Beyond the Screams ✔

Chapter Three

The first thing I saw was black, my eyes were closed and I could hear voices from nearby, however, the voices were foggy and each word said blurred into each other, meaning I couldn't really hear anything. The ringing in my ears was deafening, I felt something cool and wet being pushed against my face, I tried my best to open my eyes. I forced them open, the first thing I saw was Emily, nervously standing in front of me, worry etched on her face. Standing behind her I could see the outline of three males, while I couldn't recognise them immediately, I could see the worry etched on their faces. They leant down and whispered something to Emily but she held up a hand and shooed them away.

"Hey, Darling are you ok?" Emily asked frantically, pressing the cold washcloth to my face.

I pushed her hands away, "What happened?" I asked. I looked down to see myself lying on the cold floor. I pushed my hands up underneath me and sat up straight,

"You fainted! I was up talking to Gilbert when someone from downstairs ran up to tell me that you had fainted, I came down here and sure enough, there you were, lying on the floor, one would have thought you were dead," She explained, her face white as a sheet, "What happened?"

"The note! there was a note on my desk, it said- it said," I slowed down until I stopped completely, the memory of the words floating on my mind, The deep, red ink was stained on my fingers, My hands must have sipped over the paper when I fainted.

"What! Darling, what was on the note?" Emily asked, "Did someone take a note off Rosemary's desk!" She shouted, catching the attention of everyone in the area,

A young guitarist I recognised as William Adams tentatively stepped forwards, holding his hands in front of him, nervously twiddling his thumbs

"Mr McPherson asked whether or not Ms Rosemary was alright, So I told him that she had fainted and handed him the letter on her desk, he's up in his office right now," William stuttered, his voice was tense,

Emily rolled her eyes, "Well go upstairs and get it down here! Now!" She shooed, waving her hands forward telling him to move, He nodded quickly and turned sharply on his heels before proceeding to run up the stairs and out of Emily's sight

"Honestly, these music boys are completely useless and incompetent, they'll learn one day," She rolled her eyes, continuing to dab the wet washcloth on my forehead.

My head was pounding, and the cloth wasn't helping in any way.

"Has anyone figured out why the lights turned off?" I asked, trying to make conversation to fill the awkward silence.

Emily dropped the cloth into a bowl of water next to her and then wiped her hands on her dress, getting rid of any excess water, "Nope, no one was near the power box at the time and no one can identify anyone in the building who wasn't in here when the lights went off,"

"Did anyone else get hurt?" I asked anxiously, hoping that I was the only one.

A look of consideration passed over her face, "Well, sort of I suppose, some of the girls are extremely rattled, especially after everyone found out what was written on that note you were left, I swear I'm the only person in the building who has no idea." She chuckled drily, "But I wouldn't worry about them, if the author of whoever wrote that note and the person who killed that girl is the same, then I suppose we just have to be thankful that no one was killed in the dark," Emily added grimly.

I looked up and noticed William rushing down the stairs, Mr McPherson close behind him. I leaned back against the wall as two more people entered my already crowded desk area.

Gilbert McPherson was a fat, middle-aged man. He was short and his face was decorated with a large handlebar moustache, his skin was a grotesque pinkish colour and his eyes seemed too small for his face. He wore long brown trousers and a white vest on top of a long-sleeved, black shirt, each button threatening to pop at any second. He peered down at me over his long nose,