Dancing with the Dead ✔

Chapter Twenty-Seven - The Perks of Living in a Small Town

"Please. You can't tell anyone about that. Whatever happens, just... you can't!!" the boy desperately pleads.

When the girl doesn't reply right away, I step closer towards the door. She lets out a derisive sound in her throat. "What do you think I've been doing? You moron!"

Then, I hear a soft sob. I can't tell for sure if the sound is coming from her or the boy.

"God! How did this happen?" the boy continues.

"Don't be such a drama queen. I am the one at stakes here. Not you!"

"Not me?" He scoffs. "If you get caught, you don't think they'll investigate where you get it? And when they find out where you get it, you don't think they'll know who else uses it?"

It? They're talking as if they're some drug dealers.

Wait. Drug dealers?

"You're just being paranoid!"

I'm sure they're talking about the Adderall she's been consuming. Since she doesn't have any condition that requires her to take it nor is there any record of her being prescribed that said medicine, I'm guessing she must've got it illegally. The so-called 'study drug' is a commonly abused drug used to—well, you probably have guessed it—help someone focus and achieve better grades. It's not without its side effects, of course. Use them wrong and you'll end up with severe delusion and paranoia.

Apparently, like these two.

"Dammit!"

Then, the sound of what must be the overbed table being kicked and hitting the wall causes me to jolt back. The silence afterward intrigues me to press my left ear against the door.

"How could you be so careless? I can't believe I'm saying this because God knows I love her very much, but I'm actually relieved when I heard she was dead," the boy pauses and sobs.

She?

Does he mean Jill?

If he does, that sheds a whole new motive for Jill's murder. What if she wasn't killed because she was pregnant? What if it was because she knew about a secret—a deadly one?

"I thought we were safe, but then you just had to get yourself admitted! If anyone finds out about it, it'll be the end of both of us! I'll lose my shot on that scholarship and you won't be able to—"

"Do you think I want to be here right now? I've told you, she..." her tone shifts all of the sudden, fear spreading in her voice, "she pushed me down the stairs!"

Huh. I wonder if that's really true, or just the side effect of the drugs.

The boy scoffs. "D-do you even hear yourself, Sheila?" he pauses. "For the hundredth time, there is no such thing as ghosts!"

"But she was there! I'm telling you, I'm not crazy—"

The sound of someone clearing her throat behind me causes me to turn around in surprise. A middle-aged nurse is standing before me with a stack of patients' files on one hand and a tensimeter in another. Her round glasses is slightly slipping down her crooked nose. I can feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment.

My eyes quickly scan her from top to bottom. Her brown and slightly grey hair is tied neatly in a bun without a single loose strand. There isn't a single wrinkle in her crisp green uniform. From the looks of it, this must be who Claire mentioned as 'The Nightmare Nurse' a.k.a Nurse Callaghan, the strictest head nurse in St. Mary.