Shh...

Chapter Six

I woke up... in the woods. Not a creepy, dark woods, just the regular old woods outside the school. "Vi?" I turned my head to see Gerald kneeling next to me. "Are you okay?" I didn't answer him, I just stood right up. He followed suit, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Vi, I'm worried about you."
"No you're not, Gerald." I finally said.
"What do you mean? Of course I do." I just shook my head before turning towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders.
"No you don't... because you're part of the dream." I shoved him backwards and as soon as he hit the ground he turned into a pile of leaves.

That's when the temperature dropped several degrees and the sky turned grey. A gust of wind brushed passed me, sending a chill down my spine. "Too smart for that, are you?" The snake like voice of Mrs. Girard asked. "Well then, let's have another." Suddenly the leaves at my feet formed a whirlwind around me, trapping me. When the leaves cleared, I was in a new place, a familiar place, the cafeteria.

"This one's a classic." Though I couldn't see her, I could constantly feel the witch's presence, watching my every move. I sat at the table for a moment, consumed by silence and my curiosity about the next test. Then, I noticed Gerald walking towards me calmly. Once he arrived at the table I was sitting at, he sat across from me. I was confused for only a moment, because soon after another Gerald appeared in my line of sight. "Your task is to figure out which Gerald is fake and which Gerald is real."
"Neither of them are real, it's a dream." I declared proudly.
"Ah, clever girl. However, I really am looking for you to identify just one Gerald." I sighed, disappointed.
"Okay Geralds, what do you have to tell me?"
"Violet, you're over your head this time." The Gerald on the left said. That gave him a point towards being real.
"Yeah, but that girl we worked with, the one who could make things come to life just by writing it, what was her name?" I inquired.
"Kate." They replied at the exact same time.
"All right, and that cat you had?"
"Nancy." Again, unison.
"Give me one word you'd use to describe me."
"Mean." One replied.
"Sarcastic." The other answered. Both of those were very much Gerald answered.
"Come on, Violet, I think it's obvious that I'm the real Gerald." One of them walked up to me and caressed my face. This gave me an idea.
"Geralds, you had a dream the other day, a dream about me; give me one word to describe it."
"Heaven on earth." The Gerald in front of me didn't hesitate to reply. The other Gerald opened his mouth and I stopped him.
"You don't need to say a word, because you're the real Gerald." I told him. I turned back to the one in front of me and shook my head. "The real Gerald would've called it a nightmare." Both the other him and I said it at the same time. "Exactly."
"Very good, Violet. You've passed the second test." The chilling voice whispered. "Time to move on."

The next part got no introduction, I was just suddenly sitting in a room of total blackness. There was a table in front of me, and sitting at the other side was a familiar face that nearly gave me a heart attack. Alice stared at me, her expression completely blank. I didn't say a word and neither did she, the silence looming for a long time. My heart pounded faster with each passing second. "Violet." She finally said, the contempt in her voice layered thick. "Precious little Violet. The girl that ruined my life."
"No, I didn't do anything wrong." I declared. Conversations just like this one had played in my thoughts just about a thousand times, I could see where Mrs. Girard got her inspiration from.
"That's really what you believe? Because last I heard leading someone to suicide is not 'doing nothing wrong'."
"That's not why you did it. You did it so you could be with your brother." I countered firmly.
"Are you sure about that?" The tone of her voice and the look in her eye made my stomach instantly twist into knots.
"Y-Yes." My voice was exactly like my hands, shaky.
"Oh yeah?" The voice made me jump, it wasn't Alice, it was someone else; someone else I recognized. "Well what about me?" Kate appeared from the shadows, looking so much more mature and put together then when I had last seen her.
"I tried to help you. In fact I could've saved you but you didn't let me."
"You ruined me. Everything I was... was because of you!" As she said that she flipped over the table, causing me to instantly hop out of my chair.
"And what about me, Violet? You always loathed me. So much that you probably liked it when I was trapped inside that locker." Savannah had appeared in front of me and still seemed to look down on me without even being an inch taller than me.
"Of course I didn't, I'm a good person."
"A spiteful, jealous, selfish person you mean."
"No! I'm good. I do good things. E.E.R.I.E is good!" I covered my ears while screaming at the top of my lungs. This had been weighing on me for a long time, the question of exactly how good E.E.R.I.E really was.
"Listen to yourself, Violet. No wonder why everyone loathes you, even your own best friend." Alice said, gesturing somewhere behind me. I turned to see Johnny standing there, a familiarly angry look on his face.
"Johnny?" I questioned. Of all the people that had shown up to this nightmare party, I understood him the least.
"Don't sound so surprised, Violet. Despite your beliefs, I do have feelings." His tone was accusatory.
"And what beliefs are those?"
"That I'm just a tool. An unthinking, unfeeling object you can use and abuse."
"Use? Abuse? Where are you getting that from?"
"I care about you, Violet. Don't you see that? Obviously you don't. You're heartless, as long as you and your dearest Gerald are happy it's all a-okay."
"Absolutely not true, you're my friend."
"Sure, but are you mine?" The question struck me hard, like a punch to the stomach. The tears started then, as much as I tried to stop them.
"But the scariest thing of all is the person you've hurt the most..." Alice's voice trailed off. Suddenly, the people disappeared until only one figure remained in front of me. I-it was me. A perfect copy of myself positioned directly in front of me, like a mirror image.
"W-Why you?" I barely managed to whisper.
"Because you're dying inside. All these ghosts haunting you, questions hovering over your head all the time. You always think it's your fault even when you know it's not, yet you scorn Gerald for doing the same thing. Hypocrite. You aren't strong enough to cope with your sorrows using humour, you're a complete mess. Then there's the questions, oh all the questions. Is E.E.R.I.E really helping? Is all this our fault? Could we have saved all the ones we lost? Did I do the right thing? Am I a good person? Oh won't you just shut up!" With every shout she grew closer and closer until I was forced onto the floor. After less than a heartbeat all the people were back, circling me and reciting the questions bombarding my mind like clockwork. I was just about to crack when it stopped, it all just stopped. The abrupt silence was soon broken by that cringe inducing voice assaulting my ear.
"Are you ready for the final challenge?" The answer was no, but of course she didn't really care. The next thing I knew I was falling. It was the like the ground had just disappeared from under me and now there was nothing I could do about it.

I landed with a hard thud, but felt no pain. I looked around and quickly realized that I was back in the woods. But this time it was exactly what I expected, dark and gloomy. Even the leaves beneath me were cold and wet. Then, I felt a burst of air brush past me and I knew it wasn't just air. "Let's play hide and seek." Mrs. Girard said. "I'll seek." This sent me off instantly, I hopped up and took off running. I quickly came to realize that the woods stretched on infinitely. I was trapped with only trees to hide behind. I stopped for a second to catch my breath, but as soon as I did that, the voice returned. "Ready or not, here I come." I started sprinting all over again, not heading in any particular direction. Finally, I settled myself behind a random tree which was I don't know how far away from the spot I'd started in. Apparently not too far though, as almost immediately I started hearing rustling noises around me. I held my breath, thinking that even my breathing could give me away. At one point, she passed right behind my tree and I nearly bolted right there, but forced myself to stay put. Eventually, she seemed to be moving on to another part of the woods, and I dared to sneak a peak at her. I painfully slowly tilted my head just enough to catch a glimpse at what she'd become. This was not the elderly librarian I remembered, but some other form, maybe this was her self. Her skin was grey and looked almost scaly, she was wearing a tattered dark grey dress and her hair was black and matted. As I leaned back to hide myself again, I heard a loud cracking sound. I flinched, it had come from me, I'd stepped on a stick and broken it. I didn't hesitate at all, I was once again on the move. I could hear her growing closer and closer behind me, which only made me go faster. I looked over my shoulder for only a moment, seeing her jagged teeth and shrunken in eyes. I went even faster, amazed that I had the energy. I weaved through trees and changed directions as much as I could. I knew I had lost her when I heard an angered shriek in the distance. I let out a sigh on relief, sinking to the ground for a moment of rest. But it didn't take me long to realize what was in front of me, it was them, the ghosts that were all so angry at me. I jumped to my feet, instantly alert. They were lined up in such a way that they formed a pathway, a pathway that lead to a glowing blue portal; it had to be the way out. My body told me to run to it but my brain was too scared to let me go. I just stared at the ghosts, who all stared back at me. My mind raced for a way to deal with the situation, but I was interrupted by the sound behind me. I whipped around to the sight of Mrs. Girard, a devilish smile spread across her face. In that moment I completely forgot about the ghosts and my fears, I just ran. The witch chased after me and ghostly fingers tried to grab me but it didn't work, I just ran. I didn't look back, I didn't stop, I just ran. I ran straight into the portal that would take me home. I had ran and I had won.