Mediocre And Remarkable

Chapter 6- Detective Arboc

Heads turned as Micah exclaimed, "What the hell?" and ripped the poster off the wall. "It's the kid!"

Rose hadn't slept that night, worrying about that kid, and now she could feel tears tickling her eyes. "I knew it! I should have said something, it's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's-"

"It's no one's fault! The kid must have got lost or something big deal! He's come back so many times before, he knows the path back." Micah put her hands in front of Rose attempting to calm her down, but their method only made it worse.

She pointed a finger accusingly. "You always brush things off like it's nothing! You never care! A little kid is lost and I represent the school. I need to make sure everyone's safe."

"To be fair, he's not that little he's got to be about... eleven? Twelve?" Micah squinted at the poster in her hand. "Besides, this is a high school, there's no way he goes here. He could be some homeless kid running around. An escapee from an orphanage and they're trying to stuff him back there." they said casually, frightening Rose.

Micah kept talking until Rose plugged her ears so tight her fingers might pierce right through her head and Micah laughed, removing Rose's hands. She snapped at Micah asking if she would help her find the boy or not. Reluctantly, Micah agreed and said she would genuinely help.

They didn't start their investigation until some days later. The Halloween party and sorting everyone's orders for costumes took almost all of their free time away from them. Dozens upon dozens of orders arrived and the group only had a couple of days to organise and hand out all the costumes and even send some back because of a size error.

As the group was stacking boxes on shelves in the mailroom, Micah found an extra box of decorations. She and the group agreed they didn't want to overdo it on decorating and should probably return it to the supply room. Then, Micah thought they should make a lap around the school to see if there was any empty space she could fill.

During Micah's search on the third floor she discovered a square dent in the ceiling. After some squinting and staring they realised it was a trapdoor. They made attempts to run and jump but felt silly doing that. Ladders were off limits to students, even student council members unless with permission and supervision from school staff and Micah didn't want to get mixed up in all that.

She picked up a Halloween snow globe with a black cat that gets swarmed with bats when you shake it and chucked it at the trapdoor. When the heavy ball left Micah's hand both of them instantly went to clutch her hair as she processed what she did. The snowglobe hit the trapdoor with a hollow thud. The door was raised from the impact before going back down with yet another loud noise. Micah prayed no teachers were roaming the halls. A long rope fell along with the snowglobe. Without having a moment to think Micah caught it before it could crash into the floor.

All was silent when Micah wondered what to do. A door slamming in the distance made her blink back to reality. Cautiously and still not sure if she should do this, Micah wrapped her fingers around the rope and tugged. The trapdoor opened slightly and dropped when Micah let go. Feeling more confident Micah put all her weight on the rope and a ladder fell out. It almost reached the floor to which Micah exhaled in relief. If that ladder was any longer it would have hit the ground with such a terrible sound.

Maybe curiosity did kill the cat but Micah was ready to die to know what's up that trapdoor. So, undoubtedly, she climbed. At the top the space was like an attic. Low ceiling met together into a cathedral looking ceiling and a thick layer of dust rested on the wood floor and support beams leaving marks whenever Micah moved around. Mentally, she claimed the space thinking it could work as a secret hideout. Not sure when they'd need it, but at least it was there. Micah quickly imprinted an 'M' and 'R' with her finger into the dust before climbing back down.