After taking in what had happened with the lunch lady, and bandaging Matt's wound using part of his uniform as a makeshift bandage, the group went into the back rooms in order to investigate. They didn't speak a single word as they walked, they were still recovering from what had happened, both physically and mentally. Caden didn't even bother with recovering the table knife that he stabbed the lunch lady with, he didn't want to touch a corpse.

They glanced in the first room, and what had been almost empty shelves before were now almost filled to the brim. The lunch lady had restocked all the shelves by molding the human meat they had ground. It was disgusting. They didn't look twice.

They moved into the second room. They opened the door to see a familiar sight, a hellish sight. The shelves placed in the middle of the room were still somewhat filled, with a few missing chunks here and there. They felt like they worked on grinding a lot, but not much was taken out of the room. The walls, ceiling, and floor were still painted blood red, the puddles were still there, and the heads on top of the shelves still stared through their now desensitized souls. They didn't feel much fear when they looked at the heads now, only disgust. They had grown so used to death, that it was now the norm for them.

There was still one problem. Avery and Serenity were still nowhere to be found. But they did find a lead. The piles of human limbs on the opposite side of the room were now collapsed, which revealed a hidden pathway.

"Woah." said Caden. "Another hidden room!"

"I don't trust it." said Gerald. "Maybe it's a trap."

"Who knows?" said Josh. "The only way to find out is to explore inside."

"He's right. We might even find Serenity and Avery on the other side." said Matt.

Josef was silent.

"Fine. But you go in first." said Caden as he looked at Matt.

"Why me!?" said Matt. "I almost died a while ago. Give me a break."

"Let's just get this over with." said Gerald. "I'll go in."

They were surprised someone had volunteered to venture into possible danger. Gerald just wanted to get it over with, he wanted to see Serenity again, to see her face, to see her happy, to feel her warmth. He bravely stepped into the hallway, the others followed behind, including Josef, who was at the very back. Many things were still racing through his mind.

The hallway was long, but they saw light at the end. Gerald sprinted to the light. He reached the end of the hallway, and on the other side was a room that had the same look as the back rooms, just not as bloody.

"Serenity!" yelled Gerald. He had finally reunited with his beloved. He saw her on the opposite side of the room, hanging from a rope, and beneath her was the grinder, still turned on. He quickly dashed to the grinder and bashed on the buttons until it turned off. He climbed onto the grinder, not paying attention to whether his footing was stable or not. He untied the rope that bound Serenity, and as he finished untying her, he slipped, and they both fell down, Gerald protecting her from the fall.

They were both on the ground, the impact probably hurt Gerald, but his face showed the opposite. He was ecstatic, filled with joy, thrilled, and every other synonym and word that showed happiness.

He had finally found her. She was now safe in his arms. Her warmth made him feel comfortable. He cried. He cried tears of joy from being reunited with her again.

Serenity opened her eyes, she felt weak and couldn't move much, she probably hasn't eaten much. She saw Gerald's face, and she felt that she was being tightly hugged by her loved one. She was delighted and surprised to see him again. No words came out of her mouth, instead, she hugged him back, and tears also leaked from her eyes. It was a heartwarming sight.

Josef felt another presence. His vision wandered the room, and he saw Avery. She was on the ground and seemed to be asleep. They didn't see her at first when they entered the room, as she was in the very corner, making her difficult to notice when Serenity took all their attention as she was the first thing they saw when they walked in.

Josef walked towards Avery and crouched in front of her. He reached out his hand in order to wake her up, but before he could make contact with her, he hesitated. He didn't feel right, he wanted to touch her but he couldn't. He felt that he didn't deserve her, he didn't have the right to be by her side as he didn't have the courage to protect her back then. He felt so useless that he didn't want her to see him in this state. He retracted his hand.

"Avery! Wake up! yelled Caden. He shook Avery to wake her up. Josef's role was taken away from him as someone else was the one to wake her up.

"What's... happening?" asked Avery as she slowly opened her eyes. She sluggishly got up, her vision was still adjusting. She rubbed her eyes, and after a brief moment, she could see clearly again.

"Josef!" yelled Avery. She jumped out at him and hugged him tightly, pushing him to the ground. He could feel her warmth, he felt loved. He wanted to touch her, to hug her back, but he couldn't, he didn't think he deserved it as he was the one who contributed the least in saving her. He also didn't want her to touch him, as he was now a killer, his hands were now stained with blood since he dealt the finishing blow to the lunch lady.

Even if Josh was the one to pull the trigger along with his finger, Josef's finger was still the one who held the trigger, it was his revolver that killed her, he was responsible.

Avery continued to tightly hug him, and while he lay there, his arms were locked in place by his side, refusing to hug her back because of his self-loathing. He cried, but instead of tears of joy like Gerald's, his tears were of frustration.

After a few seconds of embrace, they were now back on their feet.

"I'm glad you're both alright." said Caden.

"But more importantly, what did the lunch lady feed you?" asked Josh to Avery.

"Umm.. I don't want to talk about it." she said. "I don't want to remember." She shut her mind completely.

"Did the lunch lady do anything else to the both of you?" asked Matt.

"No.. I'm not sure. I was asleep or unconscious for the most part." said Avery.

"Same with me." said Serenity.

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"Where is the lunch lady anyways." asked Avery.

There was a brief silence.

"She's dead." said Caden. He said it straight to her, he didn't need to hide it, as she would have found out when they left the room.

"How!?" exclaimed Serenity.

There was silence yet again, but this time, no one answered.

"Anyways, let's get out of here." said Matt, distracting them from the question.

Avery and Serenity didn't poke any further. They saw the look on their faces, including the wound on Matt's chest. Avery figured that they didn't want to talk about it, and so she didn't ask any further questions.

"Alright, Let's go." said Josh.

But before they could start walking out of the room, Matt glanced over at the other corner of the room and saw something. He walked over to it and picked it up.

"Guys! I found something, come take a look."

Everyone approached Matt and looked at the object he held in his hands. It was a small brown leather-bound book. The cover looked old and rugged, with some specks of blood here and there.

"What is it?" asked Josh.

Matt opened to the first page. He saw a word in bold text that explained what the book was.

"It's a diary!" said Matt.

Gerald looked at the bottom right-hand portion of the page. There was something written on it, it was the name of the owner.

"Martha Miller? Who's that?" muttered Gerald.

"It's... the lunch lady's." said Avery, her voice was sad, seeing that the owner of the diary was now a dead woman.

Matt flipped over the pages and glossed over a few entries.

August 20, 2022

This past week was hell. There was so much work to be done at school. I needed to cook a bunch of pasta for the students, but the delivery truck came in late, so we had to rush in cooking them all. It took the life out of us, but it was worth it. At least I thought it was worth it. The other cooks didn't think the same since some of the pasta they cooked was stolen by some of the students. Some of them quit, including Javis. He was the most efficient cook we had, so the workload will be more difficult for us going forward.

August 30, 2022

I'm currently at the mall. I'm waiting for my friends to leave the restroom. I had so much fun today. We ate lunch, went window shopping, and did a lot more activities that made us feel young again. We also went to the arcade, but felt out of place since three grown up women in an arcade would stick out like a sore thumb.

September 15, 2022

I'm quite sad. Marlon went off to Japan today. He was having a vacation with his uncle in Kyoto. I hope he's safe and enjoying himself. It looks like there's only going to be me left in this house for a short while. I'm lonely.

October 1, 2022

I just went shopping today. I spent too much on jackets and scarves to prepare for the winter season. I think I went to a very fancy store because all the clothes were expensive. I wanted to leave and go to a cheaper store, but I felt embarrassed to leave when the sales lady asked me if I was looking for anything. I should have said I was only browsing, but my nervous wreck of a mouth asked where the jackets were. And so here I am, a thousand dollars poorer. I seriously need a better-paying job, but if I left now, the cafeteria would probably crumble from the lack of manpower. I'll stick with it until the end of this school year.

October 10, 2022

It started snowing! It's really cold here, but I'm fine. I'm just so lonely. Marlon sent me a letter the other day. He said he was doing fine, and he went skiing last week. I hope he's still doing alright. He'll be back before December, so I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with him.

October 21, 2022

Some of the cafeteria staff were so angry today, they looked like ripe tomatoes. It was because they found out someone was breaking into the backrooms and stealing food. I went to check how the students were doing it and found out the lock was broken. The school ordered a replacement door, which will arrive tomorrow.

October 22, 2022

I'm not really sure what's happening today. I saw the principal talking to some men in lab gowns, they looked like they were discussing something serious. I haven't seen the principal in ages, but my God, he looked stunning. His face kind of reminds me of someone, I'm not sure who it is, but they looked similar somehow.

It's now colder today. The blizzard grew angrier, and the weather reporter said today that it will grow stronger soon. I'm now regretting working for a school that still functions during the winter, but just a tiny bit. I still like my job, and cooking will forever be my passion. I hope I can open a restaurant someday.

Matt turned the page and felt something was different. The neat handwriting suddenly became terrible, almost unreadable. The writing looked rushed.

No date

Help. If someone finds this diary, I need help, we need help. We're running out of food here, and I feel like I'm not myself.

Here's the gist of what happened, since I don't think I have time to write everything in detail.

Basically, the principal asked me to come to one of the unused classrooms during lunch. All I remembered next was that I was now in an unfamiliar room with all the teachers. Men in lab coats suddenly entered the room and injected us with this purple liquid of some sort. It hurts. I blacked out, and when I woke up, I was back in school. I didn't know where or what was happening since my vision was still a bit blurry, but I did recognize that I was back at the school.

There were so many men in lab coats. I tried to move my body, but I couldn't. I was still walking, but I couldn't control my body, it was moving on its own. Then something terrible happened. I blacked out again, and now I was in one of the storage rooms. There were many students in there with me. The scientist gave me my butcher's knife and said, "Do it."

I blacked out again. The next time I gained consciousness, blood was everywhere. All the students in the room with me were dead, and I was the one who killed them. I wanted to cry, I wanted to kill myself with my own knife from the guilt of killing them, but I couldn't.

Even if some of them had stolen the food I worked so hard to cook, I still saw them as my children, and I care so much for them.

I blacked out again. When I woke up, I had a pile of sausages and patties in my hand. I was disgusted, I wanted to puke but couldn't. The meat in my hands was meat from the students. I was grinding their bodies and turning them into mush. My body went back and forth between the first and second storage rooms. I stacked the shelves with the meat I made in the first room while I arranged the organs and severed heads on the shelves of the second room.

There was a student who was playing dead and snuck up behind me and bashed me on the head. Suddenly, I was able to move again. It took a bit of persuading, but the student was able to accept my explanation of why I was doing this. I told him I didn't know what was happening and I was being controlled by something.

I went into the grinder room in the second storage room and asked him to block the entrance with the corpses in order for me to not be able to get out when I lose control of my body. I also told him to lock the door so no one could get inside.

And here I am now, awaiting the moment that I lose control of my body. I'm writing this entry while I'm still sane. I want all of this to just be a nightmare. I don't want to see death anymore. Please, if someone is reading this, send help. Please tell Marlon I...

The entry ended there. The lunch lady wanted to write something else, but it looked like she had been interrupted. Matt flipped through the next few pages in hopes of finding another message, but there wasn't.

Matt closed the diary.

"Who's Marlon?" asked Caden.

"It's probably her son or something." answered Matt.

They left the backrooms and went back into the cafeteria. Avery and Serenity saw the lunch lady's body. Avery noticed the bullet wound, and from that, she knew somewhat what had happened. She held Josef's hand, comforting him.

"Before we leave, let's give her a proper send-off." said Avery.

Thirty minutes later.

They were now outside, where they were exposed to the elements once again. It's been a while since they felt the snow directly on their skin. The cold made their exhausted minds somewhat alive. They didn't mind being seen by potential enemies in that moment. They didn't care if the chainsaw fiend or some other teacher noticed them. All they wanted to do was to pay their respects.

In front of them stood a bulge in the ground covered in snow. With a row of metal rods from the tables, they arranged the heights of the rods to form a sort of curve in the middle. It was a grave, and the lunch lady, Martha Miller, together with her diary, now rests under it.

"It isn't the best grave, but it'll do for now." said Gerald.

"We promise we'll come back and make you a proper one, and another for everyone else that died." said Avery.

They placed their hands together, closed their eyes, and prayed.

In the midst of the never-ending blizzard, there was silence yet again.