The Final Exam

Keller Arc.

I sign my letter.

Rightfully Yours,

J & M Keller

My Recipient? A Villain pursuing a dream that isn't her own. Her name? Unknown to me. However, I have no need to address her properly. You see we have been pursuing her for almost a year, and now is the time to shine a light on her, and make her aware that she has an audience to serve. The Kellers, of course. The Keller Twins.

To be honest, dread and fear almost outweigh my urge to unmask this killer. Almost. Part of me feels overcome with anticipation.

Margaret fakes a cough. "Jon, It's been three hours. This isn't a novel." She takes my pen and signs her name in her harsh handwriting. "It's 8 o'clock, and I've got to hurry back to my dorm. Rezzo's gonna go nuts if I'm not back soon. Bye! Oh, and tell Amanda she's paying on Sunday." And The Sister exits.

I add another bullet on my To Do list: Tell Amanda (Marine, Creative Writing class) her turn to pay for lunch at Chico's this Sunday. I tend to forget things often, so a list is as daily a routine as brushing my teeth.

Speaking of brushing my teeth, I'm doing that right now. The mirror's clouded from the humidity of the showers, but I can see myself just fine. Not that I want to. Dark circles around my eyes from lack of sleep remind me I'm paying more attention to Her than to my own health. I haven't slept in days. I've barely had anything to eat since Tuesday. Today of all days, my body has made a good argument against my mind. I sleep a solid 13 hours. After eating half my roommate's cache, of course.

I dream of meeting her. I must be going insane, I'm obsessed.

And as you were expecting, I end up comfortably LATE. I don't worry about missing a lecture, because I probably already memorized the textbook explanation. Sometimes I wish I wasn't Jon Keller, ya know? Everyone kinda hates me for my so called "gift". The very word disgusts me. My only friends are Margaret's friends, and the majority of the academy doesn't even know my name (but the sure do know me). They call me The Smartass.

I decide to skip class. What's an F gonna do to a snooty 4.7?

I walk around the halls, careless. Nobody is patrolling this school anyway. Even if they did, they wouldn't catch anyone most of the time. Why? Because Everest Academy is "prestigious", and students here are so trusted it's crazy.

My legs take me to a courtyard, with newly planted tree saplings around a large Flamboyan (that's what it's called, I think). This time of year, the tree drops thousands of its signature bright red-orange flowers. It's annoying at times.

I brush the flowers off my already messy brown hair as I sit on a nearby bench. Part of me feels like I'm wasting valuable time, like I should be working on the investigation or getting Margaret to decode files for me. The other part of me just wants to fool around like an idiot.

I fool around.

My mind wanders for a while first, memories and blurred items written on a list. It would be very convenient if Margaret's dorm was closer to mine. I really messed up on the climax on my last short story... Amanda will shout when I tell her it's her turn on Lunch Roulette.

I zone back in. The letter. Now would be a great time to send it.

As soon as I get to my dorm to get it, the bell rings. My eyes instinctively look to my watch and read the time: 2:30 pm. "ALREADY???" I speak so loud the whole corridor can hear me. Embarrassing. Did I fall asleep or something???

Well, at least I can now get Margaret to come along. She knows how to get to Her better than I do.

"Hey Marg! You busy?"
I catch her in the middle of a corridor. She almost winces when she hears my voice. "What now?" The Sister, annoyed, reluctantly answers.

"Let's go." The conversation is no longer light-hearted...
We've got serious business to attend to.

We walk briskly down the hall, out a door, into another separate building. Margaret breaks the silence to say what we keep repeating in our minds. "This is only a warning shot. She should meet us in person yet. In and out."

Finally we get to a door at the end of a hall. The black, bold words "Authorized Personnel" scares away all. All but us. I pull out a key tucked away in my pocket and unlock the forbidden door to reveal a seemingly useless room full of cardboard boxes and crates. The room is dark and old, but not dusty. We've been hiding out here for a while. A couple of notes and old textbooks scattered about on a worn out desk is evidence that we have taken advantage of the room to study.

The crate full of files dating back to '42 scrapes against the tiles as I push it to the side, unmasking the trapdoor that lies beneath. Margaret pushes me aside and grabs a second key chained around her neck. Carefully, she turns the key and door pops open, cold air escaping from the narrow opening.

With a eerie creak, she opens the lid revealing a metal ladder mounted to the wall. We glance at each other for a short while, worry laced in our expressions. We know what she's capable of, and the fact that only one of us is allowed in makes me ill. Margaret is her friend. She hasn't killed her at least. Marg doesn't like talking about Her, but all I know is that my sister stumbled upon this room thinking it was a class one drowsy morning. It was all unlocked, they met due to her curiosity. She learned where and how She lived. A bond was made, and She gave Margaret the keys to visit again. Then we saw what she wanted to achieve. To report her, though, a case had to be made.

We zone out of our twin stare. She hugs me and starts to go down the ladder, and shuts the trapdoor above her.

Each minute that passes adds another pound of concern for my sister. I know she's cool with the monster, but She has killed before. And won't hesitate to kill again, I'm sure. The YGL lab slaughtered for science; In the dozens, of hopeless people. They tricked them into signing a waver for "compensated physical testing" and murdered them in the process of the so called "testing". All of them must have been insane to agree on this.

Seconds stretch into minutes, and the minutes stretch into hours. No sign of The Sister. What could they be doing down there?

After three painstakingly long hours, the old telephone on the desk rings. My heart skips a beat. My hand hovers over the phone, wanting to answer the ominous call. After four or five rings, my shaking hand picks up the phone. My trembling hand almost doesn't let me hold it up to my ear.

"You're Invited.

Come. Come get me." *Dial Tone*

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I hear frantic knocking on the metal trapdoor. "Margaret!" I scream as I hurry to the lid to help. I pry it open, Marg grunts. She gasps, "She snapped. Sh- she f-found it before I could-" When I grab her arm to pull her up, I feel something yank at her leg. Marg yelps, tears filling her eyes. The opposing force overpowers me, pulling me with her. The metal lid hits my head so hard it knocks the air out of my lungs.

Is this the end?

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/////Extension is busy.///// Please leave a message after the tone./////
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"I still love you~~

Even after death!

Teeheehee... "