Memories in Addition

8: Who Do You See?

"Hello, class!", a pretty teacher with wavy black hair and a kind smile came in just as the last bell rang. "My name is Karla Dallaire, and I will be your Arts teacher for this school year! Nice to meet you all!"

As the others greeted the teacher with just as much cheerfullness, Ysa shifted uneasily in her seat as he glanced at Florence's empty seat beside Sonaya.

Sonaya stared at her worriedly. As did Sandy, whose thoughts were clearly the same as hers for once this time round.

Nadhine looked worried at Florence's absense as well, and she looked back at Ysa with a conflicted expression.

Ysa tried to hope for the best. Maybe she's just in the comfort room? She always goes there before the teacher comes in...

Alex's spirit just shook her head at her. Ysa resisted the urge to wave her off.

"For today", the teacher started. "We're all going to the Multi-purpose room for our first activity!"

One thing's for sure; she's going to be so disappointed to miss the lesson. She loves Art, after all, especially this teacher...

Still, Ysa couldn't help the dread that started to build in her stomach. She tried to push the feeling down. She's still alive. I know it.

Alex just stared at her, before shaking her head again, this time out of sympathy.

🤔

They probably hadn't expected for Ysa and Sandy to bolt out of the classroom as soon as Ma'am Karla told them to make a line outside.

Sandy, they could probably understand, since she was often seen drawing a lot during class and the whole reason why she and Shana bonded was because of their love of art, too.

However, they would most likely not find any reason for Ysa to act this way. Not like she would care that much, though.

The two teens ran down the stairs and slid down the ramp, with Sandy tripping and almost falling on her face on the last step if it weren't for Ysa to drag her along and prevent her from faceplanting on the floor.

They dashed to the Multi-purpose room and frantically looked around as Ma'am Karla and the rest of their class ran after them. The teacher called out. "Slow down, you two!"

Nadhine must have realized something, since she dashed towards the two with an urgent expression. "You're looking for her, aren't you?"

"She'd never been gone to the comfort room for this long", Sandy frowned.

"And she never followed you in...", Ysa's eyebrows furrowed at her.

"I went ahead to avoid suspicion from what we were doing", Nadhine's eyebrows furrowed. "I left her around here."

"Well, t-then let's go look for her!", Sandy whisper-screamed.

"Go look for who?", Sonaya, Mia and Mela frowned. Joyce was following them closely behind as the rest of the class crowded around the other door of the Multi-purpose room.

Joyce had a look of confusion on her face for a second, before her face dawns with realization. "Florence. You guys are looking for Florence, aren't you?"

Sandy, Ysa and Nadhine looked at her in surprise. Then, Sandy hesitantly nodded in confirmation.

"But...wasn't she usually at the bathroom at this time?", Mela frowned worriedly. "Or maybe...maybe she got lost or something?"

"Firstly, that's unlikely", Nadhine started--

"I'm just suggesting...", Mela protested. "I mean...after what happened to Alex, wouldn't it be normal to hope that nothing bad had happened?"

"Though, to be fair", Mia added in. "I don't think anyone would want to kill Quinny in this class--"

"Everyone except the killer, you mean", Joyce interjected, before turning Joyce, Ysa and Sandy. "You guys are right. We need to find Florence first."

"We'll need to ask permission from ma'am, though...", Sonaya sweatdropped.

Nadhine turned to the rest of the class and heard murmurs among them. They were saying that the room was locked for some reason.

"Huh, that's odd", Ma'am Karla frowned, before she reached on one of her papers for something. "Good thing I brought a key with me. Hang on, everyone! We're going to start the activity soon enough!"

As the others cheered, Ysa felt arms wrap around her back as a familiar person hugged her from behind. She breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized this. "Phew. I knew you were okay--"

When she looked behind her, though, her eyes widened in visible horror.

At the same time, they heard a horrified scream inside the room. Sandy grabbed Ysa's hand and they pushed their way through their hordes of classmates with Nadhine, Joyce, Mia and Mela to find something truly horrendous.

In the middle of the room, there were four paintable mannequins stringed upside down in each four corners of the room.

All the canvases and the walls around them were covered with the colors red, green and blue. There was also the word BLOODLUST painted on the wall in front of them in red paint.

And in the middle of it all was a single body of a girl, with dark red continuously pooling out of her head and forming a pool of blood.

Nadhine immediately ran to the corpse in the middle to check for a pulse as the whole class stared, wide-eyed.

Mela gaped at her own classmate in grade 7, dead in front of her. "Holy..."

Sandy turned to Ysa, lip quivering. "She...she could still be alive...right?"

Ysa knew better than to hope.

How can she, when she already has her own best friend's soul hovering near her and refusing to let go of her right now?

And when Nadhine's face turned sorrowful when she checked for a pulse, she finally confirmed it. It was really real.

When nobody else, not even their teacher moved, Joyce moved forward and looked around the room. Then, she found something peculiar, she prompted Hans to come over. "You've got to see this!"

Against his better judgement, Hans went over. The three of them peered over near the corpse and saw something peculiar.

It seemed to be some kind of code written in blood.

113LLLL4l-l5

Hans looked at Joyce in shock. "Do you think she...?"

Joyce nodded grimly. "Always to the end. Florence still helped us with the case."

Ysa's eyes widened at that and her head immediately raised towards them as Joyce announced. "Everyone, we need to stay calm. We have an opportunity to see who the killer is now. And we need all of your help. You all in?"

Did you really need to ask that?, Ysa pursed her lips together as every hand went up and cheers resounded across the room.

She tried not to think to much of the fact that there are two ghosts hovering over now, and one of them is one of her best friends...

Everything will get better. I'll ensure that!

And if it meant revealing her secret, then...

So, be it.

😓

A/N:

So...it's kind of weird writing off my avatar character to die in this when it's currently my birthday 😅

But, hey, it's not real life, at least xD

Anyway, I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter. Tune in to find out what happens next OwO

Till next time! Bye! 😊😅😂