She smiled gently, seeing that the status had been liked over 100 times and shared many times. She liked the status before logging off and shutting down her laptop.
                          
All the teen drama and angst had put her off research, but at least by going tech-free, she could focus more and start working out the pieces of this new puzzle.