Alissa

IF WE GO DOWN, WE GO DOWN TOGETHER

The comments under Sarah's secret were far from nice. That's the thing about technology, it gives you the power to be anything you want. That's how Felix became HEL. Students from all years were calling her a slut, a snake, a regular. Words can be lethal. Good thing that they didn't have enough time to dwell on it, they were getting ready for war.

They go to room 209 to equip themselves. Kevin slides the brass knuckle over his knuckles, the weapon shining under the flashlight. Derek and Holly take the two knives. Cody goes with the baseball bat and Sarah chooses the hammer. They let the nunchucks sit since nobody actually knew how to use them.

"Wait," Derek says, studying one of the desks. "Weren't there eight weapons? Except the gun I mean."

"The razor blade, that's—that's not here," Sarah says.

"Yeah, where did it go?"

"I don't know, Maybe it fell down or someone must've unknowingly slipped it down the table. It's too dark here to tell," Sarah answers.

Derek shrugs, "well, we can't really use it against him anyway."

They all let Holly take the lead and follow her. She's the only one who knows a way into the computer lab without breaking the padlock and alarming Felix.

"Should we free Lucas? I mean, we're all going to fight Felix, we can't leave him like that. Other than that, he also has the gun," Kevin suggests.

"Free him and then what?" There's venom in Derek's words. "What if he attacks us again while we're in the midst of fighting HEL—I mean Felix. Also, there were no more bullets in his gun, Cody and I checked."

Holly whirls around as they reach the janitor's room, as if she were a teacher taking her students to the museum. "Alright, as you guys already know, Ted, the janitor has bad memory, he constantly keeps talking about it for some reason." They all nod. "Well, a couple months back, I discovered that he keeps the keys to all the labs inside his uniform at all times. He doesn't take them home, he leaves them all here, either inside the pocket of his shirt, or his pants. That includes the computer lab."

"How do you even know all this? And why didn't you tell us while we were patrolling the hallway?" Cody snorts.

"I know this because I used to use Underground Ecstasy's goods during recess in these janitor rooms," Holly says. "And I didn't tell you about it earlier because then I'd have to tell you that I used to use Underground Ecstasy's goods during recess in these janitor rooms."

"What changed?" Megan asks, her voice low.

"Well, I'm starting to feel as if we're a team now. I was an asshole and still, most of you guys treated me like I wasn't. And those who didn't treat me well," her eyes drift towards Aman. "I deserved it. And I'm sorry. So to answer your question, Holly changed. If all of yours secrets are coming out, mine should as well. That's how teams work. If we go down, we go down together."

A smile breaks out on both Aman's and Megan's faces. Aman shrugs, "guess teammates can't be mad at each other for long."

Felix tried to break them, split them apart. But they held on to each other, and now they are stronger than ever.

Holly enters the small room, that was darker than the darkness outside, as if it's the gateway to a different dimension. After a while, from the depths of the darkness of the room, she walks out, standing in front of a gaping blackness. She's holding a set of keys, clinking in her hand, high up over her head as if she won a trophy.

Everybody sighs in relief. "Guess there's only one thing left to do now," Kevin says. "Time to go to war."

The padlock fell open in Holly's arm, like (potentially) there wasn't a man determined to ruin their lives sitting inside it. Kevin winces as the door squeaks though he pushed it open as gently as possible. He takes a step forward and peeks inside the lab. Rows of desktop monitors are placed on small cubicles, leaving only enough space for one person to walk past them in between at once. The floor is of white and worn tiles with cracks at the corner of some here and there, and even though there's not even a single tube light switched on, it still is brighter than the rest of the school. Moonlight is falling at the floor through the big arched windows, illuminating the room. And there it was, at the end of the room, diagonally behind Mr. Ridwick's table, a cabin with a pale blue door closed shut, with a label on top of it that says: Server Room. Kevin doesn't even remember there was label on the door, but again, nothing feels familiar about this place to him anymore. What he does remember though, is that there was always a small lock, keeping the door shut, and it's secrets intact. That was missing.