Sunset Valley Secrets

Chapter 2

I let out an ear piercing shriek. Mason put his hand over my mouth gently, and told me screaming would only attract classmates. He closed his eyes. "This is not happening. This is not happening!" He began "Candace, is that... what I think it is?" He slowly uncovered my mouth, and we got a closer look at the object in question. "I... I believe so Mason..." Yup, that was most definitely a human hand. "Mason..." I started to speak slowly "Does that look like a human hand to you...?" I decided that there was only one way to find out. Without waiting for a response, I went to go pick it up. I think I was right about the hand... That was no question a hand. Dried blood surrounded the wrist. It was somebody's right hand. Holy... Crap... I was touching somebody's disconnected hand! All that was with it was half of an upper arm. I just stared at it, frozen for a moment. A cold shiver ran down my spine, and I set the hand down. Mason was not sure how to react. Just as I was, he was in a frozen standstill shock. We both stood there, for what felt like forever, and stared at each other. Our expressions were both fearful and uncertain. The mood for our picture of the flower was long gone. Mason started to speak again and asked me "Are we going to tell anyone?" I was on the fence. In the end, we both had come to the conclusion that it would be best to tell somebody what we had found. We slowly walked back the way in which we came back to the teacher.

Mrs. Estra was standing right where she was before I took off. In the grass, admiring the beautiful bushes. I had to admit, I had thought the bushes were also stunning, but once I laid eyes on that hand, I could no longer say that I felt that way about them. Once I saw her, I begun to stutter, and cry. It was not very bold of me. Mason rubbed my back as I sobbed out what him and I had found. Mrs. Estra looked like she was going to cry herself. She called to the class, and proceeded to call everyone to meet back in the classroom. My fellow peers appeared to be perplexed, as they were called in prematurely. The room was filled up with buzz once again, but for a different reason than the first time. Mrs. Estra sped out of the room to the front office. Many of my classmates begun to ask questions, not suspecting anything. The teacher called out to Mason and I. She requested that we follow her into the office and explain the situation and our findings to the principle. The photography class was all the way up on the third floor, so all three of us took the elevator. We walked down the freshman classes hallway, and headed to the front of the school. We made a right turn into the office. Once inside, Mason explained the situation this time around, as I was still shaken up. Don't get me wrong, he was shaken up too, but he hated seeing me upset. That being said, he wanted to take it upon himself to explain. He was sweet to me like that, and he forever had been.

Mr. Lemieux, the school principle, decided to look into the matter. He wanted Mason and I to show him right exactly where we had found the hand. The look he gave us led me to believe that he wasn't buying what we were saying. I was shaking and scared. I was paler than a ghost. All of my makeup was running down my face. I looked like some kind of clown that came straight out of an old horror movie. Mason tried his best to stay calm. But as his best friend, I could see right through his lying expression. He tried to be all manly, but I could tell that he was at least a little petrified. "Miss Halstead..." Mr. Lemieux called out to me, ripping me away from my thoughts. "I would like to see the spot where you have found the apparent appendage" He asked. I tried my damn hardest to pull myself together, and I mustered up a nod for him. Mason rubbed his hands on my shoulders and comforted me. I relaxed into his touch, but not too much. That boy was like a blessing to me. A blessing of a person. A blessing of a best friend. Mrs. Estra also looked almost as rough as I did. Mascara running down her face, her eyes were beet red. I felt bad for her. All three of us were roughly shaken up.

Mason, Mrs. Estra, Mr. Lemieux and I all strode outside, to the dreaded place of the flower. Mr. Lemieux pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He bent down, and got a closer look. He let out a sharp exhale, and turned to face us. All of the color had drained from his face, much like the rest of our faces had. He slowly began to say "Yeah... that is definitely a hand. We need to call 911. NOW!!!" I pulled out my cell phone and began to dial the number. "911, what is your emergency?" "Hi..." I stammered quickly "I... um... I'm at school and... um... hand... In the back of the school and... dried blood and..." I managed to get out. "We are sending the police to your current location ma'am." The operator told me. "Oka... Okay." I said fearfully, and hung up. Mason was frowning, looking worriedly at me. He opened his arms to me, and let me cling to him. I gave him a big hug, and rested my head on his shoulders. He let me cry there for awhile. I seriously did not deserve him as a friend. "Mrs. Estra... thank you for your help in bringing these children to me. You need to return to class however, your classroom is probably insane right now. I will take Mason and Candace to my office. I need to ask them some questions." Mrs. Estra nodded, and slowly paced back to her classroom. "Come with me." Mr. Lemieux motions Mason and I back inside to his office, while we wait for the police to arrive. He told us that he was going to wait until the police arrived to question us, as they were going to do that in the first place. He explained he just wanted Mrs. Estra to go back to class, she wasn't involved. The police arrived shortly, after about five minutes of waiting.