Sarah Benadine is Dead

Chapter XII, Part II

Allison should've known something was wrong when Tuly returned to the dormitory and wasn't complaining about something. Not only that—she didn't say a single word. Tuly's ability to ensure that attention was constantly on her was something that Allison had come to expect in the almost two years she'd spent as the girl's roommate. What had come as a blessed relief should have been an alarm bell screaming in her head.

Maggie and Francine hadn't realized either. Maggie's eyebrows had climbed up her forehead as Tuly had trudged in wordlessly and practically fallen on her bed, but no one had said anything. Tuly hadn't been sleeping well lately—not for quite some time, actually. They all knew that. Maybe she was just tired.

Tuly did not move for at least ten minutes. Allison assumed she'd fallen asleep already. She'd be angry they'd let her sleep in her clothes, but Tuly was always angry with them about something. Maggie and Francine were both sitting on Francine's bed giggling about something—or, Francine was giggling. Maggie had that awful grin on her face that always made it seem like she was about to commit murder. Allison was engrossed in a novel. None of them had much attention to pay Tuly.

Until she sat up again, stick straight, eyes wide and almost—haunted. Allison had the best view—Maggie and Francine were blocked by a bedpost—and she tore her eyes away from the words on the page immediately, admittedly a little startled by Tuly's sudden movement.

"Still awake, Tules?" Maggie asked, just begging to be yelled at for the nickname. Shockingly, Tuly didn't say one word.

So slow that for a moment Allison wasn't even sure she was moving, Tuly got to her feet. She looked around the room jerkily, a solid contrast from her other sluggish movements. Her eyes still held that deep, tormented look, and for one second she looked straight at Allison. Allison thought her blood turned to ice water.

"Do you hear that?" Tuly croaked when she was at last standing erect. Her voice was hoarse and scared. "Do you?"

"I-I don't hear anything," Allison replied. Maggie and Francine had stopped laughing and grinning, now craning their necks around the bedpost to get a better view.

"You have to hear it," Tuly said, meandering her way to the center of the room, her head still jerking around at a rapid pace. "It's everywhere."

"What's wrong, Tuly?" Francine asked. Her words were small and unsure, and she was practically hiding herself behind Maggie. They both must have seen the awful anguish in Tuly's eyes. She almost didn't look like Tuly at all.

"I think...I think..." Tuly's voice was getting quieter and quieter. Allison had to strain to hear. "I think that this is it...yes, this might be it..."

"Tuly, are you feeling all right?" Allison asked. The question seemed ridiculous once it hit her ears, but she didn't know what else to say.

"I think..." Tuly said once more, and then fell soundly to the floor.

"Tuly!" Francine shrieked. She looked very pale and a little bit like she might throw up. Maggie was doing much better; her eyes were wide but that was it. She was crouching by Tuly's side in a second, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Francine, go get Miss Winters," Maggie said calmly. Francine made a choked noise, and Maggie turned. "Go get Miss Winters, Frannie."

Francine stumbled out of the dorm room as she was told, making a number of those choked noises all the while.

It took Allison a moment to realize that she had not moved. She remained on her bed as if nothing had happened. Cautiously, she slipped down to the ground on the other side of Tuly, facing Maggie. For a wild moment she had the idea that Tuly was dead, she had had some kind of freak episode and died on the spot, but it was banished when she saw the rise and fall of the girl's chest.

"Must have fainted," Maggie said. "Exhausted, maybe?"

She looked at Allison uncertainly, but Allison had no answer to provide.

They both remained on the ground next to Tuly as they waited for Francine to return with the school nurse. Neither of them knew if there was something they should be doing. They simply sat staring at the body on the floor as if it were a museum exhibit. It seemed excruciatingly long before Francine and Miss Winters arrived.

"Good heavens," Miss Winters said as she came into the room—and that was all she said. Silent as a mouse, she went to work reviving the girl.

Miss Winters insisted on Tuly spending the night in the infirmary. Tuly did not put up much of a fight once she was conscious again; it was evident she was still out of it. She followed Miss Winters obediently out of the dorm room, headed for the infirmary to be sure that she hadn't bumped her head too hard and to investigate into the cause of the incident.

As Tuly was leaving the dorm room, Allison could've sworn she saw two tiny marks on the side of Tuly's neck, like two pinpricks.

Allison's plan had received its final push.

***Well, Allison has terrible ideas. What else is new? Anyway, thanks to everyone who voted and commented, particularly pretty-thumb for the lovely feedback :)***