Experiment Scarecrow

Chapter 8

Brooke stared out the classroom window, watching the rain softly pitter patter against the glass; the sound having a similar effect for her as a lullaby, tuning out her history teacher's dull voice. She tilted her head, her eyes fixated on the rain drops as they trickled down the window's surface.

Each school day seemed to become harder to push through, her thoughts always revolving around Scarecrow. Especially now that the soft rain turned into a downpour. She lifted her head from resting her chin in her hand, a worried expression crossing her face.

The girl who sat next to her, Emily; a quiet, flaxen-haired girl with bright green eyes, and pale skin with freckles, turned to face her. "Are you all right?" she asked quietly, seeming to express genuine concern toward Brooke's current disposition.

She shook her head, blinking a few times to snap herself back to reality before her eyes met Emily's. The thought of Scarecrow drenched, shivering in the rain left her.  "Oh, yes, sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

Emily gave a soft smile in return and nodded. "All right. Just know that I'm here if you need me."

She nodded, sighing quietly as she looked back toward the white board. Emily was nice, and probably wouldn't say a word if she told her the truth, but at this point, she couldn't trust anyone. If anyone overheard their conversation, or if Emily accidently slipped up, it would all be over for her.

Brooke laid her head down on her forearms, her eyes adverting to the clock near the white board. Unfortunately, she had done some research late last night on her phone before she went to bed, except it wasn't on the church's origins; instead, it was on Scarecrow himself, or "The Scarecrow Man."

The majority of the websites she stumbled upon were blogs or fan-made websites, containing speculations and theories. 

Nothing factual.

Some people thought he may have been hung in front of the church in being accused as a witch, or a warlock, and now is haunting the church in search of revenge. But that didn't add up with the timeline. Most of the witch trials ended by 1693 in America, and Braylon hadn't been discovered until 1793.

Others believed he was a demon, summoned by a coven of witches to protect their place of rituals and sacrifice. But again, it didn't make sense. It was a church. And according to Ms. Yarrow, it had been a place of prayer, not sacrifice.

At this point, nothing made sense to her.

She tried to go over the small conversation her and Scarecrow had back in the church, over and over again; picking his words apart piece by piece. But still, nothing made sense. There were still so many parts missing to the story; parts that the internet didn't even hold answers to.

The bell finally rang, dismissing her to attend lunch. She lifted her head and rose from her seat, collecting her bag before merging into the hallway. Brooke soon pulled her phone from her pocket, swiping up to unlock her screen before texting Olivia to ask if they could Face Time during lunch.

She made her way down the hall, taking a left before an immediate right, passing through the lockers and into the cafeteria. Once she found a spot at the far corner of the cafeteria, Olivia replied yes. She gave a quiet sigh through her nose before tapping on the app, waiting for her to pick up.

After a minute, Olivia finally picked up, her dark eyes still appearing drained. "What did you need?" she asked, laying on her couch in an oversized, black band t-shirt on the screen; her wrapped arm laying across her stomach.

"I don't think that you probably care, or... want to talk about this right now, but I need to ask you something. So, I've been doing some research on the origins of the church, and-" Before she could explain, Olivia interrupted her.

"Brooke. Are you still on this? Unless you're considering on doing anything with this information eventually, then I don't care. Like I said, after what happened..." she trailed off and shook her head. "I have regrets. Legends need to remain as legends. We should have never went in the first place."

Brooke's eyes widened. "What? No! Olivia, please. Hear me out. I want  to turn this into a report of some form. But right now, I can't just rewrite what is already known. I need the full story to intrigue people. Not just photos and speculations..." she said, already beginning to whip up another lie.

Olivia frowned, glancing down. "All right... then go on."

"Ok, so, I've been doing research on the church's origins, right? And I discovered it was a place of worship and prayer, not a place of sacrifice and rituals as we thought it was. Which means, that has  to be holy ground of some form, right?" she asked. "You know more about the supernatural stuff than I do."

She gave a weak chuckle and nodded. "A little. But yes, that would rule out him being a demon at least."

"Well, and as for a spirit, he sa-" She stopped, almost having slipped up herself. She quickly cleared her throat. "He can't be... because I saw that he bled, right?"

Olivia nodded. "So, what? He's a regular dude? Just some psycho killer?"

Brooke shook her head, readjusting her phone in hand. "No, that can't be right. What about the red, glowing eyes?"

She frowned. "You make a good point..." she trailed off. "So what the hell is he?"

She shrugged. "That's why I called you. I thought you would know."

Olivia scowled, almost frustrated with herself for not knowing. "No, I-I don't even know. Unless he is a zombie? Zombies bleed, but, he's not mindless," she sighed. "I don't know... sorry, Brooke."

"It's all right, Olivia. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"Well, here's the thing. He partially fits multiple descriptions, but doesn't completely fill one. Like, a Wight? I thought he may be a Wight. A Wight isn't mindless, and usually seeks revenge. But... they're short. He's not short. And as for a revenant, they also seek revenge, and aren't mindless, but... he doesn't take a spirit form. Do you see what I mean?"

Brooke nodded, placing her chin in her hand again. "Yeah, I do. Maybe he's just his own special kind?"

Olivia shrugged. "I guess."

"Well, I appreciate the help, Olivia, really," she thanked her.

She nodded. "Anytime." She paused. "So, anything from school that I should know before I hang up?"

She shook her head, glancing down a speck on the table. "Not really, just some Math and English homework you will have to catch up on."

Olivia smirked. "No one questioned  about me?" she pressed.

"I-Well, of course they did. All of them wanted to know, but I lied again," Brooke scoffed.

"Of course you did. Well, that's all I really needed to know. You better hurry up and eat before lunch ends. We've been talking for quite a while," she suggested.

Her eyes widened, glancing toward the time in the upper right hand corner of her screen. "Oh, I forgot! Goodness, I better eat quick. I will talk to you soon, all right?"

Olivia gave a small smile and nodded. "All right. It was nice talking to you, Brooke. Bye!" She soon hung up, allowing Brooke to try and scarf something down before the bell rang.

Now she was back to square one, even after all the research and asking her, somewhat paranormal expert, Olivia. She felt hopeless, and as if she was being forced to go back to the church from the consistent lack of answers.