Ruby Fridays

Chapter 22: Dirty Suspicions

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N O W P L A Y I N G

» [ Suspicions - Mr. Reynoso ] «

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───── ❝ R U B Y F R I D A Y ' S P O V ❞ ────

║ Gregorian Calendar ║ 01 - 11 - 2027 ║

║ Monday║ Class Day ║

The whispers began as soon as I walked through the school grounds. Eyes followed me down the corridors, people stopping mid-conversation to stare.

I tried to ignore them, focus on the mundane tasks of getting to class on time, but the sinister glances and hushed voices filled the air like a miasma.

In between their murmurs I could clearly hear their own versions of the twisted situation on the carousel scene last night.

After the last night's sinister truth or dare game, when I found Lilian's body on the carousel, everything had changed.

That certain midnight events were shrouded in a darkness I could still feel gripping at my soul. I saw the looks the others exchanged, heard the edge in their false innocence. We had all crossed a line together into a place where nothing would ever be the same again. 

The carousel sat silent and still, its painted horses frozen in mid-gallop. But in my mind's eye I saw Lilian's body flung carelessly across that garish saddle, her sightless eyes staring straight at me, accusingly. Her blood, black in the dim light, stained the once-gaily painted carousel like some macabre work of modern art.

Her vacant eyes stared up at the painted horses and merry-go-round music, a grim mockery of the horror that had transpired there. 

A part of me died with her in that moment, consumed by the shadows we had foolishly invited into our game. The truth was buried now, forever tangled in our web of lies.

Lilian's death had spread like wildfire through the school, and though the details remained hazy on my head, like a haunted and broken plaque, all day, I replayed the scene I took a shot over and over on my mind, stuck on the same horrific scene  — when I saw her lifeless body sprawled at that unnatural angle, twisted beyond recognition, as her blank eyes staring up at the rusty carousel horses. 

I can also vividly remember how the other students looked at me with a mixture of fear and suspicion, as if they thought I was somehow involved in Lilian's dark demise since I was the one who was last sawn through the security camera's filming in her same location as my dangerous dare had taken me there.

Yet, unbeknownst to them, the truth was buried somewhere deep within the memories of that night, locked away behind the shadows of twisted truths and malevolent dares.

But the gossip spread like a plague, their gazes full of accusations were even dripping with venom. 

Yet, better than anyone I knew the truth, that I had left Lilian unharmed when I completed my dare and went on my way.

Still, the whispers and rumors followed me like a dark shadow, painting me as a suspect in Lilian's gruesome fate.

I tried to push the horrible event from my mind, but the memory lingers on, reminding me that even seemingly harmless dares can have sinister consequences.

But, minutes later as if ruining the conversations that was filling the hallways and classrooms through the ancient stone hallways, a stern voice came over the loudspeaker, "This is Ms. Rose Elleanor Stowne, speaking. Students of both houses, the Stonemaskers and Wanderlusters I want you to be aware that my voice had taken over our morning rituals as I have to make a tragic announcement this day. At exactly past midnight yesterday, one of our own, Lilian Graywood, student #011 from the Honors Wanderlusters, passed away."

Whispers and murmurs rippled through the crowd once again after her words, as students turned to each other with wide, questioning eyes.

But, once again with her voice dropping with an unknown and fake pain, she decided to continue through with her talk like slicing into the crowded fear the teens around me was screeching in, "While the circumstances surrounding Lilian's death are still under investigation, I ask that you keep her in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult times, so that she will have a peaceful end in here. Keep away from unnecessary spreading of false information, or else once caught, you will be immediately sanctioned." 

A chill ran down my spine as I felt the darkness lurking just beneath her carefully crafted facade of concern. 

Seconds passed and the speaker finally hummed and fell silent again, but the ominous stillness remained. The specter of death now stalked these ancient hallways, a grim reminder of the fragility of youth and life itself.

The school fell deathly quiet as few of students bowed their heads in solemn stillness. But beneath the outward show of respect, suspicion and speculation continued to brew within my mind.

If one of us can get killed inside this four-walls-of-mayhem, what more dark secrets lay hidden within the ivy-covered walls of this place they had once thought of as a home that can take us to deep danger?

I bowed my head, but the silence only amplified my dark thoughts. I continued walking, ignoring the stares that bore into my back, trying to focus on the innocuous details around me instead of the whispers that followed my every step. 

I quickened my pace, head down, trying to ignore the murmurs that followed me like a dark shadow.

Yet then as if mocking me whispers grew louder as I walked, shaking me from my thoughts. I felt dozens of accusing eyes boring into my back, yet shielding it was my own dirty suspicions for each of them rising within each step of my boots. 

Who among these students had blood on their hands? 

Who here could commit such an act of evil? 

Above all, I knew I couldn't trust any of them now, not after what we had seen last night.

My mind swam with a horrible certainty — one of us was a killer, and I had no clue which face hid such monstrous evil beneath.

As the minutes of my agony from the last night's game ended and classes began, I tried to focus on my work, but the image of Lilian's pale, lifeless form haunted me.

And everywhere I go, whatever I do, as I walk through each student I saw, I couldn't help but to see them now be a suspect, a cold-blooded killer hiding behind an innocent facade.

The day seemed to drag on forever, an endless parade of suspicion and doubt. I wanted answers, I wanted justice for Lilian.

But first, I had to figure out the dark truth, lurking somewhere within these school grounds, hiding in plain sight among the living.

But for now, I had to play the part, pretend my sinister suspicions about them didn't fester under my skin. 

But the truth would come out, one way or another. 

And when it did, the real culprit would finally be revealed, the whispers silenced once and for all, and my dirty suspicions would succumbed to its end.

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