Ashwock Academy ✓

C H A P T E R - F O U R

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Fletcher's eyes popped open. 

He reached over on his table and pressed the light. Everybody except Trevor had been awakened, so Fletcher stood up and shook him awake. Trevor rubbed his eyes but by the time he was up everybody was out of their dorm room. 

Fox ran ahead of everybody else and knocked on the door of the girls' dorm. That was Raven's scream, He thought.

"Raven? Are you alright?" Fletcher called. The door flew open and everybody came in. On the floor was Raven almost crying of fear over some else. A different girl.

"Is that-" Damien started.

"We just woke up," Ella said from behind them. "to Raven screaming. I don't know what happened."

As Fletcher went past the other girls crowding his view, he knew who Raven was standing over. Her face formed a blank stare, hands now the color of snow and ice. Her clothes were ripped at the sleeves and her long brown hair was scattered around the ground.

And there was a small teardrop that stayed on her cheek, and didn't fall any further.

"Jessica," Fletcher whispered. 

"Did you do this, Raven?" Jackson argued, suspicion rising in his voice. "You found her!"

"I didn't, I swear!" Raven choked, wiping her face with her hands. It was obvious that she was shocked, maybe even scarred by what she saw.

"Why are you supposed to believe you?" Trevor contradicted. His voice raised in anger. "A girl has died, this isn't a game. The place was supposed to keep us safe but all it's doing is torture us! We're all going to die, no matter what we try to do to stop it!" His sign language moved even faster than his talking.

"I'm telling the truth, Trevor, do you really think I would hurt somebody?" Raven started to cry, and no matter how hard she tried to stop it she couldn't. Teony came by her side and comforted her, putting her hand on her shoulder.

"Raven didn't do it, I swear," said Ella.

"Well maybe you did it then, if you're so sure," Trevor snapped.

"Trevor, stop it!" Rafe yelled. "None of us would hurt Jessica, what's wrong with you?"

"Yeah, none of us would," Jackson said.

"Do you mean Mr. Barla? Why would he hurt anybody?" Fox questioned.

"Well, maybe," Jackson continued. "but that's not what I meant. Marisa isn't here."

Ella bit her tongue, not knowing if she should tell the others what she knew. As the others argued, and saw something out of the corner of her eye. A girl with messy blonde hair walking out of the hallway and into the room. "Raven?" She called.

Everybody turned around to see Marisa, a scared look on her face. "What did you do?" Trevor snapped, suddenly extremely angry at her.

"What do you mean?" Marisa lied. She knew she did something while uttering that curse. She didn't know if she hurt Raven or if she might have even killed her.

"Jessica is dead! You know that!" Trevor was almost screaming.

"Jessica?" Marisa was shocked. She thought it was Raven that was screaming, but instead it was her closest friend so far at Ashwock. "I didn't know! Honest!"

"Marisa, I'm sorry but you weren't here when she died. It's pretty suspicious." Ella said. Marisa shot her a nasty look, mad that her own friend blamed her for murder.

"See?" Trevor said. "Where were you, Marisa?" Marisa swallowed. After her silence, Trevor clapped his hands. "There we go. No alibi."

"Hey, how could she have killed Jessica if she wasn't in the room?" Fox responded. "I think Rafe did it."

Rafe laughed in a disbelieving way. "Me? Capable of murder?"

"I don't think it was her," Trevor stated. "She is just as shocked as us."

"That doesn't make her innocent!"

"I still think it was Raven."

Fletcher listened to the blame being passed around the group and bundled up his fists. "Stop it!" He yelled. Everybody fell silent. "A girl just died and you want to go around blaming each other?"

"Fletcher's right," Damien agreed. "Let's tell Mr. Barla."

Everybody agreed and they raced down the stairs and away from the dorm room. They moved so fast that they almost tripped over the stairs and each other, all desperate to tell the professor. Marisa stayed behind, still haunted by what she did. Ella stayed with her, and asked her what she found in a hushed voice, but Marisa stayed silent. "Marisa, if you don't tell me then I'll have to tell them where you were."

Before she could respond, Fox came back to them and announced that he found a note on one of the seats in the kitchen. "Well, read it then!" Damien urged.

Everyone else agreed as Fox untied the piece of paper and cleared his throat as he read it aloud.

"I made a sworn promise that I would protect every living soul that lied in this school, but I regret to say that I failed. Dark magic lies here, and sadly I believe you have already found it. I've left everything you need around the academy. I'm sorry for everything I lead you into, but I have no choice.
-Mr. Barla"

"That-" Rafe started, rage bubbling up in her stomach.

"What kind of man would leave us here to die?" Jackson yelled.

"That's it, I'm leaving," Damien said, and ran over to the door. Followed by the others, he turned the door handle violently, trying to shake it open. But it didn't budge.

"Of course," Raven said, annoyed. "It's locked to keep out magic and intruders."

"What kind of teacher leaves his students in a haunted academy and locks it behind him?" Rafe couldn't have been more mad or annoyed at that moment.

Rum backed up and ran up the stairs by the dorm room. When Damien called out to ask him where he was going, he simply replied, "I'm calling my parents. Or the cops. Anybody to get me out!"

Everybody else agreed and ran up to their dorm rooms, and didn't care enough to close the doors. Rum rummaged through his stuff, but couldn't find his cell phone. He asked if anybody else's was missing, and they all said the same.

"Guys?" Fox called out. All of the girls rushed into the male dorms and looked to where he was pointing. It was under his bed, and what they saw frightened them all. Hidden behind his luggage, was all of their phones in a million pieces, piled up like legos.

"That's it," Jackson said. "We're stuck."

Like a clash a lightning, all of the lights went out.

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