Nikki - Liars Go To Death Part Two

The three of us opened the door to the library. Inside was so silent. Dozens of bookshelves tower over us. Hundreds of books were neatly placed on each one. Most of the shelves were made of mahogany. It needed to be sturdy and withstand the age. There were probably thousands of books inside the library altogether.

As they approached the main desk, I noticed the students inside transfixed on what they are doing. There were also a set of computers on one side where some students were typing down things. Most likely, their projects. I could also see the dust on some of the bookshelves. Some sections were barely visited.

Phineas automatically approached the librarian and informed her that they will be checking out the archives section. He quickly got approval. The librarian escorted us to the farthest section in the library on the second floor. We were silent. Dare not utter any clue what we were supposed to investigate.

We entered another room, which was filled with another set of bookshelves. But instead of books, old newspapers were laid out on each bookshelf. It was the collection of the school newspaper. On the other side of the room was a door that leads to their main office. We gave a smile to the librarian who left them silently.

"So, where do we start?" Otis asked.

"Over there." Phineas looked around and pointed out on the other side of the room. "This part contains their latest works. Those probably have the oldest news there. Miss Schwartz died almost ten years ago."

The three of us walked towards the end of the room. But something was different. Phineas was the first one who took notice of it. The shelves on that part of the room didn't contain a single paper. Otis and I were thinking the same thing. There were pockets of dust that was in the shape of the newspaper.

"Someone obviously took the newspaper." Otis muttered.

"We can see that. There isn't much dust yet on the missing spaces. They might have just taken it recently." I said. "But why? Did anyone know that we were going to look for it?"

"I wonder if some of the other students took an interest in it as well. What do you think?" Phineas crossed his arms. It made me wonder more about Miss Schwartz's case. Indeed, there must have been something interesting in that paper. "With Mr. Cain blurting it out so blatantly, then I am sure that others will take an interest in it as well."

"But they can't take those out of this room." Otis said. Phineas and I stared at him with awe on their faces. The other boy looked back, looking confused. "What?!"

"Wow. He thinks!" Phineas laughed. "But, you're right."

"Only a teacher can take them out." Nikki said. "And there's only one teacher we have right now who used the name Miss Schwartz so suddenly."

"Mr. Cain Evans." Phineas replied. He suddenly had this dark stare, which made me noticed. It was getting more personal for Phineas. "There's no point in staying here. Let's go home. We can ask him about the newspaper tomorrow."

"Or we can ask the librarian if someone took the newspaper." Nikki suggested.

"You're right." Otis agreed. "Can we go now? This place is giving me the creeps."

Phineas nodded, and the three of us went back to the librarian.

"Hey, Miss Cruz, did someone took the old newspapers from the archive?" Phineas asked. He said it so casually. As if he had a close relationship with the librarian. "I think someone took them."

"So, that's what you are going to look for." The frail old librarian smiled. The number of wrinkles on her face doubled from her attempt. "The new teacher said he was interested in looking at it. I heard Miss Schwartz's name so often these days. What's going on?"

"Didn't you know that Mr. Kelly was murdered?" Otis asked.

"I do. Maybe that's why he was interested in it." Miss Cruz replied. "It was some heartbreaking news. There was no way someone would murder him. Funny, though. It was the same with Miss Schwartz."

"What do you know about Miss Schwartz's murder?" Phineas asked. His eyes narrowed. The interest in his eyes was so obvious. "That's why we were looking for that old newspaper."

"Oh. About that, huh?" The librarian put a finger on her chin, trying to remember hard. "That was a really complicated story. I can't remember all the details."

"Can you give us a few details, at least?" Phineas pressed on.

"As far as I can remember, she was murdered along with a girl named Arianne." The woman said. I felt my heart jumped at the mention of Arianne's name. "Both of them were murdered in cold blood ten years ago. They were drained of blood."

The three of us fell silent. I had a hint about the girl, but Phineas and Otis didn't. And the two victims were drained of blood. No wonder Arianne was so pale and deathly when I saw her. It made sense. I looked at my friends, who stared blankly at Miss Cruz. Her neatly tied silvery-white hair had shown she was old enough to have met those two victims. She was our librarian as far as we could remember.

"I guess we'll go now." Phineas finally said. He was contented. And seeing Miss Cruz's glassy eyes, he knew he couldn't push the topic further. He was the first one who left, and the two of us just followed after him.

"Why are creepy libraries always accompanied by creepy librarians?" Otis asked sheepishly.

Phineas and I just shrugged him off. Then they walked towards the bus. The ride home was just like the day before. Silence filled us. Pulled in our own train of thoughts. Phineas took notice of the murder of Miss Schwartz. Drained of blood. It was weird and mysterious. I wanted to know more about Arianne. I want to go to Asphodel and find her. But I need to learn first how I could prolong my stay there. That realm might suddenly claim me as its own resident.

The bus stopped in front of my house. We waved goodbye as I hopped off the vehicle.

I walked across their lawn and opened the front door. There was a black car in front of our house. There was no way it was ours. I shrugged it off and went inside. I took a deep breath and called loudly, "Mooom!!"

"Yes, baby?" My mom's voice called out. It was gentle and warm. Just as how I would always remember it. Her voice would always soothe me. Especially if I'm feeling really down. "I'm in the kitchen. Do you want a sandwich?"

"Yes, please." I entered the kitchen. It was just on the other side of the wall behind our living room. I looked at my mom, who fixed me a sandwich. The dishes were still in the sink and were unclean. My mom was still dressed up casually. "And stop calling me baby."

"You'll always be my baby." Mom smiled. But I saw someone else in the kitchen. It was a woman who was probably the same age as my mom. The two of them were sitting on the table. She had long dark hair and sky blue eyes. Her face was friendly, and she had this bright kind of stare. She smiled at me, which caused me to smile back. "Sorry. I forgot to tell you we have a visitor today."

"It's okay." I replied. "No biggie."

"Ellie, I could only assume he is the son you told me about." The woman spoke. Her voice had a hint of confusion in her words. Her brows raised, and she knew she was right. "I would really love to know more about him, but I have to go. Chance and Celine would be waiting for me at home. I do hope your boy could meet my son as well. They are probably the same age."

"Yeah. I would love that too." Mom replied. She handed me a peanut butter sandwich. Then looked at the woman. There was concern in her eyes. It was a bit intense. As if an invisible message was being passed between the two of them. "You take care on your way, okay?"

"Sure." The woman smiled. As soon as she passed by beside me, she held my face and had a shock for an expression. "Oh my, what happened to your eye? "

"It's a genetic mutation." I muttered. Then smiled as brightly as I could so the woman would shrug it off. "No worries. I've been like this since I was born."

"Oh. Okay. I thought one of your eyes was blind." The woman sighed in relief. "The two of you had that kind of intense gray eyes like my husband and my children. Anyway, off I go then."

"Who was that?" I asked as soon as I heard our front door shut close.

"That's Diane. She was my college roommate back then." My mother smiled as she started to wash the dishes. "We haven't seen each other for a really long time. I just bumped her at the mall and found out she just lives at Saintsville."

But I really took note of the confusion on Diane's face. And I had a hint why. I was physically different from my mom. I have dark, unkempt, and wavy hair, while my mom had long locks of golden blonde. I was heterochromic. Which was the center of attention in most cases. But at least my gray eye had the same shade as my mom's pair of gray. I had a paler skin complexion from his mom. It looked so sickly from being too light. On the other hand, my mom's complexion was more natural and toned lightly. She was still pretty despite almost reaching her fortieth birthday. In short, I looked nothing like my mother. And it hurt me. For not being able to look a bit like my own blood. There were even a few times some of our family friends would assume that I was just adopted by my mother. Tough luck.

"Mom?" I spoke. My tone of voice was full of shame. It quivered as the sound I made effortlessly traveled inside the room. "Can you tell me more about dad?"

"Your father's name is Stan." She began. Her voice was very gentle. Not a hint of resentment. Not even an ounce of it. "And he was the greatest man I have ever known."