Faith Heights

Chapter 14

I turned off the room's lights, hurrying from its suffocating four walls. The door creaked behind me as a I moved, the deep, slow echo of a predatory laugh. I ran further down the corridor, looking for any more rooms with maintenance signs on the doors. There was another that was almost identical, with chains and claw marks, and another that held an assortment of animal cages. There were mouse cages, guinea pig enclosures, and a metal, barbed pen large enough to hold a monstrous dog. Or perhaps something else entirely.

Something alien.

There was another bloody human handprint inside the largest cage. The corner of the room was piled with hunting traps. More chains were on a shelf towards the back, along with several strange-smelling jars that almost had me passing out at their scent.

I needed to get out of here. That was about the only thing I was certain of anymore. My fight or flight instinct was accelerating into a frenzied overdrive. What had I gotten myself into? What would happen if the professors – if Leclair - found out that I was aware of their forbidden rooms? Surely I wasn't the first curious student to go wandering- but if any of them had escaped the school unscathed, then the world would have heard about it by now.

I felt bile rise up in my throat. I was about to sprint from the room- when I froze, not daring to breathe.

Soft, feminine voices were drifting from the other side of the door, further down the corridor. The voices were giggling, talking in hushed, excited whispers. When I heard their footsteps pass the room's door, I peeped outside and silently watched five girls in bathing suits skip towards the pool. I sighed in relief, slouching against the door frame until my heart stopped pounding. It was just a group of laughing girls breaking curfew. No maniacal professors or kid-butcherers. 

I'd have to sneak back through the pool area to leave the horrifying corridor. It probably didn't matter if the girls saw me, but my gut told me to keep my presence hidden. I tiptoed down the corridor as I heard a loud splash, followed by another bout of high-pitched laughter. One of them was babbling excitedly, but I couldn't make out her words.

I was moments away from dashing from the corridor when I heard one of the girls begin to sing. 

It was easy enough to block out at first, just a light hum. But the closer I moved, the harder it became to ignore. Her voice resonated around the hall, a melodic wind tugging me forward. Another girl joined in, and my mind fogged with a pleasant haze. I could have stayed and listened to them all night. I needed to. I couldn't stop my feet from turning in their direction. It wasn't a choice- I had to go to them. I had to get in the pool.

Suddenly, the music stopped, and I felt a chill run over my skin, as if I'd just been doused in icy water. 

I heard one of the girls scold, "Not tonight. We can't sing right after a full moon- there could still be others in the forest or the school. We'll be heard."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Another girl asked with a teasing lilt.

I heard a splash, followed by a screech. "You know Leclair would have our heads if she heard us singing without bolting the doors. She doesn't like that we stay here instead of going out to the beach, anyway. If she hears us she'll kick us out of the school."

I heard murmurs of reluctant agreement. The way the girl had spoken made it sound as if she thought of expulsion like a life or death sentence. As if Faith Heights Academy was a sanctuary rather than a school. Rather than the murder-house I was discovering it to be.

Shaking my head clear of the last of the fog, I sprinted across the back of the pool, thankfully remaining unseen. I bolted from the school, and all but flew back up the tree neighbouring my window.