Don't Trust Me

Part Six: Bleeding Flowers

We rode Louis' black motorcycle back to Foxwood.
Principal Darcy was waiting for us in the parking lot as Louis parked his bike and we got off.
"That's the fourth time this week you have faked being ill Louis Cunningham!"
"There will be a fifth if I'm smart enough," He mumbled.
"Now get to class, all of you!" Darcy turned and walked away.
Something crunched under my foot. I looked down and saw a bouquet of white roses that had been splattered with blood.
"There's a note." Rachel picked up a folded piece of paper.
"I left you a present." Rachel, Mike, and I read in unison.
"Who do you think the blood belongs to?" Hanna asked.
Rachel pointed to a trail of blood leading back inside Foxwood.
Four policemen were standing around a body.
Hanna, Rachel, and I squeezed into the crowd of students gathered around the body.
The girl had brown hair and was wearing a lime green dress and white heels. There was a cut on the side of her face but the blood was coming from her chest.
She must have fought back because her arms were spread out at weird angles.
"She has been shot." One of the police explained to Principal Darcy.
"How could this have happened!"
"Who is it?" Hanna whispered.
"That's Estelle." Rachel gasped.
Principal Darcy saw the crowd and shooed us away.
"This is none of your concern, get to class."
Hanna, Rachel, and I walked down the hall.
There was a note stuck to the door of our classroom. Louis ripped the note off the door, his eyes moving back and forth as he read.
"What is it?" Rachel asked.
"Unknown wants us to meet them outside,"
Louis showed us the note.

Why don't we get to know each other?
Meet me outside and I won't kidnap any more of your friends.

Unknown

Rachel shivered and pulled her bright pink jacket in closer like she was cold. I started to feel it too, the cold was creeping up my shoulders. My blue dress wasn't meant for cold weather.
"Why is it so cold?"
Louis frowned, he looked just as confused.
"It shouldn't be this cold,"
Hanna opened the door and we crept inside, making sure we weren't seen.
The air conditioner was on, but the cold was coming from a box on the table.
Rachel carefully opened it and immediately screamed and backed away from it.
Louis, Hanna, and I looked inside and gasped.
"It's a dead cat!"
The white cat had black feet and was covered in ice crystals.
Louis put the lid on the box and read the paper taped to the lid.

This is for an experiment!
Do not bury this cat!

Thanks,
Allan

"Well, that explains the stench," Rachel laughed.
"What is Allan's obsession with dead animals?" Louis asked.
"At least it wasn't a human head," Hanna teased.
Rachel glared at her, "Very funny."
Something fell and then there was a scream.
"It's coming from downstairs!" Louis yelled as we slammed open the door to the Science room and ran down the hallway.
"If Unknown takes another student the whole school will panic!"
We turned a corner and skipped two stairs to save time.
"Oh please, the school panicked the day you came here!" Rachel laughed.
"You never shut up do you?" Louis mumbled.
Once we were outside we found everyone gathered on the soccer field. A boy was face down on the ground, his white shirt and pants stained with blood. Louis gasped, "Allan." His curly hair sustained wetness in patches from blood.
"What happened?" Hanna asked.
Principal Darcy turned to face Hanna. "Where have you been?"
"Listening to music," Louis said to his black tennis shoes, avoiding Darcy's gaze.
Rachel glared at him, "We were studying," she corrected.
"The warning bell rang five times," Darcy muttered.
"We were studying really hard," Rachel offered.
The principal sighed, "I quit my job," She muttered, before leaving us to go and discipline two students kicking a volleyball around.