Bookview Valley 4

Chapter Twelve: Breakfast

June 16th, Sunday

I sit at my table, Ben is beside me, and I eye our group member suspiciously. Paige keeps her eyes to her plate, not touching a single thing. Ryan and Jasper are whispering back and forth nervously.

"Well, usually, the Skeletons haven't attacked except for in the dark," I mutter to Ben, going through facts in my mind, "Which can be safe to say that they won't attack again until tonight."

"And we'll be gone tonight," Ben responds, nibbling on a piece of bacon, "So, we should be safe."

"Unless the Skeleton decides to attack during the day," I point out, "Or if it's not the Skeleton."

Paige glances up at me, "Morgan?"

"Yes?" I raise an eyebrow at her.

"You've been through this before, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you think we'll be okay?" She asks, her eyes are pleading.

"I hope so," I sigh.

"I still can't believe this all began with Luci," Paige mutters, pushing her toast around her plate. The name brings shivers up my arms and a pain in my heart.

"I..I know.." I stare at my own plate.

"Oh, crap, I'm sorry," Paige scrambles, "I didn't mean to..."

"I know, it's okay," I look back at her, "He...he did a terrible thing and he's gone now. Whoever is doing this is not him."

"But who could it be?" Paige worries at her bottom lip.

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say it's probably Erin," I huff.

"Erin?" Paige asks, her eyebrows knitting together.

"Oh, uh, yeah. She was one of the Skeletons last time," I inform her, "Her brother was also one of them, but he died."

"Did you kill him?" Ryan has looked up from his private conversation with Jasper.

"No..." I twirl a strand of my dark, brown hair in my fingers, "A different Skeleton actually killed him."

"Wait, someone on his own team killed him?" Jasper asks.

"Yes, it was really weird," I nod.

"I wonder why..." Paige trails off thoughtfully.

. . . . .

Ben and I walk back into my room; the others are already there except for Flynn, Sebastien, Nick, and Bri, since it's their turn for breakfast. Bri was pretty pissed that she had to go last. When we walk into the room I find Lilyth and Rachel sitting back on their top bunk. Harper is lying in her bed, earphones in her ears, and her eyes are closed; at least she had some downloaded music.

Ben climbs back onto the top bunk over by bed. I lie back on my own bed and stare at the bottom of the top bunk. I don't really know what to do now, but it seems dumb to just wait until the killer strikes again. However, the bus should be here at some point. Is waiting the safest thing we can do? Should we be searching? I close my eyes against the questions in my head and soon I've dozed off.

When I finally wake back up I hear talk of lunch. How long was I out for? Why didn't anyone wake me up? Has anyone else died? Groaning, I rub my eyes and sit up.

"Morning, sleepy head," Nick grins down at me from the edge of my bed.

"Did I miss anything?" I mumble.

"Not really," Nick shrugs, "but now there's talk about what we're doing for lunch."

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?"

"You seemed peaceful," Nick shrugs.

"Lies," Harper cuts in, "He threatened us! He wouldn't let any of us wake you up."

Grinning, I stare into Nick's blue-green eyes, "You threatened them?"

"You need rest," Nick shrugs. I lean against his shoulder, shutting my eyes again.

"Thank you, I guess," I murmur into his ear and he shivers, "No one died?"

"No one died," He says quiet enough that I know only I can hear him.

"My stomach is about to murder, though," Bri pouts, "I'm so hungry!"

"I swear we just ate," I laugh, sitting back up, "Are we doing the group splitting again?"

"I think so," Bri nods.

"Ugh," Lilyth groans, "I hate it so much!"

"Me too," Harper nods.

"Well, we survived the first time," I point out, "I'm sure it'll be fi-"

But I'm cut off by the sound of screams. We all quickly scramble out of our beds and rush to the door. I slam it open and we flood into the hall, staring down into the lobby. A guy is collapsed on the ground floor, someone else is nearing over him calling out for help.

"What the fu-" Harper mutters, but I'm already racing to the stairs. Taking them two at a time, I reach the bottom and race over to the two guys.

"What happened?" I ask frantically as more people begin to leave their rooms. The guy kneeling over his friend turns to me, his face a mask of panic.

"He just collapsed!" The guy tells me, "We went to the bathroom because he said his stomach was killing him, but when we came out...he just..."

"I'm sure he's okay," I say, my eyes scanning the body on the ground, "Maybe he fainted."

Then we see the trail of blood that has begun to form a puddle near his mouth. The guy next to me freezes as we watch the puddle slowly grow. I hear footsteps behind me and turn around.

"What is going on here?" Director Lockewoods demands before he sees the body before us. He faints, thudding to the floor.

"He's kind of useless," I mutter, before turning back to the body. Glancing around at everyone else, I call out, "Is anyone a medic, or know where the nurse is?"

"I think it's too late for a nurse," The guy beside me mumbles.

"We can't know that," I say, but I fear he's right.

"Over here!" A very short blonde in a nursing outfit calls out. She races over to us and kneels down next to the body. She begins to check the body and I turn around. My eyes find my friends staring down from the balcony. They all look very scared. All I can think now is the killer strikes in the day.