A Grave Problem

10. The Note in Mia's Locker

That afternoon, Mia grabbed her books out of her locker, ready to go home. She was about to close it when something caught her eye. In the corner, next to the locker door's hinges, was a pale pink piece of paper folded neatly into fourths. Mia stared at it for a minute, wondering what it was. It obviously wasn't hers - she didn't use pink paper, and she was pretty sure she'd remember if any of the handouts she got in class were pink. Reaching down, she picked the paper up off the locker floor.

A feeling of dread started to build up somewhere in the pit of Mia's stomach. She'd only had one experience with dropping an unfamiliar note in someone's locker; last year, she'd done the exact same thing in order to lure two rival vampires to a park late at night. And it hadn't turned out too well for the recipients of that note. But that was silly - wasn't it? Mia certainly hadn't upset anybody bad enough for that; after all, what could she have done in only three weeks of school? She'd know if she'd done something, wouldn't she? She thought back to all the attacks that had happened last year that made her and Anna finally act. Back then, people were nervous and rumors had been flying. But there was nothing like that happening now. Mia tried to stifle a nervous laugh as she slowly unfolded the note. She'd been a little on edge lately, and her mind was starting to play tricks on her - that's all this was. She rolled her eyes at her own nervousness and opened the note up.

There were only two sentences written in the center of the page in a neat, deliberate cursive. She read the note three or four times, not quite able to believe what it said. All the worry she'd had when she first saw it nestled at the foot of her locker flooded back to her. Her ears started to burn, and she felt lightheaded with worry. As quick as she could, she folded the note back up and stuffed it in her pocket. She tried to glance casually around, but her eyes darted back and forth, looking desperately for anyone who seemed even the slightest bit suspicious.

Students were walking through the halls, talking loudly as they hurried to their final classes. A few were still swapping books out before the bell rang. No one looked at Mia, and from where she was standing, no one looked like they were doing anything out of the ordinary.

If Mia were completely honest with herself, she'd have to admit that she didn't actually expect to figure out who dropped the note in her locker by just looking around the hallway. After all, who would go through all the trouble of anonymously dropping a note only to wait around afterwards? If this person was anything like Mia herself, they'd be long gone by now. Mia stuck her hand in her pocket, fingering the sharp creases in the paper. It was amazing how those two little sentences could ruin her day so quickly.

***

That night after Mia's parents went to sleep, she grabbed the note out of her backpack and unfolded it on her bed. She must have read it twenty more times. Even though she'd memorized every word, she still couldn't tear her eyes away from it. She kept reading it, trying to find some clue as to who the author might be, but there wasn't much to go on. The long, loopy letters and the pink paper told Mia it had probably been written by a girl. Other than that, it was anyone's guess.

The paper itself was small, about the size of a half sheet of binder paper, the words centered in the very middle of the page. Mia tried to stop herself from going over it again, but she just couldn't help it; her eyes were drawn to it.

We know what you did to Fredrick and Jacqueline. Meet us in the park where it happened this Friday night at 11:00.

Friday. That was only two days from now. What was she going to be able to do with only two days? Mia grabbed the paper, folded it back up, and stuffed it into the small pocket of her backpack. There was nothing she was going to learn from reading it all night, and the more it was out, the more she kept going over it.

She'd hoped she'd be able to forget about it if it wasn't in plain sight, but that didn't seem to make any difference. Now that she'd read those words, she knew she'd never be able to forget them.

Last year, Fredrick and Jacqueline had been two of the most popular kids in school. Fredrick had been on the football team, and Jacqueline had been a cheerleader. Even though they'd been nothing but nice when they were at school, Mia had discovered that they were completely different once the bell rang.

Like Mia herself, Fredrick and Jacqueline had been vampires. Unlike Mia, they were almost never careful about how they hunted, and they did whatever they liked. The town had been gripped by fear. Newspapers ran reports almost daily of new attacks. And even though no one knew vampires were the cause, it hadn't changed the fact that people were frightened; they'd stopped going out at night as much, and it had become almost impossible for Mia and Anna to hunt.

Mia remembered how scared she'd been. She'd tried to hide it - even from her friends - but she'd seen that kind of reaction before. When she'd been in Japan, people had started acting that same way about a month before she'd started getting picked on.

Anna had known what Fredrick and Jacqueline really were and asked her friends for help. Of course, they'd agreed. The last thing Mia wanted was for people in her new town to start acting like the ones who had forced her to move. Besides, Fredrick and Jacqueline were dangerous - it wasn't safe for anyone while they were around. So, Mia and her friends had gotten rid of them; they'd lured them into a park by Anna's house and killed them.

Mia had had more reservations than she'd let on - even to her friends. She'd tried to act like it was something she was more than ok with, but it wasn't. Not just because she was scared, but because it had been the first time she'd ever set out to intentionally hurt someone. But even still, she knew without a doubt that she'd done the right thing; it had saved her town. And who could be upset by that?

That last thought made Mia pause. Who would even know about that? Mia and her friends had been careful to never mention their plan at school and had made sure they acted like nothing unusual was going on. They even picked the park because it was out of the way. They'd done everything they could to try to make sure no one knew what had happened.

And yet, someone did know. The only possible way they could have found out was if they were hiding in the trees, watching. But if someone else was really there, they'd have to know that Fredrick and Jacqueline were vampires. So why would someone be so upset by two vampires dying that they'd go after the people responsible for getting rid of them?