Adventures After School: Recovery

Chapter 5: Revelations

             The hallway was unnervingly quiet.

At least for Carla, it was. When she was in Beaumont, the hallways were always noisy. The dragon boys and girls were the loudest then—and their cheering on one another during classwork was what she always heard back when she was there. But this is Winchester. There were no monster hybrids here.

"Testing, testing! Hello! Can you hear me?"

Frank turned his head. He swore he heard a feminine voice, but not over the loudspeakers in the hallway. Carla stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the voice as well, but James seemed to continue walking. It appears that he hadn't heard anything at all.

James noticed the siblings standing still. Their faces looked pale. Frank looked as if he were in shock, and Carla's bangs covered her left eye. She was biting her lip and her fists were clenched tight.

"Are you both okay?" James asked them.
"Yeah." Brother and sister replied in unison.

Carla and Frank walked up with James all the way to the rooftop. When they arrived there, they noticed a boy who stood facing the sun. Oddly enough, he didn't have a shadow. Not even in front of him.

He turned his back and happily greeted the three students. His black hair was covered by a brown bonnet, and he was wearing a green hoodie with his uniform. His hoodie was unzipped, and he wore checkered Vans. Judging by the way he looked at the three, he appeared to be taller than any of them—and older, too.

"Are you guys lost?" He asked. "By the way, name's Dave Parker."
"No, we aren't." Carla answered.
"I see." Dave smiled. "Well then, I'll take my leave."

As Dave was leaving, he stopped in his tracks. He walked back to Carla and examined her. He was sure he'd seen her before.

"Uh, Parker?" James said. "You're being creepy."
"Seems like it." Dave replied. "What's a nice place like you doing in a beautiful girl like this?"

Carla snickered and let out, "Oh my God."

But he kept his gaze on the girl. As he was studying her, Carla studied him as well. She swore she recognized his face—and his voice. And his personality. She knew him from when she was still in Squad Upsilon. She was sure he was in Delta.

"I know who you are." Dave let out, his tone serious. "Three years ago, I was a part of Squad Delta—the bomb squad."
"We were with Omega then. Unfortunately, there was a bomb we weren't able to detect until too late. It killed the entirety of Upsilon except their leader."
"She was seriously injured by the explosion. On top of that, she was the youngest. And she was ten years old."
"Delta, Upsilon, and Omega were tracking down Olympia Césaire—the mother of the prince that Upsilon succeeded in protecting. But at a cost."
"The leader of Upsilon killed herself before Olympia could lay a finger on her."
"And here you are, Carlisle, standing before me. How are you alive?"

Carla trembled. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Right now, he was talking about the cause of her death like it were a ghost story—and she even had the heart to tell her friends that on their way to the rooftop! James and Frank looked at her. As shocked as they were about Dave telling her how she died, they kept their gaze at her. They were looking for confirmation.

"James, Frank..." She was having a hard time. "It is true. That's how I died."
"Yes, but sis..." Frank bit his lip. "The question here is how you're back, and you have to tell them. You've already told me."

Oh God, Carla thought. How could she tell James and Dave? She had been able to tell Frank. He didn't need answers anymore. He only needed this—Dave's story of her. He needed to know how she died.