The Headmaster

Reception

Morning brought with it the smell of bacon, freshly cooked at the local cafe and brought to the location with a smile by Emily. Accompanied by several piping hot cups of coffee it was a welcome sight for tired eyes. Becca yawned her thanks at Emily and smiled as she took her bacon roll in one hand and hot coffee in the other. She skipped the empty seat beside Maria and slipped into the seat next to Graeme at the end of the table.

"I'm sorry about last night." She said before biting into her bacon sandwich as if she hadn't eaten for a week.

Graeme swallowed his mouthful of coffee. "Don't worry about it, we've all snapped at each other at least once when we were tired."

"Doesn't excuse my attitude though." She covered her mouth with her hand as the hot bacon grease seared her tongue.

"Apology accepted." Graeme smiled.

"What happened? Did the slam scare you?" Kev pulled his seat down to the end of the table opposite Graeme. "Got a pretty good scream out of Maria."

"Not really." Becca took a slow sip from the paper cup. "That scream was nothing compared to Bletchingly Manor and secondly, Tim's gait is too noticeable."

"What do you mean?" The excitement in Kev's face dropped. He furrowed his brow and leaned back in his chair.

"Tim has a hitch in his step, you don't notice it much when he walks, but running makes it more obvious."

"Oh well, I'll try harder next time." He winked and sidled back over to Maria.

"Did you manage to get much sleep in the end?" Graeme said without looking at her, his eyes fixed on the paper napkin he was scrunching up in his right hand.

Becca almost choked on her roll, the shock of the question and the truth causing a sharp involuntary inhalation. One large cough dislodged the offending article from her throat, but it sent tears to her eyes. Her mind flipped between telling the truth and manufacturing a lie. But she was too tired to think of one. "Not really."

"Did something else happen?" His eye wandered over to Alan who hadn't taken his eyes off the unfastened button of Becca's shirt.

She closed her eyes, the memory replayed in her head. "I heard the children." She said it quietly so that only Graeme could hear her.

"What?" Graeme almost knocked over the dregs of his coffee in an excited spasm. "Are you being serious?" His eyes were wide, pupils fully dilated. He grabbed her arm in excitement, "Where did you see them?"

"I heard them, I didn't see them." Becca lost her appetite, she folded the remaining quarter of her bacon roll in the napkin. She could feel the eyes of the group on her.

"What's going on?" Maria raised an eyebrow.

"Becca heard the children last night," Graeme said too loudly.

Becca cringed. She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her, she shouldn't have said anything, the girls didn't want her to.

"And what did they have to say?" Maria's lips curled into a cocky smile.

"They said I needed to be careful."

"Aww, welcome to ghost hunting sweetie, we've all heard that line." Maria gave a dry laugh and resumed her previous conversation with Tim and Kev.

"Forget her," Graeme whispered. He suddenly became aware of the tight grip he held on Becca's arm and released it with an apologetic smile. "She's just feeling threatened, you're doing a better job than she thought."