Chapter 16 – The Dead Silent – Holly Hayfield

The next morning Sam, Lilith, Naomi and I were summoned to the main office. We were told to sit in the waiting area just outside the vice principal’s office. We did so in silence knowing that we were probably in for a serious grilling going by the vice principal’s tone. We could hear her shouting at someone over the phone, but not well enough to make out the words. Meanwhile, the student office assistant that was on duty watched us unflinchingly.

“What is it?” I finally asked her.

“It’s nothing. I was just admiring you. That’s all.” She said.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“I’ve been hoping to meet you for a while now, Holly.” The girl said.

Now I was feeling a little creeped out. Her honest tone seemed good enough but, really, that didn’t mean much at this school. She could be another Val for all I knew. Speaking of which, this girl might’ve heard of me through Val, like Jay. How likely was that theory though? This girl was a morning office assistant. Val worked in the office in the afternoon.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think I know you.” I said.

The girl smiled and walked around the table separating us. She leaned back against the table and brushed her hair with her hand.

“Excuse me. Where are my manners? My name’s Erica Henson. I suppose it’s only natural that you haven’t thought of me the same way I thought about you.” Erica said.

“I don’t take your meaning.” I said.

Erica raised an index finger above her head and waved it around flamboyantly.

“Right now we’re in the presence of greatness! This is a truly rare and unique gathering of individuals.” She said theatrically.

She pointed at Sam.

“First off we have this mysterious transfer-student who landed herself into big trouble after just one day of school! Hooray!”

Sam huffed, folded her arms, and looked away. Erica then pointed at me.

“Next up we have Holly Hayfield, the only person that managed to defeat me on the academic placement exam!”

So that was how she knew me. During the first week of school we all had to take a test. Many of us came from different schools the year before. The placement tests were supposed to gauge our knowledge that would help teachers come up with lesson plans accordingly. When Ms. Kinsley handed back my test as the only good grade in my homeroom class I just took that to mean that my classmates were idiots. The test was so trivial to me that I didn’t expect I’d come out on top of the whole student body.

“So that’s how it is? I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were the second place holder.” I said.

“Ha! That’s how the winners always are! Anyone behind them is invisible. Then again, that isn’t true in my case. The person in third place wasn’t one to sneeze at.” Erica said.

Erica pointed at Lilith.

“I think you were only one point away from tying with me, right Lilith?”

“I wasn’t really trying.” Lilith said flatly.

Erica laughed.

“You weren’t the only one.”

Erica looked at Naomi.

“I think Naomi here was dead last. Luckily that placement exam has no effect on our grades, right?” Erica said.

Naomi yawned.

“Guilty! I was sleepy that day. I slept through the entire thing. I’m sleepy right now! Why does school have to start so early in the morning? I’d like to go take a nap. Can’t we come back later?” Naomi asked.

Erica smiled.

“Hm, I’m afraid not. From the way Ms. Sampson sounded you four are in some really, really deep shit. Tell me, what exactly is it that you did?” Erica asked.

None of us said a word. We exchanged looks of affirmation to remain silent. Things were bad enough as it was. If the word got out it’d make things more complicated. Erica watched us knowingly. She knew we weren’t going to give her an answer. Like she made a point of telling us just now, she was smart. The casual smile she wore like a mask gave me the same vibes that Val gave me. Erica folded her hands together in front of us and stood up.

“I wonder... What it is that you all could have done?” Erica asked.

“It’s nothing,” Naomi said, “They call anyone to the office for just about anything. You could step on an ant and be sent here. It’s all scare tactics.”

“I’d believe that if it were only you here, Naomi. It’s Lilith and Holly that have me curious.” Erica said, looking between us.

Lilith looked off to avoid Erica’s curious eyes.

“It’s nothing.” Lilith said.

The cell phone on the desk dinged with the sound of a text. Erica picked up the phone and smiled at us.

“Well,” Erica said, reading the text, “Let’s hope the vice principal feels that way. She says she’s ready for now. You can all go in.”

The four of us looked at each other, and at Erica. We all stood up slowly and filed in to the Vice Principal’s office one at a time. As Erica walked up to close the door behind us she gave me a sly wink. Vice Principal Jackie Sampson was standing in front of her desk. She was leaning back against it with her hands tightly gripping the edge.

In front of of her were four chairs laid out in a row. She waved us over to fill the chairs. One by one we took a seat. I was the first person to sit down, taking the chair on the far left. Lilith was the last to sit, taking the chair on the far right. Ms. Sampson walked over to her own chair, sat down, and exhaled briefly as she tugged the wrinkles out of her office jacket.

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“The principal has been sick for a few months now, bless his poor heart. The old fool was never good at this sort of thing anyways. You’ll all be talking to me instead, okay?”

The four of us nodded in silence.

“Let me start out by saying that I’m glad you all decided to come to me with this information instead of doing something stupid like calling the police or media.”

Ms. Sampson put her elbows on her desk and leaned forward.

“However, the fact that you four were prowling around down there in a sealed off part of the school is completely unacceptable. It’s no secret that our school isn’t well-maintained. The recent budget cuts from the state have been especially brutal. You all could’ve ended up dead.”

“But we didn’t!” Lilith shouted, “We found someone that actually was!”

Ms. Sampson SLAPPED the office desk in Lilith’s direction.

“Don’t raise your voice at me young girl! What you found was an old stage prop dressed up to look like a real corpse. Do you honestly think there would be a dead body just randomly lying beneath the school?”

“I know what a dead body looks like. I know what I saw.” Lilith said defiantly.

Ms. Sampson rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smug look on her face. She leaned forward against the the office desk and flipped through some papers on her desk. One of the papers she flipped through was a photograph.

“Do you want to know what I saw?” Ms. Sampson asked.

She handed Lilith the photograph she was fiddling with. Lilith took one glance at it and dismissed it, passing it to Naomi. Naomi passed it to Sam. Sam passed it to me. It was an image of the hole in the Discipline Hall room that Lilith and I fell into. The image also showed the area we made a hole into for the elevator. I sat the photograph back on the desk.

“Do any of you girls realize how much this is going to cost to fix? We had that area sealed off for a reason. It isn’t safe for ANYONE to be lurking around down there, do you understand?”

“We weren’t the first ones down there.” I said.

This looked like a genuine surprise to Ms. Sampson. She didn’t know that part of the story.

“I’m sorry?”

“There was someone else down there.” Sam said.

“You mean other than fake corpses?” Ms. Sampson asked.

“It wasn’t a fake corpse.” Lilith said.

“The place was well maintained,” I said to draw her irritation away from Lilith. “Some of the boxes there were opened like someone had been recently looking through them. On top of that, the body and the area around it had recently been doused with bleach. Someone was preserving that body.”

Ms. Sampson looked away as I spoke, deeply contemplating this. She stood up and walked near the window. When I had finished my explanation she turned back and waved a finger in my direction.

“I’m telling you girls something important. It wasn’t a real corpse.” She said.

The fact that she was choosing to focus on that part was annoying, but understandable. If the dead body of an anonymous girl had been reported in the basement of school for god knows how long there would be hell to pay. It was like she said. The school was struggling with budgeting. Parents pulling their kids out of the school left and right would make things even worse. That’s not even to mention the massive media storm that would follow. If the media learned a corpse was being preserved beneath the school it would make the front page.

“Listen girls,” She said as she paced back over to her chair and sat back down. “That wasn’t a corpse you saw. It was a silly prank we came up with.”

Lilith tilted her head with such a look of disgust that I thought that she might puke.

“What…?” Lilith asked heatedly.

“It was a prank. I’d know. I was an integral member of the Art and Theater club before it was shut down. Look at this.”

She pulled another photograph from the pile of papers she had on her desk. She flipped it our direction and showed us. She was pointing out a girl in the middle. It was hard to tell at first because of the shorter hair, but it really was her. When we leaned forward to get a better look she put the photograph face down on the table. She folded her hands on top of the photograph and smiled smugly. Lilith arched an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Why would you create such an authentic corpse for a prank?” Lilith asked.

“That mannequin was one of the best we had.” Ms. Sampson said, “Since we never got the chance to use it before being shut down we decided to stage a little protest. We dressed it up and covered it in makeup with the plan to present it to the principal. In the end too many people were against and we didn’t go through with it.”

“Why did the Art and Theater club shut down?” I asked.

She gave me a wide-eyed look. This was the one thing she didn’t have a canned response for. She shrugged and leaned back in her chair.

“Oh, there was no concrete reason. It ended over some stupid drama. You know how teenage girls are.”

“What caused the drama?” Lilith asked.

Ms. Sampson stared at Lilith expressionlessly in a moment of silence. She sat back up straight and glared at us.

“We’re not here to have a history lesson. We’re here to work out what I’m going to do about you four. I’ll be the only one asking questions from here on out. First off, tell me why you were in the Discipline Hall to begin with?” She asked.

“We were looking for the Killing Cat.” Naomi answered.

Ms. Sampson gave a half-smile.

“Please tell me you’re joking.” She said.

“She’s telling the truth.” Lilith said.

Ms. Sampson looked between us curiously.

“You four can’t honestly believe in such myths.” She said.

“As opposed to the myth you’re asking us to believe?” Lilith asked.

Ms. Sampson frowned and stood up. She walked over to the edge of the desk and leaned against it just front of where Lilith was sitting.

“You’re a very analytical girl, Lilith, a very smart girl. Let’s think about this logically, shall we? You’ve been working towards a goal, haven’t you? You want to go to college and become a teacher here, right?” Ms. Sampson asked.

The three of us looked at Lilith. Ms. Sampson apparently knew more about Lilith than I did.

“How did you know about that?” Lilith asked.

“The principal told me that you asked him to write a letter of recommendation. He usually has me handle recommendation letters, did you know that?”

Lilith shook her head.

“You’ve been here since about, what, maybe sophomore year? In all that time you’ve never once been called to this office, until now. Are you willing to risk all the hard work you’ve put in towards your recommendation over a stupid prop?”

“I know what I saw.”

“You know what you think you saw. Tell me, is it worth getting the school shut down over what you think you saw? Is what you think you saw worth ending your great grandmother’s legacy? Even if you train to become a teacher, didn’t you want to teach students here specifically? It’s a noble goal that many of the girls that attended this school share, myself included. What’s the point of becoming a teacher if you can’t teach here?”

Lilith gripped the arms of her chair and looked away.

“I just want you to think about that Lilith.” Ms. Sampson said.

Ms. Sampson then turned her attention to the person sitting beside Lilith, Naomi.

“Naomi, didn’t I tell you I never wanted to see your face here again?”

“Oh come on Ms. Sampson, you’ve been saying that for years!”

“I meant it back then too. It seems like you’re always getting in trouble for something, aren’t you? This time isn’t like the others. You got others I never see in my office in trouble too. I’ve never threatened you with expulsion, Naomi, because I don’t believe in it. This time, I’m not sure I have much choice.”

“You want me to not say a word about the Discipline Hall or basement, right? Fine, I’ll keep my mouth shut under one condition.” Naomi said.

Ms. Sampson folded her arms and waited to hear Naomi’s proposal.

“There’s this teacher, Mrs. Scott. She sometimes patrols the Old Science Wing where my group hangs out. Sometimes she comes in and forces us all to go to class. Maybe you could talk to her and ask her to take it easy on us? Maybe she could patrol other areas of the school instead?”

Ms. Sampson didn’t give a vocal response. She just stared at Naomi a while, then turned her vision to the person sitting next to Naomi.

“You’ve made quite the debut here, Samantha. Do you have anything to say about that?”

“I don’t.” Sam said.

“You can’t afford to be wrapped up in all this, not after the deal I struck with your father. You like living on your own, don’t you princess? You’d hate to be forced to move back in with mama and papa, right?” She asked in a condescending voice.

Sam glared at Ms. Sampson.

“Go to hell.”

“Then I think we have an understanding.” Ms. Sampson said.

She gave a casual smile to Sam, and then looked over at me. I braced myself and sat up straight in my chair. Ms. Sampson stared at me for a moment, and then looked back at the others.

“Don’t let me hear anything about this nonsense ever again. Don’t tell a word about this to anyone. Do you girls understand?”

No one moved as much as a muscle. Ms. Sampson walked over back to her chair and sat down, looking quite self-satisfied. She waved her hands away at us.

“You’re free to go. No word of this leaves this room.”

We all looked at each other and got up awkwardly. We all walked over to the door and Lilith opened it.

“Except you, Miss Hayfield, I’d like to speak with you alone.”