A man's mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Everyone followed me into the library, where we all sat down to talk about the next plan.
"So Eva, you do have a next plan, right?" Lucida questioned,
"Yes. But I think it might get us into some trouble."
"Can I share my idea first?" Max asked,
"Go for it." I replied,
"I had the thought that the killer has killed before the school started this year – we could hack into the-"
"I already had that thought. Sorry Max. There were murders but they haven't found even one suspect." Angelo looked at me strangely, did he think it was unusual for me to be so concerned I'd even hack into police data bases?
"And yet everyone in this school is a suspect – it's hard to even talk to the lunch lady and she's really nice."
"No other plans?" Lucida asked,
"Not one I want to follow up." She sighed, indicating I could continue, "We've never checked the cameras. Unfortunately they're for teacher eyes only. This is why we're going to get in trouble."
"For stealing the tapes?" Max asked,
"That too. But for hacking into a 'restricted to students' section."
"Lots of students go where they're not meant to."
"But we have to hack into it. There's no other way to get in."
"So, who does what?"
"Someone has to take the blame – and more than one, just in case."
"I'll take the blame – the detention teacher actually likes me, so she'll go easy on me." Lucida insisted,
"I'll join in. Teachers have been expecting me to do something wrong – they won't take their eyes off me, so this might be what I need." Jackson said, they seemed happy to do it.
"Okay. Then you two will take the phoney tapes with you." I began, "Max and I will hack into the lock and grab the tapes. Angelo, Alec, stay here."
"What?!" Alec seemed impatient and Max laughed, he has been getting the short end of the stick lately.
"Sit." I told him and he did so. The four of us got up and went to the worst part of the school – the teachers' area.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Max was mumbling when we got to the electronic lock. It required eight digits. Max was fiddling for a couple of minutes before she got it, figures it was the Chairman's birth date, 18041967. We walked in, followed by Lucida and Jackson, if they heard someone coming then that would be their cue to walk out and give us time while they got told off and sent away to detention. Max and I looked at all the CD's, the dates and all sorts. Max found the CD that should have the first murder on it. I found the second and she found the third. That would be enough. We were on our way out when we heard someone coming, a teacher. Lucida and Jackson did what they had to, they walked out while Max and I hid, the teacher caught them and sent them straight down to detention, that Mrs. Milliard would be down to supervise them shortly.
We had to hide for 13 minutes before we could move, and then we ran out as fast as possible – feeling incredibly guilty for Lucida and Jackson. Although, I had a feeling that they were happy enough they had detention together.
We walked into the library with the CD's in Max's hand and her laptop in mine.
"You got them?" Angelo asked,
"Of course." Max replied, "We don't go out of our way for nothing." That's Max for you.
"Yet you have been lately." Alec mumbled,
"I heard that, jackass." I turned the laptop on and inserted the first CD, I skipped all the way till the exact time, and surely enough, there was Bianca. Tall and skinny as she used to be – everyone loved her for her bubbly personality – it was odd seeing her after knowing that she was dead, as dead as a doorknob. At this moment I didn't want to see who the killer was, I felt like I'd be disappointed, not sure why or what about, but it was troubling me.
Bianca was simply walking down the hallway and turned to open her door, she was smiling really happily, but she stopped. She clutched her stomach, held her mouth which overflowed with blood – and then like an apple being shot with a fine bullet, she just burst – like a balloon! Cuts and blood flew all over the floor. I've seen it before. I know I've seen this before. My parents – oh, god. Whatever that was that killed her – it killed my parents. Max pressed the keyboard to replay, hoping to see something, this time it wasn't Bianca, all I could see was my mother. Mom. Mom. Help me breathe...
"That's just – not right." Angelo gasped as he watched. I turned away – I couldn't watch it.
"Eva, are you alright? You look like you're going to throw up." Max asked. I could feel my eyes opening wider, my stomach turned and my head spun,
"That's what happened to my parents. I saw it." I replied after a minute,
"What?"
"I said, that's what happened to my parents!" I said it louder than I intended it to. I didn't want to sound mean, but this was just getting way too freaky. Ever since Max took a guess at what my power was, I had began thinking that it was my
fault my parents died. I said to them, word for word, sometimes I wish you guys could feel what I've felt. Translation, Feel everything I've ever felt in my entire life, emotional and physical. Was I the one killing them? I couldn't be – I would never want anything bad to happen to any of them. And if anything bad was going to happen to anyone in the school, Carter would be first. It wasn't me, was it?
"Okay, that's it, Eva, I'm taking you outside, you need air." Angelo said, already pulling me off my seat.
He walked me outside, the cold air felt good going down my throat. I was sure I was going to collapse – I hope he was holding onto my arm tightly, because I couldn't tell at all.
"Are you okay?" He asked,
"Yeah." He threw me a look, "Okay, no I'm not." I closed my eyes for a minute, taking in the air, I opened my eyes again and saw that the sun was going down.
"So, what are you going to do now?" he wondered,
"I'm going to do what I was doing, and I'm not doing anything different." I had to find this killer – I had to know the truth, what the hell was going on?!
"What are you hiding?"
"What?" I replied instantly,
"You're hiding something, I can sense it."
"I thought you teleported."
"Call this power a gut instinct."
"Fine. You're right. Satisfied?"
"No. The first step to fixing the problem is to admitting you have one."
"Fine. I admit I have a problem."
"Which is?" Why was he pushing it? And why did I feel like crying?
"Fine-"
"Stop starting with the word, 'fine', you're obviously anything but." How articulate. Suddenly I forgot what the word meant.
"Alright, I do have a problem. But it's not as bad as it used to be."
"Go on." I sighed, I really didn't feel like talking, so why was I so willing to talk to him? What was it about him that made my knees buckle, yet make me so weary of him at the same time. Angelo was hiding something – this much I could tell, what it was, was going to be a great mystery for a time when I could bother trying to figure it out. He gave me a look that made me weak. So I gave in and told him parts of my life that had ruined me,
"When I was 9, when my parents died, I hated everyone and anything. I wanted to hurt things, to break things – I didn't care what it was. I refused to speak to anyone who tried to help me. Mostly because I didn't want their help. Eventually, I hurt someone pretty bad. I wasn't even ten yet and I'd already been sent to the San Francisco Institution for the Criminally Insane."
"You're from San Francisco?" he looked surprised and happy at the same time,
"Yeah. I like it there. Anyway, the nurse that talked to me, even though I wouldn't talk back, noticed that I only talked to my reflection. She started getting curious and watched me more carefully, once, she was holding my shoulder, and found that her reflection was doing something different too. So she looked at my records, heritage, and she found that my father was the owner of a boarding school. She told me that she went to this school for my sake, talked to its current owner and when she said that my last name was Winters and I lived in San Francisco, he instantly came over to the institution and bailed me out, agreeing he could keep me under control."
"Wait a second, rewind. Your father was the owner of this school?"
"Yeah. In fact, when I turn 18 I could take the school if I want to. That's what my dad put in the will. It would be the Chairman's unless I'm 18 or until."
"You're going to be the owner of the school?"
"I don't know, it's not what I want to do – and the Chairman seems to be doing fine-" I paused – was I that blind?! I knew who the killer was. It was too obvious to miss.
"What?"
"Uh, don't worry too much, but when Lucida and Jackson are out of detention – all of you need to come up to the Chairman's office right away, okay? Tell Max not to come checking on me until Lucida has come, don't follow me and I don't care if you go with Lucida and Max to the Chairman's office and- I'm rambling. Okay. Just do that, alright?"
"Alright?"
"I'll talk to you later. Thanks for helping me – I can see things more clearly now. I owe you one, Angelo." I ran up the stairs, there was one thing I had to do, it would be a risk – but one I'm willing to take. I knew Max and Lucida might not agree with what I'm doing, nor would they think I'm sane, but if it brings out the Night Hunter, then it's what I have to do. There was only one downside – students could possibly die in the process.
I burst into the Chairman's office, not even thinking if he was on the phone or in a meeting, Vivian was there,
"Eva? My goodness, what's wrong?" was his reaction to my behaviour.
"I want to go in a lock-in." I replied, he looked at Vivian and she walked out calmly,
"What?"
"Put me in the White room and don't let me out till I say so. I think my power is what's killing the students."
"Why on earth-"
"No time to explain – just do it, please." He leant back in his chair,
"Very well. If you insist." He sighed giving in. "I'll see if I can find the key – there hasn't been a use for it for years."
"I know. I told Lucida and Max to meet me outside your office when they're done – I want to go in right after."
"Okay. I don't understand why you're doing this exactly. But if you think it'll help – then by all means." I walked outside his office, ran to my dormitory for a moment and ran back up and sat down next to the door of his office. I hope I knew what I was doing. I wondered how many people might die during this short amount of time – it was a question I was curious about and the answer was the one thing I did not want to know.