THE GAME IS AFOOT

That night, the nightmare ensued once more but this time it was more realistic. It's as if I went back on time. And it wasn't pleasant. I woke up drenched in sweat once again, cold air around me. It was still dark out. I tried going back to sleep but I couldn't, and also I didn't want to. I just layed there awake. I felt like I was going insane.

SEPT. 14.

The next day, Mrs. Raven said there was going to be an investigation and everyone that attended Kierra's stupid ass party was called into her office. I didn't go but then Kierra went to my dorm and called me, said that Mrs. Raven wanted to talk to me.

"You told her I was at your mess of a party?" I asked her, I could feel my anger coming up.

"She ASKED."

"I didn't want to be in your stupid fucking party anyway!" My voice was getting loud this time.

"If you didn't want to, why'd you say you'd be there?!"

"I- …." I couldn't say anything, it was like something was clogging my throat.

"What?!"

"Just..shut up god you are so annoying. I'm going to the principal's office"

I walked out of my dorm and slammed the door shut. Rage filling up inside me. But I didn't have the right to be mad, I still chose to go because I was too much of a coward to say no. I took a deep breath and headed to Mrs. Raven's office. 𝐹𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠. When I got outside the principal's office, I saw him again…that guy. We made eye contact again, but this time, he said something.

"Were you called to the principal's office too?"

"What do you think?"

"Okay? Sorry? Jeez, I was just asking"

"Who are you anyway?" My voice still sounded pissed from having to see Kierra's face.

"Alvaro, you?"

"You don't have to know"

"That seems unfair, I told you mine"

"Christina, happy?"

"I wouldn't say I'm thrilled."

"What are you even doing in Kierra's lame party? And why are you literally everywhere I go? Are you like a stalker or something"

"Calm down, I didn't even know who you were 2 minutes ago. And I could ask you the same question."

"I asked first bonehead"

"Keep the insults at a minimum hot face. A. I was in Kierra's because they invited the new students, and B. I just go to the roof to relax and look at birds"

𝑆𝑜 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑤—𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑏𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠.

"Birds? Okay weirdo.."

"Hey! Birds are very compassionate, loving, adorable, and one of the most interesting creatures one can ever encounter, do NOT slander them like that"

𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘….

"Okay? Sorry? Still a weirdo nonetheless"

"Yeah well you're a-a…uhhh…a very sad individual"

"You're pretty right on that"

"Shut up!"

"You sound like a child"

"Well you sound like a bully"

"AHEM"

Mrs. Raven said from behind.

𝐹𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑘𝑖𝑑

"Will the both of you stop bickering like untamed children and get in my office? NOW."

We both followed Mrs. Raven's orders and went inside her office. It still smelled like when I last came here—like freshly cut roses mixed with wine and candles, the walls were covered in a black luxurious floral wallpaper that looks like it's slowly rotting away.

"So…both of you, why were you at Kierra's party? You do know that hosting, and attending an unsupervised event will cost you detention…something I'm sure you, Miss Santos, will not like risking…hmm?"

She looked at me, smirking, with those red, soulless eyes of hers, I've never really liked looking at them because something about them just….makes my skin crawl.

"No..ma'am"

"Good…so you better tell me why you were there and you better give me a good reason."

"I-I..I..uhh…"

𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑠…𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑢ℎℎ…𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡–𝑇𝐸𝐿𝐿 𝐻𝐸𝑅 𝑌𝑂𝑈 𝑊𝐸𝑅𝐸 𝐹𝑂𝑅𝐶𝐸𝐷 𝑇𝑂 𝐵𝐸 𝑇𝐻𝐸𝑅𝐸!

"I WAS FORCED TO BE THERE!"

"Really?" she said, her voice filled that of suspicion.

"Yes, I didn't want to go b-but…someone said it was a normal…welcoming party, no drinks involved or …something"

"Still, it was an unsupervised event that almost risked everyone's life"

𝐷𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙.

"I didn't know it was unsupervised-"

"Christina Asula Santos are you SERIOUSLY lying to me right now?!"

"Lying?! I'm not lying!"

"Then tell me why Kierra said you hosted it?"

𝐾𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑒?! 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘! 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝐼 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑒ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑒?! 𝑂ℎℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘𝐸𝐷 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒.

"I DIDN'T! I REALLY DIDN'T!"

"She's right Mrs. Santos- I mean Mrs. Raven! I could say! Kierra was the one who hosted it— she's the one who invited us!"

𝐷𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡? 𝐻𝑢ℎ…𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡?

"Yes! Kierra hosted the party! They're just blaming this on me so you wouldn't get mad at them. I mean seriously Mrs. Raven, what made you think I could coordinate something like this? And, with all due respect ma'am, are you saying that you believe Kierra more than me? Someone who has been here since she was 5 years old? Surely you wouldn't"

"Hmm…"

She has a suspicious look on her face. I KNOW that she would never believe someone like Kierra over me, a loyal student and also one of the most reliable students (not really) in the school.

"I will be talking to Kierra and their parents about this. Thank you Christina."

𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠.

"Now what about you, Mr. Celestino. As a new student you should be wary of the rules of this school if you wish to have good grades. But since you are new and you were unbeknownst of the nature of this event, I'm letting you off with a warning. Do this a second time and you will get into trouble…understood?"

"Yes….ma'am" I could hear the fear in his voice.

We left the principal's office and stood outside of it.

"Trust me, Mrs. Raven can't kill you unless you give her a reason to do so. So stop shaking, I can hear your bones rattling, it's pathetic."

"Is that supposed to comfort me? Because I can tell you it is not working. That was the first time I've ever been sent to the principal's—I didn't even know the rules!"

"Your fault for not listening to the orientation."

"Who listens to orientation anyway?!"

𝐻𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒.

"Calm down, she'll probably forget you or any of this ever happened in a week."

"I refuse to believe that"

"Okay? So..don't?"

"Yeah okay!"

"Oookay?"

𝐻𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒.

"You know what Adrien, you can shut the fuck up and go find some birds in the roof. Stop being so annoying"

"MY NAME ISN'T ADRIEN ITS ALVARO!"

"Do I care? No, I do not"

"And plus, Christina, yeah! That's right! I remember your name-. For the record, I am not annoying you. You're literally the one going wherever I go."

"You are just straight up wrong on that—I have been here longer than it took your mom to file those adoption papers of yours."

"I'M NOT EVEN ADOPTED!"

"How would you know?"

"Shut up!"

"Leave me alone then!"

"Oh! you think I like bumping into your mean face? I don't."

"Bye. It was not nice meeting you." I turned my back and left. What a bozo.

He seemed like a good guy, maybe I was being too mean towards him but that didn't really matter at that moment. Kierra was all I could think of. 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑛 𝑀𝐸? 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑢𝑑𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑑…thinking about them just made my blood boil even more so I tried thinking about other things like…the party.

𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑛 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔? I thought. I still couldn't get the picture out of my head. 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔…𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑚𝑒? 𝐶𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐼 𝑑𝑜? 𝐷𝑜𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑠? 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑎𝑚 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑢𝑦? 𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑡 𝑢𝑝.

But I did wonder if he's doing okay after seeing that hell of a scene at the party. I shrugged it off and went to the library, hoping to find Angel there. I arrived there and the strong feeling of nostalgia consumed me. I haven't been here in a long time. The library was where I usually hung out before, I used to love reading books. I don't know when or why I stopped going here so often but I liked being back.

"Christy? Hey!" Angel waving to me right next to the bookshelves.

"Hey Angel, have you been here all day?"

"I mean…there's not really much you can do in the dorms right?"

"Yeah…true." I glanced at the books she was holding—it was one of my favorites growing up. "The Sundrop". A classic if I do say so myself.

"The Sundrop by Christopher Alfonté, what a classic."

"YOU KNOW THIS TOO?" She replied excitedly.

"Yeah, one of my favorites growing up, my mom gave it to me as a gift when I was 6."

"THAT'S SO COOL! I have spent literal years trying to find this!" I saw her face beam up with joy, she looked like a little kid who had just gotten a new toy to play with. Adorable. I thought to myself.

"You go read that, I'm just going to find something here."

"Good luck with that!" I gave her a smile and she left shortly after.

I went to the zoology section of the library—hoping to find whatever did the attack from last night's party. If no one's gonna try and figure out what happened, maybe I will. I'll be honest, I've never really cared about shit like this, I usually just minded my own business but…something about this is just…I can't explain it but it was strange and I couldn't ignore it. It was like..it's calling me towards it and I couldn't stop myself.

"I didn't know you liked animals that much." A girl's voice said behind me. I turned back to see who it was, it was a girl with long strawberry blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and golden nuggets for eyes. It was Ginny—Ginny Hansley. Her dad owns a pretty famous publishing house, and one of the smartest kids here in Bellarose (she competed in a ton of quiz bees and won like ¾ of it).

"I'm not," I replied.

"So what's with the stack of books then? Looks like you're gonna build a skyscraper with that. Do you need help or something?"

"Thanks for the offer- ugh- Ginny. B-but I'm fine." I said, clearly struggling with the amount of books I'm holding.

"Okay, but you seem like you really do need my help."

"Just leave me alone."

"Sorry? Sheesh you are so hot headed these days"

"Why does that concern you?"

"It doesn't- oh you have the book I need, do you mind?" she pointed at the mythological creatures book I'm holding (alongside the other books stacked on my hands right now). Not sure why a book on mythological creatures would be in the zoology section but I put the books down on the table and handed it to her.

"Are you doing a thesis on animals, Christina?"

"No."

"Okay so…care to explain what this…all of this is about?"

"I- I can't"

"Why not?"

"I just can't, okay?"

"Seriously….maybe I can help out."

"Ginny, with all due respect, shut up."

"I'M JUST SAYING!"

"And I don't care! Why does this concern you so much?"

"BECAUSE I NEED HELP"

"....you could've just said that"

"You know me…I'm supposed to be the one helping out, not the one asking for it."

"It's fine to ask for help when you need it …."

"Yeah but…ehh I don't know, just help me out here."

"Okay fine, what is it?"

"You were there at Kierra's party right?"

"....yeah, were you?"

"Yeah I was and….I saw it."

"The what? The…body?"

"Yeah, uhh that. And I'm here to find out what attacked Edmund—it might kill other students too, I'm not sure Bellarose can sweep that under the rug this time. Are you here for that too?"

"Maybe, I just need to know if there's a way to avoid this….thing. What do you have so far?"

"Close to nothing, all I know is that it's definitely not the work of any animal….soo" She glanced at the heaps of books I put on the table and made a face that said "those are useless". I glanced back at them and sighed.

"I'll go ahead and put these back, tell me the things you've found so far."

"Okay!"

After a while of me putting back the books I didn't actually need and Ginny telling me what she found from the mythological creatures book. At first we thought it was a wendigo, maybe an aswang, or even a chupacabra. But none of these seem to match with the way the body was attacked. It was a dead end for us and we were tired from always flipping through the same pages over and over again. We came to the conclusion that maybe it was an animal, probably one we've never heard of before, like an extinct one or possibly even a dinosaur. Whatever it was, we couldn't figure it out and it was getting late. I told Ginny I'd just go back tomorrow and we should just let it rest and she agreed.

I hurried to the roof to finally relax and breathe and when I got there, surprise surprise, there he was, standing in his usual spot, looking up to the sky.

"Hey Avery," I said.

"For the second time, it's Alvaro."

"Whatever…"

"Meanie."

"Child-like."

"Let's stop insulting each other, can we?"

"You started it."

"Does it look like I care?"

"Huh….not really"

"Exactly"

"....so, how was…the…um"

"The what?"

"The you know…party?"

"Oh you mean the absolute mess of a body we saw right next to Kierra's place?"

"Yeah…that"

"Pretty shit, not gonna lie. Everytime I close my eyes, I still see that guy's face."

"Same here."

"I've been trying to figure out what that thing was, but it's like nothing I've ever seen before."

"I think that's a given already"

"Yeah yeah, whatever…""Me and Ginny did do some digging earlier at the library"

"You guys dug the place?"

"Haha, very funny Alexander. No we did not dig the place, we did some research, jesus"

"Just tryna lighten up the mood, you look so grumpy all the time. Soo…what did you guys find?"

"Pretty much nothing."

"Great."

"Oh please-"

"Just shut up and admire the sunset Carlos"

"Carlos?!"

"Sorry…what was your name again? Charlie? Chloe? Cheryl? Yeah you seem like a Cheryl."

"It's CHRISTINA"

"Ohhh did you say Christopher? Yeah, hi Christopher!"

"Please shut the fuck up, Alvaro"

"HA! There! You said my name!"

"Har har"

We both laughed a little. I'll admit, maybe not being by myself all of the time wasn't so…terrible. Hanging out with Angel and being there with Alfonso, I'd felt something I haven't felt in a long time. A warm feeling, I didn't know what it was at the time, all I knew is that I enjoyed it. I took a deep breath and let my mind free, I stopped thinking about everything that has happened for the last 2 days and just…live.

It was soon almost dark out and me and Alvaro said goodbye and we headed back to our dorms. 𝑃ℎ𝑒𝑤…𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑦.. I took off my shoes and jumped face first on the bed. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑙?....I thought. She was usually here right before dusk. 𝐸ℎℎ 𝑠ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔…𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟. I was drifting asleep, and eventually passed out on my bed. Letting my dreams—nightmares even, take over me once again, I braced myself for what's to come.