"𝓘 𝓓𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓣𝓲𝓻𝓮 𝓔𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓵𝔂, 𝓜𝓲𝓼𝓼 𝓐𝓭𝓭𝓪𝓶𝓼"

Thursday's Child Has Far to Go

Wednesday and I had spent the entire, dreadful morning with Principal Weems and the sheriff. 

"How could you miss a dead body?" Wednesday asks the sheriff. 

"Because it wasn't there," he tells us, "no footprints, no blood, no sign of struggle. Nothing, nada. My search party looked all night."

Wednesday and I glare at each other. 

"Then you must have missed something because we were both there and we both saw it," I said. 

"Your search party must have left their seeing-eye dogs at home. I saw that monster kill Rowan right in front of me." Wednesday added.

Principal Weems leads us up the stairs. 

"Get a good look at this monster thing?" the sheriff asked us.

"It didn't stick around for a chat," Wednesday told him. 

"Maybe it was one of your classmates." the sheriff tells us. 

"Sheriff, I find that question offensive." Principal Weems declared. 

"That's what you're hoping for, isn't it?" I look at Principal Weems and wink, hinting to her that I've got his offensive accusations under control. I turn to him and stare at him. I make sure not to blink as I continue looking into his eyes for a little more than too long. Then, I look away. "It wasn't one of our classmates. It's nothing I've ever seen before. Its eyes bulged out of its skull and it looked like a naked mole rat." I turn back to him, "Are you trying to tell us that you hope one of the students here at Nevermore is an oversized naked mole rat?" 

Principal Weems smiles at me and looks down, blushing. My eyes widen and I look away from her. This cannot be happening. 

He gets defensive, "Well I don't care because I've got three other dead bodies in the morgue. Hikers just ripped apart in the woods."

"The mayor said those were bear attacks," Principal Weems stated. 

"Well, the mayor and I disagree on that," the sheriff theorized.

"So you automatically assume a Nevermore student is the murderer, even though there's no evidence a crime was even committed?" Principal Weems concluded.

"It's what he's hoping for," I repeated as I looked at her and nodded. 

Her eyes softened when she looked at me. She was trying to thank me for being on her side. 

"I'm sorry, I forgot you only teach the good outcasts here, right?" he fake-apologized. 

Principal Weems sighed and opened up the doors to her office. She motioned for us to six down. 

"My guess is Rowan got away," Principal Weems insisted. "State troopers have put out an alert, and I've contacted his family, but they haven't heard from him either." She sits at her desk and looks at me. 

I stood up for her and she didn't care to do the same for me. She didn't believe Wednesday and I. 

"Dead people are notoriously bad at returning calls," Wednesday continued. I let out a short chuckle, then cleared my throat, obviously not hiding it well. Wednesday even let out a small smile herself. 

"What were you two doing out in the woods with him?" the sheriff questioned. 

Wednesday and I know how to keep our composure. Her, more than me.

"I heard a noise in the forest and went to go investigate."

"And I followed her. She's my little sister, it's my responsibility," I blurted.