Haunted High School (Thomas Sanders Analogical Fanfiction)

18

Do you guys remember that fanart I got for this book I showed in chapter 11? Yeah I printed it out and hung it up on my wall and like...... it makes me so happy every time I look at it..... and it also makes me so insanely happy to see how many of you rushed to comment on this book the minute I uploaded the last chapter, like seriously you guys I appreciate you all so so so much. Thank you so much for reading this book and voting or commenting on it. This book has brought me a lot of joy, and I'm not ready for it to be over. It's very encouraging to see that so many other people feel the same way. I love you guys, thanks again for reading this. Anyways, on with the chapter and sorry for my little emotional ramble haha.

Finding Roman was proving to be much more difficult than they thought it would be. They had tried to text him to meet them somewhere, but they weren't getting any answers from him. All they could do was walk around the gym hoping to bump into him.

It ended up not being Roman that the three of them bumped into.

"Oh, I'm so sorry sir!" Patton exclaimed suddenly as he bumped into a man, resulting in the drink he was holding being poured on himself. The man cursed, turning around to face the students with a glare. Patton continued his apologies while Virgil froze, staring at the man's uniform. A police uniform.

"It's fine," the man grumbled, waving Patton off. He studied them for a moment, frown tugging down his lips-an expression that seemed to frequently be on this man's face. "You two are students. What are you doing here?"

"O-Oh," Patton seemed a lot more nervous now than he was when he was lying to the woman they had previously spoken to. He explained their story of being Ms. Spirits grandchildren looking for old friends of their dead mom, a lot more fidgety this time and a lot less convincing. The man's eyes narrowed at him as Patton trailed off, and Virgil knew he needed to jump in.

"We were actually looking for a specific man," Virgil said quickly, going rigid as the man turned his eyes to him. He felt Logan's hand squeeze his and was able to draw in a calming breath. "His name is Christopher. Christopher Sheridan. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, I know him. I'm his father." The man-or Lee Sheridan-said, confirming Virgil's suspicions.

"Is he... do you know if he's here?" Virgil asked, peering nervously around them. He caught a glimpse of who he thought to be Roman, eyes following him as he moved through the crowd.

"He should be around here somewhere, yeah. Couldn't tell you where though."

"That's good." Virgil started, taking a hold of Patton's arm with his free hand. "Thanks for telling us, we should get going now."

"Hey now, wait a minute!" The man started, taking a step towards them. "What exactly was your mom's name?" He called, but the three of them were already taking off in the direction Virgil had last seen their friend, hoping they weren't going to be followed.

"Roman!" Virgil called out, seeing the figure they were chasing after stop and turn back to glance at them. Upon seeing that it was him Virgil moved faster, still being followed by Patton. "Hey, we found out some new stuff-"

"That's cool, but I'm trying to make sure I don't lose sight of this guy." Roman said distractedly, gaze locked on something in the distance. Virgil frowned, trying to follow his gaze.

"Who is it? Is he important?"

"It's Christopher. Someone pointed him out to me and I've been watching him since, and waiting on you guys to find me." Roman explained. "He's the tall guy with dark hair and the red jacket."

The three of them searched the crowd in the direction Roman was looking, eventually finding him standing close to the wall, not talking to anyone. Virgil told Patton to keep an eye out, turning to Roman and finally having his attention.

"Did you find the other guy?" Roman asked after turning to Virgil.

"No, he died. Christopher's our only suspect left. We ran into his dad a minute ago too, he's a super grumpy cop. If Christopher did it... I guess we know where he gets his anger issues from." Virgil joked, but even he wasn't laughing at it.

"I guess all that's left now is trying to find a way to question him..." Roman frowned, turning his gaze back to where he was still standing.

"Maybe we should just try going up to him?" Patton suggested, not breaking his eyes away from him. "I mean... we might not have any other choice. At least he's kind of away from everyone else."

"Only if we absolutely have to." Logan spoke up for the first time in a while, once again using Virgil to speak without anyone noticing the voice without a body. "We don't exactly want to cause a scene. I don't want to get all of you into any trouble, and I also don't think people would react well to seeing me."

The four of them stood silently for a while, debating their next course of action when they heard someone clearing their throat beside of them.

"Of course it's you four." Ms. Spirits spoke up when she got their attention, lips curled up into the slightest hint of a smile. "I was wondering why I all of a sudden had grandchildren I didn't know about."

"Grandchildren?" Roman asked, glancing back at Virgil curiously. Virgil just shook his head, not exactly able to explain in this moment.

"We're sorry, Ms. Spirits." Patton spoke up, frowning at their teacher. "Please, don't make us go. We're so close-"

"Don't worry, I'm not about to kick you out." Ms. spirits waved her hand, dismissing the idea. "I know why you're here. I only stopped you to tell you to be careful. Don't let any of the other teachers catch you here, alright?"

"We've been trying not to." Roman answered with a grin, his eyes still flashing back every now and then to Christopher. All four of them were glancing between the two. Ms. Spirits followed their gaze to Christopher, who was looking around the gym before slipping out into the hallways. Her small smile tugged down into a thin line, eyebrows furrowed together.

"You boys had better get going." She muttered softly, looking back at the four of them. "Good luck. And Logan?"

"Yes, Ms. Spirits?" Logan asked, still always shocked when her gaze met his while he wasn't visible.

"Keep them safe."