Fall From Grace

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

"Cults? No..." I mumble to myself. "Do I want to go down that path?"

I've found nothing of any significance that could explain what happened Halloween night. There are no white robes in Lotus' history, well other than KKK sightings back in the day, and the kids who were killed weren't specifically black. And if the robes have anything to do with the organizations on campus, there is no record of it.

I'm about ready to give up when I hear, "Did you look into Greek Mythology?"

I look up to see Sterling standing there, a bunch of books in his arms.

"Okay dude, now you're stalking me." I put down what I'm reading.

"Dude?" He sits down next to me uninvited. "You speak most peculiarly."

"And you are just peculiar, stalker."

"Enough with the stalking. I just happen to be doing the same thing as you agapimnos: Research."

"You know, speaking a language to someone that they don't understand can be pretty rude."

"You'll live."

"And who said you could sit with me?"

"Again, you'll live."

This guy has some nerve. But he's the only one that I can really talk about this.

"So, did you find anything then?" I ask him.

"Well no, but I've got these books and two heads are supposedly better than one." Sterling waves his hands at the books on the table.

He's got cults in Greek Mythology, cults in Ancient cultures, and cults. Looks like he had the same idea as me. Well, the idea I didn't really want to consider. But realistically, what other explanation could it be... other than?

"Wait, do you know anything about Hazing?" I ask, sharing my eureka moment. But he just gives me a blank stare. "Maybe we're thinking too big. Maybe it's just that, hazing."

"What is this... Hazing that you think is the cause?"

"So," I close my book and push it to the side. It's probably not relevant anymore if my hunch is correct. "Fraternities and Sororities have a vetting process of sorts that happens after they get accepted as pledges. Have you never seen Sydney White?"

"I am not a movie or television person."

"WHAT?"

"Off topic Aza Grace."

"You're right, you're right." I refocus. But what type of person doesn't... nevermind. "Basically, they put you through ridiculous things and make you do ridiculous tasks. I say ridiculous but sometimes they can be really hard, scary, and/or dangerous. Some organizations in colleges have been kicked off campus because of it. Hazing is illegal."

"So what does this have to do with Halloween night?"

"What if this has nothing to do with cults but just hazing gone wrong?" I pose a possible question. It would explain why I couldn't find anything about white robes. Hazing is kept way under the radar so that they don't get penalized for it.

"Uh..." Sterling doesn't seem to like it, but I hate to jump to worst case scenario. What if they aren't even dead?

"What happened to their bodies? Did the cops check their pulses? Did they take them? What did you mean when you said you took care of it? Can we examine their bodies? Were they really dead?" I blurt out all of my burning questions.