Knock…Knock…Knock…

The hollow sound of fist on wood echoes loudly through the dorm room. I sit up quickly, shaking. The breaths I take are quick and shallow, and my heart pounds rapidly in my chest. I start to feel dizzy and my hands tremble. Deep breaths, I think to myself. It’s just another panic attack. It will go away soon. Breathe. Slowly, I regain my composure and my breathing returns to normal. I sigh. This is going to be a long day. 

“May I come in?” A female voice asks from outside of the dorm. I push my covers off of me to get up and open the door, when a loud hiss sounds from behind me. Oops, I think. I must have pushed my cat off the bed. I reach down to pick her up, but Pickles jumps out of nowhere and sinks her claws into my arm. “Ow! Pickles, what the heck?!” I push Pickles away from me and stand up. 

The door creaks and I look up to see a girl. She has strawberry blonde hair and warm ocean blue eyes that are shaped like almonds. She’s pale, and is wearing a soft blush that is spread across her cheeks in a thin layer. Thick mascara covers her long eyelashes, and her lips are light pink with a shimmery surface of lip gloss. She must be my roommate, I think. 

“Hiya! I’m guessing you are my new roommate! Nice to meet you! My name is Clover! Do you like our room? Isn’t it the best? Where are you from? I was born in England! Have you been there? What’s your name? If I didn’t mention it already, mine is Clover! You can call me Clove for short! Oh my giddy aunt! I’m babbling on again aren’t I? I’m terribly sorry, you can speak now.” Clover grins at me, a sheepish look on her face. 

“My name is Andrea, and the room is actually pretty nice, I guess.” 

“Just pretty nice? Well, now I’ll take that as a challenge!” Clover grins at me. “C’mon, let me show you around!” She opens the door wider and I step into the hallway. She places her hands on my shoulders and turns me back toward the dorm. “After you change, of course, silly! She says. “Here’s your new uniform!” She says cheerfully, and hands me a folded, red uniform. Her eyes sparkle with delight. “Try to be quick if you don’t mind, we can’t be late. Especially not on your very first day!” She smiles. “Thanks.” I reply, and head to the bathroom to get ready.

When I come out, Clover is standing by the door, waiting for me. 

I guess I look a little on edge, because she glances at me and says, “Alright? It’s okay, don’t be nervous.” She smiles widely with her perfect white teeth. 

I grin weakly in return, trying not to look worried. 

Clover leads me out of our dorm building and onto a small platform surrounded by lush green grass and perfectly placed flowers. “This is the spot where we get picked up to be taken to school.” She explains. “If you miss the bus you have to run all the way and if you’re late… You don’t want to know what happens.” Clover checks her pink watch and her eyes widen. “Oh my giddy aunt! We missed the bus! I’m so terribly sorry, this is all my fault! Follow me. We’ll have to run as fast as we can!” 

She leads me through a patch of brambles and shows me a silver gate that would be completely invisible if I weren’t right in front of it. Clover quickly unlocks the gate and whispers back to me, “Secret shortcut! Hopefully, this will get us there quickly or else. . .” She shudders. “Oh and please don’t tell anyone about it!” She winks at me, “It’s our secret.” I nod. “Now c’mon!”

She starts sprinting and I race after her. Clover weaves effortlessly through brush and brambles, hops easily over brilliant rings of flowers with me following closely behind. On our way, I spot a couple of students exiting a school bus. “Oh thank goodness, we made it!” Clover exclaims happily. “Ooh! Look, it's time for morning announcements!”

 Clover points up and I see a giant building. A woman in a formal maroon dress steps out onto the balcony and clears her throat. Her voice sounds across the sea of students. Everyone stills and falls silent. “Good morning, students. Today we have a new student. Her name is Andrea. Please be on your best behavior and welcome her. Have a nice day.” 

The woman walks stiffly back into the school. “Who is that?” I ask Clover. 

“Oh, that’s just Headmistress Campbell. You’ll get used to her. She is bloody arrogant, but she will warm up to you eventually. 

 The loud ring of a bell cuts off our conversation. “Okay, come with me and I’ll get you your schedule.” 

She leads me through the crowd of people, pausing to shout every few seconds, “New student coming through, make way!” and “Excuse me, pals, please!” Slowly, we make our way through the crowd. We are finally pushed out of the swarm of students, and Clover waves for me to follow her up a long staircase. We reach the top and a large set of brown doors looms over us. A brass sign on the wall has the words Headmistress’s Office carved on it. 

“Okay, be prepared. Like I said before, the Headmistress is not the nicest.” She grimaces, and slowly places a hand on one of the doors.

 ⊱⊱♦♦⊰⊰ 

It softly creaks, announcing our presence. The door steadily swings open. “Who’s there?!” A female voice calls from inside the office. Clover peeks into the room, and ushers me inside. “It’s just us, Headmistress.” 

The Headmistress is sitting behind a polished wooden desk. Papers are neatly stacked on her desk, and about a dozen file cabinets line the walls. “Us? Who is with you, Miss Brooks?” 

“The new girl, Andrea. She needs a schedule, Headmistress.” Clover replies anxiously. 

“Well then, I’ll see to it that she receives her schedule. Move along, Miss Brooks, I wouldn’t want you to be late for class.” The Headmistress says, with a harsh tone of annoyance coating her words. 

My eyes shift to Clover, who nods and steps out of the room. I turn back to the Headmistress, and her eyes lock onto mine. “Miss Katz.”

“Yes ma’am.” I reply, not wanting to sound impolite. 

She reaches into one of her file cabinets and flips through rows of folders. She pulls one out and plucks out a paper from inside. She scans it quickly before handing it to me. “Here you are. Your first class is Flora with Mr. Smith. Go down the stairs, take a right at the statue, then left into the first hallway. Go down the hallway, and it’s the third door on your right.”

“Thank you, Headmistress.” I reply.

She plasters a fake grin on her face and motions towards the door. “You better get going. Mr. Smith does not take kindly to late students.” 

I nod quickly, and leave as fast as I can without it being obvious that I don't want to be around her. I close the door behind me and sprint down the stairs. I turn right at the statue, and the left into the first hallway, just like she said. Now, I think to myself. Is it the first door on my right? Or left? Hold on, is it the third? That’s it! Third door on my right. I smile to myself for remembering. I look at the door, and a plaque hanging on it tells me I’m in the right place. I crack open the door and peer into the classroom. There is a row of tables set up with students at every one. A man is quizzing students about a strange plant in the center of the room. He turns to look at me. “Hello there. I’m the Flora teacher, Mr. Smith. You must be Miss Katz, the new student, right?” 

“Um, yeah that’s me.” I attempt a smile, but I can feel how unnatural it must look. “Are you all right?” He asks, and I can feel the students’ stares on me when I step into the classroom.

“Oh, yeah I’m okay.” 

He smiles at me again and ushers me to an open desk in the back of the room. Everyone's eyes follow me as I walk toward my seat. “Okay, class. Now, who can tell me what kind of plant this is?” I sit down and push my schedule into the drawer in my desk. I look around, trying to figure out if I can recognize any of the other students. A couple of them smile at me cautiously. Others point and stare. A boy at the desk next to mine is whispering to his friend and frowning at me. I try to ignore them and pay attention to Mr. Smith, but I can’t. After the class ends, a girl comes up to me and brushes her long, raven black hair out of her eyes. She has purple streaked curtain bangs that frame her pale face. A studded headband pulls her hair back out of her strange, obsidian colored eyes. 

 She smiles at me, “Hey, so… You are Andrea, right? The new girl?” She asks. 

“Yeah, that’s me.” I reply cautiously.

 “I really don’t have time to talk right now, since I have to get to class, but hopefully we can chat at lunch!” She flips her hair over her shoulder and starts to walk away. Right after she turns around the corner, she peers back and shouts, “By the way, I’m Vera!”

⊱⊱♦♦⊰⊰ 

A couple more classes go by, and I feel like I’m about to fall asleep when the bell rings. I stand up and glance around the room. Everyone is grabbing their books, and starting to make their way down the hall. I assume they are heading towards the cafeteria for lunch. I decide to follow the crowd. I look down the hallway and just take it all in. A million voices ricochet off of the metal lockers. I register a voice calling my name further down the hallway, and I spot Vera waving to me and grinning. I smile at her in return and start to head down the hall. She says something to the group of people next to her and they all nod. 

Lunch is typical. Students are sorted into their cliques. Vera invites me to eat with her and I sit at a table with her friends. They are all really nice and welcoming, but I still feel like an outsider. After lunch, Vera walks me to my next class. More lectures follow, and I’m barely awake when my last class is finally dismissed. As soon as I step out of the classroom, a loud “BOO!” scares me half to death. 

“Clover!” I chastise her when I finally catch my breath. 

Clover starts laughing so hard that she chokes and ends up having a coughing fit. She finally calms herself after a couple of minutes and says, “C’mon, let’s go back to the dorms now. I have a test tomorrow and I cannot be late.”

“Okay, let’s go.” I reply. 

We walk back to the dorms, because apparently the bus doesn’t do evening rounds. Clover and I chat, and then I read “The Hunger Games” while she studies. After a little while, I start to let my exhaustion take over. I close my eyes and eventually drift off.

⊱⊱♦♦⊰⊰ 

In the middle of the night I am awoken by a couple of students chatting loudly in the hallway. I try to listen to what they are saying. “—See Chloé at all today?” A female voice asks. “She’s in my science class, but I don’t remember seeing her.” 

A male voice replies. “Maybe she was sick?”

“It isn’t like her to skip. You know her, she never misses class. Her parents would kill her if her grades slipped even the slightest bit.” 

“I don’t think Carter was here today either.”

“You’re right. Where is eve—” I hear a strange, muffled noise and then it is completely silent. A teacher must’ve heard them and come up to silence the talking. I lay back down and shift over on my side. Eventually, my exhaustion takes over and I drift off to sleep.

⊱⊱♦♦⊰⊰ 

“Come on, we have to go! Get up, sleepyhead!” Clover shouts in my ear before reaching over to grab a pillow. 

She smothers my face with it, then quickly lifts the pillow back up. I groan, “Ugh, Clover! I don’t want to get up. I want to stay in bed, asleep forever! At least for a couple more days.”

Clover smiles at me. “Me too, but remember what happens when we’re late.”

“You never told me! What happens?” I ask. 

She just grins at me, “I don’t think you want to know.” 

I shoot her a questioning look but she turns away. “Alright, it’s time to get up now.” 

I hop out of my bed and go into the bathroom to change. When I’m ready, I come out and see Clover standing right in front of me. She smiles, “Here ya go!” and hands me a bowl of plain cereal. 

“Thanks.” I reply. 

“Okay,” she says when I’m finished eating. “This time you are gonna take me to your class. I’ll close my eyes and you lead me, okay?” 

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I respond. 

“Relax, I know every corner of this place. We won’t get lost.”

“Alright,” I agree. 

We go outside and wait for the bus on the small platform. There are a couple of other girls waiting there, and they smile at Clover when we walk by. 

“Everyone here seems to like you, Clover.” I notice. 

Clover doesn’t respond. A black and red bus pulls up to the platform. 

“Come on, hurry up people!” The bus driver yells. 

Clover grabs me by the hand and pulls me into the bus. We find a seat among the other students, somewhere in the rows in the back. A few minutes later, the bus doors hiss and open, and everyone starts to flood out of the bus. The Headmistress walks out on the balcony and gives the morning assignments. 

“Okay, Andrea. It’s your time to shine. Lead me to our math class.” Clover steps in front of me and closes her eyes. I place my hands on her shoulders and slowly start to push her forward. I lead her into the main hall, and then past the statue. I take a deep breath and go down the hall to my right. All the while, Clover is quietly cheering me on. “I believe in you, Andrea!” 

I smile, even though she can’t see me. I take a left, then another left. I look down the hallway, and I’m almost positive that I’m in the right place. 

Still pushing Clover, I let go with one hand and place it on the doorknob, not bothering to look for the plaque on the wall. I twist the doorknob slightly, and the door slowly creaks open.     

Except, it isn’t Mrs. Bennett’s classroom. The room in front of me is a large, dark storage closet. It looks like it hasn’t been used for years. There are cobwebs on the shelves and cleaning supplies. Dust bunnies cover the ground. I peer further into the room, and through the darkness, a large pile on the ground catches my eye. I silence the scream that threatens to tear from my throat. My breaths start to waver. I press my hands together to calm the trembling.

I can feel another panic attack coming on and I close my eyes. Deep breaths. Use the 333 method. Okay, first the three objects. Door. Bottle of spray. I look up. Ceiling vent. Now the three sounds. I close my eyes again and listen. Footsteps on the other side of the school. My shallow breathing. The sound of my heart beating rapidly. Slowly, I open my eyes and peer into the room.

⊱⊱♦♦⊰⊰ 

Clover opens her eyes and immediately looks away when she sees what I’m staring at. For some reason, I can’t bring myself to tear my gaze off of what is in front of me. A large pile of students lie on the ground. A pool of dark crimson surrounds the pile, still leaking from a fresh stab wound in a girl’s chest. The rusty smell of blood burns my nose, and looking at the students, I can almost hear their screams echoing in my head from when they were killed. I push the thought away quickly.

Clover looks up and sees the girl. “Chloé?” She rushes over to her. “Oh my giddy aunt! Chloé!” Clover leans over the body and starts to sob. Tears cascade down her cheeks, and drip onto Chloé’s body. I have a sudden thought, and step further into the room, though I’m terrified of what else I might see. 

I look closer, and on the very top of the pile I spot two students, a girl and a boy. I’m almost positive that they are the two I heard talking last night. There is no evidence of murder on their bodies. I don’t see any blood, wounds, or strangulation marks. They must have been suffocated. That explains the strange, muffled noise I heard right before they went silent. I back away from the pile and step out of the room. Clover follows me out and I shut the door quickly behind her. 

Clover and I look at each other, horrified, and I can tell we are both thinking the same things. One, we have just discovered something that will forever be burnt into our minds. Something that two innocent teenagers should never have to witness. Two, there is a murderer in this school. And three, they could be out to get us next.