Chapter 85 – The Dark Matriarch – Holly Hayfield

Val, Alyssa, Erica, Zoe, and I stood at the back of a crowd of girls watching the ‘Matriarch’ introduce herself at the front of the room. My memory of this person’s face was turning up blanks. I had no idea who she was or why she was here but I was certain that this wasn’t a good thing. Jay had warned us that older guys were joining the school ChatCat group. I didn’t realize older women were joining as well.

“I was like one of you girls,” The Matriarch said, “I was once a student at Meredith’s School for Troubled Girls, same as you. Back then, people were allowed to get away with even more than they are allowed to now. Back then, people didn’t just break the rules, they broke serious laws. I’m not talking about the graffiti-slinging, pocket-picking, juveniles you may be used to. I’m speaking about murder.”

The room was completely silent as she spoke. She had everyone, including me, completely captivated. She flamboyantly ran one hand through her long black hair as if she were somehow trying to draw even more attention to herself.

“It’s such a burden living with the truth.” The Matriarch said, “For so long I’ve wanted to tell everyone the truth, but something, someone, was always in my way. Now, those people are dead. Or soon to be…”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Zoe whispered.

I looked over at Zoe.

“You should go ahead and start filming.” I whispered, “Try to keep your phone hidden.”

“I’m way ahead of you.” Zoe said.

Zoe flashed her smartphone she had hidden beneath the long sleeve of her Fall Festival robe. She nodded at me confidently. Having this video evidence at least meant we could go back and examine it later. This would be our only real way of identifying this person unless we could get a name out of her. Why would she put herself into this sort of compromising position?

Just when I thought that this shady woman couldn’t get any shadier she managed to beat my expectations. She reached into the small purse she had with her and pulled out an elaborately decorated dagger. She pulled this dagger out of its sheath and raised it above her head. The crowd cooed in amazement. She lowered the dagger back down and showed its surface to the front row in a show-and-tell style arm wave across the crowd.

“This…!” She shouted dramatically, “This is one of the daggers used in the ritual of knives all those years ago!”

No one made a sound, waiting for her obvious follow up. She waited until her flashy show-off maneuver was completed and sheathed the dagger once again.

“I’m going to tell you why the ritual had to happen 10 years ago, and why you aren’t safe now.” The Matriarch said.

Was she really going to tell the crowd about Mrs. Duluth and the plot to silence Malorie?

“There is a demon inside the school!” The Matriarch said with conviction, “The Killing Cat is a real entity that must be appeased, lest it begin taking victims of its own.”

“Really…?” Val quietly asked in monotone. “She’s really going this direction?”

The other girls in the room didn’t sound disappointed. In fact, she had the crowd by the ear.

“There was a mistake... Things weren’t meant to happen the way that it did. Normally, no one has to die during the ritual. The ritual only requires a drop of blood from each member to perform the spell properly. Some of you may have believed that the purpose of the Ritual of Blood was to summon the Killing Cat. This is wrong. The purpose of the spell is to seal away the Killing Cat.”

This sent another wave of whispers throughout the room. This woman wasn’t doing anything to quell it either. She knew exactly what she was doing by letting them whisper amongst themselves before continuing her speech. This person, I realized, was a practiced speaker. She had a certain level of skill that made me feel like her role here was incredibly dangerous.

“Yes, my lovelies, we were meant to seal away the Killing Cat. We failed. You must be asking yourselves now, what went wrong? How could we fail such a seemingly simplistic ritual? The answer is that someone took advantage of the situation.” The Matriarch spoke, “There was a disagreement between Malorie Noelle, and the woman you know as Jackie Sampson.”

The crowd was no longer whispering, but now shouting questions about the vice principal. The Matriarch raised a hand to silence them. The murmuring slowly died down as the Matriarch awaited total silence. All of her actions were drawn out and exaggerated in this manner. I had no doubt in my mind that she truly must’ve been a member of the theater club before it joined with the art club.

“She isn’t a cannibal.” The Matriarch said plainly, “She isn’t a demon. She’s not a witch. She’s certainly not a vampire of some sort. I’ll tell you what she really is… She’s a murderer. The ritual failed because of her plans to kill Malorie Noelle.”

The Matriarch moved away from Sofi and started to walk amongst the crowd.

“I tried to convince her against her rash decision to murder Malorie but she couldn’t be stopped.” The Matriarch said as she walked through the crowd, “There were many of us who weren’t in agreement. Jackie convinced the others that if a life was given to the sacrifice then our school could be spared any further unexplained disappearances or deaths.”

She made a show of touching several members of the audience on the shoulder as she spoke. She continued to walk through the crowd, casually coming into contact with different people and spending a little time between each person.

“As you girls may or may not know, there were a few such deaths just before Malorie’s murder. Mrs. Duluth died not long before the Ritual of Knives and her sudden death could never be explained. She was perfectly healthy before. Then suddenly she died of a heart attack one random afternoon. A teacher the year before died under similar circumstances. As you can see, the Killing Cat was claiming victims year after year because nothing had been done to keep it appeased.”

By the time she finished this part of her speech she made it all the way to the back. By chance, she put a hand on my shoulder. She put her other hand on Val’s shoulder. For a second I was worried that Val might flip, but she allowed it to happen. Up close, the Matriarch’s slimy looking smile reminded me of Black Brittney. This woman was clearly up to something, but now I felt personally disturbed. She let go of me and turned back towards the front of the room as she rotated between interacting with more members of the crowd.

“We had to ask ourselves a serious question. How long would the killing go on? Why were these killings happening seemingly out of thin air? What could we do to stop this madness?”

She completed her full circle around the room and ended up back beside Sofi at the front of the room.

“That’s when we discovered the Ritual of Blood as the means to suppress the spirit of the Killing Cat.” The Matriarch said. “We knew that we had to do something to keep the spirit in check. We had to do something that would appease it. So we promised to offer this spirit some of our blood in the hopes that it would go away for a time. However, this is when the disagreement happened.”

The Matriarch once again drew her dagger.

“We all offered up some of our blood, but Jackie wasn’t satisfied. She believed that the only way to permanently seal away the Killing Cat was with the deliberate sacrifice of an actual human being.”

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A few members of the crowd gasped in horror. For them it must’ve been like their wildest theories were just confirmed. For me, this felt ridiculous. What did she mean by the spirit of the Killing Cat…? This couldn’t have been what the Ritual of Knives was about... She was purposely lying, but why? I thought maybe she came here to confess, but now it seemed like she was doubling down in nonsense.

“Malorie was never meant to be a sacrifice.” The Matriarch said sympathetically. “No, she became a victim. She was a victim not of the Killing Cat, but of Jackie Sampson!”

The crowd cheered as The Matriarch shouted this.

“Yes! It was Jackie Sampson who saw to Malorie’s death!” The Matriarch said, “The Ritual of Blood only required a small amount of blood to seal the Killing Cat’s spirit for years. Jackie, in her self-righteousness, displeased the Killing Cat by killing Malorie! Malorie was fond of the Killing Cat’s story, as you all have seen inside her Immortal Diary! Jackie Sampson killed the Killing Cat’s greatest believer, and now the spirit haunts us once again using the mangled body of Malorie Noelle!”

Whatever code they had against using normal voices was now thrown out the window. Everyone was cheering so loud that the Matriarch had to shout just to speak over them.

“Yes, my lovelies! You all know the truth now! This can only be set right by removing Jackie Sampson from the school! Only when she is removed from the school will Malorie’s spirit finally be at peace! We must do whatever it takes to see that justice is served by putting Jackie Sampson behind bars!” The Matriarch shouted, “Tell everyone you know the truth! Jackie Sampson must be put in jail for her murder of Malorie Noelle!”

The crowd cheered loudly. Many members of the crowd were clapping, some were jumping. This level of energy felt almost like a small concert. The five of us in the back looked between each other. I encouraged them to clap so that we didn’t look too out of place. Yet, we were the only ones clapping reservedly as the rest of the crowd seemed to be exploding.

“I think I understand now.” I said to the other four, “She’s using Ms. Sampson as a scapegoat.”

“What do you mean by that?” Erica asked.

“She’s throwing her former club member under the bus to save her own hide.” I said. “She’s pushing full responsibility for Malorie’s murder onto Ms. Sampson. By doing so, she’ll be able to distance herself from any police investigation surrounding anything that happened back then.”

“Ms. Sampson is the fall guy.” Val said.

“Exactly,” I said. “This stranger is skillfully manipulating this group by mixing the truth with the paranormal. She’ll use them as agents while she keeps her distance from the situation.”

“This is bad!” Alyssa said. “Sofi doesn’t understand what she’s getting herself wrapped up in!”

“We’re still going to help you.” Val said, “We just need to think of a better angle to do it.”

“We should tell more people about this. This is huge!” Zoe said.

“For your own sake, Zoe, I think you should hold off.” I said. “No one else has taken off their masks. We don’t know who any of these people are in this crowd and this ‘Matriarch’ just gave them a banner to rally around. They may just see you as an obstacle that needs to be eliminated.”

Zoe looked down at her smartphone.

“When you put it like that…” Zoe said in contemplation.

“Alright, I’ve had enough!” Erica said. “I’m going to talk to this woman directly!”

“What…?” Val asked. “That’s stupid, even for you. There’s no telling what this person will do if you face her alone. Not that I care.”

“I’ll go with her.” I said. “I think Alyssa should come too. We’ll approach Sofi and the Matriarch both.”

“Fine… I’ll keep an eye on you from a distance.” Val said. “If she does anything funny…”

“I’ll stay back with Val.” Zoe said. “Back up will be just a call away.”

I nodded at them and looked at Erica.

“Let’s see if we can get them alone.” I said.

The group of masked girls didn’t clear out immediately. Instead, many of them took the time to get a word in or two to the Matriarch. The Matriarch sat down beside a small table at the front of the room. She was casually drinking wine from a glass prepared on the table as each person approached her. They were so excited to talk to her that they weren’t even whispering. All of their questions and comments were more insubstantial mythology about the Killing Cat. The Matriarch spoke to them on a one-by-one basis as if she were a rock star signing autographs backstage.

It took a while, but the five of us were left alone with Sofi and the Matriarch. Sofi was standing next to her as if she were the Matriarch’s ward. Alyssa was the one to step forward ahead of us. It was easy to read just how nervous she was in her body language alone. She was slow to move and unconfident in her step into the limelight.

“Do you have a question for me, sister?” The Matriarch asked.

Alyssa shook her head. She slowly brought her hands to her mask and took it off while lowering the hood of her robe.

“Alyssa!” Sofi shouted, “What are you doing here!”

“I came to speak to you.” Alyssa said.

“A friend of yours…?” The Matriarch asked.

Sofi looked between the Matriarch and Alyssa with a difficult expression. Alyssa looked heartbroken at Sofi’s inability to respond to the question.

“She…” Sofi started to say exasperatedly, “She’s the person I joined the occult club with back when I started going to Meredith’s School for Troubled Girls. She disagreed with me helping you organize this which was why I didn’t invite her… Obviously someone leaked the details to her…”

“Please listen to me.” Alyssa said. “We’ve been best friends for so long. Do you really want to end things here and now? After all we’ve been through together…?”

“I…” Sofi said.

I promptly took off my mask.

“You’ve dug yourself into a deeper hole since we last talked.” I said.

“Holly!” Sofi shouted at me, then turned to Alyssa, “You invited this teacher’s pet?!”

“She wants to help us make up.” Alyssa said.

“The only thing she wants is to shut us down!” Sofi shouted.

“No, that’s what I want.” Erica said as she removed her mask. “There were two deaths over the weekend and your group may be harboring a murderer. I can’t allow things to go on like this in good conscience.”

“Erica…!” Sofi shouted, “Alyssa I can’t believe you’re conspiring with…! You actually brought Ms. Sampson’s little…! You…!”

Sofi was breathing so heavily that she wasn’t even forming sentences properly. She stopped speaking and put her hand over her chest as she started hyperventilating. Alyssa grabbed Sofi by the shoulders.

“You’ve got to stay calm.” Alyssa said softly. “Listen to the sound of my voice and relax. I promise that I’m here to help you. I…”

Sofi shoved Alyssa away and stormed off. Alyssa went after her.

“Sofi!” Alyssa shouted.

The two of them ran out of the room. The room was suddenly very quiet now that they were gone.

“Well, that was dramatic.” The Matriarch said.

“Speaking of dramatic,” I said as I turned back to face her, “Who are you?”

The Matriarch smiled.

“I’m the Matriarch. Weren’t you paying attention to my speech? It was a great show, wasn’t it?”

“You’re an enchantress.” I said. “You’re manipulating Sofi and these other girls so that you can paint Jackie Sampson as the sole villain in this conspiracy. You want to send her to the chopping block so no one will think twice as you slither away from the situation.”

The Matriarch laughed lightly and clapped.

“Bravo! Aren’t you as clever as a fox?” The Matriarch asked. “So, you’re the Holly Hayfield I’ve heard so much about? I’ve been interested in meeting you, although I never imagined it would be so soon. You’ve got the jump on me showing up like this.”

I blinked in surprise.

“Oh, don’t look so shocked, darling. I’ve spoken at length with both Jackie and Angelica about everything that goes on in that school.” The Matriarch said. “Angelica sometimes brags about you to the others. Honestly, it’s a little annoying. One could almost be forgiven for thinking that you were her daughter or something.”

“Why are you stabbing Jackie in the back?” Erica asked angrily, “I thought you were all working together?!”

The Matriarch took another sip from her glass before responding.

“Me too, dear, it seems that we were both misled. Jackie had a role to play, just like Angel had hers, just like I had mine. She was the one that failed miserably. Thus, it’s only natural that she is the one to take the fall. We tried to explain this to her in our recent meeting and she vehemently refused to fall on her sword. Now, we’re left to pushing her onto it.”

The Matriarch’s voice was so warm and friendly earlier, but now was cold and calculative. This seemed like the type of woman that could actually see through such an elaborate plan. The question was how would she manage to turn these student voices into actual action. Sure, they could spread her version of the truth across the school, but what was the end game? Was she just pushing for the police to crackdown on Ms. Sampson even harder? Would more negative student attitude towards the vice principal even stimulate that?

“Whatever it is you have planned, leave Sofi out of it.” I said. “She’s a physically and emotionally fragile girl. You just saw that first hand.”

The Matriarch stood up from her table, and looked at her watch.

“You try telling her that. She seems to need me more than I need her. Nothing you say to her will convince her otherwise. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’ve got somewhere to be in the next half-hour.” The Matriarch said.

She started to walk away, but stopped when she passed by Erica.

“Also, I’m told that you live with Jackie? When you see her tonight tell her that it’s really nothing personal. Bye darling.”

The Matriarch continued on making her way out of the room. Erica looked at me.

“We’re really just letting her go?” Erica whispered.

“What else can we do? Force her to change her mind?” I asked. “The best thing we can do now is to try figuring out just who she is and what her plans are. For that, I think we need to talk to Sofi again.”

“I think you’re right.” Erica said. “But from the looks of things it doesn’t even seem like she’s responding to her best friend. How do we get her to cooperate?”

“We have to pull her out of the hands of this Matriarch person somehow.” I said.