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TRIGGER WARNING (please read, this is important): I know I said I wouldn't do any more of these, but I think this chapter deserves its own warning. There is a scene in this chapter that might be triggering to anyone with mental health issues. It is very descriptive, and I myself had a hard time writing and reading this. If you want to skip that scene, go to the first chapter break (xxx). This chapter starts off right where the other one left off so you won't have missed much. Please be safe <3

As soon as Professor Suarez finished his sentence, Cameron shrieked. "D-Dark spirit?" he stuttered, struggling to catch his breath.

"Oh chill, it's not the first time you've seen one," Nikita pointed out. "Remember just a few days ago? Eli almost got possessed by that thing."

"But that one didn't scream!" said Mira. "This one was a human being."

"Or was it?" Avalon questioned, wide eyed. 

The room went into chaos, Devin and Mira struggling to keep themselves together, while others like Nikita remarked on how screwed they all were. The only people that didn't say anything were the two boys that had seen the man first. They just stood in shock, still unable to speak words properly after what they just went through. 

While everyone was dealing with the situation in their own way, the only one to not seem extremely phased by it was Avalon. In fact, she was more curious than anything. She was gifted with the gift of good eyesight, and happened to notice the particularly weird features in the crime scene. She stored those in her mind.

Suddenly, something happened that nobody expected, or even thought was possible. "Calm down, everybody!" Professor Suarez shouted, rage in his voice. His face was completely red, his fists clenched so hard that a vein on his forehead started bulging. "Go to bed. Now."

The children nodded, but when they didn't get going, he yelled, "I said now!"

All of the students quickly turned around, not wanting to watch Professor Suarez drag the body away.

Caleb turned to Eli. "So."

"So."

"That just happened." There was a silence between the boys. "Can we agree to never talk about this day again?" 

"Definitely."

"Cool." Eli was expecting Caleb to hit him, but instead, he just gave Eli one last look, then walked away and joined the rest of the students.

Eli rubbed his face, slowly starting to walk up the stairs. He tried to go up to the third step, but Emery grabbed his hand, preventing him from going any further.

"Let me go, Emery," Eli snapped. "I need sleep after what just happened." However, he didn't let go. Nor did he say anything. He just stared at the ground, breathing. "Emery?"

Then, Emery's breathing started to get heavier. Louder. "Eli..." he pushed out. Suddenly, his fingers slipped from Eli's wrist, and he fell to the ground.

Eli gasped, stunned, and jumped to the ground. Emery was sitting up, clutching onto Eli's hand for dear life. His eyes darted around the room, full of fear. He seemed not to recognize the room he was in, not focusing on a single object or part of the area for more than a half second.

"Eli..." Emery let out, words breathy from hyperventilating. "The room... is spinning... can't... breathe..." He looked at Eli, grabbing onto his shoulder with his other hand. "What's going on?"

"You're... you're going to be alright..." Eli reassured, though he wasn't sure. "Just try and catch your breath." He turned around, not letting go of Emery. "Help! Somebody help!" he screamed desperately. Nobody came. Everyone was far up in their dorms by then, probably yelling to each other in fear.

Eli looked at Emery. "I'm going to go get help, okay?" He started to stand up, but Emery didn't let him, pushing him back down.

"No! Don't go!"

"Mr. Harrison said he doubled as the nurse, I-I can get him-"

"Don't leave me alone!"

Eli stared at Emery, panicking. He needed to get help, but Emery was insistent. And he really didn't want to leave him alone in that condition. He bit his lip, then yelled, "Professor Suarez! Mr. Harrison! Somebody!"

Mr. Harrison came running into the room, crouching beside Emery. "What's going on?"

"Emery fell, I-I don't know why. He says the room is spinning."

Mr. Harrison put his hand on Emery's shoulder. "It's okay, just try to calm your breathing." Emery did as he said, inhaling deeper and slower. "You're going to be fine. I'm going to get you some water. Eli, make sure he stays conscious."

He nodded, breathing along with Emery. Mr. Harrison came back shortly after with a large plastic cup full of water. Emery took it from his hand, slowly drinking every last drop. He cleared his throat, shutting his eyes. His grip on Eli's hand loosened a bit.

"Are you feeling any better?" Emery took a second, then nodded. "I can get you some more water if you want? It's important to stay hydrated, especially after something like this." He shook his head. Mr. Harrison patted his shoulder.

"I think you should try and sleep. That helps after panic attacks."

"Panic attacks?" Emery asked. Then, he did something he hadn't done for a while: he scratched his palm. 

"I assume that's what just happened. Don't worry, it could have easily been a one time thing. Traumatic occasions often cause them. I'll walk you up to your dorm."

Emery stopped him, shaking his head. "I don't want to sleep there tonight," he said. "What if... what if it happens again? And they all stare at me?"

"It won't," Eli comforted. "And even if it does, they won't stare. You can go to the bathroom and just wait it out."

He shook his head again. "I really don't want to sleep there."

Mr. Harrison put his hands on the two boys' shoulders. "That's alright. We have a few spare bedrooms in this school. You can stay there as long as you want."

Emery nodded in appreciation. The two stood up, and Eli started to walk away, but Emery tapped him on the shoulder. Eli turned around to face Emery, who was fidgeting with his hands. "I'm sorry if this is, weird but, um, can you maybe just, come with me? You can leave as soon as I fall asleep, I just, um, don't want to be alone in case it happens again."

Eli shrugged. "Yeah. Of course."

Emery smiled awkwardly. Eli wrapped his arm around Emery as they followed Mr. Harrison, and he felt Emery's heart rate go down drastically from earlier. He was still shaking a bit, but at least he knew what room he was in.

Once they arrived, Mr. Harrison motioned to the bed. It was much nicer than the dorms they slept in. Eli hadn't even thought that was possible. 

"There's only one bed, but there's a pullout couch right there. I can also get some curtains if you want to share the bed-"

"That's fine, I can just sleep on the pullout."

"Are you sure? I might have a spare mattress-"

"Really, it's fine. I'm not sure I'll fall asleep, anyways."

Mr. Harrison nodded in understanding. "Alright. Emery, try and get as much rest as you can."

Emery agreed, slowly walking towards his bed. Mr. Harrison went to switch off the lights, but Emery stopped him. Mr. Harrison smiled at him, then left, shutting the door behind him. 

Emery bit his lip, pulling the covers over him. Eli noticed his unsettled face.

"Are you okay?"

"You don't have to ask that." Emery hesitated. "Are you?"

Eli shook his head. Emery decided on not saying anything, not wanting to upset him even more.

It had been a few minutes, and Emery was staring at the ceiling, arms holding the blanket over his body. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"For what?" Eli asked, looking over at him.

"For staying with me. Even though leaving probably would have been the... smart thing to do, I don't know if I could have handled it."

Eli gave him a small smile but it wasn't genuine. It was hard to be happy at the moment. "Hey, no problem. I wasn't going to leave you like that."

Emery bit his lip. He pivoted his head to face Eli. His palm had become a red, cracked mess, yet he still continued to scrape it. "So, um, Eli..."

When he didn't continue, Eli hinted for him to continue, but he shook his head. "I should sleep. Both of us should."

A little confused, Eli agreed. He fixed himself on the pullout, making it so that he could still see Emery out of the corner of his eye, but could also look at the painting in front of him. Without his headphones, it was his only source of entertainment.

"Good night," Emery said, moving onto his side so he was facing away from him. However, they both know that that night had been anything but good.

xxx

Professor Suarez, Miss. Hendrix, and Mr. Harrison were all waiting in the cafeteria when the students filed in for breakfast. A few of the boys were asking were Eli and Emery went, but neither of them answered. Caleb had an even harder time sleeping than he thought, not getting even a second of unconsciousness. That made two all-nighters in a row. He was lucky to be able to walk.

"Aren't you supposed to be in your teacher lounge or wherever you are while we eat breakfast?" Devin asked.

Miss. Hendrix was the first to speak up. "Well, we wanted to make sure all of you hear this." Mr. Harrison continued for her.

"We know what you witnessed last night was... shocking. And we apologize if it frightened you. So we decided that you should have time away from talking about... unsettling things. Today is yours. All libraries are open, along with the indoor swimming pool, and the game room."

Oliver's mouth dropped open. "A day off?" he asked.

"A day off," Professor Suarez confirmed.

Nikita and Caleb bumped fists. "See you later, losers," Nikita said, heading out with Caleb. Margaret trotted into the cafeteria. 

 "Well, don't you want your breakfast?" she asked cheerfully and hopefully, but got no response. Seeing her hurt, Mr. Harrison told her that he would love some breakfast. She quickly perked back up, running to the kitchen to fix up what he wanted.

The teens drowsily walked into line. Not one of them was fully awake, since half of them got no sleep at all, and the other half got less than five minutes. 

Once she got her french toast and milk, Avalon hurried to an empty table. She spread open her journal, chewing on her pen cap until it popped off. 

Avalon wasn't too worried about anyone finding her book and snooping around in it, since her notebook was written in ways only she could understand. She didn't like to waste paper, so every page she wrote in was completely covered in ink. Words were written vertically across the margins, inside of other words, and even diagonally. 

It might have looked like a mess to others-and those people were completely right-but to her, it was the best system to keep all of her work hidden in plain sight.

Before it left her mind, Avalon had jotted down every single feature she could remember about the man. His round jaw, dirty clothes with large tears in them, the initials on his knapsack-

"We sitting here today?" Devin asked as she sat down. Avalon slammed her journal shut.

"What?"

"You're sitting all the way over here, I just didn't know if you wanted to sit here or just avoid us."

Avalon shook her head, trying to push her journal to her lap at the same time. "I'm just tired, that's all. Don't really feel like socializing with everyone."

"You wouldn't even have to, Oliver's giving Mira a little therapy session right now. She took that guy's death pretty hard." Sympathy came onto Devin's face. "I feel bad for her. She didn't even know him. Imagine what it must be like for her when someone she loves dies."

Avalon didn't respond. Her journal slipped from her fingers. She couldn't keep her eyes off of Mira. She was wearing it again.

"Avalon?"

It didn't even look that nice, really. Blue was much more her color than yellow.

"Are you okay?"

Why was she here anyways? Out of everyone in the city, why was she was one of the twelve selected?

"Avalon!" Devin finally broke her stare. "What just happened?"

"Just... remembered something," Avalon lied, clearing her throat and her mind. "You should probably go and help Mira."

Devin shrugged. "I love the girl, but she doesn't know me too well. She needs Oliver right now."

Avalon felt the journal in her hand, not sure whether to bring it up to the tabletop or not. Devin wasn't going to leave, but she needed to work.

"What's were you working on? An interpretive poem or something? Wait, is that a thing or something I just made up?"

"Actually..." Avalon started, placing the journal on the surface. She let out a breath. "I'm working on a conspiracy."

xxx

"I can't believe you said that to them. How dumb do you have to be?"

"It's a lie they're just going to have to believe for now." 

Miss Hendrix put her face in her hands, shaking her head while the professor sat in his spinning chair, trying not to face the woman. Mr. Harrison leaned up against the chalkboard, staying out of the argument.

"Telling them that the only way to enter this school is if you're a teacher, a student or a dark spirit was a terrible lie!"

"It was on the spot! If I could change what I said, I would!" 

Miss. Hendrix sighed. "Well now they think that any dark spirit could come in at any time. Poor kids, they're probably scared to death."

"It's not a probably," Mr. Harrison contradicted, finally speaking up. "They're terrified. Just last night, one of them had a panic attack after he saw the body and found out about the dark spirit thing. Not to mention the two that were downstairs when he was killed. They were completely shaken. Even that gang kid."

Miss Hendrix pointed at the man. "See? It scarred them!"

"What should I have said then?"

"Anything else! Maybe, 'Oh, it was just a stun!' or 'Don't worry, this school keeps out all evil. Now that he's dead, nobody else will come.'"

"Are you saying we should lie to our students? Their trust could mean the difference between this time working and not! They need to be ready, able to defend themselves."

The female teacher was silent for a minute. "Griffin... did you not see his knapsack?"

"No, I saw it."

"M.B."

Professor Suarez looked at the ground. "I know."

"I know you don't want to admit it, but it's a huge coincidence-"

"Goddammit, Shreya, I know!" Professor Suarez yelled. He slammed his fists on the desk, holding back tears. "Is there any possibility..."

Mr. Harrison came closer to the professor, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Griffin. I know you love her, but all the signs point against her. The knapsack looked old, and she just recently started going by her maiden name, which explains the last initial. When she was the only one who applied, or how she somehow has no memory of any of the other attempts... memory removal only goes so far."

"Okay. Fine," Professor Suarez gave in, tears in his eyes. "She'll leave first thing in the morning."

"We can't risk it. If she's really in cahoots with such... dangerous people, we have to do something about it."

"Are you really suggesting-"

"We can't let her walk around free."

"But she's not proven guilty!"

Mr. Harrison backed away. "There's definitely enough evidence."

Professor Suarez sniffed, wiping his eyes. "If it's what's best for the children's safety, I guess we have no choice." He looked down at his plate of finished french toast. "I'm so sorry, Margaret."

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